There's something mysterious about a disembodied wave.

There's nothing in the frame to give you a sense of scale except for those bodacious birds.

What's outside of the frame is entirely up to your imagination and that's something that I love about photography - the art of exclusion.

Often, it's what we leave out of the frame that ignites our imagination and allows our own fantasy to fill in the gaps.

On this morning, we'd been shooting at Cape Disappointment for a few hours and up until the sun showed we were all quite happy with our shots.

As soon as a gap appeared in the clouds, we realized that everything we'd shot up to that point was complete trash.

In an instant, the sun illuminated the waves and it was like a giant hand had switched on the 'brilliance' button. The sound of melting camera shutters was louder than the roaring of the waves.

A wall of exhausted photographers immediately got their second wind, forgot about their grumbling bellies and started bartering hard for memory cards.

We were all riding the high of that heavenly light like a surfer rides a wave. Living in the moment with our hearts beating out of our chests while wearing Cheshire cat grins.

Whenever I need cheering up, I just dig out my hard drive and rifle through the four thousand images I shot on that day,

Ah fun times.


Thanks for looking
Gavin Hardcastle

Tags:   wave photography storm stormy cape dissapointment washington coast pnw

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I confess, I read a lot of science fiction.

When I visit places like the Alabama Hills it's easy to pretend these structures are ancient relics from an extinct civilization.

What did these time eroded monoliths look like 50,000 years ago?

What events did they witness?

What stories could they tell?

The deafening silence of desert places such as this allows my imagination to run wild.

What do you imagine when you spend time in these holy places?

Just minutes before creating this image, I'd recorded a tutorial with Greg Snell for the F4 Road Trip. We wrapped the shoot and so Greg dashed off to film Adams tutorial just on the other side of that spikey rock there.

As I was walking out of the ravine in the crease of that big pointy rock, I spotted this strangely shaped boulder looking like a frozen wave.

As soon as I saw it, I thought 'that would make a perfect frame'. So, I shambled over to give it a closer look and went all of a quiver when I realized it would work and that the clouds were lighting up majestically.

As always, I assumed I had mere seconds before the light faded. With shaking hands and sweat pouring down my back, I went into full frenzy mode to capture the necessary frames to create this image.

I often wonder what I must look like muttering to myself in fits of joy and rage, faffing with my tripod, screaming at flat batteries and then whooping at glowing clouds.

Thankfully it was just the desert and I. Sharing a moment.

Thanks for looking
Gavin Hardcastle

Tags:   alabama hills california landscapes sunrise

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Persistence. I reckon it equates to around 90% of your success as a landscape photographer.

For every great shot you see, there are typically around ten failed attempts before you capture the image you're most proud of.

In this case I got lucky with only four attempts.

That's a good thing because each visit to this spot in Ucluelet was a seven hour round trip.

On this day, I finally got the waves I was hoping for. I just loved those crazy gulls divebombing for dinner.

There was a brief moment of lovely soft light rendering the scene in subtle pastel colours that made all of those failed attempts worth that persistence.

It's become something of a pilgrimage to journey to the West coast during storm season. When those forecasts call for drama, I drop everything and head West with a crazy grin on my face.

Thanks for looking
Gavin Hardcastle

Tags:   storm watching uncluelet vancouver island gavin hardcastle fototripper waves

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Have you ever experienced cold sunlight?

It doesn't exist of course but this day sure felt like it.

You can even see it in this image. That lovely sunlight carried very little warmth but created a delicious scene.

The Eastern Sierra boasts many wonders. Mono Lake may be the most photographed of these wonders but if you're willing to hunt for a new perspective, you won't be disappointed.

With mostly blue skies there's always the temptation to dismiss the shot and walk away. On this day, something kept me sticking around.

With the sound of yipping coyotes in the distance and numb fingers, I knelt in the cold sand and surrendered to the shot.

I had to exposure bracket, focus stack and blend an assortment of apertures to get the perfect sun star and a sharp image.

I was overjoyed with the final result and I could have left it at that and called it a day but you know me better than that.

Thanks for looking.
Gavin Hardcastle

Tags:   mono lake sunset winter cold tufa mounds Fototripper

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I can't count the number of times I've photographed this tree over the years.

There's always the temptation to not bother because it's become something of a cliché.

That negative thinking had me almost driving past until I saw the light in the background. I immediately pulled over.

Not content with merely shooting from the road, I dutifully bush wacked to the lakeshore to wade out into those icy waters.

After about an hour of shooting at -4 °C I could no longer feel my feet but I didn't care.

I'd got the shot and the mile-wide smile on my face was totally worth a pair of numb feet.

Thanks for looking
Gavin

Tags:   fairy lake Vancouver Island gavin hardcastle Fototripper sunrise freezing winter subzero cold

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