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Short stories about the inspiration and execution of my favorite photographs by Crested Butte, Colorado photographer, Dusty Demerson Sunday Morning
June 06, 2013
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Although it probably won’t look exactly like this tomorrow morning our forecast for the next couple of days predicts some white in our future. Fall is my favorite season to photograph but once the leaves leave I’m ready for the white stuff. More often than not, there’s about 4-6 weeks of drab brown to endure before everything goes white. We’ll just have to wait and see what this year will bring but it’s looking promising. “Sunday Morning” was created one Palm Sunday a few years ago. I awoke at my usual 6am and was making coffee when I looked out the window and discovered an unpredicted fresh blanket of white with the sky clearing and blue. Time to go to work! This scenario doesn’t happen all that often here in Crested Butte. We get plenty of snow but the clear blue morning sky was a real rare treat. Overnight snows usually give us grey skies until mid-day.
I headed downtown to the historic former mining town becuase it’s much more photogenic than Mount Crested Butte where I live. As I prepared to turn onto Elk Avenue, Crested Butte’s main street, I realized there were no tracks in the fresh snow. There were no cars either. OMG…I’ve never seen this before. Especially on a Sunday morning, there’s almost always a car or two parked near the bars. But not this morning. I immediately backtracked not to create any tracks and drove around my subject for a few blocks becuase I thought the mountain would make a nicer background than the grey skies to the west. Once I got to the west end of Elk Avenue I started thinking about the composition. The first two blocks of Elk just weren’t doing it for me subject wise. The intersection at Second Street was just the ticket though. As the day got brighter the colors of the buildings started to pop and I had my shot. I only had about 10 minutes before the guy stocking the newspaper machines tracked up my scene. I knew it couldn’t last but It was pretty special for a bit. And now it can be special for anyone who wants to appreciate it.
Email me or leave a comment here at the blog if you’re interested in owning Sunday Morning. It’s available in sizes starting at 36″ wide on fine art cotton paper ready for matting and framing.
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The post Sunday Morning appeared first on Dusty Demerson - Crested Butte Photographer. Sometimes Just Showing Up is Enough
June 06, 2013
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Paul Stookey, the “Paul” of Peter, Paul and Mary fame, has commented about some of his song writing talent that occasionally he has simply been the vehicle for what wanted to be said. His “Wedding Song” was the tune in question. He feels that the song had very little to do with him and his talent and a lot more to do with being open to what needed to be said. Sometimes photography can be like that too. Some images have very little to do with the talent or technique of the artist and a lot more to do with something that’s trying to be said.
The Hand of God is that sort of photograph. I would love to tell you that I slaved away for hours chasing storms and that my amazing timing was how the lightning was captured but I would be stretching the truth quite a distance. The truth is that I was driving west on US 50 between Delta and Grand Junction, Colorado one late summer evening and this strange grouping of clouds was turning red as the sun went down. I was struggling to find a place to pull off the highway and grab the shot. The sky was getting darker by the second when I was finally able to pull over. The camera was already on the tripod with the 28mm wide angle lens attached. Realizing that I may only get one shot, I set the exposure on automatic, set up the tripod with the camera and hit the shutter release. The camera calculated an exposure of about 10 seconds. About half way through the exposure the lightning happened. You need to know that this cloud had not produced any lightning prior to this time and did not produce any lightning after this strike. Only one lightning strike came from this cloud! The camera completed the exposure and couldn’t believe my “luck”. I continued to make photos of the cloud until it got dark but there was no more lightning and the red rain soon lost its color.
I’ve been accused of being really lucky to get this image but I don’t think luck had anything to do with it. I also don’t think I really had anything to do with it. I believe this photograph was a gift. I’ve tried to acknowledge the gift with the title. Sometimes just showing up (with your camera) is enough. What needs to be said (or shown) will take care of the rest.
On a weather note, it looks like the fall foliage photos in western Colorado are coming to a close for this year. Rain and snow are in the forecast for the next few days and that should just about take care of the last of the leaves. Since bare trees and brown grass are not my favorite subjects I’ll be hoping the snow starts to stick around and provide some new photo opportunities. It’s time to find those skis too!
As always, you can click on the photo for a larger view and I would love to hear your comments about this photo or photography in general.
