{"id":2637,"date":"2012-08-18T04:36:05","date_gmt":"2012-08-18T12:36:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/?p=2637"},"modified":"2019-11-24T08:51:15","modified_gmt":"2019-11-24T16:51:15","slug":"ansel-adams-making-40-photographs-rock-surf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/2012\/08\/18\/ansel-adams-making-40-photographs-rock-surf\/","title":{"rendered":"Ansel Adams – The Making of 40 Photographs: Rock and Surf"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was fortunate to be in Big Sur last week photographing that magnificent coast with the members of our workshop.\u00a0 Ansel Adams made some beautiful photographs here as did, of course, Edward Weston.\u00a0 An increasingly common technique used by photographers is to employ a neutral density filter to get very long exposures that turn the ocean into a sea of ethereal mist.\u00a0 Many of these photographs are incredibly beautiful.\u00a0 Personally, I connect with the power and energy of the ocean, something these beautiful photographs do not capture.<\/p>\n

Adams\u2019 technique was to stop the motion in of the surf as in this photograph titled \u201cRock and Surf.\u201d\u00a0 Freezing the water was essential to the effectiveness of the composition.<\/p>\n

\"rock<\/a><\/p>\n

Rock and Surf (1951)
\nAnsel Adams<\/p>\n

This photograph captures a peaceful, graceful moment along the Big Sur coast.\u00a0 The composition is exquisite with all of the elements in the lower part of the image drawing the viewer\u2019s eye and attention to the rock outcrop just offshore.\u00a0 The surf is a key element in the composition.\u00a0 What looks so natural and effortless is actually very difficult as Adams explains in the narration that accompanies this photograph.<\/p>\n

\u201cSurf is seldom predictable in its\u00a0 ebb and flow.\u00a0 It constantly presents fresh shapes, and the eye must be swift and anticipation keen to expose at the most favorable moment for the particular composition consistent with the visualization\u2026\u00a0 Many waves broke on the sand and curled around the rocks before the one I photographed.\u00a0 The impulse to operate the shutter came at the appropriate fraction of a second before the foam curves met as we see them in the image.\u00a0 Anticipation is a very important part of the photographer\u2019s training, and is acquired only by much practice.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

This is something I\u2019ve become very aware of, the way the surf is a critical element of the composition.\u00a0 At a given location the surf initially appears to be random and chaotic.\u00a0 But with patient observation, patterns begin to emerge.\u00a0 And some patterns definitely contribute more strongly to the composition than others.\u00a0 Often these patterns are in the minority.\u00a0 Take for example a couple of photographs I made of of Natural Bridge in Santa Cruz, California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\"central_coast_111101__SM38630\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

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\"Natural<\/a><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The leftmost image has some interesting curves in the surf but the rightmost image has the more effective composition where the S-curve in the surf draws the viewer\u2019s eye to the rock.<\/p>\n

Some photographers I\u2019ve studied with have suggested that it is not necessary for landscape photographers to get intimately familiar with their subjects, that great art can be created without knowing the name of a tree or the geology of a mountain.\u00a0 And I suppose there is truth in that position.\u00a0 But I prefer to try to communicate the essence of a subject in my photographs and to do so I find that educating myself on the natural history of an area contributes to an understanding that hopefully translates to my photographs.\u00a0 And besides, it\u2019s fascinating and deepens my appreciation of what I\u2019m seeing and experiencing.<\/p>\n

Surf is a prime example.\u00a0 The more I photograph surf the more I understand its behavior and can anticipate how it will contribute to a strong composition.\u00a0 There are a few things I\u2019ve learned about surf and photographing it that I\u2019d like to share with you.\u00a0 Perhaps the most important is to be patient and just observe.\u00a0 We have a tendency to set up our cameras and start firing away.\u00a0 Film photographers, especially large format photographers,\u00a0 didn\u2019t have the luxury we enjoy.\u00a0 They\u00a0 took a limited number of sheets of film with them every time they went out.\u00a0 And there was a cost every time they pressed the shutter.\u00a0 So they were forced to slow down and connect with the scene, especially scenes as dynamic as those involving moving water.\u00a0 Compared to that, we have virtually an unlimited amount of \u2018film\u2019 and can take hundreds of shots with a good chance of one of them capturing the critical moment.\u00a0 But I\u2019ve come to understand that surf is not totally random and chaotic.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the first thing to understand about surf (and this is something surfers understand exceedingly well) is that the big waves comes in sets.\u00a0 So if you missed a big one, stick around because another big set will come in a few minutes.\u00a0 And the thing about big sets is there are generally three to five large waves and the largest one is often the second or third.\u00a0 This is not a hard and fast rule but it works most of the time.\u00a0 This can help you anticipate when the biggest one will hit.<\/p>\n

