nature

Capturing Nature

/ doubledacres / 8 Comments
St Francis River at Silver Mines Missouri

“Nature is so powerful, so strong. Capturing its essence is not easy – Your work becomes a dance with light and the weather. It takes you to a place within yourself.”

Annie Leibovitz

Lighting is an integral part of a photograph. In a studio setting a photographer has many tools he can use to manipulate the lighting. When capturing a landscape photo, a photographer doesn’t have the luxury of controlling the light. He/she is pretty much at the mercy of Mother Nature. The only option really at his or her disposal is to use the time of day when the sun is at different locations and casting a different light on the subject matter. They have to figure out when the sun will work to their advantage. On a cloudy day the photographer can use cloud cover to change the lighting. It is a complicated guessing game.

I absolutely love this quote.

St Francis River located in Silver Mines Recreation Area
Original Photograph
Same area zoom changed and edited in Dark Room Classic.

Adobe has some great apps that can be used to change the lighting in a photograph.

Get Excited

/ doubledacres / 11 Comments
Trail In Silver Mines Conservation Area

“When people look at my pictures I want them to feel the way they do when they want to read a line of a poem twice.”

Robert Frank

When someone reads a line twice it usually means that something about that line excites them and grabs their attention. Purchasers of artwork do so because something about it excited them. Photography is no different. The photographer has to make the photo exciting to catch the viewers’ attention. They have to be passionate and excited about what they are going to capture through their camera. If the photographer isn’t excited about their composition, it is hard to expect the viewer to be excited. To be a good photographer one should not overlook the power of excitement.

Capturing The world of Nature

/ doubledacres / 9 Comments
Storms a Coming
  • “Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.”
    – Aaron Siskind

I started as an artist and a high school art teacher changed my dream of being an artist. I was devastated. Then one day I saw a work of Ansel Adams and I became hooked on photography.

Spirits Dancing
Ice Man Cometh

Elephant Rocks State Park

/ doubledacres / 11 Comments

I awoke the morning of February 4 and looked out the window to find Mother Earth blanketed with around 5 inches of fluffy snow. I had no idea what the roads were like, but I immediately thought of the Elephant Rocks located near me in Iron County in Missouri. I knew there were some great photographs waiting to be made.

The elephant rocks consist of geological formations that were formed some 1.5 billion years ago during the Precambrian Era. Many were formed within 7 acres of the natural area located within the park. A formation that is 27 feet tall, 34 feet long, and 17 feet tall has been named Dumbo. Giant boulders formed from granite stand end- to- end and reminds one of a train of elephants.

The name for this formation is “tor”, a stack or pile of weathered residual granite rock boulders. We had freezing rain, sleet, and snow the night before and it was virtually impossible for me to climb up the boulders to get some good shots of these formations.

Granite has been quarried in the area since 1869. This granite has been used for buildings from Massachusetts to California and was used in the St. Louis City Hall, and even the piers of the Eads Bridge were made from this granite. The mining left behind a small pond.

Inside the park you will find the Braille Trail that was created for people with visual and physical disabilities. Picnic tables can be found scattered throughout the park where folks can picnic and enjoy the geological formations within the park.

If you are interested in purchasing one of the prints, please contact me at dwwhite1954@gmail.com. I sell just prints or framed and matted.

All photos are the property of Double D Aes LLC and cannot be used without my consent.

Dillard Mill State Historic Site

/ doubledacres / 6 Comments

Saturday, February 5, I journeyed to the Dillard Mill State Site located in Davisville, MO. The area was snow covered and the roads going to the mill weren’t in very good shape. There were a couple of times I got a little nervous.

The mill is located along the banks of the Huzzah Creek and is one of the state’s best-preserved gristmills. The mill was completed in 1908 and most of the machinery is still in intact and original to the building. The 132-acre site, even though privately owned, has been operated by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and was listed on the National Register of Historic places in 2015. The park is under a lease agreement with the L-A-D Foundation.

The first mill was built in 1853 and was known as the Wisdom Mill but unfortunately was destroyed by fire in 1895. A new mill was constructed in 1908 and was named the Mische Mill. The owners altered the course of the stream and used an underwater turbine in place of an old waterwheel. It operated until 1956. Then in 1975, when the state took over management of the site and it was given the name Dillard Mill. Restoration wasn’t completed until 1980.

The site offers its visitors opportunities to fish, hike, picnic or to revisit the past.

If you would like to purchase a print contact me at dwwhite1954@gmail.com. I offer prints as well as framed and matted.

Photography; an Art

/ doubledacres / 9 Comments
St Francis River near Fredericktown, MO

“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever…It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.”

Aaron Siskind

I remember the first time I saw Ansel Adams work. I was mesmerized by it. I couldn’t get it out of my mind. How could black and white pictures look so amazing? That’s when the photography bug bit me.

In today’s high-tech world, anyone can point and shoot. Novices use photography to record memories. Photography is an art from and a form of nonverbal communication. Good photographers are artists who tell a story through their photographs.

Historical St Joe Mine in Park Hills, MO.

Photography is more complex than just point and shoot. A good photographer is creative and understands composition and its elements. They are 1) light 2) color 3) contrast and tone, 4) line 5) form 6) pattern 7) balance 8) movement 9) positive and negative space 10) texture 11) camera position 12) focal length 13) shutter speed.

A good photographer has to be able to do more than point and shoot. For instance, lighting and color can completely change the mood of a photograph. Many photos are printed dark and brooding in an effort to impart dramatic or mysterious effects when it is better to match the tonalities and contrast level to match the desired mood rather than to a standard formula.

Historic St Joe Mine in Park Hills, MO.

For those photographers who want to improve their photography skills I highly recommend reading, “The Art of Photography” (A Personal Approach to Artistic Expression) written by Bruce Branbaum. He is an internationally recognized fine art photographer. His photographs are held in public and private collections worldwide and represented by photography galleries in the USA and Europe. He is an ardent environmentalist and in 1974 was awarded the Sierra Club’s Ansel Adams award for photography.

“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.”

Ansel Adams

Let the Healing Begin

/ doubledacres / 5 Comments
St. Francis River near Frederiktown River

“My scars remind me that I did indeed survive my deepest wounds. That in itself is an accomplishment. And they bring to mind something else, too. They remind me that the damage life has inflicted on me has, in many places, left me stronger and more resilient. What hurt me in the past has actually made me better equipped to face the present.”

Steve Goodier

At the moment, the world is in great need of lots of love and healing. Presently there is so much hate and discontent and it looks as if it is going to get worse before it gets better. Turmoil and confusion are the new norm. People are being controlled through fear, intimidation and misinformation. It has come to the point that one doesn’t know what to believe.

St. Francis River near Fredericktown, MO.

Pray, pray and pray some more. We are told that, “the truth shall set you free!” What is the truth? The whole truth and nothing but the truth. That’s a $64 question.

I don’t know what is in our future. We can’t give up or lose sight of what we believe in or our dreams. We have to be kind to each other even if we disagree with each other. Healing won’t start until we learn to love one another. I pray that we learn from all of this so that we will be stronger in the future.

St. Francis River near Fredericktown, MO

I chose the pictures I used because of the peace and solace it gives me. It is my safe place and my place for healing. The rocks represent me, and the river is life. Every day the rocks (me) get pounded by the river (life) and the rocks persevere. The river just takes the rough edges off the rocks.