Story Behind the Image | Abstract Water

This day of shooting, I went out in search for water. I was inspired by a family friend who was a photographer and had shared with me a collection of water images. I was amazed with the detail and how different each one looked. As a photographer, there are many ways to approach water. It can take so many shapes and reflect light in very interesting ways. The way it moves can be translated into a soft white surface or it can be captured showing great detail and turbulence.

This day I decided to focus on the reflective surface. I chose a larger lens, 280mm, to help me isolate the shapes more and focus in on the details. I went down to Mission Bay around sunset. The light from the setting sun skipped across the bay creating distinctive highlights in the surface. As the water in the bay undulated it gave curves to those highlights making the flowing image you see above.

To make it a little more interesting I shot with an f-stop of 5.6, giving it a lower depth of field. The foreground and the background are soft while the shapes in the middle are more in focus. The exposure time was quick also, allowing myself to freeze the motion of the bay focusing attention more to the simple shapes of light. I really like these types of abstract images showing nature. We are surrounded by so much that is overlooked. I like taking a closer look at the details and sharing them with people like you. Thanks for reading.

Nichole Shanks

Story Behind the Image | Crimson Sky

This photograph was taken in Flagstaff last year. I took a trip in June to do some shooting out around Arizona. Living in San Diego, I forgot how hot the rest of the country gets during the summer. I drove through Phoenix and then headed north to find a location a little higher in elevation and cooler. My idea was to find some local scenic trails around the area and shoot some images from there.

The first night I stayed in Flagstaff I was tired from driving all day, but found an easy trail nearby around Mount Elden. It was getting close to sunset and I wanted to make the most of my time so I grabbed my camera and tripod and set out to hike the trail. This trail is situated on a mesa in between two parts of Flagstaff, so it was really easy to get to.

The trail led out into a large open field bordered by pine trees and off in the distance I could see two prominent peaks. I took a few shots here and there as I walked down the trail, taking in the scenery. The sun was getting lower in the sky and it started to dip behind some of the clouds. And then all of a sudden the whole sky started turning this deep red hue. It was gorgeous!

I really wanted to get the rich color in the sky with the open field together in the frame, but there were power lines in the way of my shot. This happens a lot, in a semi urban area, signs of man are all around. Which is helpful when you need electricity, but never looks good in a nature photograph. I looked up ahead the trail and saw a spot where the power lines would be out of view. The sun was setting fast and I knew I didn't have much time, so I started running.

Running with camera equipment by the way, not the most graceful thing to do. I've gotten better at it, but it's always a little awkward. I kept running and finally got to a good place to shoot. I took a low vantage point to emphasize the field and highlight the red sky in the top of my frame. I wanted everything to be in focus so I decided on a f-stop of f22 to give me large depth of field. I kept my ISO at 100 which allowed me to shoot a little slower capturing the movement of the flowers in the field. The exposure on this was a 0.7 sec. I ran fast enough to shoot some more of the sky and the surrounding area before the color dissipated. It was an amazing sunset and I'm really glad I was able to be there to witness it!

Thanks for reading,
Nichole