Mark Metternich
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JimInBend wrote:
I love this shot, and have tried ever so many times at this very location to get light like you captured here. I love it, Mark.
But after reading most of the posts, I got curious as to whether you elevated differently for other captures to see how the butte top helped or hurt when not aligned exactly with the horizon. I'm not saying I would have changed it, but just curious if you tried.
Thank you very much Jim.
Yes it is certainly hard to get light like this. We were fortunate enough to score mainly because we chased a mega storm here, by intensely studying the weather (and some luck of course). All weather apps and reports and especially radar projections had this monster T-storm going over the N Rim right at sunset. We dropped all our plans immediately and left like 2 bats out of hel*.  I know I'll never see this same type of light here again. I am also glad Kevin McNeal caught it on video (posted it to Youtube - you can search my name there if you want) because I know some might think it was not real (I would doubt it). You can't hear my voice in the video but I am yelling to him "OMG, what is this?! This just DOES NOT HAPPEN!"
The moral of the story is to NOT think linearly about where we shoot as photographers. I think this is a popular mistake. To dramatically up the odds of getting great light, I believe we must RESPOND to what the weather is doing. That is how I choose to run all my Tours. Some people who want linear itineraries may not do them because I can not tell them: "on day one we will do this, on day 2 we will do that, on day 3 we will do this..." By necessity, because getting them great light is my main priority, they have to put some trust in me and be willing to be quite flexible. But I usually deliver the goods at a higher than typical rate because of this approach.
As far as compositional possibilities, yes I always test everything out (high, low, horizontal, vertical, 3rds, everything I can imagine up...) I always scour the possibilities! Anyone who attends my workshops knows that I swear by, practice and teach getting people to take their cameras off their tripod and really try to exhaust every possible angle and position (then try to match the tripod to the free form position you liked the most). The two images I posted here on FM of this particular shoot were the ones that looked the best to me. But as far as the mountain top in proximity to the far horizon line (South Rim) nothing could change that but maybe shooting off a drone hundreds of feet up or down. They are both too big and too far away for my camera movements to change them at all, in proximity to the other....
I really appreciate your feedback. Thank you for taking time to respond. I hope it helps.
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