Newsletter #122: September, 2015
© Chris Harris. All rights reserved.
Contents:
1. Riding and hiking in the Rainbow Volcano: to shoot a promotional video
2. A Photographers Paradise: in the mountains above Nuk Tessli
3. Workshop Images: proud to show participants’ work
4. Photographic Workshops for 2016
Hi everyone,
Welcome to my one hundred and twenty-second consecutive photographic Newsletter sharing adventures and the beauty of the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast.
This month I’m continuing to share amazing photographs made by some of my workshop students last month. Their creative vision never ceases to amaze me; I hope you enjoy studying their work and are inspired to create yourself, no matter what your craft happens to be.
I was also part of two photographic expeditions in the west Chilcotin last month; one to the Rainbow Mountains, and the other to the Charlotte Alplands. Below are a few images and stories from those two trips.
Our goal at the Chris Harris Gallery is to share the creative process. Please share this Newsletter with friends. I appreciate your interest and continued support for my work.
Chris
1. Riding and hiking in the Rainbow Volcano: to shoot a promotional video
This year, Rita and I, and friends Mike Duffy, and Mike Bernard, joined the whole Dorsey family of Rainbow Mountain Outfitters, and along with friends, the trip seemed like a giant family reunion. The trip was to facilitate Mike Bernard, who is a videographer, in capturing footage.
I have been travelling in the Rainbow Mountains with the Dorsey’s for over 20 years, so this was a special celebration of all our trips together, to shoot a promotional video. The video will combine moving and still imagery to promote Rainbow Mountain Outfitters, the Cariboo Chilcotin Coast region of central BC, and my new upcoming book which is scheduled for release in September, 2016.
pack train winds through the mountains
| Notes on composition: I searched out this composition while waiting for the pack train to catch up to me. I wanted the Coast Mountains in the background and I felt the lake would provide some contrast for the lead horse and rider. I made the image at 1/500 sec. at f-8. |
The above image represents one of many memorable visuals I have of being in the west Chilcotin mountains. A pack train travelling over a pass and through an alpine valley is as romantic as it gets for me, and it represents a lifestyle that is now in it’s fourth generation, and adapting to new experiences and clientele. I so appreciate every such trip I am on, and this was no exception.
evening campfire
| Notes on composition: Without orchestrating the entire image production, it is very challenging to make a successful composition of such a large number of people. By continuously changing my perspective and waiting for precise moments when people are naturally connected in conversation, I made this image. I made the exposure at 1/50sec at f-8. |
With pack horses carrying the heavy load, we are able to enjoy the luxury of an evening campfire meal with all the trimmings. When does camping get any better than this?
hiking
| Notes on composition: Hiking images are equally challenging to capture well. It requires continuously moving about to ensure no two hikers are merged together. I also try and time my exposure to capture as many hikers as possible with their legs separated. Otherwise they look like they are hiking on one leg! I did well on this image! I made the image at 1/250sec at f-10. |
The next day we are off to explore and photograph our promotional video.
Mike preparing to video using a drone
One of the new exciting technologies to appear on this trip was a GoPro video camera attached to a drone to shoot the hikers and horses as we travelled through the mountains. The great unknown was how the horses would react to the ‘never before heard of’ humming noise of the drone.
Mike and drone-take off
With the reign of every horse being held, just in case, Mike has lift-off. By the look on his face, he seems a little baffled that it actually works!
working well…higher it goes!
Another facial expression tells us “yep, it does work!”
high above the clouds
Finally, with pilot Mike Bernard at the controls, the drone flies off in all directions, shooting hikers and horses alike as we travel through the Rainbow Mountains.
In future newsletters I’ll take you to see some amazing sights that we filmed and photographed, including one discovery that has never been photographed before!
One day in the new year, I hope to show you the promotional video as well!
2. A Photographers Paradise: in the mountains above Nuk Tessli
On August 25th, Rita and I , along with Joan Summer (old high school friend of Rita’s) and her husband Renato Morro from Italy, took flight from Nimpo Lake to Wilderness Lake in the Charlotte Alplands.
Situated in the beautiful foothills of the Coast Mountains, we were headed to a pre-established base camp on Moonlight Lake, a few hundred metres and a short hike above Wilderness Lake.
Beaver about to take-off on Nimpo Lake
An inexpensive fifteen minute flight with Tweedsmuir Air was all it took to escape far beyond the reaches of civilization.
Doron Erel and son Sela of Nuk Tessli Wilderness Experiences had pre-established our base camp from where we would spend a few days, hiking and exploring. It was mostly a holiday experience, but for me, I was there to photograph. Moonlight Lake is one of my favorite base camps from which to photograph in the alpine. In front of our tents was Moonlight Glacier, while to the west were flowered alpine meadows; all beneath the breath taking view of 3,555 m (11,663 ft) Monarch Mountain.
our base camp
We arrived in the late afternoon to find our camp situated on a soft sandy bench; part of a barren moraine landscape. Within minutes of our tents, photographic opportunities abound.
sunset over Moonlight Lake
| Notes on composition: This is a panorama comprised of three images stitched together. I made this composition on a tripod at 1/6 sec. at f-8. |
At 8:23 pm I made this image within a hundred metres of my tent. It was one of the most intense sunsets I have ever photographed.
Moonlight Lake; 16 minutes later
| Notes on composition: On a tripod, I made this image at 3.2 sec’s at at f-8. Compositionally, I used the rock along the shoreline to anchor what would have been a large empty space on the right side of the image. |
At 8:39 pm I made this image a few metres away from where I made the previous image. A change in light had dramatically changed the mood of our little place in paradise.
As it turned out, this was the quiet before the storm. That night and the next day brought the wind and rain storm that swept across the province, leaving just under a million people without power!
I’ll share more imagery from Moonlight Lake in my next Newsletter!
3. Workshop Images: proud to show participants’ work
Here are 14 of the 28 images made by various workshop participants during three different workshops. They were among those submitted for evaluation on the final day of the three workshops. I randomly selected the 28 images based on diversity of subject, vision, and creative technique. I did not look at who made the images. If you missed the first 14, find them on my last month’s Newsletter.
Within the workshop format, most images were not processed for the evaluation session; we were most interested in vision, composition, and creative use of the tools at hand. Because of this, I took the liberty of doing some basic processing and re-sizing of each image. Enjoy, this is a celebration of vision; an interpretation of what participants saw and how they responded at a moment in time.
4. Photographic Workshops for 2016
Old Ford returns to the Earth
| Notes on composition: This was an old vehicle that was slowly returning to the earth. To further this narrative, I made a multiple exposure of the two subjects; the vehicle and the earth. The unconventional composition of placing the car in the upper right, was for artistic expression. |
We have already had several requests for next year’s workshop dates. This is exciting news for me, as I re-enter the world of teaching photography. Throughout the year, I so enjoyed sharing what I know about ‘expression’ through the making of photographic imagery.
There will be some exciting new workshops next year including a few surprises. The dates will be announced in my next newsletter; the October Newsletter.
I’m already looking forward to 2016!
Hi Chris,we really look forward to your newsletters. Have passed your site on to many friends. Your wonderful photo of the Royal Hudson hangs in my husbands office and so often his patients comment on the wonder of it and how,the great steam engine is missed.
Keep on doing your teaching. I have incorporated your thoughts into my oil paintings, as I have learned so much that I use in my art.
Keep well, my friend.
Arlene Hakstrom
Thank you for your kind words.Creating and sharing my art is a driving force…so nice when it is appreciated.