The post Sometimes Just Showing Up is Enough appeared first on Dusty Demerson - Crested Butte Photographer. Asymmetrical Convergence
June 06, 2013
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Makes you kind of dizzy huh? Looking up through a wide angle lens into an Aspen forest can make you dizzy. But you should try it. You especially should try it on a perfect fall day when the sky is unblemished by clouds and the leaves have turned to gold. It’s kind of the reverse effect of trying to drive a car while looking through binoculars…but that’s another story. Every Colorado photographer has this image in their portfolio. Me too. I have several versions. My favorite is this one I call Asymmetrical Convergence. The composition is what, I feel, makes it a strong image. When I see the other versions with no clear top or bottom to the photo it bothers me. Not that art shouldn’t sometimes bother us but making my viewers uncomfortable is not really what my art is about. I like the fact that this image has a very obvious top and bottom. It’s more pleasing to view this way. The convergence of the tree trunks lead your eyes into the photograph. The composition helps you travel into the image. If you’re interested in owning this photograph please let me know. It is available in lots of sizes and unlike many of my images, the bigger it gets the cooler it looks. Wallpaper anyone? I can offer very special pricing this week just for you. On another note, am I the only photographer that needs to let his photos “steep” or rest before committing to them? I find if I try to edit my images too soon after they are captured I suffer from a type of tunnel vision. I can’t really see them objectively. If I come back and look at them 6 months later they appear completely new to me. After the wait the photographs are either exciting or not but I can study them with a critical, objective mind. If I return to the photo after giving it a rest and it still moves me I know I have a winner. If I rush an image to print it frequently ends up in my “sale” box. So for now I guess I should just give those fall photos a rest! Until next week, enjoy your autumn. The post Asymmetrical Convergence appeared first on Dusty Demerson - Crested Butte Photographer. The Road Less Traveled
June 06, 2013
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This week’s photograph, The Road Less Traveled, is presented today because every autumn has a little bit different look. This year’s fall color is spotty with areas of green next to areas of intense yellow which are next to dingy brown leaves. The lack of a hard freeze has kept the color going and the leaves on the trees for a long time this year but the colors are only so-so. That being the case, a good hand full of new images have been captured and will see print in the coming months. Cold, grey winter days are great for editing photos. On glorious fall days I find it very difficult to sit down in front of the computer for even a few minutes, let alone hours on end. Back to The Road Less Traveled. Some years all the Aspens turn colors at about the same time making for amazing photographs. A dusting of snow on the nearby mountain peaks just adds to the drama. It doesn’t happen every year which is why photographers get so excited and anxious when it does. East and West Beckwith Mountains are subjects in lots of Colorado fall color photographs because they lie in the middle of one of the world’s largest Aspen groves. This grove has also been labeled the largest living organism on Earth. Photographing the Beckwiths from Kebler Pass Road means taking your life into your own hands as traffic this time of year can be pretty incredible considering the road is narrow, winding and dirt. (See Rants and Raves for some safety tips.) I decided that to spend some time creating an image of these mountains in their colorful forest I would need to get off and above Kebler Pass Road. There really aren’t very many opportunities to do this. I found this road leading northwest away from my subjects but uphill from the dirt highway. I would prefer not to have the road in the scene but there was no way to compose the photo without it. I had to use the road as a compositional tool. The leading line of the dirt road takes the viewer into the image and leads their eye directly to the distant mountains. The yellow Aspen trees provide a visual “horizon” of sorts against the contrasting blue of the sky. The snow on the mountains helps set the overall contrast up a notch and provides an emotional sense of change to the scene. I have this image in two sizes right now. A limited edition 48″ on canvas which normally would sell for $600 is available for $450 including shipping. It’s number 2 in an edition of 25. (each new print increases by $50 until the edition sells out.) I also have one 36″ canvas which is a discontinued size for this image which was originally $300 and is available for $100 plus shipping. As always, thanks for your comments and questions. Feel free to use the buttons at the bottom of this post to share this blog with your friends through email, facebook or twitter etc. Until next week, I wish you peace. The post The Road Less Traveled appeared first on Dusty Demerson - Crested Butte Photographer. Get Out of the Road!
