Newsletter No. 79: February 2012
© Chris Harris. All rights reserved.
CONTENTS
- Exciting News: Join me for a Photo Tour/Workshop this summer
- Disappointing News: Our new website is not ready yet
- Getting there is Half the Fun: Not Recommended!
- Directional Light: A Photographer’s Dream – Part I
- Directional Light: A Photographer’s Dream – Part II
1. Exciting News: Photo Tour/Workshop this Summer
For the landscape photographer, you will create images few Canadians have ever seen.
The Ultimate Photographic Tour & Workshop along The Mighty Fraser River by River Boat A Photographic & Cultural Adventure with Photographer Chris Harris & River Guide Douglas Green
I am extremely excited to once again be leading a photographic tour and workshop. I am also extremely excited to be facilitating this trip with Douglas Green of the Tsilhqot’in (Chilcotin) Nation. Together, we feel we can offer a cultural and artistic experience of the highest value, in a remote and mostly inaccessible area of staggering beauty and biodiversity.
We are both so excited to be leading this trip together for three main reasons:
- Firstly, the landscape that we will travel through is sacred to both of us because of its beauty and cultural history.
- Secondly, we both love to share our passions; teaching photography and imparting native traditions.
- Thirdly, we want others to appreciate the value of Beauty, the value of Biodiversity, the value of unaltered landscapes, and the value of Canadian heritage. This part of the mighty Fraser River is a ‘world class’ destination and Doug and I would love to share it with you.
We will travel with only ten people, to maximize everyone’s experience. We hope you can join us.
The Trip: Explore – Photograph – Experience
The story of the Fraser River is the story of the birth of the land we now call British Columbia. Long before the Europeans came west, lured by tales of the wealth of fish, glass and gold carried by this river; long before the volcanoes subsided and the ice melted; no river flowed south to the Salish Sea.
As we travel the river we will see her story unfold in the landscape around us. We will travel through the breaching of the lava dams and the melting of the last glaciers that allowed the meltwater to reverse its path down through the Fraser Fault.
We will see the great erosion that carried the alluvial gravel down to the ocean bottom. We will trace the trail of the salmon as they were swept from their ice age refuges to begin the great migratory pattern that brought people, the oldest stories say ‘back’ north, following the abundance of food carried in this river, the great arterial life-blood of this land.
Today, as for the last 5,000 years, the Fraser River sustains, shelters and nurtures it’s people. Bear, cougar, big horn sheep, deer, coyote, untold numbers of hawks, eagles and migratory birds, also rely on the wealth of salmon born in this river.
These are only some of the sights, sounds and adventures we will experience and photograph within the canyon walls and adjacent rolling grasslands of the Fraser River.
Douglas Green, of the Tsilhqot’in (Chilcotin) Nation, will share stories and his history as he takes us to pre-contact village sites, petroglyphs, and pictographs. He will also demonstrate dip-net fishing for salmon, and share the feast in traditional fashion. Few people have seen or experienced what Douglas will share with us.
Chris, who has photographed and published 11 books on this region, will help you to see with new eyes. By becoming more aware of the elements of composition, the very structure of every image, you will develop a personal style and return home with a unique story of a distinctive land.
Together, they present this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore, experience, and photograph on one of the world’s great wild, free-running rivers; with an itinerary designed for photography.
We travel in river boats designed for this purpose, with Hamilton jet propulsion engines. Because we are traveling down stream our movement is mostly powered by the river; the boat engine offers safety, more speed when needed, and manoeuvrability. The boats are shallow draft, quiet, light and roomy with covered cabin and comfortable seating. They provide low-impact transportation and leave wilderness water undisturbed. Doug has 20 years of river experience and is the owner/operator of Cariboo Chilcotin Jetboat Adventures.
To ensure a quality experience, enrolment is limited to ten participants.
To Book this Trip
This is a brand-new concept and booking details will be available on Doug’s and our new website soon.
Spaces are very limited so we are giving our Newsletter subscribers the early chance to send early expressions of interest.
When you send an expression of interest we will send you a PDF with full trip details – the five-day itinerary, photographic information, etc. – and follow up from there. Contact us here at the office by March 15th and we will hold your place until a confirmation date of April 15th.
Email: photography@chrisharris.com
Tel: 1-800-946-6622
Trip dates: August 25-29, 2012 & August 24-28, 2013
Cost: $4295.00 Cdn. (incl. all taxes)
Cost includes
- transfers from Williams Lake to Soda Creek where trip begins
- all meals on the river/guides/instructor services
- river safety equipment and lounge chairs
- transfers from Lillooet where the trip ends back to Williams Lake
2. Disappointing News: Our new website is not ready yet.
Once again our dreams and expectations have exceeded capacity. However, we are working with the brightest and best technology resource people and are excited about what we see shaping up. We thank you for your continued patience.
3. Getting there is Half the Fun: Not Recommended!
On a lighter note, I thought I would share three images I made this winter while driving to different photographic destinations. Now I know I am not permitted to drive and use a smart phone; but a camera? I never thought of my camera as a ‘hand-held device’ but….hmmmmm…on second thought…I guess it is. OK. I promise not to do this again!
Highway 97; Dec.3rd, 7:46am © Chris Harris |
Photographer’s notes: With the choice of camera settings predetermined, it was all about composition. A large semi-trailer had just passed me. I knew from experience that the early morning darkness would provide a blue cast so the red tail lights would be perfect. I waited for a telephone pole to provide balance with the left of centre truck. Getting the trees on the right was pure luck. Looking at the image now, I realize how important those trees are, for the telephone pole alone would not have been sufficient. Canon EOS 50D, iso 800; f-4.5; 1/13 sec; at 92mm. |
I prefer to photograph when someone else is driving but today I was by myself. It was still dark so I cranked up the ISO to 800 and shot wide open at f4.5. I used manual focus at infinity. I merely raised the camera and made the image. The exciting part was the experimentation, as I had no idea how successful the image would be. The challenging part is choosing the exact moment when to click the shutter. I still wanted to make a good composition. I just love the colour that the pre-dawn winter morning gave to me.
