Random Thoughts

A Turning Point: My Return to Photography (2008) /  by Todd Henson

A simple tulip blossom, the photo that brought me back to photography

For almost as long as I can remember I’ve had at least some interest in photography. Granted, for most of my childhood I was only interested in creating snapshots of life, of friends and family, and of places we visited. I don’t think I looked at photography as anything more during those years.

At some point I started taking photography a little more seriously. Neither of my parents were photographers but my father did have a Pentax SLR and he taught me to use it. My interest was strong enough that I saved up my allowance until I could afford my first SLR, a Nikon N2000. That’s when I began looking through photography magazines, reading how-to photography books, experimenting, trying to create artwork, and keeping notebooks of what settings I’d used with which images. This was the days of film so if you wanted to know your settings you needed to keep track of them yourself.

But as sometimes happens with youthful pursuits, I eventually lost interest. Well, I’m not so sure I actually lost interest. But developing all that film was getting expensive for me and I needed to focus elsewhere, like school. So I went through a long dry spell as far as photography was concerned, and that lasted well into adulthood.

Then came 2007 - 2008. A couple folks at work began talking about cameras, and about these great new DSLRs they’d just purchased or were considering. And this began reawakening that interest from my youth. But these new DSLRs were expensive. Was it really worth spending that kind of money if I didn’t know if I was serious enough to warrant the expense? Well, I was fortunate in that regard. One of my friends at work gave me their old digital camera, a Nikon Coolpix E5700. This camera had a raw image format, providing me the opportunity to learn the power of working with these formats versus the more common JPEG format. So I started looking for subjects. Given my interest in nature that’s where I started. But I also visited museums and other locations. I was having a great time, but how would I know if all this was leading anywhere? Was it worth spending the big bucks on a DSLR?

April 20th of 2008 answered my question for me. That’s when I made the photo above, of a single tulip blossom after a recent rain. I was over at my folks and saw this tulip out front of their house. Something drew me to it. I composed the image and snapped the shutter. From the first time I saw that image on the camera’s LCD panel I knew I was hooked, that there was no turning back. Something about this photo captured my attention and stoked the flames, leading me back to the photographic path on a journey I hope to continue for many years to come.

That’s how I returned to photography. And I’m so glad I did.

Do you have any similar stories, either related to photography or any other art form you pursue? Let me know in the comments below.

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A Canopy in Green /  by Todd Henson

A Canopy in Green

I’ve mentioned before how I enjoy pausing to look up when hiking through the woods and today’s photograph is another example of why this is. There’s so much beauty out there and some of it is directly above us. In this case we’re looking up into the green canopy of what I believe to be a black walnut tree along the trails of Caledon State Park in Virginia. I just love all the shades of green, and the patterns of the branches and leaves. I get lost in these scenes and can only hope the photo might affect you similarly.

Exposure is always a challenge with this sort of photograph when making a single frame. There’s a large dynamic range and trying to show details in the shadows without blowing out highlights is not always easy or possible, though I feel this photograph is a nice balance between the two. And thank you, Alex, for our talks of glowing greens. I believe this photograph benefited from them.

I encourage you to look up once in a while when out hiking, whether out in the woods or even in the city. You never know when what’s above you might be just as interesting as what’s below.

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Sometimes a Tree Fascinates Me /  by Todd Henson

The more time we spend around trees the more opportunities we have to see something interesting. Trees are like people. As much as any two of them may at first look alike, each one is different and unique, and the more time we spend around them the easier it’ll be to see and appreciate these differences. Today, though, I’m not thinking so much of those subtle differences you really have to look for, but instead I’m thinking about those trees that immediately stand out as different.

How did it grow this way?

The tree in the photo above is an example. How did it grow this way? It’s almost as if it were intentionally growing into a large bench for tired and adventurous hikers to rest on. Was there perhaps something below it when it first started growing, and now whatever that was is gone leaving this unusual horizontal growth and a second trunk growing vertically from it? And look at that little knee joint at the corner. I do like how you can see some of the large roots growing out below the second trunk seemingly to give more support and balance. This is a good sized tree so there’s a lot of weight in the second trunk.

Creekside tree

I’m often drawn to trees that grow along the bank of a creek. Frequently, you can see more of the root system and sometimes the trunks will grow in different ways. In the case of the tree above it’s not all that strange or unusual but I still find myself drawn to it, along with the fallen tree resting horizontally above the water.

Coming together

In the photo above we see two trunks coming back together, fuzed into one another. I didn’t think to photograph the tree at ground level to see if perhaps it’s a single tree that splits into multiple trunks. Either way, though, I found it interesting how one trunk branches out and then somehow attaches itself to and merges with another trunk.

The Troll

And I’ll leave it up to you to determine what you see, if anything, in the photo above. Trees often develop growths and sometimes they take on shapes that resemble other things, similar to clouds or rock formations. I don’t currently know what causes these growths. My guess would be they are similar to cancer in humans, but I’ve yet to do any research on the topic. If you happen to know please comment below.

So all these examples are my long-winded way of saying, sometimes a tree fascinates me. 😀

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