September 22, 2007
11,800 feet
8 hours of driving yesterday and I'm here in the White Mountains for a week long photography workshop with my friends at Mono Basin Photographics. We have lots of unstable air from an early winter season storm which dumped several inches of snow. I went out this morning up above the treeline to an area known as Sheep's Pass where I took the truck photo posted here. See some here on this Flickr set.
Posted by Douglas Vincent at 3:53 PM | Comments (0)
September 7, 2007
Breaking Through
(October 2006 Personal Writing on trip to Zion National Park)
I'm here in Zion National Park after a long 10 hour drive yesterday. I drive because the miles help melt away the stress of daily life, work etc... helping me to "let go" and start to feel receptive towards the photography I'm about to engage in.
Once here, I investigated the fall coloring on the East Side (pockets of good color) then had dinner at the Bit & Spur (highly recommended). After a restless sleep I woke this morning still feeling some anxiety. It's not always easy making the transition to a receptive artistic focus even when you find yourself in such a beautiful place. You can't force it. It won't come on your terms.
So I went to the local's coffee shop, the Mean Bean, figuring the energy there might help. One of the things I love about Zion and Springdale is year after year you see many of the same locals. They live here because they love this place. I recognize many of them from over 9 years ago when I lived here for a summer.
I'd brought a 1991 issue of Parabola focusing on Craft with an article by Paul Caponigro entitled "Writing with Light". Sitting there eating some granola and sipping coffee, I read his words:
"Silence is a tool of the intuitive realm, the vehicle of inspiration, just as readiness is the vehicle of physical techniques." And then later:
"Recording the light of the outer subject can be linked with gaining access to one's inner light."
Somewhere in those words, I felt the mental machinations, nervousness, the desire to make something happen... it all just seemed to melt away. I left the coffee house relaxed, peacefully invigorated and ready to simply let come what may. What happens over the course of the next two weeks is still a mystery. But whatever it is, I believe I've broken through to be receptive to it.
Posted by Douglas Vincent at 10:56 PM | Comments (0)
The Lick Fire
On Labor Day I was picking up my daughter and saw a rising plume of smoke off to the south of San Jose. I asked Ashlyn if she wanted to go see it and to my surprise she was genuinely interested so off we went. Using my iPhone and Google Maps we found some roads that looked to offer a chance to get pretty close. It was early evening when we found this great viewpoint. We couldn't get any closer.
I broke out my digital camera and made a number of photographs until it got dark. You can see a complete set here on Flickr.
Update: The Fire is 95% contained today (Sept 09) having burnt nearly 48,000 acres almost entirely within Henry Coe State Park (see this graphic). With a good winter rainy season, the wildflowers could be incredible in the Spring.
Posted by Douglas Vincent at 7:29 PM | Comments (0)
September 6, 2007
Before & After
My photographic dream has always been to one day have my own darkroom/studio. The possibility became a reality when I finally purchased a home in the Spring of 2003. A small 3 bedroom, 1 bath, on a good sized lot with a detached garage (shown here to the right). Of course, with a new house, the money was strapped and any thoughts of a studio had to be tucked away for awhile.
Well, after 3 years and a big thanks to Apple's great financial run, the dream finally became a reality. I finally got around to repainting the outside walls just a couple weeks ago which inspired me to finally take some photographs of it. The before and after is quite impressive if I do say so myself.
Posted by Douglas Vincent at 8:40 PM | Comments (0)
September 5, 2007
The Inaugural Post
So, I'm going to have a go at this blog thing and throw my own unique perspective out to the web-o-sphere. Time will tell whether what I'm interested in holds relevance with any of you.
So what's this blog about? I'm mostly going to talk about craft and creativity. Craft is something I'm particularly interested in as it relates to photography but it really permeates my life and thinking. Devotion to craft seems to be a rare commodity these days and it's a huge issue in photography. So, I'm gonna attempt to blow the lid off it and if some of you come along for the ride... awesome.
Posted by Douglas Vincent at 6:29 PM | Comments (0)