I’ve noticed that recently I have been really sensitive to lighting and moods and not just to specific subjects. It’s problematic for me, because it is so difficult to figure out how to capture a feeling.
That is part of what was going through my head when I took this photo early in the morning this past Wednesday at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The sun had already risen, but it was still low in the sky. I loved the way that shafts of light were visible coming through the trees. It was a cold morning and mist was hanging over the still water of a small pond. Could I possiblycapture the details that took my breath away?
So what do you think, or more importantly, what do you feel?
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
That’s a stunning image, Mike. I don’t know how you felt, but I love seeing this.
Thanks, Dan. I deliberately did not disclose too much about my feelings and mostly just described a few things that I liked about the image. I considered using no words at all, but wasn’t quite bold enough to go wordless in public.
I think a sunrise like that strikes us all differently. This picture slips nicely into Art.
So beautiful! I can imagine how it felt to witness that close up, thanks for helping to pass on the feeling of hope, a new day!
Some morning it’s worth an early start.
Your composition makes it look like we are being allowed a peek into otherwise forbidden territory. It’s quiet. Very quiet.
Wow, just beautiful. And somehow not an ordinary-looking sunrise shot either. The quality of light seems very different to me, as do the landscape elements and your composition. Truly exceptional!
I also like the light coming in, but I feel a chill in the air.
Beautiful. The light becomes mist.
Beautiful – it evokes a dreamy, peaceful mood.
Thanks, Eliza. i love your choice of descriptive words.
Beautiful and so serene.
Thanks, Chris. I never know how others view my images and it is always great to get some insight into the perceptions of others.
I think it’s beautiful and it makes me wish I was there. There isn’t much more you could ask from a landscape photo, I wouldn’t think.
Thanks for your lovely words. I think we both look for the same things in a landscape photo.
I think so too Mike. Something inside me takes a jump when I see one of yours. They’re appealing to me is the easiest way to say it, I guess.
That’s a lovely image, Mike. The bit of fog and the tree reflections in the water do convey a peaceful, morning feeling of a day that you were happy you went out early.
Thanks, Ellen. It’s nice to see that others perceive elements of my photos in ways similar to my own views. There is always some uncertainty when I post a photo, for I am well aware that I can never be truly objective about one of my own shots.
I am familiar with that uncertainty, Mike, especially with landscape images. It is hard to be objective, and maybe we don’t need to be and just do what pleases us. I’ve often posted images that I thought were spectacular that get no attention.
I know the feeling. 🙂
Eventually I will blog one of Bob’s photos of fog on Plate River when we were watching Sandhill cranes!
I find fog to be endlessly fascinating–it adds another whole dimension to a photo.
All that fine mist.. it’s like the stage is being set for something truly momentous! Like a single frame of a movie.. and I think this accords with what Michael Scandling said above about the quiet. When there’s complete stillness it can be unsettling.. why is it so quiet and what’s going to happen next? We don’t know what’s hidden in the dark edges of the pond or in the depths!
Wow, Liz, your comments took the photo in a direction that I never imagined. With so much noise in our daily lives, I enjoy the silence and look at it really positively. It tends me to put me in a contemplative mood in which I am able to look inward as well as outward.
I love silence.. not fearful or negative of it at all but I looked at the photo and read the prior comments and.. found a drama about to unfold! My week after moving has been full of the mundane so imagination has taken flight 🙂
Imagination is a wonderful thing–it is one of the things that makes us truly human. 🙂
Hi Mike, I mislaid this post and Liz just sent me the link. The idea of emotional states coming through in photos is increasingly intriguing me. A sense of patience pervades this image.
I’m still forming my thoughts on emotion\feeling and photo-capturing – we forget that what we see is an artifact of our human ‘operating system’ – very little of what we see is really there. The great secret of great photographers is to get some of that perceptual processing and somehow capture it in the camera – which is what we see here.