Unforgettable Fire

Gallery: LandscapePosted September 20, 2010717 views33 comments

Fellow Photo Cascadia members David Cobb and Chip Phillips spent a truly unforgettable week in the North Cascades back country with me. The highlight of the trip was the sunrise on Sept. 15 at Cascade Pass. It is fun to see how each of us interpreted the stellar light show from different locations. Chip left the tent at 4AM and hiked several miles in the dark to reach the Sahalie Arm by sunrise. I slept in the longest and was about 20 minutes behind David on the trail. This is my vision from that morning. When I realized the light would come before I reached the pass I had to scramble to find a foreground subject. In the end I really like how the mountain ash mirrors the color in the sky and how the color reflected in the stream down in the valley. This was a very difficult blending of five exposures that took about three hours to finally get right. Comments and suggestions always appreciated.

Comments

33 comments

Comment posted by Kory Lidstrom on September 20, 2010 at 12:06 PM

Wow, great shot, at first glance, I thought it to be an Adamus image.

I love everything about this, save one thing: the blend doesn't appear to be *quite* right, at least to me. The foreground seems a bit too bright, given the darkness of the horizon.

Registered on November 19, 2008, 49 Posts, 1035 Comments

Comment posted by Matt Anderson on September 20, 2010 at 12:06 PM

Beautiful image Sean. Chip must be nocturnal.
What exactly is Photo Cascadia ?

Registered on September 6, 2007, 346 Posts, 2696 Comments

Comment posted by Muhammad Zaid Wani on September 20, 2010 at 12:11 PM

This is just phenomenal, Sean! I also thought it to be an Adamus image. Great work.

Registered on August 18, 2005, 23 Posts, 1406 Comments

Comment posted by Andreas Resch on September 20, 2010 at 12:17 PM

Great array of colors. Quite strong but effective. One little thing about the colors. Sky and foreground are fine. Everything is supposed to be flooded by purple or red light, yet the stones in the valley are a bit on the greenish/cyan side. This looks a little off to me and I might try to work on the color balance there or take some of the saturation out.

Registered on November 14, 2007, 322 Posts, 6101 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Richins on September 20, 2010 at 12:22 PM

Wonderful colors and comp. I too see the cyan in the hills. Otherwise, this is sweet.

Registered on March 6, 2008, 113 Posts, 1009 Comments

Comment posted by Marc Adamus on September 20, 2010 at 12:31 PM

Very nice, Sean. The color looks great to my eye and everything flows nicely. I like the red compliments on either side of the image. Really minor critique notes might be toning down the highlights on those dead branches just slightly, the aforementioned cyan, and I'm kinda thinking I might like just another few inches around that bush in the foreground.

Registered on September 17, 2005, 780 Posts, 8091 Comments

Comment posted by Sean Bagshaw on September 20, 2010 at 12:33 PM

Matt - Photo Cascadia is a team of six northwest photographers who have come together to share our knowledge and passion for outdoor photography. The team includes myself, Chip Phillips, David Cobb, Zack Schnepf, Adrian Klein and Kevin McNeal. You can check us out at http://www.photocascadia.com

Thanks for your astute and correct evaluation Kory.The bright foreground is intentional. I felt that the over all scene would have been too dark and muddy with a darker foreground. I also like the feeling that the sky is casting a strong glow into the scene. It gives it a certain fantasy quality. This is certainly my own impression of the scene with certain artistic license taken.

Registered on February 14, 2007, 99 Posts, 479 Comments

Comment posted by Tom Nevesely on September 20, 2010 at 12:36 PM

Beautiful work Sean! I especially like how the reds and oranges in the foreground leaves are repeated in the sky. I also really like the glow on the water in the small creek in the mid ground.

Registered on June 14, 2005, 147 Posts, 1550 Comments

Comment posted by Taylor Reed on September 20, 2010 at 12:50 PM

Beautiful, I love the way the red flows from the leaves to the water and then up to the clouds!

Tons of great info on the Photo Cascadia site; excellent work guys.

Registered on February 18, 2010, 26 Posts, 556 Comments

Comment posted by dean hebert on September 20, 2010 at 12:55 PM

Wow! Well worth the effort!

Registered on August 4, 2010, 70 Posts, 1132 Comments

Comment posted by Art Escobado on September 20, 2010 at 1:15 PM

The splash of the red river adds a nice dash. nice shot!

Registered on January 7, 2007, 0 Posts, 775 Comments

Comment posted by Sean Bagshaw on September 20, 2010 at 1:32 PM

Andreas, Ron and Marc - Thanks for your input, especially on the cyan in the rocks. I hadn't noticed it but it is quite apparent and should be easy to fix. Marc - your composition thoughts are noted and appreciated.

Registered on February 14, 2007, 99 Posts, 479 Comments

Comment posted by Trevor Anderson on September 20, 2010 at 1:42 PM

I've visited this area many times and this is some of the best light I have seen captured from there. I'm glad it worked out so well for you guys.

