Fine Art | a 7 Image Story

Nov 17, 2019 | 7 Image Stories, AF-S 17-35mm f/2.8D IF-ED, AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 ED VR II, AF-S PC-E 24mm f/3.5D ED, Black & White, Fine Art, Fine Art, Grand Tetons, Gray Wolf, Hyalite Canyon, Montana, Nature, Nikon D3x, Places, Wind Cave, Yellowstone

Fine Art | a 7 Image Story   My idea of fine art images consists mostly of black & white compositions with definite contrasts and contours.  These images were converted to black & white from color since it makes better B&W images than shooting directly in B&W.  Interestingly, when capturing each of these images, I captured them with the idea that they would end up being B&W.  Since they were captured in raw format, each image required some post processing.  These images mostly come from my travels through national parks in the American West.  See more fine art in my Fine Art Portfolio.

Yellowstone  There’s nothing like Yellowstone in the winter.  Yellowstone always provides perspective and introspection.  The experience changes on every new trip to Yellowstone with new vistas, wildlife, challenges, and accomplishments.  My visit, when this First Snow mountain image was captured, was indeed very short; only one day.  The park was officially closed except for the north entrance and the road to Cooke City through Lamar Valley.  The mountain image comes from a place close to the north entrance.  A snowstorm had fallen the night before, covering everything in sparkling fresh snow. The Yellowstone River, flowing north out of the park, was not frozen due to the thermal features of the park.

The Yellowstone Tree image came from a another trip in the fall.  Ground water and steam runoff from Yellowstone’s thermal features periodically floods the area around these lodgepole pine trees; killing them.  Several geysers can be seen steaming in the background.  Then silica precipitates upon the dead tree trunks creating the white “bobby sock” trees.  This silica slowly impregnates the wood and over time, could eventually petrify the wood.  These striking trees stand tall against mostly clear skies.

The Hyalite Canyon stream winds down the mountain.  As it gets wider and narrower, the flow gets slower or faster. Slow the shutter speed and time smooths the water’s rough edges.  The mountain stream image was captured between wet snow showers.  Slow down the exposure for the stream to blur and you get a simple, long click.  After experimenting with a variable ND filter to get a good shutter speed, it occurred to me to make it a black & white image.  The light coming off the blurred water will make good contrast.

Each image will be posted individually this week with a bit more narrative under category Fine Art.

Click any image below for a slide show.