Photographic Projections: Uniqueness in Light

Often in photography we are facing a certain challenge. In landscape and nature photography we are not encountering very often a cloudy sky, so dramatic or epic, or what have you, to just give the photographs we are making a certain panache or a finish in style. The uniqueness of the moment is that we encounter clear blue skies above and we have to make do with it.

But the beauty of the thing is that we could find strong contrasty selective lights all over the landscape. We could find shafts of light luminating certain parts of the scene giving us unique moments.

I was ascending the mountains again and, as you guessed, the sky was clear. It was morning and the sun was rising on the horizon. The uniqueness that I witnessed was that the mountains were somehow shielding a part of the sunlight just to create this shaft or curtain lighting certain parts of the ridges and certain parts of the trees growing there with their tips warmly lit like brushes delicately dipped in yellow paint.

The conforting light of the sun for the gazing traveler while hiking and ascending the mountains. Though not changing very quickly, the sunlight was caressing the peaks afar thus creating a shaft of light protruding through the forest. The trees projected long shadows and the contrast of the scene was more pronounced.

But there was one problem I faced. I was interested in what happens beyond the trees, on the cliffs afar. So, I tried another kind of composition. A closer scene for the sungazer while ascending through the forest. Eliminating the other parts of the story meant simplifying it closely to its subject and predicate, its essential elements. The message was as clear as the sky above.