Figure 1 – October on the marsh, Maynard, MA. (c) DE Wolf 2016.

October foliage time has always seemed to be a time for color photography. And this is even more true than ever in an age of digital photography, when you can get just the color, hue, and saturation that you want. But as the unstoppable progression towards winter progresses, the light in the forest opens up and has this wonderful way of illuminating the woods. And this is especially the case when forest meets water.

I find myself drawn more and more back towards black and white. I say back because that was my beginning – a first love. So now as October draws to a close, I find myself rejoicing in subjects like that of Figure 1, where the whole effect lies in form, structure, lines, reflections, and, of course, the wonderful “range of light” as Ansel Adams called it.

And I have to say that I only rarely resort to an increase in contrast either by cranking up a photograph’s contrast or by changing its gamma with “curves.” All of that tends to squash the dynamic range, I guess by definition, and that is the glory of black and white photography.

But here is the important part. There is the experience of seeing a landscape and being part of it. In the same manner you may experience a photograph of a landscape. With a good photograph, when you see it, you experience that as well. But there is something truly extraordinary in seeing a landscape, envisioning it as a photograph, and then accomplishing that goal. It is the act of photographing, It is the meaning of being a photographer,

Canon T2i with EF70-200mm f/4L USM lens at 87 mm, ISO 1600, Aperture Priority AE Mode, 1/1250th sec at f/7.1 with no exposure compensation.