Delaware Water Gap

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Anyone raised in the spirit of traditional landscape photography has been schooled with the idea that the best time to get a great landscape image is early in the morning or late afternoon. The low light on the horizon is often referred to as “Magic Light” because of its color beauty.

Now take our brothers-in-arms, the landscape painters, who often work at midday when the sun is usually its harshest. I’ve found a lot of these paintings very compelling because the light is so powerful. There is a rhythm to the light that dramatically changes throughout the day. Anyone recording the landscape, be it with a lens or paint brush, needs to be sensitive to the opportunity that this change brings.

This is the Delaware Water Gap, which is framed by two mountains, Minsi on the Pennsylvania side and Tammany on the New Jersey side. The image was made on top of Mt. Tammany. The conditions were terrible. It was midday with a very thick atmospheric haze. My first thought on reaching this overlook was “I dragged heavy camera gear up this mountain for nothing.” After I stared at the scene for a while it became obvious that some great stuff was going on as the sun created a sharp definition on the rocks in the foreground and on Mt Minsi across the river. The haze also added to the feeling as well as the heavy shadow on the right.

The landscape changes from hour to hour, day to day and season to season. It sometimes presents a beautiful scene at times we would not expect. For those of you who have been to the Delaware Water Gap, you know that I-80 and other roads that run along the river mar this beautiful spot. Just as one needs to be sensitive to the light, the camera angle is also important to not only define perspective, but to hide that which doesn’t compliment the scene.

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