Photography and Photo Tours: Specializing in Alaska's Wild Lands & Wild Life
This is yet another composition made above Willow Lake, just southwest of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park boundary. We spent two incredible sunrises and two sunsets here, along with 2 moonrises near the sunset times. Each morning there would be a light mist over the lake, a slowly moving fog. As the sky brightened, preceding sunrise, the fog would coalesce. Thickening and speeding up, it would quickly enshroud the lake less than 100 yards from our vantage point. Unseen ducks would call from deep within the hanging mist, as it drifted between the trees just below. Everything become dimensional and layered. Closer objects were darkly silhouetted, but the further away we looked, they became hazy ghosts, dimly lit by the glow on the horizon.
Illuminating the Fog. Willow Lake and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska. Click to enlarge.
Sometimes, when looking at panos I’ve shot, I wish I could go back and widen the perspective even more. This is one of those occasions. The problem with this approach is my feeling that it actually lessens the overall image. If your eyes are allowed to drift through a print “gone too large”, you may miss the subtleties that could have set that image apart, if it had only been cropped in its length. Sure, the size and the scope of the print itself is impressive. But the print is not my final objective – the image is. We’ve all seen these huge wrap around 360 degree panos. Some are printed dozens of feet long. What are the words that you hear associated with these images? Typically it is, “wow” or “cool”. But rarely do you hear the holy grail description uttered, “beautiful”. I believe that is because there is just too much information, too little composition, too much technology and too little art. Bigger is not always better, and yes – size does matter. But that phrase doesn’t always mean that more size is what matters.
Sometimes, you can do more… with less.
Now, get your head out of the gutter & get out and shoot! Stay tuned…
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Another sweet image from Willow Lake!!
Thanks Ron. That location is killer in the right light – and just plain ol’ majestic in any other light.