June 06, 2013
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OK photographers it’s time to engage your brains…and your sense of self preservation. Over the past two weeks I’ve spent dozens if not a hundred hours or more traveling the Colorado back-country roads in search of new fall photographs. Just like you, I get excited about what I see and can’t wait to begin photographing the landscape. But come on, do you have to stop in the middle of the road and leave all the doors open? I come around the blind turn to see what looks like an SUV that just exploded and people with cameras standing in the middle of the road. Suicidal photographers! In the name of self preservation and with the possibility of being able to enjoy this hobby or profession again tomorrow, can you please find a safe, wider place to pull to the side of the road before jumping out to make pictures? Oh, and if you would close the doors other cars may be able to get by too. Oh, and if you could set up tripods or stand at the edge of the roadway or even off of it altogether the fun of photographing the Colorado back-country might last a lot longer for you. OK, enough of the rant. Have fun out there, make beautiful images and be safe! The post Get Out of the Road! appeared first on Dusty Demerson - Crested Butte Photographer. Praying for Clouds
June 06, 2013
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A dry summer has let to a dry fall here in the Colorado high country. I hadn’t really thought about how much I appreciate a cloud or two in the sky until this week. For the past 10 days or so we haven’t seen a single cloud, making for some pretty boring landscape photographs. A week ago last Thursday we actually awoke to a little snow on the surrounding peaks and a clearing storm leaving us some lingering clouds and interesting light on the landscape. (click on the photo for a larger view) Bright stand of fall Aspens on Avery Mountain. I spent the entire morning photographing snow-covered mountains with bright fall colors without being too excited about anything I saw. After living here for 20 plus years expectations can get pretty high! There was this patch of Aspen trees at the height of their autumn colors at the base of Avery Mountian near Gothic, Colorado though. The surrounding hillside had a mixture of conifers and Aspens in various degrees of adornment. An interesting scene that was going to need a little help from the clouds above to provide highlighting to the part of the scene that was really wonderful. I set up the camera and tripod and proceeded to wait. And wait. And wait through brief showers, some wind, some snow and jeeps splashing through the potholes in the road next to me. I watched the sky. I waited for blue patches from the southwest to find the sun and light up my grove of Aspens. While the exposure was only 1/125 th of a second, the photograph took about 45 minutes to create. There are lots of near-misses but only a couple of hits. I really love how the clouds provided the shade on the foreground and background forest but lights up the yellow trees. As of yet this image is untitled. Finding names for images is a task I, and lots of other photographers struggle with. With this one, you can help. I would love to hear suggestions for a title for this photograph. If I choose your title you will receive the first print of this image. Please let me know your thoughts and chime in on the discussion whether you’re offering a title or not. Our fall colors have at least another week in them on the high mountain passes so I have to go to work now. Tough job…I know! I’ll be praying for a few more clouds as the week progresses but the forecast doesn’t look too promising. The post Praying for Clouds appeared first on Dusty Demerson - Crested Butte Photographer. It’s Looking a Lot Like Autumn Around Here
June 06, 2013
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What a difference a week can make on the Colorado landscape. Last week we were wondering if the trees were sick or something. This week they’re in their full fall glory. At least within a mile or two of Crested Butte. The higher passes in central Colorado are still probably a week or so away from their peak color. This week’s photograph is titled “Golden Groove”. It was created last autumn, probably October, while driving the north rim of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. A spectacular drive almost any time of the year, it’s especially dramatic in the fall. It provides and nice mix of colors with yellow Aspen trees, green conifers and lots of reds and brown in the understory and oaks. (click on the photo for a larger view) Golden Groove is a vertical panorama created from 8 or 10 single images stitched together to form a single photograph, a technique I frequently use to achieve the larger file sizes needed for making larger prints. Enough of the tech talk though. The challenge with these images, I think, is actually teaching myself to “see” vertical panoramas. Chatting with fellow photographer and friend, J. C. Leacock yesterday revealed that this challenge is not mine alone. Because I tend to think of landscape photography as sweeping horizontal compositions creating narrow vertical images is just something my brain struggles with. An additional challenge with these compositions is finding a good place to begin and end the photograph. The lone yellow tree at the top of the photo looked like a good place to start. The bottom of the images just sort of stops. That’s not by best solution to the challenge but that’s where the drainage ended so that’s where the photograph ended too. Golden Groove is offered as a 20″ x 46″ giclee on canvas, gallery wrapped and ready to hang. As are most of my canvas prints, it’s a limited edition of 25. This week I’m offering number 2 of the edition for $450. It’s regular price is $600 so that’s a 25% discount. If you’re interested in Golden Groove or would like a price on another size please email me or leave a comment here at the blog and I’ll get in touch. Please let me know your thoughts, feelings or opinions. This blog wants to be about discussions. Until next week, Happy Autumn. The post It’s Looking a Lot Like Autumn Around Here appeared first on Dusty Demerson - Crested Butte Photographer.
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