This is the assignment:
So ground level.
Hmm, my first thought was placing the camera on the ground, but many times in the past, that technique has not resulted in a compelling image. In that technique, the foreground is very close and the background falls over backwards and all that is left is an exhausted, dusty, horizon.
I’ll let this simmer for a bit. … It definitely is a Quandary peak!
I’ve imagined a view of a tree at ground level, with the camera looking upwards with the tree branches spreading out into the upper part of the image. Or, maybe a train track with the camera sitting on a rail with the ribbon of reflective steel converging into infinity. Let that forge a bit and see if I can alloy it with something.
From Below.
Hmm, ok, how about something below the surface? A gopher hole? A septic tank? Chico’s hole he dug in the back yard? A worms eye view of a Robins bill about to grab breakfast?
Then a flash of inspiration! Last week or so we went up to “Walker Pit”. Walker Pit is a gravel pit along the bluffs of the Snake River about 50 minutes north of Walla Walla. Just beyond the gravel pit, is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineer beach that allows access to the river across a railroad track. These “Corps” sites are wonderful, they usually are free, and are very minimal and rugged. They are free of so many of the overbearing grapples that the state parks have: ‘Don’t park there’! Stay off the grass’! ‘Dogs must be on leash’! ‘No camping’! ‘No fires’! No fun! So this is freedom here! I feel just like Lewis and Clark! Hey! Hello Sacajawea! Nice boat you have there!
Ok, so at this Snake River beach area, there is a huge culvert that runs under the train track and joins a small lagoon on the other side to the river. I had previously shown this culvert in an earlier post, but I had also taken a picture looking through the culvert showing the other end. This culvert is very big and quite long since it is running under two train tracks at this point. It is big enough that you can pilot a motor boat through it while standing up. I knelt down on the very high top edge of the culvert (which is about 3 feet below the ground level), reached way way down and pointed the camera looking back under the culvert to the other end, (the now being upside down), and blindly fired off a few shots with the old Nikon D3100 with the 16-300 zoom lens. And luck was with me I had the lens pointed in the correct direction! Yes, the image is upside down, I like it that way.
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