Images From The Road-Final Chapter

Images From The Road-Final Chapter

by William Lulow

We have been on a successful trip image-wise since the last week in July. I have traced some of my steps from 50 years ago and remade some old pictures as well as added some new ones. I have published them here during our trip as well as added them to the website under the “Personal Work” page. Even though my main business is portraits and other corporate work, I love shooting landscapes wherever I go. As with any endeavor, it is important to study the work of those who have preceded you, and that’s what I have done all these, roughly 50 years since I started on my photographic career.

This image was made from the turnout on the road where Ansel Adams made his famous shot of the Snake River and the Teton Mountains in the background. Of course his image was made in 1942, so there were far less trees and they were considerably smaller, but you get the idea. I had to make this image vertical in order to get the detail of the mountain and the foreground with a slightly longer lens. I also wasn’t trying to replicate Adams’ famous image exactly:

It’s always a good exercise to emulate those experts who have gone before you because it gives you more appreciation for what they were able to do. Adams traveled the countryside with an International Harvester truck (what would now be called a large SUV) with a large platform on the roof on which he would set up his 8×10″ Deardorff view camera and his big tripod to hold the rig. My setup is much smaller because I don’t have to use 8×10″ film anymore. I once did many of these kinds of shots with my 4×5″ view camera, though. This image was made with my camera on a tripod. Exposure was f/16 at 1/15th of a second with ISO set at 250. I increased the ISO slightly (it would make little or no effect on the ultimate sharpness of the image), and slowed the shutter speed down so that I could gain extra depth-of-field with my aperture setting.

When I’m touring, as I have said, I carry extra lenses in special pouches that I can attach to my belt. That way, I don’t need a heavy camera bag and everything I need is easily carried. This is a special travel tripod that condenses down to 15″ and can be packed in my checked luggage. It opens up to a little over 5 feet and is sturdy enough to carry my Canon camera with up to a 135mm lens. It certainly would not have been enough for a view camera, but we don’t have that problem these days.

The other notable thing about this image was that it was made on a second visit to the same spot, only this time, the weather was perfectly clear, not a cloud in the sky. It makes me want actually to add some clouds, which I might do when I get back to my studio. The shot of me working was made the day before when there were some clouds. But, as you can see, the clouds obscured the tops of the mountains.

In order to get really first-rate images, you have to be able to be in the same place for a while, either coming back to places you have already been or actually waiting for light and other conditions to change. It all comes under the heading of “ACCESS.” You can’t get really great shots unless you are there! If you are a studio portrait photographer, like me, people will come to you and you will be able to exercise all your knowledge of lighting, pose, exposure, etc., in order to get really great portraits. If you are a sports photographer, you need to be right where the action is and possess the know-how and equipment necessary to capture that action. If you are a nature photographer or do landscapes, you need to be there when the light changes or the weather changes. These are things over which landscape shooters really have no control other than to keep revisiting the locations they want to capture.