At the Peak, a photo from Utah, West

Photographer's Note

It was with a feeling of great accomplishment that I made it to the peak of this mountain. It was a totally uphill, grinding, relentless climb, but worth it. I'm actually standing on the peak right here, and looking down into my home: Cache Valley. My house is the one on the left.

These are purported to be the steepest mountains in the world. The angle from the ridge to the base is supposedly the smallest of any other mountain range. You can see my portfolio for other photos of these mountains. I take photos of them a lot. On top, there are a lot of these wonderfully scenic dead trees, white firs, if I'm not mistaken. This one was posing in just the right spot.

Didi, ChrisJ, syd1946, erdna, ryno, Bluejeans, feather, fulvio52, mortijo, singuanti, pboehringer, dpenrod, Bien, NorthernLight heeft deze opmerking als nuttig gemarkeerd

Critiques | Translate

kensimage (8563) 2007-10-12 21:39

You're the master of tones in B/W landscapes, David, and it shows here. I think to really do this one proper justice it would have to be seen in large size at much-better-than-TE resolution. Then every blade of grass would be sharp and clear! But even without that, I can see that the light on the tree is great, setting it off against the background. Great clouds, too.

Nice house you've got there. You should prune that front hedge, though.

Regards, Ken.

testmaniac (13508) 2007-10-12 22:11

Hi Davin, very nice photo with perfect composition and POV, but I really prefer the color version. Very nice place.

TFS

Philip

jjcordier (79299) 2007-10-12 22:36

Une photo noir et blanc de superbe quakité, très artistique. Excellent travail, David!
Amicalement
JJ

partha (14023) 2007-10-13 0:23

Looks like ANSEL ADEM shots. Great details and the B&W conversion is made properly.
Great shot.
Regards.
Partha

rushfan2112 (2965) 2007-10-13 2:24

Partha's right - very Ansel Adams! Lovely tones and pin sharp. A slightly tighter crop on the dead tree might have given more impact but that's a very minor criticism. Excellent shot and just right for B&W. Paul.

dkeus31 (27739) 2007-10-13 4:34

hello David.
a nice contrasty bw, the light seems good.
nice foreground with the dead tree.
regards
didier

molla (7129) 2007-10-13 5:36

hej David
Sometimes a tune is just comming up, and this is for me in away a Dylan picture.
I like the way you "treat" the tree the way yuo plaaing with the vind in the grass.
It's a bit sentimental and a fine American picture.
have a nice WE
Cheers/ Anders

baba_flies (8829) 2007-10-13 9:24

Such an amazing place to stand, and as I read in your note, it can not be taken for granted to be there after your steep climb up. But the view is simply worth every step you took. I like the remainings of the tree giving the needed depth but what I like most are the moving clouds, they add an unreal dreamy touch. Wonderful. Enjoy your Saturday, Barbara.

PS. What a place to live ... the view says everything, and I must say I am a little jalous :)

Didi (61591) 2007-10-14 5:22

Hi David
Nice contrast in this B&W composition in this wild country; it's looks like a windy place.
Very lucky for you to have a house there.
Cheers.

ChrisJ (172466) 2007-10-14 5:44

Hi David

A superb b&w image with an outstanding tonal range & good sharpness. I like the lighter tone of the deadfg tree & the graphism it provides. Tfs!

evanrizo (462) 2007-10-14 7:01

Hi David, a perfect BW image, technical everything works very good, the lightness is fantastic, the contrasts and tons also very good.
As a composition is very impressive with this figure -the rest of the tree- and the great sky.
Have a nice time.
Evan

syd1946 (1167) 2007-10-14 9:40

Hello David,
A bravo composition if I can use this word,not only for the black and white format.The tones of the colors are adding much beauty to this fantastic landscape.I like the perspective till the far white clouds!
Thomas

erdna (5713) 2007-10-14 10:00

You make magic in black and white David! Your lighted images in this photo is so well balanced and invite you to look at details. Superbly done!

Thank you for your visit and comments on my photo, "Coulee Walls, Lethbridge, Alberta". I appreciate it.

