My portfolio "South Yuba River" is a study of the intricate patterns of the colorful metamorphic rock found along the river. In creating this body of work I attempted to create a unifying "look" that each image would share. To do this I shot every image on the same film under the same lighting conditions. More specifically, everything was shot on Fuji Velvia (a high contrast transparency film) under very flat lighting. I found the best light for this type of work was just before dark or during a rain shower. To obtain good depth of field with 4x5 format exposures were always over one minute and sometimes as much as 5 minutes. These long exposure times further increase the contrast of Velvia.

The end result of this technique is to greatly expand the contrasting colors in the rock. What appeared to the eye as very slight color differences are recorded as dramatically different colors. A rock wall that has a 2 to 3 stop range of brightness will be expanded to fill the entire range in the final transparency. Black & White photographers have long know the benefits of expanding the contrast of low contrast subject. This goal is of value in color photography as well.

I have received calls from others who frequent the South Yuba inquiring as to where some of my published images were made. Upon finding out where the photo was taken a common response is " that can't be. I have been there, and the rocks are not that colorful…" I too have returned to many of these sites and been amazed at how drab the original scene is compared to my prints.

Everyone who has take a landscape photograph knows the feeling of having their image fall short of recording the beauty of the scene they remember. If the photographer's only intent is to record the scene before them then, the images will most always fall short of that goal. If an image fails to even match the beauty of the original scene how can it be considered "fine art". For an image to be art it must go beyond being a great representation of the original scene. It must in some way surpass the beauty of the subject photographed. .