Techniques | Russ Bishop Photography | Nature Photo Blog

October 26, 2018December 15, 2020

Mountain Solitaire

Backcountry skier under Piute Pass, John Muir Wilderness, California

Backcountry skiing opens up a whole new world of travel, sport and photographic possibilities. Locations in my local Sierra Nevada Mountains, which are crowded and require permits long in advance during the rest of the year, are quiet and often untouched during the winter months.

Temperatures can drop to -20 degrees Fahrenheit so proper equipment is a must (think REI and Patagonia), but the reward is experiencing your own private ski bowls and perfect mountain landscapes just waiting to be photographed.

This image was made in the John Muir Wilderness where a fresh blanket of snow provided a pristine scene to rival the Alps or Canadian Rockies. It’s hard to imagine that just two months earlier this location was bustling with visitors chasing the fall colors, but on this three day trip we didn’t see another soul.

For those looking to experience the Sierra in the winter months, but who aren’t prepared with overnight gear, several businesses in the towns of Bishop and Mammoth Lakes offer day trips and overnight hut arrangements. Either way, there’s a beautiful untouched world out there just waiting to be explored.

January 18, 2018September 4, 2020

The Emotion of Motion

There’s something fascinating about visual movement that stirs our souls and creates a visceral response. I’m not referring to the exhilaration of skydiving or skiing down a mountain, but the more subtle visual connections we make while witnessing a dance performed on a stage, watching clouds race across a desert sky, or simply viewing a photograph of a silky waterfall frozen in time.

As photographers we have the privilege of stopping time or even slowing it down just long enough to give our viewers a glimpse of a world that can never be seen with our own eyes. We can illustrate a repetitive process over time such as a series of waves washing upon a shore, or create an abstract vision of color and form that has no resemblance to the natural world.

At these moments, there is a bond that occurs between subject and viewer that’s hard to put into words. Perhaps it’s our secret desire to slow the inevitable march of time or just a sense of voyeurism at seeing something beautiful that we know we shouldn’t be able to. I like to think of it as the emotion of motion.

August 3, 2017August 3, 2017

Soft Water

Lower Calf Creek Falls, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah

Shooting water in all its endless variety is one of the creative pleasures of nature photography. From drops of dew reflecting a crisp autumn morning to the power of cascading falls frozen in time, the camera allows many unique perspectives of our most abundant resource that are seldom seen in a passing glance.

A polarizing filter is a favorite tool for photographing water as it slows exposure and increases contrast, both of which serve to enhance the emotional response to a scene. While some may say this is altering reality, it’s good to remember that art is more about personal expression than documentation.

“Most creative photographs are departures from reality and it seems to take a higher order of craft to make this departure than to simulate reality.” ~Ansel Adams

This image of Calf Creek Falls in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument was made on an overcast day with a long exposure of 20 seconds. The cloudy sky diffused the harsh mid-day light and saturated the colors of the moss covered rock, while the slow shutter speed gave the falls a silky look.