WINNER ANNOUNCED: The Seventh Photographer's Lounge Salon Challenge: PERSISTENCE

Location
Talent, Oregon (far from the madding crowd)
Name
Miguel Tejada-Flores
For the new Challenge, I've been thinking about a number of things. In Oregon, where I live, the light that naturally occurs in winter often seems to have a special, particular quality to it, one that's easy to see, but sometimes hard to capture. Galen Rowell, the fantastic photographer known for nature and mountaineering images until his untimely death, once wrote that he almost never consciously set out to photograph a landscape: "my first thought," he said, "is always of light."

But sometimes, to find that amazing light, you must get up very early, brave the elements, trek through or travel across harsh and brutal terrain, all simply to get to a place - a spot - or a moment in time - when the light is just right. You have to be ready when that happens, too - because sometimes it only lasts a moment, a few seconds. But that patience - that persistence - pays off when the image emerges from the negative.

Galen Rowell and many other fine photographers have written eloquently on this subject - on the need to be persistent in the pursuit of certain photographs. The dictionary defines "persistence" as firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition.

Which brings us to this Challenge - for an image - new or old - that, in some real way, never would have been possible....without serious and extreme persistence on the part of the photographer....You!

The Challenge will run starting today, the 6th of January, through midnight of January 19th - approximately the next two weeks.

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Rules are simple................

1. Either take a picture that matches the nominated theme or select one from your portfolio. You must be the photographer that created the picture in order to enter it.

2. Only one entry per salon, please. If you want to withdraw an entry and replace it with another, that is OK, but you must make it clear in the post containing your replacement picture that this is what you've done. You can add or change the title and add to the edit line to let everyone know.

3. The decision of the curator at the end of the challenge is final - don't give him/her a hard time about it: this is just a friendly photo challenge, after all!

5. The person who submitted the chosen picture will assume the responsibility of curator for the next Salon Challenge and as soon as possible post a message in a new thread in the PL Photo Challenges forum, with details of the new theme. Don't forget - that opening message must include a copy of these instructions, which also double as the rules.

6. The curator can't enter his or her own salon (that's me).

7. Please, don´t be shy...Participate and have fun!
 
Very creative challenge.

Much of my style, "seeing eye", ie., photographic education, came from reading everything that I could find, by Galen Rowell, during the 80s and 90s, while living in Alaska. I'll have to look back through those, for a worthy entry.
 
I'll start with one from the archives. This was shot at Cueva de las Golondrinas in Manatí, Puerto Rico. Getting this shot required the following: (1) waking up at 3:30am on a Sunday morning; (2) driving one hour from my home in Caguas to Manatí to meet up with the group to walk to the beach; (3) a 20min. walk from the road to the beach, in pitch black darkness; (4) fighting with my fellow photographers for a decent spot to shoot. After all of that, I took about 30-40 shots, only two of which were decent enough to show.

PP also required a bit of persistence. There are actually two shots combined via layers, so that I could get some detail on the rocks without blowing out the highlights.

And, that is the reason why I do not do more landscape photography...

Cheers,

Antonio

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Cueva de las Golondrinas I
by ramirezaponte, on Flickr
 
Great idea, Miguel! I have a few from the archives that would fit the bill, but will go with the very first I took in that way.

It was 2008, we were on holidays in Rovigno which is a beautiful coastal town in Istria, Croatia. There's photo opportunities on every corner there, but I noticed one specially serene part while we were buying some groceries - impossible for me to shoot at that instance. Similar restraints imposed when we passed it again, either light was harsh or our little daughter impatient to play elsewhere...

But I kept noticing the difference in mood due to changing light, variations in color, possibility of better composition if I climbed some rocks, I remember even checking my watch to see at what exact time I should be there to profit from nicer colors at sundown.

So couple of days later I arranged a small excursion at predetermined time, sneaked on those slippery rocks, put Canon Pro1 (my serious compact at that time) on a petite pocket tripod, checked several exposure and composition options and fired away. At home worked on blending three RAW conversions to get the final result.

It was my first persistent attempt at getting the pre-observed and pre-meditated image, trying to capture the atmosphere that grabbed me and convey that mood in final picture.

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Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
ROVIGNO - DUSK - 02 by Milan Jovanovic /pictogramax, on Flickr
 
you get 5 stars for this one, Miguel. This gets at the heart of great photography.

Thank you, Luke. It actually came as a natural outgrowth of the previous one - New Years Resolutions - because one of my personal unstated resolutions as a photographer is that I hope to actually be able to be more persistent myself, in some of my photos. There are some pictures I've been thinking about which require some effort on my part, going to a certain place at a certain time, which won't be easy for me to do....but I'm hoping to get a few of them.

And reading some of Galen Rowell's words is just as inspiring to me....as looking at his photos.

I can't wait to see what people come up with :)
 
Redhead Beach around sunrise. I had to be "persistent" for this one. The beach is quite a long way from me so I had to rise long before dawn (I was up at 4.30 as I recall) so that I could be present for this. I had been wanting to shoot this abandoned lifeguard post at dawn, for *years* (the replacement, a large building, is off camera, behind me). I have very few shots of the actual lifeguard seat because I became distracted by the offshore storm and began concentrating more on that.

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Ok, this is ancient, hence the image size (note to self, must re-scan...)

Seen "Jurassic Park"? This is the waterfall they land beside.

Remember "Magnum"? Remember TC's helicopter?

Now imagine me, having travelled halfway around the world, to the Hawiian island of Kauai, in one of those choppers, with the doors off, Leica M7 in hand, changing films and lenses while flying over the sea around the Na Pali coast.

See this photo? You get about thirty seconds in there, before the next heli carrying tourists wants in. I'm here to tell you there's no air traffic control in paradise...
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Kauai Na Pali Helicopter 1 Mt Waialeale Waterfall par Lightmancer, on ipernity
 
Mt. Whitney.jpg


This shot of Mt. Whitney was taken with my old Panasonic G1 one cold spring morning. I had been riding my motorcycle on a trip through Death Valley, where it had been unseasonably cold and windy, even snowing on me at one point. And on the last day of the trip I decided to get up before dawn and ride up into the Alabama Hills to see if I could find this arch. It was well below freezing when I set out, and I had only the vaguest idea where this arch was. After dismounting in semi-darkness, I had to scramble (in rigid, off-road motorcycle boots) through gullies and over ridges covered with sage and creosote bushes for about an hour, and then claw my way up and over some massive boulders to get to the site. Once there, the only way to get this shot was to lie on my belly on top one of the boulders and hold the camera precariously over its front edge (gotta love articulating screens) and hope I didn't tumble forward to my certain demise.

But I think my persistence paid off nicely. :D
 
This is one that I will never get "right" no matter how persistent I am …………….maybe if I use my Sigma DP3M next time …….. but I could need the 1M or the 2M ….. must explain to my wife, the purse keeper

I need to take my tripod …. but I only usually see it "on the way home" to get the train after the odd drink or two …. so it could be dangerous leaning over Waterloo Bridge,


London, UK

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I have always carried a 'serious compact' camera with me when traveling by plane. And almost always get a window seat. I have tried many photos of interesting clouds, cities, storms, but never really got anything too cool until last summer. I was on approach for landing in Denver with the eastern sun casting the aircraft's shadow when we passed over this green field. For me it is an ultimate 'travel photo' and my entry for this excellent challenge.

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Shadow Flight by donlaw200, on Flickr
 
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