An Eye To The Sky

You wander around faced with an abundance of wonderful subjects, good access, and unusual wildlife so taking pretty pictures happens as long as you've got a modicum of focus and some basic skills.  However, making a good image with something to say is another thing entirely.  Finding the moment in the passing minutes is often like dipping your cup into a rushing river to find one particular drop of water.  Sometimes it happens because you are watching intently and with great purpose, sometimes it happens by accident.  

I took probably 15 images of this White-Naped Crane at the Seattle Zoo but there was one, this one, that seemed to have something to say.  His neck arches gracefully against the blurred green background, light and shadow play agains the curve of his neck, his eye seems to be searching for something lost, something that he once knew.  It's really all about patience, capturing this moment meant waiting beside the  crane exhibit until this bird showed me who he was.

-Russell Berg

www.seeingberg.com

Port Window

A stark and lonely parking garage looking over the port in Portland. Canon EOS 7D EF-S 17-85mm at 70mm f/5.6 1/500 ISO 100

I walked into this parking garage in Tacoma because the walls were coved with graffiti and I love photographing graffiti. I spent about 40 minutes photographing the art and talking with and filming the artist who was painting there. As I was about to leave I looked up towards the back wall and for the first time I noticed the very interesting way that the screen covered window was framing the loading cranes in the port of Portland. When you are focused on photographing a certain subject you may miss some other pretty remarkable images. It wasn't until I allowed my eyes to adjust to the brightness of the outdoor light that I saw the potential in the image. I exposed for the blue sky, throwing the walls and floor of the garage into darkness, creating a very interesting, urban frame for the image. I increased the contrast of the image to bring up the reflective portions of the floor. Without the black portions of the photograph this is a very boring image, with them we introduce some drama and a stronger sense of place.

-Russell Berg