The morning sun illuminated the distant Panamint Mts while a ridge shaded the saline pond in front of me. I knelt down and considered the situation. What did I want to display? What did I want to show? Contrast of the brightly lit mountains with the dead calm water, a horizontal geometry composition between the water and the mountains… Lots of options. I was located at Badwater in Death Valley NPthe lowest point in the Western Hemispherefirst thing in the morning not long after sunrise. The air was dead calm, not three people were within miles of my location. It seemed few wanted to share this experience. I was practically alone and the other two were really easy to forget. As great as the situation was, there was a problem; nothing was coming together. I tried various composition using this and that but I didn’t like anything I shot. I needed something to bring a focus to the image, something to provide direction for the image but nothing was forthcoming. The “magic” morning light was fading fast and I was getting frustrated with the wasted morning. At the risk of losing any imagery, I settled on a contrast exercise between the dead calm pond and the colorful mountains in the distance.

Just prior to firing the shutter, my false impression of being alone was shattered by the two other folks within miles. They decided to explore the edge of the pond right in the middle of my composition. Aghast!. "How dare they get in the way? How obvious could I be about shooting in a specific direction. No one else was within miles so how could they be so obtuse to plant themselves in the middle of my composition?" I stood arms folded willing them to move on. No amount of mindful effort made those people budge. They were seriously in their own world. Shoot, they probably din’t even see me. Instead of busting the silence, I decided to fume and wait patiently. And wait I did. They didn’t budge but demonstrated a close interest with the water. “What was in there?” I’m sure they wondered. After a bit, instead of losing everything I just decided to shoot them as part of the scene. The area was dead calm, not another soul within miles. I meant it to be a showcase of quiet exploration. Back at my camper, I reviewed the morning images and was strangely attracted to this. While in the moment, I was totally frustrated with my fortune. But, after the fact I discovered an image revealing itself. Surprising…

If you’re new to fine art photography, you're probably wondering about the title. “How is emotion related to making images” you may be saying. The answer is complicated but after a couple of paragraphs I think you’ll begin to understand. The key to this statement is knowing where we’re going; relating the photographeryouto the creation of the image.

Let’s look at the basic ingredients you need to make any image. First, you need something to capture the image. Since this is a photo article, the tool we use is a camera of some type. I personally use a digital camera most of the time, but film, or video can easily be substituted for this article’s discussion. Next, you need to capture something. I’m talking you need a subject. Sure there’s lots to shoot out there. If you get into composition and the esthetics of art, you’ll realize it’s more important to include less than to include it all. By the way, this is a discussion/article all to it self. Still, you need to have a point to the image and that’s where the subject comes in. Really, the subject could be the whole reason you’re out in the field doing anything. You may be shooting something so incredible everything else takes a back-seat. Okay, there may be other reasons that drive you out of bed at impossible hours to get the magic light to shoot your subject. But, without something to focus the viewer/photographer the image you capture is all about a study of light. That’s the last ingredient; light. To some photographers light is the critical element to success or failure of any photographic endeavor. Some are so fanatical about light, they only shoot at certain times of the day under very specific conditions because they feel doing otherwise is just a waste of time. Obviously, lack of light usually means lack of image, hence the whole point of PHOTOgraphy.