Sinopsis
Some of the first photographic images were of the natural
world. Today nature remains the most popular subject in photography, dating back
to the late nineteenth century, when photographers like William Henry Jackson
and Carleton Watkins were capturing the frontiers of the American West,
documenting locations such as Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks. By
permanently recording the natural world for millions to see, Jackson, Watkins,
and others started the process that led to saving lands, protecting species, and
eventually preserving habitats around the world. Thus the power of the still
image was born. Illustrating the awe-inspiring force of nature has been an
important form of communication as well as a tool for educating. Trees that were
seedlings before the time of the pyramids, waterfalls thundering down half a
mile into lush valleys, deep canyons carved over millennia, the smallest of
living things—intricate leaves, alien-looking insects, and delicate
wildflowers—all have been captured on camera and are changing our perception of
the world.
I was inherently drawn to the outdoors as a kid. It frightened
me a bit, the unknown and its strength; it probably still does in small ways.
Even so, I found nature to be an amazing, exciting, and unpredictable
experience. Whether I was pulling up the rear on a family walk, rock and shell
hunting, searching with the secret hopes of finding a history-changing fossil
along a Northern California beach, or fishing for trout and catching water
snakes from a paddleboat in Karag Dam—a lake nestled between the Caspian Sea and
Tehran in northern Iran—it was all a world of discovery for a small boy, fraught
with beauty, danger, and wonder.
Nature is the closest thing to religion in my life. Derived from
the Latin word natura, which means “birth,” it is where my belief in
self-education was born and my spirituality was found. To paraphrase Ralph Waldo
Emerson, there is no closer place to God than to be in nature. John Muir wrote,
“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for
going out, I found, was really going in,” describing the cerebral journey that
occurs just as much in nature as anywhere else. Whether sacred or secular, this
is what I was most drawn to about the natural world; that is, a transcendent
place where you learn on your own, push beyond your limits, stretch your
imagination, and discover a peace you cannot find anywhere else.
When I found photography early on I could not have known how it
would enhance my life and expand my interest in the outdoors. Recording nature
onto film was my first photographic love, and although I capture a
mix of commercial outdoor and travel work in digital form today, creating images
of the wild still remains my favorite. From taking pictures with a 110 camera on
my seventh-grade Albany Middle School class camping trip in Yosemite Valley, to
treks as a teenager through California’s Sierra Nevada, my fervor for
photographing the outdoors quickly formed. Traveling to the far corners of the
globe as a young pro, I rafted down class IV rivers in Argentina and carried a
75-pound backpack through the rain-soaked jungles of Borneo. The camera has
pushed me to go places I never would have gone and to do things I never would
have done had it not been for the thrill and hope of returning with great
images. Through it all, a plethora of amazing moments were added to my life, yet
I had my fair share of less-than-positive experiences, too. I’ve been attacked
and stung more than 25 times by wasps in Mendocino, experienced back spasms
while hiking trails in the Caribbean, acquired food poisoning on assignment
through the Mexican Riviera, ran out of water backpacking through Yosemite, and
even felt the dreaded homesickness while camping in the Channel Islands. None of
it cured me of the wanderlust to see more of the world. In fact, most people
assume I love nature wholeheartedly, but I don’t see it that way. I describe it
more as having a full relationship with the outdoors. I have felt enlightenment,
fear, joy, frustration, exhaustion, vulnerability, solitude, and
exhilaration—every emotion that makes you feel alive.
So when asked to write a book on the topic, I was excited to
merge these two major interests in my life. Some may wonder why I would write a
book on nature photography; hasn’t it been done? Sure it has, but advances in
digital photography have steered the art in a new direction, providing
state-of-the-art features and cutting-edge ways to capture the natural world
that require a bit of a learning curve to master. The black-and-white masters
most likely would have embraced the precise control of programs like Photoshop,
the lack of generational loss when creating digital duplicates, new techniques
such as high-dynamic range imagery, as well as the mobility of today’s small and
lightweight equipment. Combining these new digital aspects with the technical
knowledge needed to understand and master your camera, such as composition and
exposure, is yet another part of the puzzle. However, as important as it is to
be technically sound, great nature photography is not about applying a
cookie-cutter approach, merely picking up technical details and attempting them
on location. This cannot do the job alone. None of the new digital
features or well-established techniques override the importance of developing
your vision, a critical skill since the beginning of photography. Producing
high-quality nature photography is about the marriage of three facets: learning
photographic techniques, knowing how to react to a scene, and having the ability
to be creative at a moment’s notice. We each bring our philosophical approach to
the art. This book not only covers new aspects as well as tried and true
methods, but also describes and defines my modus operandi.
When it comes to art, there is only so much you can teach; the
rest is up to the individual. The passion to rise at ungodly hours before
sunrise, slide out of your warm bed or sleeping bag, and head out into the cold
morning for a beautiful landscape image; to hike the long, steep trail on a
blazing hot day, by yourself, in hopes of finding some wildlife to capture;
fighting the cold permeating through your body on a frigid winter day to catch
amazing dusk light—these ventures aren’t for everyone. My goal is to help
photographers find their personal vision, an enigmatic trait only truly defined
through the work each individual produces, combining their skill, technique,
experience, and effort. As you read this book, I encourage you to take notes, to
try not to get ahead of yourself, to focus on one feature at a time, to reread
chapters, to limit your variables, to build a method, and to test yourself in
the field. These steps will help you improve over time in a way you can
recognize and in a manner that is easily understandable. Part of the goal is to
show you my process of capturing nature, to give you ways and ideas on how to
document places, to discuss rules of thumb when it comes to photographing wild
places, and to share my thought process on the subject. Let your goal be to
practice these rules and to find your own system, to mold your particular method
and approach to nature photography. You can’t work like others when it comes to
art and photography. The best strategy is to learn how others do it and adopt a
way that works best for you and to exhibit to others how you see the
world. Don’t just take pictures—capture the way it feels out there; convey the
power of a storm, the strength of a tree, the movement of a river, and the
ephemeral quality of the moment. By doing so, part of the awe and impact of the
natural world will come through in your photographs to educate and inspire
others.
Ultimately, you cannot forget about the reason for being out
there. I simply enjoy the feeling of being in nature and the anticipation of
discovering a new area, what it may look like and what I may come back with.
Most of the time my experiences are nothing like I expected, and my images are
hardly what I could have ever imagined capturing. I believe nature changes
people. The process of photographing nature changed me. Documenting places that
lift our souls and give our lives balance reveals the power of photography and
the splendor of wilderness. Even at times today, the phrase “O God, thy sea is
so great and my boat is so small” fits my outlook so well when I’m in nature. I
am humbled and overwhelmed by it. I fear and embrace it. Nature is an integral
part of my enthusiasm for life and an innate part of all of us. Capturing
emotionally driven images to share with others is a privilege I cherish, one
that has increased my passion for my art and my love for the outdoors
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