Castle Geyser Yellowstone National Park
Jan 20, 2019 07:35:06 #
wds0410
Loc: Nunya
My photography journey began in the early 70’s when my best friend and I each bought a camera and started taking pictures. We both lived at home and had jobs so we both purchased Canon F-1s which, at the time, was Canon’s top of the line 35mm camera. We even tried developing our own black and white photos and enlarging them in his basement. We weren’t very good.
Trying to improve I started to read camera magazines and read about this landscape photographer Ansel Adams. I was living in Jersey City at the time and working in New York City and read that Ansel Adams was about to have an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. So one weekend my friend and I go to the exhibit and all I can say is I left a different person. To see his work in books and magazines does not do the photographs justice. Here before me were some of his great works, Moonrise over Hernandez, Grand Tetons and the Snake River, Monolith the Face of Half Dome and others in giant size prints (I seem to remember some of them in the area of 40 x 60 inches) and all were in razor sharp focus with all of those wonderful tones. The exhibit was also rather large in terms of the number of photographs displayed as I recall. I walked around with mouth open, eyes amazed, and feeling totally inadequate as a budding photographer.
Later that same year the New York Graphical Society published a book of his photographs and was hosting a book signing in their headquarters. My friend and I head over there and both of us buy his books, meet the great man and have him autograph the books. Best $75.00 I’ve ever spent. What did I say to the man? Nothing because I was stupid kid back then in awe of being in the presence of a great artist. All I can recall was he was extremely gracious and down to earth. With that being said, I’m still kicking myself for not spending the $750.00 back then for an original AA photograph. It was a lot of money for me but come on past self, do you know what that would have been worth now?! Dumb ass!
Fast forward 40 years or so which leads me to these photos. After retiring the wife and I have spent the first four years of our retirement like a lot of Americans traveling around the US but mostly west of the Mississippi and mostly to national parks which are, for the most part, completely unbelievably beautiful. I’ve spent a good deal of time following Ansel Adams footsteps and taking photos very close to where he stood. In late summer of this year I am in Yellowstone taking the obligatory photo of Old Faithful early in the morning when I hear Castle Geyser go off. If you haven’t been to Yellowstone, Castle Geyser is about a par 4-5 away from Old Faithful down a path. Having finished my shot of Old Faithful’s eruption, I run the 400-500 yards or so from Old Faithful to Castle Geyser in order to capture the geyser before it stops. Well that turned out to be a waste of effort because, unlike Old Faithful whose eruptions only last about 90 seconds or so, Castle Geyser lasts about 15 to 20 minutes. During that time I took about 20 pictures from various vantage points including these. I used Luminar for all post processing.
Ansel Adams photo of this geyser was from the side facing north and it wasn’t erupting when he took his shot (at least the one I found on line).
Thanks for reading and have at it.
Trying to improve I started to read camera magazines and read about this landscape photographer Ansel Adams. I was living in Jersey City at the time and working in New York City and read that Ansel Adams was about to have an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. So one weekend my friend and I go to the exhibit and all I can say is I left a different person. To see his work in books and magazines does not do the photographs justice. Here before me were some of his great works, Moonrise over Hernandez, Grand Tetons and the Snake River, Monolith the Face of Half Dome and others in giant size prints (I seem to remember some of them in the area of 40 x 60 inches) and all were in razor sharp focus with all of those wonderful tones. The exhibit was also rather large in terms of the number of photographs displayed as I recall. I walked around with mouth open, eyes amazed, and feeling totally inadequate as a budding photographer.
Later that same year the New York Graphical Society published a book of his photographs and was hosting a book signing in their headquarters. My friend and I head over there and both of us buy his books, meet the great man and have him autograph the books. Best $75.00 I’ve ever spent. What did I say to the man? Nothing because I was stupid kid back then in awe of being in the presence of a great artist. All I can recall was he was extremely gracious and down to earth. With that being said, I’m still kicking myself for not spending the $750.00 back then for an original AA photograph. It was a lot of money for me but come on past self, do you know what that would have been worth now?! Dumb ass!
Fast forward 40 years or so which leads me to these photos. After retiring the wife and I have spent the first four years of our retirement like a lot of Americans traveling around the US but mostly west of the Mississippi and mostly to national parks which are, for the most part, completely unbelievably beautiful. I’ve spent a good deal of time following Ansel Adams footsteps and taking photos very close to where he stood. In late summer of this year I am in Yellowstone taking the obligatory photo of Old Faithful early in the morning when I hear Castle Geyser go off. If you haven’t been to Yellowstone, Castle Geyser is about a par 4-5 away from Old Faithful down a path. Having finished my shot of Old Faithful’s eruption, I run the 400-500 yards or so from Old Faithful to Castle Geyser in order to capture the geyser before it stops. Well that turned out to be a waste of effort because, unlike Old Faithful whose eruptions only last about 90 seconds or so, Castle Geyser lasts about 15 to 20 minutes. During that time I took about 20 pictures from various vantage points including these. I used Luminar for all post processing.
Ansel Adams photo of this geyser was from the side facing north and it wasn’t erupting when he took his shot (at least the one I found on line).
Thanks for reading and have at it.
Jan 20, 2019 07:49:31 #
The backlighting in #1 is hugely effective IMO. A vertical aspect black and white was a great choice to capture the power. Love it!
Jan 20, 2019 08:09:41 #
Jan 20, 2019 08:13:42 #
.Jan 20, 2019 09:02:15 #
Jan 20, 2019 14:32:16 #
Bob Locher
Loc: Southwest Oregon
The pictures are excellent - and I very much enjoyed your account as well. A lot of pictures have an interesting story behind them that adds a lot to them, but sadly they are rarely included. Thank you for your story.
Jan 21, 2019 07:09:52 #
Jan 21, 2019 08:09:02 #
Jan 21, 2019 10:25:22 #
granbob
Loc: SW Wisc; E Iowa; W Illinois
Glad you posted the story and the photos - - I enjoyed both
Jan 21, 2019 15:52:31 #
The first is a powerful image. I'm no expert I think Ancel would have liked it.
Jan 21, 2019 17:51:04 #
wds0410
Loc: Nunya
Linda From Maine wrote:
The backlighting in #1 is hugely effective IMO. A vertical aspect black and white was a great choice to capture the power. Love it!
Thank you so much.
Jan 21, 2019 17:51:36 #
Jan 21, 2019 17:52:01 #
Jan 21, 2019 17:52:24 #
Jan 21, 2019 17:53:03 #
wds0410
Loc: Nunya
Bob Locher wrote:
The pictures are excellent - and I very much enjoyed your account as well. A lot of pictures have an interesting story behind them that adds a lot to them, but sadly they are rarely included. Thank you for your story.
Glad you liked it and thanks for the comment.
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