The following photos were taken the morning of Saturday January 22, 2011. It was 16 degrees out as I left early to make use of available light. All photos were taken with a Kodak HD camcorder set to take stills. The only setting available was a switch to flip between macro and landscape. The subject is a frozen stream in the Archbold/Glover branch of Rock Creek Park. These are three of my favorites.
This photo represents my attempt to capture a detailed section of the subject rather than the entire scene. I am holding the camera about a half foot above an area I found visually appealing.
I felt this photo worked thanks to the framing provided by the rocks on either side of the stream. The smooth ice contrasts well with the varied textures of rocks on its banks. Had the rocks not been there, the photo would have been of motionless ice. With them in place, the stream seems to move in a diagonal direction across the frame. This suggests movement in an otherwise still scene.
The varied opacities of the ice appealed to me as well. The white sections contrast nicely with nearly clear areas with leaves, trapped for the season, visible underneath. The top third of the ice also has a visually interesting texture in comparison to the smooth ice in the lower third.
I especially liked the smooth curved lines of the weathered river stones. I hoped the ovoid shaped rock in the lower left would anchor the corner of the frame.
I took this photo by standing on rocks in the middle of the stream. The creek bends at this point which gave me a good vantage point of the rock and log. I tried to capture the log head-on to foreshorten it and distort its shape.
This photo is the result of experimentation in subordinating the subject (frozen stream) to surrounding elements. I kept the stream in the lower left third of the frame. The photo is dominated by a large section of exposed bedrock with a long fallen tree teetered on top. The major boulder is framed well by the dead log and a single long branch that encircles the rock perfectly. The fallen tree not only provides a line from top to bottom, but provides an effective sense of depth as well.
Smaller loose rocks lend a strong texture to the left third of the photo. The contrast of shaded to well lit areas serve to highlight the facets of the large boulder. I also felt that the darker left half contrasted well with the brighter right.
This photo was captured by placing the camera on the log and shooting down its length. I was trying to achieve a large dominant presence without overwhelming the subject.
This is easily my favorite of the three photos (probably because it turned out exactly as I’d hoped). The picture is dominated by a single, moss-covered, fallen log that takes up nearly two thirds of the shot. The log provides two defined lines. One is nearly vertical and meets the other that slopes diagonally from the top of the frame. The thick bed of moss lends a welcome dose of color to an otherwise muted winter scene.
The focus remains on the stream as the main subject and can still be seen across the top third of the frame. The white opaque ice seems to suggest rolling water. The log, small trees, and distant rocks frame the stream well. I especially liked that the log is out of focus while the stream is sharp. This was quite difficult using a camera with absolutely no controls.
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