Fighting weather and Challenging Shooting Conditions
Tracy Arm Wilderness #4 by Richard Lewis 2014
Tracy Arm Wilderness 6 by Richard Lewis 2014
Tracy Arm Wilderness 8 by Richard Lewis 2014
Tracy Arm Wilderness #3 by Richard Lewis 2014
Of all the places we visited in Alaska, the Tracy Arm Wilderness was probably the most beautiful. Unfortunately, it rained the entire time we were there. While it is not fun to shoot in the rain, the upside was that Tracy Arm looked like a fantasy landscape with mist and hundreds of waterfalls. You can see them spilling down the mountains in the images above.
With rain comes the need to keep the camera dry and functional as well as cleaning the front of the lens frequently to keep water droplets from accumulating. While fighting the rain was one thing, the real challenge was shooting landscapes from the ship we were traveling on. The entire time we spent in Tracy Arm was in motion, either on a moving ship or skiff. This was an exercise in what I call “High ISO Creative Aerobics.” It involved hand-holding the camera and composing quickly before the ship moved past the ideal shooting spot. A tripod would have slowed me down. This type of photography really raises one’s creative heart rate.
This was an exercise in learning to work quickly and methodically to get photographs that define a place. I liken it to adapting the instincts of a sports photographer to landscape photography. I didn’t know if I’d be back there again, so I needed to be sure that when we sailed out of the Tracy Arm Wilderness I had well-composed and technically correct photographs that met my creative vision.
Click here to see another photograph of the Tracy Arm Wilderness from a previous post
Enjoy
Stunning captures! Bravo!
Thank you!
Another wonderful set of images. Sure looks like the ‘bad weather’ paid off and I’m glad to hear and see it did not hamper your creative spirit!
It was a challenge but the beauty of this place was just way to amazing to not photograph
Big smile here… had to do the same in Iceland…. rain and from a moving boat, a challenge indeed. The motion was a lil easier to deal with but only because a month earlier I had shot from a small skiff in and around NYC harbor. Rain… the blowing in your face kind was not one of my favs. I tell people all the time, “its the different times and environments that we choose to shoot in that push us”. I believe that is why you Rich, as a creative photographer, can constantly push your craft…. and we as the audience can greatly benefit!!!!!!
I’m glad I made you smile. It is amazing how we can rise to the challenges of the environments we shoot in. Weather often ends up providing much more dramatic photographs so it makes those challenges worth it. I guess Alaska will be my training ground for our trip to Iceland.