I remember reading one of Galen Rowell’s books on photography, one of the themes he consistently talked about was shooting during times of transition. Seasons, weather, light, and atmosphere are a few notable examples of elements I try to capture in transition. If you can combine more than one of those elements in transition together, the chance of capturing a spectacular moment increases. It really stuck with me, I think most of my best images are captured during rare transitional moments. A storm moving in, or out during sunset, or sunrise is hard to line up, but when you do the results can be spectacular. You can also get rained out and not see any good light, but the potential to see something spectacular is much higher while these things are in transition. The images below are good examples of capturing different elements in transition.
Breaking Dawn
This image was captured in Joshua Tree National Park late February this year. I was on a photo trip with good friends Sean Bagshaw and David Cobb. We got caught in a wet storm the day before, but the forecast was calling for clearing skies followed by clear blue cloudless skies for several days. I had always wanted to photograph the Cholla Garden in the park. With transitioning weather, light and the seasons all coinciding I thought our odds were pretty good to capture something special. The next morning, I was a little dismayed at first. The clouds weren’t lining up to catch the under lighting of the pre-dawn sunrise. We waited patiently and as the sun was rising above the horizon, it shone though the breaking storm clouds creating the spectacular light rays in the background as well as backlighting the needles creating the wonderful glow.
Keyhole Arch
When I was planning to photograph Keyhole Arch on the Oregon coast, I was trying to line up a transitioning tide, with transitioning weather as well as light. This session was challenging. The tide was coming in, a storm was clearing out, and the sun was setting. The next challenge was capturing a wave flowing over the rocks, another transitional element. Everything lined up and I was able to capture what I had envisioned in my head. This shot is all about transitions, it’s also a good example of how much planning goes into certain photographs.
Mt Hood Majesty
I attempted this photo several times, but was never able to capture the light and conditions I had in mind. This is a popular backcountry ski spot and Mt Hood generally isn’t the coldest mountain, I could never time a weather window with good light and pristine snow. Finally, I decided to do it right. I watched the forecast for a cold winter storm followed by a window of clear weather. I finally saw a weather window that looked promising and decided to go for it. I packed up my winter camping gear, and set off at 3am from my house in Portland. I started hiking in the dark in the middle of a winter storm. It took me 7 hours to snowshoe up to this ridge because of all the fresh cold powder snow that had fallen. Long story short, I spent 4 days in my tent on the ridge hoping to capture the pristine snow in good light. On the last night of my camping trip the storm started clearing up, but not in time for sunset. The next morning I was up really early and was treated to the most incredible morning of photography of my life. The landscape was completely covered in a pristine layer of deep, cold powder, the air was crystal clear, and there wasn’t even a breath of wind. The mountain that had been hidden behind the storm the whole trip was revealed in spectacular fashion as the sun rose. All my hard work and planning payed off and I was able to capture a very rare moment.
Gothic Peak
This image of Gothic Peak near Crested Butte Colorado is another great example of capturing multiple elements in transition. Sean Bagshaw and I found this location during our trip to Colorado a few years ago. The Fall color was exceptional, but we knew the scene would be even more incredible if we could line up the fall color with the first snow of the season. A few days later, while we were in another part of the state, we saw a snow storm would be moving in and quickly back out. We packed up and made the drive back to Crested Butte. We hiked up to this location in the pitch black, frozen snow. We arrived on the ridge well before sunrise. It was extremely cold on the exposed ridge, but the sun was rising and we could see our prediction was materializing. The fall color was at it’s peak and the storm had left a pristine layer of snow. It’s pretty rare to be able to line up conditions like this, Sean and I felt privileged that we were able to witness and capture this rare moment of elements in transition.
Location: Bend, OR
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Zack is an award winning photographer specializing in fine art landscape photography and post processing. “Art is in my blood. My father is a well known poster artist and painter. My mom was a painter, and print maker and my brother is an art director at Facebook. Art is a way of life for my family, and I will hopefully pass it on to my children as well.”
“The love of nature is also something that my family and I are passionate about. I’ve been hiking, biking, rock climbing and backpacking since I was little. From an early age, I learned to appreciate the beauty in nature.”
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