Posted on November 5, 2021, 8:03 pm, by QT Luong, under
Recollections.
I first connected with the wilderness on the high peaks of the Alps. Besides the setting of that world new to me, mountain climbing captivated me because of the intense concentration it fostered. During technical ascents on steep faces and ridges, there is nothing but you and the mountain in mind, as the only concern […]
Posted on October 1, 2020, 2:04 pm, by QT Luong, under
Techniques.
Large and distant subjects generally need strong shadows to define their shape. For photographing grand landscapes, there may be nothing more discouraging than an overcast day, confirming the adage “dull light, dull photos”. But is it true? This article compares two photographs of an understated subject in two extreme light situations: overcast and sunrise. The […]
Posted on September 17, 2020, 2:02 pm, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
Continuing the Alaska dreaming and remembering started with the springtime backpacking trip in Lake Clark National Park, I am re-publishing here a longer account of a more arduous autumn backpacking trip in Gates of the Arctic National Park, illustrated with photographs all captured on 5×7 large format film. It was one of my wildest and […]
Posted on May 22, 2020, 6:05 pm, by QT Luong, under
Esthetics.
My only goal for the afternoon of December 20, 2019, was to make one photograph that I had been working towards since I arrived at White Sands National Monument, two days before: the ocean of white dunes colored by soft light of dusk, on the evening it would redesignated the 62th national park. It would […]
Posted on April 15, 2018, 7:20 pm, by QT Luong, under
Recollections.
By the fall of 1993, I still didn’t own a car. Back then, the same UC Berkeley student group that I joined for my first trip to Yosemite organized a yearly outing to Death Valley during the Thanksgiving school break. I didn’t know what the place was about, but I had known its name since […]
Posted on April 8, 2018, 7:50 pm, by QT Luong, under
Books.
In the 1990s, as I was discovering Yosemite, one local landscape photographer served as an inspiration. It wasn’t Ansel Adams, but a younger large format photographer, for he was working in color and had created a body of work that felt original and personal, no small feat given the shadow cast by the elephant in […]
Posted on January 29, 2018, 10:13 pm, by QT Luong, under
Books.
A quarter-century ago, when I started large format nature photography, Jack Dykinga’s work was a main source of inspiration. His wilderness advocacy books on the American Southwest, and in particular the Sonoran, Mojave, and Escalante Canyons, used fine art photography as a means to document the land in a way both accurate and stirring. I […]
Posted on March 27, 2013, 11:00 am, by QT Luong, under
Books.
After Ansel Adams and Eliot Porter, the third pillar of conservation photography in the 20th century was Philip Hyde (1921-2006). In fact, it can be argued that Philip Hyde was more instrumental in this role than his two more famous counterparts, and that it was precisely for that reason that he is less known. A […]
Posted on September 12, 2012, 11:12 am, by QT Luong, under
Books.
Eliot Porter was to color photography what Ansel Adams was to black-and-white. The jacket flap of one his books published in 1970 simply stated “Eliot Porter is recognized as the finest color photographer alive today”. It can be argued that Porter was not only the first color nature photographer, but also the first major artist […]
Posted on July 27, 2012, 6:19 pm, by QT Luong, under
Books.
Using his technical mastery in the darkroom to create distinctively beautiful prints, Ansel Adams considered print quality to be the hallmark of his work. However, Adams also developed early in his career a great familiarity with other forms of photographic reproductions, working diligently with publishers to create books that would meet his standards. Not only […]