But there are other more subtle factors that affect surf.\u00a0 The play between the ocean and the shore is affected by the tide.\u00a0 The level of the tide, high, low, in between, coming in or going out can completely change a scene.\u00a0 So the wave action you initially saw may be very different an hour later.\u00a0 Wind can affect the surf.\u00a0 The direction and intensity of the wind will affect the direction and the size of the waves.\u00a0 And if the wind blows for more than a day the affect will be amplified.\u00a0 Finally, offshore storms can generate huge seas while a calm in the weather will produce the opposite.\u00a0 All of these factors contribute to the fascination of photographing surf.<\/p>\n

Water in its various forms is a most rewarding and challenging element to photograph.\u00a0 So I thought I\u2019d conclude this post with a couple of Adams\u2019 photographs that involved water in some of its other manifestations and that also required anticipation and precise timing.<\/p>\n

\"golden<\/a><\/p>\n

The Golden Gate before the Bridge (1932)
\nAnsel Adams<\/p>\n

\"old_faithful_waterbath\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Old Faithful Geyser (~1947)
\nAnsel Adams<\/p>\n

\n

Join the conversation.\u00a0 Leave a comment and share your thoughts and experiences on photographing water in its various forms.\u00a0 Also, please feel free to share this post and Like it.<\/p>\n

Join me on an upcoming workshop.\u00a0 Click here for more details.<\/a><\/p>\n

To see more of my photographs click here.<\/a><\/p>\n

WordPress Tags: Ansel<\/a>,Adams<\/a>,Rock<\/a>,Surf<\/a>,workshop<\/a>,Edward<\/a>,Weston<\/a>,technique<\/a>,mist<\/a>,Many<\/a>,energy<\/a>,composition<\/a>,moment<\/a>,image<\/a>,viewer<\/a>,attention<\/a>,outcrop<\/a>,element<\/a>,narration<\/a>,anticipation<\/a>,expose<\/a>,visualization<\/a>,impulse<\/a>,fraction<\/a>,location<\/a>,observation<\/a>,Often<\/a>,Take<\/a>,example<\/a>,Natural<\/a>,Bridge<\/a>,Santa<\/a>,Cruz<\/a>,California<\/a>,Some<\/a>,tree<\/a>,mountain<\/a>,truth<\/a>,essence<\/a>,subject<\/a>,history<\/a>,area<\/a>,behavior<\/a>,tendency<\/a>,Film<\/a>,luxury<\/a>,cost<\/a>,tide<\/a>,action<\/a>,Wind<\/a>,direction<\/a>,size<\/a>,fascination<\/a>,Water<\/a>,Golden<\/a>,Gate<\/a>,Faithful<\/a>,Geyser<\/a>,Join<\/a>,conversation<\/a>,Leave<\/a>,Also<\/a>,Click<\/a>,members<\/a>,exposures<\/a>,subjects<\/a>,sheets<\/a>,factors<\/a>,manifestations<\/a>,photographers<\/a><\/p>\n

(4119)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Insight into the way Ansel Adams made the photograph “Rock and Surf” and some thoughts on photographing the surf.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[471],"tags":[706,589,413,588,684,700,680,701,692,32,470,126,469,704,694,708,618,682,677,698,690,685,551,721,714,710,35,687,713,715,712,699,543,686,716,717,429,703,722,556,718,676,678,696,683,691,688,647,681,457,674,693,720,709,695,125,719,675,689,52,702,705,389,697,679,548,711,619,707,93],"class_list":["post-2637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-making-a-photograph","tag-action","tag-adams","tag-also","tag-ansel","tag-anticipation","tag-area","tag-attention","tag-behavior","tag-bridge","tag-california","tag-click","tag-composition","tag-conversation","tag-cost","tag-cruz","tag-direction","tag-edward","tag-element","tag-energy","tag-essence","tag-example","tag-expose","tag-exposures","tag-factors","tag-faithful","tag-fascination","tag-film","tag-fraction","tag-gate","tag-geyser","tag-golden","tag-history","tag-image","tag-impulse","tag-join","tag-leave","tag-location","tag-luxury","tag-manifestations","tag-many","tag-members","tag-mist","tag-moment","tag-mountain","tag-narration","tag-natural","tag-observation","tag-often","tag-outcrop","tag-photographers","tag-rock","tag-santa","tag-sheets","tag-size","tag-some","tag-subject","tag-subjects","tag-surf","tag-take","tag-technique","tag-tendency","tag-tide","tag-tree","tag-truth","tag-viewer","tag-visualization","tag-water","tag-weston","tag-wind","tag-workshop"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9Nl7-Gx","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2637"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4682,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2637\/revisions\/4682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}