Folks,
Today I visited Zion - and those 4 words are enough to cause the kind of disagreements about the 'book' (and we have already touched on that) that would lead to conflict.
Zion in the bible refers to Jerusalem - according to Islamic scholars Zion is Mecca - according to Rastafarian following Zion is Africa - according to Joseph Smith, Zion is both North and South America, but a more modern interpretation has it as the central location where the Mormons have gathered - Salt Lake City, in the film The Matrix, Zion is the underground haven of the humans - but to borrow from the movie `Highlander`, `There can be only one` - and for me that is Zion National Park in Utah.
You can read about it here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zion_National_Park
Like Yosemite, light is Zion`s friend and if you have a brilliantly sunny day with broken cloud - and that was today - then the light show is spectacular - you just have to have the patience to wait for it - and today I did - I spent 6 hours in the park waiting for the light - I left as darkness was creeping in.
There were a number of folks today, driving through from Las Vegas, they would stop, all jump out, take a flurry of photos and then jump back in the rental - and suddenly, there they were, gone. I too have been guilty of that but today I got to know Zion a bit. I even scouted out locations where the sun hits the rock just right so I shall return later in the week for an opportunity at a great photo.
With the advent of digital photography all of us who love to take photos are taking more of them and are taking them more often. One of the instructors at the recent Nikon School of Photography session I attended asked the question, `How many of you hear the complaint - you`re taking all these photographs but we never see any of them`. He then went on to overview a number of utilities and strategies that allow for easy assembly of slide shows and quick printing of pics, etc. Just another example of the digital age making things easier to capture but output is your responsibility now, not Kodak`s.
Also a day like today reinforces in my own mind, that a great photographer is a unique mix of technician and artist - T&A - hey wait a minute - I`m already an expert!
There are three photographs that really stand out for me - the first is Moon Rise Over Hernandez - Ansel Adams -
The link does not even come close to doing it justice - the whites and blacks should have a wider dynamic range. Hear how Adams created this image here,
The second is Dorothy Lange`s photo, that has become known as Migrant Mother - you can read about it and see it here,
The third is Jim Marshall`s photo of Jimi Hendrix - well, his shadow actually,
There is a we site here where you can view some of his classic images,
All these photos were taken by pros BUT they were spontaneous and serendipitous - in other words you had to have a camera available and recognize the shot was there.
I hope to rise to the occasion at some point and grab a shot that makes a difference and generates an emotional response in the viewer - a response that has them coming back to the image because it captured `a moment` - and the moment meant something to both the subject and the viewer.
The quest continues.
To quote from verse 15 of Krome Koan, `Just because no one understands you, doesn’t mean you’re an artist`.
Phil
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