Andre'

Fis2 (172115) 2007-10-14 10:30

Witaj David!
Very interesting composition. Curious light. The black and white increase this emotion. Gooe work.
Have a nice week.
Krzysztof

ryno (6869) 2007-10-14 11:08

Hi David, I really like this atmospheric photo. Bleak and windswept, with the ominous clouds rolling in. The old tree trunk makes a good focus point. The scene has the feel of a painting. Well done!
Regards,
Ryno

Bluejeans (64251) 2007-10-14 16:14

Ola David ,
Fantastica foto , muito bonitos os detalhes , gostei muito deste velho tronco de arvore em prmeiro plano , parabens!!!
Um abraço Gonçalo

avigur_11 (22553) 2007-10-14 20:57

Hi David,
B/w makes it so strong and special.
Sharpness and contrat are great.
regards,
Itzik

feather (51130) 2007-10-15 8:09

You're right the tree is posing perfectly for you and is even pointing to your house. You are truly a master of B&W conversions. Both the tree and the clouds are popping out of the frame. Superb work
Kath

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toto (0) 2007-10-15 10:10

Belle photo NB de cet endroit, belle prise, avec en plus cette souche qui est jolie sur l' avant de votre photo. Comme Rosa, vous avez eu une bonne idée de la prendre sous cet angle la,bonne profondeur de champ, bonne réalisation. Amitiés Thomas

fulvio52 (8314) 2007-10-15 14:04

Hi David,
WOW... here I can't help but think of Ansel Adams. It could be one of his shots, its quality is simply unbelievable! Absolutely wonderful.
So...this is your home. Lucky you, buddy. There's one place in the world where I'd love to spend the rest of my life, and it's called Utah.
Have a great day.
Ciao,
Fulvio.

mortijo (12828) 2007-10-16 6:50

Perfect contratfull black & white! An excellent DOF. The dead tree gives extra depth to the image. But it is the sky that I love most!
Regards, John.

UnTrained (0) 2007-10-16 7:18

Hi David,
there must be something at the left I think the tree is pointing somewhere ;-)
Well composed black&white one, I like the good contrasts and that very far view. The sky has a lot of dynmaic by the clouds and that tree is very nice.
Lieben Gruss, Ulf

Stepan (27210) 2007-10-16 11:28

Your typical mood, your typical... impressive mood. The B&W is OK even if I wish there had been a little more contrast. Whatever, a good post.
Stéphane

singuanti (15250) 2007-10-16 20:00

Hi David. As usual you have done your b/w conversion to your usual spectacular standards. With the blur in the sky it gives a dreamy and surreal feeling. The high contrast is the way to get the image to really pop off the screen. Fantastic shot David!!

marioana (2256) 2007-10-17 2:45

Hello David.
Very 'Ansel Adams'! It's nice to be compared like that. The sky and the light are awesome. Great subject and composition. Wonderful mood and good B&W work. Very well done.
Best regards, Steve.

pboehringer (770) 2007-10-17 19:58

David,
it seems that all the effort to get to the top payed out very well. The composition is certainly a perfect one and that dead tree, off center, is perfectly placed as you already mentioned in your note. What surprises me a lot at this shot is the 1/125s. I was pretty sure to be a long exposure due to the blurred effect of the clouds in the very background. Weird, you did you achieve this with 1/125s.
The B&W seems to be a good choice to enhance the contrasts, but I would also be interested to see it in colors and with the fully polarized sky.
Regards, Peter

dpenrod (27) 2007-10-24 8:34

Hi David,

Absolutley one of the best images on TE! I never made it on top of those mountains while living in Utah. This gives me a great idea of what it looks like.
Great choice for B&W. It looks like the wind was really whipping things up quite a bit.
Great photo,

Darren

notrap (7812) 2012-02-22 4:04

Wunderbares Foto, und die schwarz-weiß Umsetzung sehr gelungen.
tfs
Elvira

NorthernLight (2383) 2014-11-03 1:12

Hello David,

an impressive picture. It seems a bit surreal and yes, I agree with the others - a bit Adams you can also find in it.

You picked a beautiful place to live.

Have a good day

Peter