Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Landscapes and dogs

Someone commented about one of my earlier photos saying he would have liked it except for the dog.  He was joking, but one doesn’t normally see dogs in “landscape” or “nature” photos; so why do I have them in mine?

Consider the first photo below.  I took this this morning with a Zuiko 40-150mm digital lens.  This is one I would say approaches “art,” if any of my photos do.  The dried branches in the background and weeds in the foreground almost appear as though I used a sepia filter, but I didn’t.  Duffy’s little rear surprised me when I saw this photo.  Perhaps a photographer who is a landscape purist would not appreciate it as much as I did. 

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This next one, also taken this morning, is interesting.  This past week some pilots seem to be practicing their sky-writing over these mountains.  The contrails give a sense of movement that wouldn’t normally exist in this view.  While this photo isn’t bad I much prefer the first one with Duffy in it, and not for personal reasons.  I think his presence adds something to the photo.

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This next is probably average scenery.  The river-bank dominates the photo, but we can see a bit of the river bottom on the left, and a bit of the Gray Wood on the right, but the dogs in the foreground make this photo if it is to be made.  They are dancing along as though on the Yellow-Brick road heading toward Oz.  I would not have appreciated (or even taken) this photo if they weren’t in it, but I would have appreciated photo number one without Duffy – it is just that I appreciate it even more with him in it.

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A little further along and the river-bank seems less dominant and the Grey-wood a little moreso, making the scene a little more mysterious – given its Wizard-of-Ozness.

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In this next one, the scenery is utterly uninteresting.  Only the dogs are worth looking at.

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This last one I took on the way home from the river.  I see it all the time and don’t find it terribly interesting, except for the snow on Mount San Jacinto.  I wanted to take a photo of it before it melted. 

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