Signpost #14950

The Story

This stand of trees lies at an intersection of park roads which is also a good place for a signpost. The meadow there is wide and green, a great place for walking through the grass while enjoying the scenery. Why walk on the road if you can have real terra firma?

It was a bright Spring morning flush and abounding with new life. All the birds were out, about, and a-twitter. The leaves were brand new and bright green on the maples like this one. Out of this frame, flowering trees elsewhere were offering a range of wonderful colors. So why did I aim the camera this way and shoot in black and white for this picture?

There’s a simple answer: it was the landscape and light that was in front of me. I knew from experience that black and white would strongly enhance it, especially in infrared that turns bright green leaves into snow white. Sunlight was hitting the foreground and the trees but the land behind was in the shade of the clouds. Even the sky overhead didn’t have the same brightness as the foreground.

As a result, it was like having a spotlight right on the subject. You can’t miss the star of the show on this stage! This image is a very natural fit for infrared black and white; this landscape wouldn’t have been as strong and dynamic as a color picture. Certainly, the visual rhythm of three and a good grouping surely didn’t hurt either.

I love color photography, but it’s great to change gears for another view once in a while. Here’s another compelling black and white landscape from the same park called Quarter Till Nine #14797.

Just A Little Reflection…

As a working pro shooter, I’ve photographed a wide variety of things in a twenty-year career. There’s been a fair amount of commercial and stock photography work that’s very different from this website’s focus on fine art. But I started out years ago with my first camera shooting landscapes simply because I love the land. In fact, it’s the very reason I started into photography.

So, here it is, full circle twenty years later. I’m still shooting landscapes.

Try this black and white landscape picture as a digital jigsaw puzzle…!

Location: near Hollidaysburg, Blair County, Pennsylvania. Picture and story © Andrew Dierks