Artist Lake

Sunset over Eagle Cap peak, Wallowa Mountains, Oregon. This image really dosen't do justice to this place, allthough I like it very much. I missed wildflower season here by a mile, but the lakeshore is absolutely covered with them at peak season. It's a long backcountry hike to get here, and off trail some of the way, more than 10 miles one direction. I might have prefered a different composition further to my right, but I got a bit too focused on including the stream in rapidly fleeting light. "Artist Lake", as I named it years ago, is without a doubt the most photogenic mountain lake in the NW that I have ever seen, when in season, complete with extremely dense flowers, waterfalls, and the most striking reflection in the whole range. I'll surely be back again another year. Thanks for commenting.

5D, 17-40 at 17mm, 3-stop GND, 6 seconds at F14.

Wow, gorgeous Marc! Fantastic comp, color, and light.

I think it's a great comp Marc! The bottom FG seems a tad dark to me though. Your image does more justice to this place than the ones I have captured there. And you are right about Eagle Cap. It is beautiful without a doubt. I have only been there once camping at Mirror Lake about 3 years ago, but really want to get back. Maybe next summer...

Beautiful shot. I think the compo and colors are great. Seems to be a little halo over the mountain, which is probably from the setting sun, but I think the heavy GND at the very top of the frame emphasizes that halo.

is this mirror lake then ?

This is not Mirror Lake. Mirror lake's view and reflection isn't really a favorite of mine. This on top of the cliffs to the South of Mirror Lake, off trail. You guys are lucky I tell you this stuff

Darren, you're right about the halo. I'll fix it. I liked the darkening at top because of the interest below, but maybe less of it would be better.

Great image Marc - I especially like the ones of yours with the water detail/flow as part of the foreground element..

Ned, you like the ones with water in the foreground? I'm shocked!

Gorgeous and I certainly remember some previous shot with the wildlfowers which were even more spectacular

Another beauty, Marc. Surprising how much a few little yellow flowers can add to an image.

Actually, this image is very stark in comparison to the shimmering beauty I've seen in some picturesof the area before, which makes me like it for the unique-mood conveyance. It has the Adamus touch to it: light and alpine elements wielded to produce a strong effect. I almost with there was more water in the creek, or that the current water level was emphasized more; it's tough to really pick up the sense of motion while just casually looking at the foreground.

I've seen previous work from your film days from the same area that depicted the lighter-almost majestic level of beauty the lake holds-- an array of wildflowers encircling a reflective lake at sunset. For some reason, you removed these along with some of your other velvia scans I enjoyed quite a bit?

Trevor, you are correct. I have a number of slides depicting this area from years ago in much different light/mood. But I didn't capture it then as I wanted to and I still haven't done so. There is so much potential here in this little place it's almost indescribable. I have removed some images from the Velvia days posted on my site due to the vastly superior quality of the digital image and my personal preference to display only my most publishable/printable images, particularly when I have so many similar mountain/lake/wildflower shots. Unfortunately, the interest in 35mm landscape photography is rapidly disappearing and is increasingly rejected. Still, those past images mean a lot to me personally.

Hi Marc,

Ditto on everything above, and all I have to say about your pic is, SOMEDAY, MAN, I HOPE TO DO THAT!

I have a "Q" though. You're noticiing that 35 mm shots are being rejected? Is it b/c they're not "good" enough? Does it matter if its a scanned slide or a digital image??? And who is rejecting them, paying customers or stock photo companies?

Thanks for the info,

Kevin

in my experience paying customers usually don't know the difference, nor do anyone but photographers or photo editors. i've had no real issues printing 35mm images, at larger sizes, they degrade much more gracefully than digital images.

content is what matters. i have a good friend who has a top selling image taken with a 110

Wonderful photograph Marc. That is a beautiful area up there..

To answer a few questions, I recently had a major calendar company whom I signed on with specificly reject all my 35mm images - not uncommon in the calendar industry, but they were "flabbergasted" with the detail available from my digital files and eager to use them. We printed 10,000 calendars using the digital files. Stock agencies and most publications will still readily accept 35mm. Print customers are usually happy with enlargments up to about 16x24 from 35mm film, but there is absolutely no comparison between those images and a properly sharpened/processed print from my 5D files, which exceed even medium format film for detail. I disagree that the film image "degrades more gracefully". Grain is a problem with small film and the digital file is very clean, meaning you can go much bigger at lower DPI. You can do a 22mp scan from 35mm, print it to 20x30 and take a digital file that is only half that size, 11mp, and print it the same size. Again, no comparison. The digital file is far cleaner and sharper. The key is having very clean files to print from. I've printed to 40x60 from a digital file with good results. I do agree content is the bottom line though. My all-time top seller print is 35mm.

I'm going to take a stab at your top seller. I guess it is either temple of the clouds or your old sunburst shot with the ice/snow in the foreground from the southwest.

The top seller is "Ocean's Fury".

Ah, I probably would have guessed that, but I was assuming that was a digital shot. Now that you mention it, I do vaguely recall reading that you shot a couple rolls of film on that composition in hopes to nail the wave action perfectly.

Great shot, Marc. I like the way the sunset colors are captured in the creek as well. I'm going to have to make it out to the Wallowas one day. My family lives out in Walla Walla, so I really don't have much of an excuse. There's just so much Oregon and so little time!