I’ve also been fascinated with the patterns that blue fir’s make with their needles. I constantly try to seek out “rhythms” in these blue fir waves, so to speak, and here I found them to be a nice backdrop for this young aspen sapling.
You are reading a blog posting from the photographer Laurent Baig. Feel the wilderness experience.
I’m always fascinated with the reds of Ponderosa pines. As I was driving in the Kaibab national forest, I found several areas where the pines had the rich red bark which I’ve always wanted to make an image of. I was on my way to Fire Point, when the light changed on me and made the colors come alive with a soft glow. It happened right at this scene and I immediately pulled over and took a quick digisnap on my Canon G9 to check composition and rendering. It looked good, so I pulled out the 4×5 to make this image.
You are reading a blog posting from the photographer Laurent Baig. Feel the wilderness experience.
Pumphouse Wash, Arizona
I was chilling out during a monsoon earlier this summer. The rain let up so I walked about a bit. Colors always seem to be a bit more vibrant after it rains and I was curious what I’d find. I stood over the edge of Pumphouse and soaked in the fresh moist air and then ran back to my truck to get my camera. The sun was playing peekaboo through the clouds and low lying mist was washing through the…well, wash. I exposed one sheet of film and kept my fingers crossed (as I always do) on how it might turn out.
You are reading a blog posting from the photographer Laurent Baig. Feel the wilderness experience.
It’s been really hot lately and I’ve been longing for some cooler temps.
You are reading a blog posting from the photographer Laurent Baig. Feel the wilderness experience.
A pair of aspen boles on the west side of the San Francisco Peaks in Arizona. This is a new scan for a print that will be 16×20″. Be sure to back up your work. I lost all my files when my hard drive crashed several months ago. Ironically, I was about to back everything up onto another hard drive when it did crash. It sucks to have to re-create it all. And, in fact, you will never re-create something. A re-work is always a re-interpretation which means, if you lose your digital files, you lose your interpretation.
You are reading a blog posting from the photographer Laurent Baig. Feel the wilderness experience.
I guess it’s been a while since I’ve made a post. I could say I’ve been busy. I’d be lying. I’ve just been unmotivated. Why? Leg injury and a windy desert. I get tired of the wind and I get tired of it blowing all the freaking time, which it seems like it does here in Tucson. I have another excuse. My scanner broke. It’s hard to get motivated to go make images when you can’t share them. At least, it’s hard for me. I like to share. I like to show people the beauty of the earth – at least, I like to show it the way I see it. So my scanner’s been broke, I got a bum hamstring, and it’s been freaking windy.
Well, I got the scanner fixed, my leg is getting better, the wind hasn’t died, but I made a scan and decided it’s time to get going again. This image is from last fall. I was wandering around the San Juans on a lovely cool morning and this warm light was filtering through the aspen leaves and softly lighting this patch on the ground. I was completely captivated.
You are reading a blog posting from the photographer Laurent Baig. Feel the wilderness experience.
I decided this last trip not to limit myself. I wasn’t going to limit myself to just open shade images and dawn/dusk images. If I found the right composition and the light was right, I was going to make an image. We passed by this stand on the way up Last Dollar Road from Telluride and I was struck by the light on the foreground aspen boles. They really stood apart from the rest, almost like a studio light was on them. This was not the case of course, but I tried to keep that feeling in the photographed image.
You are reading a blog posting from the photographer Laurent Baig. Feel the wilderness experience.
Launch of the Sycamore
This is one of my last two images from 2008. Oh, I took a couple more 4x5s, but I don’t like them. This one and one other I liked and that will close out 2008. Time to renew the creative self. Time to let expectations go. Time to stop and appreciate each breath, each moment. Time to launch a new creative vein as these sycamore appear to launch out of their bed of maple. Whether I make a photograph or not, I appreciate the wilderness I have about me. Sometimes it inspires me, sometimes it doesn’t, sometimes I wish for clouds during the incessant blue skies, sometimes I just sit outside and think how lucky I am to have public land so close to me. Sometimes I have to remind myself I am very lucky for what I have.
You are reading a blog posting from the photographer Laurent Baig. Feel the wilderness experience.
Mono Lake, Dawn
Last June/July I went to Lee Vining to take a digital printing workshop with Charles Cramer. While there, I tried to take advantage of the location and photograph mono lake in my own way. Only problem was the fires in the sierra nevada. The smoke was making the air quality pretty bad at times. Still, patience is a virtue, and you just never know what’s going to happen. So, I wake up two mornings in a row, come down to the lake and try to scope out a photograph. I do, and I’m glad I did, because even if no color happened at all in the sky, it was still a beautiful place to be.
You are reading a blog posting from the photographer Laurent Baig. Feel the wilderness experience.
Chiricahua National Monument
I got to the Chiricahua National Monument about an hour before sunset. It wasn’t looking good. I’d been passing in and out of storms along the way, but that’s when my favorite light comes out – soft, warm, even, but with a hint of direction. I arrived at the parking lot, hopped out of the car and started walking down the trail. Not long after, the rain started pelting down. I didn’t have a rain jacket and didn’t want to be wet and cold so I headed back to the car and got warm. Then I realized I did have a poncho, so I put it on and started walking in the rain. I found this scene that I liked and decided to see if the rain would let up to let me photograph it. I must have looked ridiculous in my blue poncho, holding a golf umbrella and trying to focus an old-style wooden camera. Eventually I got the focus and then it was time to wait. Patience has its virtues.
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Laurent Baig - The Wild Light 