Gjerde Nature Photography

When in high school we were shown the movies Baraka and Samsara. These movies were extremely moving and I appreciated that they were both shot completely on film.  There is no narrative so the experience is completly dependent on visual and audio components.  I really like the integration of filming natural places, the human experience, and technological advancments. I also think that the films cover a lot of interesting social and environmental issues. Baraka Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSfFHxyYJJA Samsara Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCkEILshUyU

My favorite film photographer is Ansel Adams. I took film photography for two semesters in highschool and insantly fell in love with the process of taking film photographs. I've always enjoyed his nature photography and how they are used for preservation. He had also spoken out for environmental groups and participated in the Sierra Club. I like his style of exposures and his tendency to invoke emotions with his grandiose subjects. I've selected a few of my favorite photos of Adams.

For this photo I used a low f-stop to blur the background and keep the two plants in focus. I bumped up the vibrancy of the red leaves to grab the attention in the photo, I also decrease the green tone in the grass to give it a more warm tone.  For this photo I used a high ISO and wide apperature because it was getting dark out and i didnt want the clouds to blur behind the windmill. To edit I bumped up my exposure and contrast to define the clouds. I finished by eliminating the noise. For this photo I used a long exposure because the sun was already set behind the mountains in the distance. I wanted the majority of the photo to remain dark so I only allowed the exposure to capture colors in th sunset and lake reflection. I increased the vibrancy a bit to get the colors to where I wanted them. For this photo I used a wide apperature to catch the subject without any motion blur (high shutter speed), I also wanted to have a very shallow depth of field.