Highway 97; Jan. 28th, 9:11am © Chris Harris |
Photographer’s notes: Once again, with camera settings predetermined, I only had to think of composition. The curving road and telephone poles lead our eyes off into the distance through the picture space. Luck once again played a major role here, The two clumps of forest on either side of the highway are critically important to this composition. Canon EOS-1Ds Mk.III, iso 800; f-8; 1/200 sec; 24-105mm lens. |
It had snowed all night and the highway was in terrible condition. With not a snow plough in sight, there was little traffic. This time I included a sliver of the truck’s hood to provide that sense of being behind the wheel. I know this road well, so I waited for this location where the highway had a sweeping left turn. This provided a line that would lead our eye well into the photograph. What a difference in colour from the previous photograph.
Meadow Lake Road; Feb.1st, 9:06am © Chris Harris |
Photographer’s notes: Always have your camera beside you, turned on, and with appropriate settings to capture action. I usually have my camera set at ISO 400 (or 800 if it’s dark) with a shutter speed fast enough to capture wildlife. You ‘d think by reading this, that I would never be without my camera at the ready. Well, if the truth be known, I have missed some amazing wildlife images while driving over the years. It’s a lesson I keep having to re-learn! Canon EOS-1Ds Mk.III, iso 200; f-10; 1/125 sec; 24-105mm lens. |
OK, I’m not breaking the law this time! I had just come around a corner when I saw these horses on the road. Not driving fast (good photographers never drive fast), I was able to stop, grab my camera, and make this image through the windshield. What is important here is always having your camera sitting in the passenger seat (like a best friend), turned on with predetermined settings, ready for action. A few seconds later, the horse on the right had moved off the road and the story of this image was gone.
4. Directional Light: A Photographer’s Dream – Part I
Late Afternoon Light on a Fraser River Sandbar © Chris Harris |
Photographer’s notes: Side lighting will emphasize texture, shape and pattern. By careful placement of my camera and tripod, the dynamic diagonal line created a sense of dimension and depth. The resulting two large triangles of shadow provide stability to the entire picture space. Canon EOS-1Ds Mk.III, iso 100; f-16; 1/10 sec; 24-105mm lens at 75mm; tripod. |
Directional light is wonderful for composing photographs with lots of contrast or where shadows play a significant role. In this instance, the late afternoon side lighting provided a little warmth and considerable texture. One gets the feeling the sand was sculpted, revealing contours and pattern.
The challenge here was to actually see those tiny highlights within the larger landscape. I always try and train my eyes to recognize any area of contrast. Wherever I see light and shadow, I look very closely for meaningful compositions.
Late Afternoon Light on a Fraser River Sandbar © Chris Harris |
Photographer’s notes: In this instance, I used the diagonal lines of the river along with the lines of tonal and colour contrast to take our eye through the image from right to left. Canon EOS-1Ds Mk.III, iso 200; f-16; 1/50 sec; 24-105mm lens at 32mm; tripod. |
When driving home across the Gang Ranch bridge, the warmth of late afternoon directional light lit up the canyon grasslands above the Fraser River. Tonal and colour contrast provided me with the opportunity to make one last memorable photograph on what was a very memorable day.
5. Directional Light: A Photographer’s Dream – Part II
Late Afternoon Light – Lillooet Glacier – Coast Mountains © Chris Harris |
Photographer’s notes: The sun had just come out. Trying to avoid reflections from shooting through the helicopters Plexiglas window, I searched for areas of high contrast and made images as fast as I could check my camera settings. Within a few minutes, we were over the pass and the strong directional light was gone. When that intense period of shooting was over, I had no idea what I had photographed. The excitement and concentration left me with a huge blank. Only back home and processing imagery did I realize what I had captured. This image was one of my favourites. If your monitor is calibrated correctly, you will notice a beautiful shade of ice blue (lower left) revealing itself within an almost black and white image. Canon EOS 50D, iso 800; f-11; 1/3200 sec; 70-200mm lens at 105mm. |
Two weeks ago at a local memorial get together, I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting Brian Allen, a helicopter pilot from Whistler. As well as flying a lot of photographers on assignment in the Whistler area, Brian is a keen photographer himself. To make a long story short, last week Brian flew me in his Robinson 44 helicopter from Whistler north over the Lillooet Glacier to Chilko Lake. It was a flight of a life-time.
The plan was to fly to spectacular Chilko Lake, take the door off, and then fly in the afternoon light. I had images dancing in my head! As it turned out, the day was overcast, the light flat, and we never got to take the door off.
Miraculously on the way home, however, a band of blue sky allowed a stream of light to reach us, just as we were flying over the highest peaks. As deep shadows began to appear, I went to work in earnest, shooting with both my camera bodies as fast as I could find compositions. The images above and below are examples of how I used directional light to capture texture, line, shape, and pattern. It was a flight of a lifetime. Thank you Brian.
Late Afternoon Light – Lillooet Glacier – Coast Mountains © Chris Harris |
Photographer’s notes: This image was another wonderful surprise. The texture in the snow, the repetition of form, and the diagonal direction of the lines generates a powerful image. If those lines had been horizontal, the image would have lost its power. The photographer decides on the direction of those lines by the slightest rotation of the camera when shooting. Canon EOS 50D, iso 800; f-13; 1/1250 sec; 70-200mm lens at 135mm. |