Registered on April 25, 2007, 64 Posts, 483 Comments

Comment posted by Hamed Musharbak on September 20, 2010 at 1:44 PM

powerful

the best of the best

Registered on June 1, 2009, 372 Posts, 2282 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on September 20, 2010 at 2:39 PM

Beautiful, Sean. Pretty nice work for the last guy up

Must have been amazing and exciting to see this. A great way to start the day. Nice work.

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

Registered on February 1, 2004, 752 Posts, 14140 Comments

Comment posted by Luis Argerich on September 20, 2010 at 2:44 PM

From red to brown and red again this is a hit, fantastic image!

Registered on December 22, 2009, 91 Posts, 1349 Comments

Comment posted by Rick Goldwasser on September 20, 2010 at 2:46 PM

Quite beautiful - I'm kid of with KOry on the brightness, the mountains seem to get lost the way it is - but it seems to have been intentional. Great shot either way.

Registered on May 10, 2009, 127 Posts, 970 Comments

Comment posted by Tony Kuyper on September 20, 2010 at 3:06 PM

Very nice. It's fun to see the different interpretations of this light show.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 364 Posts, 22328 Comments

Comment posted by John Williams on September 20, 2010 at 4:03 PM

LOL, what Nick said. And BTW, it's hard to keep liking you three with these photos you're posting

.

My only nit is the above mentioned balance, but my take is that the horizon is a tad dark, not that the foreground is too light.

Registered on September 6, 2007, 221 Posts, 5985 Comments

Comment posted by Mohsen Al-Dajani on September 20, 2010 at 4:11 PM

The Red here is so inviting, fore, mid, & and background.

Registered on August 23, 2007, 160 Posts, 432 Comments

Comment posted by Sean Bagshaw on September 20, 2010 at 4:18 PM

Thanks for all the feedback folks. I'm hearing that the dark mountain/horizon is throwing the image out of balance a bit. I'll try working it a bit more and see if I can make an improvement. Thanks for the help y'all.

Registered on February 14, 2007, 99 Posts, 479 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Capurso on September 20, 2010 at 5:16 PM

Brilliant! Wonderful comp--I love how the red continues from the sky through the reflection in the river to yhe foliage in the FG.

Mark Capurso
Phoenix, AZ

Registered on January 4, 2008, 47 Posts, 321 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Chambers on September 20, 2010 at 6:40 PM

I love the composition and the super saturated reds in the FG, but for my tastes, the distant mounatins and sky look a bit too dark. Still, very pretty.

Registered on April 10, 2005, 753 Posts, 21216 Comments

Comment posted by Patricia Brundage on September 20, 2010 at 6:45 PM

Oh my, what a perfect comp and repeat of color play. Congratulations on a beautiful image! No nits here.

Registered on March 23, 2006, 1111 Posts, 6531 Comments

Comment posted by Simon Bosworth on September 20, 2010 at 6:59 PM

Great image. I am not sure if it looks 'natural', but maybe it doesn't have to. I am sure it will be a popular photo regardless.

Registered on September 10, 2010, 18 Posts, 63 Comments

Comment posted by Kah Kit Yoong on September 20, 2010 at 7:29 PM

The beauty of this image is off the chart. The processing is perfect to my eye. Although the foreground may be brighter than the real thing, it strikes me as a very natural balance as a photo. I love the trail of red from the foreground, snaking up the river to the cloud.

Registered on September 27, 2006, 636 Posts, 10682 Comments

Comment posted by Antti Haataja on September 20, 2010 at 7:36 PM

Excellent colors

I wish though that there was something in the left side of the picture balancing the mountains.

Registered on August 31, 2010, 7 Posts, 16 Comments

Comment posted by David Cobb on September 20, 2010 at 8:42 PM

Still lovin' it Sean!

Registered on December 14, 2007, 312 Posts, 3243 Comments

Comment posted by Ron Pullen on September 20, 2010 at 8:48 PM

That is some wonderful fire in the sky and I love how it is caught in the stream in the valley also. Good comp. and processing. Ron

Registered on December 18, 2005, 74 Posts, 1413 Comments

Comment posted by Ricardo La Piettra on September 20, 2010 at 9:47 PM

Just beautiful

Registered on July 22, 2009, 62 Posts, 730 Comments

Comment posted by Morris McClung on September 20, 2010 at 10:27 PM

A strong personal artistic statement. I would echo the comments made so far, but with your explanation that this is your impression, I will just say kudos to you for your vision.

Registered on May 7, 2007, 670 Posts, 19650 Comments

Comment posted by Stan Rose on September 21, 2010 at 5:35 AM

Sweet! Comp looks great to me, colors are strong but believable. Im pretty much in agreement with John W on the blend--id brighten up the midtones in the top half. 5 exposures may be overkill--i know every one has their own approach, but i think the simpler the better here. Great shot.

Registered on September 15, 2005, 836 Posts, 17099 Comments

Comment posted by Aaron Feinberg on September 21, 2010 at 6:50 PM

Definitely a good fg find. Lucky the sky matched the leaves :) Killer

aF

Registered on October 26, 2009, 399 Posts, 2789 Comments