10 Best Images from Environmental Photography Spring 2012

This first post to my Photographic Journey Blog is my final project for my Environmental and Landscape Photography Class for NOVA. The following are my 10 best images shot for this class throughout the semester (Spring 2012):

ISO 200, f/6.3, WB: Daylight

ISO 200, f/5, WB: Daylight

Above are my two best shots from an assignment where we were told to shoot with the inspiration of Elliot Porter.  In both of these images, I departed somewhat from what I thought Elliot Porter might photograph. In the first image that is so because Porter rarely included man-made elements in his images, and the path is obviously man-made. In the second, it is a departure because Porter rarely shot images from unusual angles; generally he shot from the angle from which you would normally view a subject. Never-the-less, I feel these are my best shots from that group of images. The focus leaves something to be desired in both, esp the second image, but I like the light in both, and how that early morning light plays against the fog in the air.

f/4.5, ISO 100

focal length 55mm, f/10, ISO 400

 Above are some shots I took outside the NOVA Alexandria campus as a make-up for missing the cherry blossom field trip in DC. With an f/4.5 on the first cherry blossom shot, I was able to blur out the obvious subject, which would be the people walking by, and isolate and accentuate focus on what frames the picture, which is the cherry blossoms, my real subject.

Below, are images from my most fruitful shoot of the season, the field trip to Scott's Run. The warmth of the early morning sunlight was magical and amazing, and made for some of my favorite shots of the semester.

Look closely: I captured a fairy! focal length 18mm, ISO 800, f/8, 1/100 exposure

f/8, ISO 800, 1/10

I feel the shallow depth of field in my flower images above really helps to accentuate the idea that the sun is shining just for this flower. However, i found out later that this is a mustard plant and is invasive. Still, I like the play of the light in the images, and the solar flares I got from the sun shooting across my lens.

33mm, 1/160, f/13, ISO 400

 The rocks below are so jagged and intense, and contrast so sharply with the smooth swaying lines of the tree branches, however they work well together in the fact that the tree on the left is leaning at an angle congruent with the rocks' angles. 

focal length 18mm, f/8, 1/80, ISO 400

focal length 42mm, f/5, ISO 800

 The fern above is my most intimate shot of the semester, with the hairs of the tendril outlined boldly against the dark background.

20mm, 1/80, f/8, ISO 400

 I wanted to end this group with a look to the sky; for hope for the future in the new green leaves, and aiming for distant goals with the trees striving to reach upward.