cole thompson
photography
newsletter
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Issue
104 - June 29, 2018
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Hello
Cole,
In
this newsletter:
- Old
Images from La Jolla
- New
images from La Jolla
- Upcoming
events
- Hopewell
Rock, the story behind the
image
- Vision,
what is it?
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In
the last newsletter I mentioned
that I didn't have any projects
in the works, and that I was
waiting for inspiration. Well it
came.
My
son Caleb was in San Diego
prepping Osprey's that were
being transported to Okinawa
where he's stationed. I went out
to visit him and took my gear
along, since he had to work
during the day.
While
there I visited my favorite San
Diego location: La Jolla, and in
particular the Cove area. My
wife, kids and best friend spent
many a wonderful day there
diving and picnicking. It has
many good memories for me.
And
it's always been a location that
I have been inspired to
photograph, in the past and
particularly during these recent
two days. In this newsletter
I'll show you my old La Jolla
images and the ones I've just
created.
Cole
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Rocks
and Mist
I've
always loved creating images at
La Jolla. Here are some that I
created from years past.
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La
Jolla Surf Detail No. 1
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La
Jolla Surf Detail No. 2
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Sometimes
when you are very familiar with
a location, you no longer see
the beauty in it. I think that
happened to me with La Jolla.
But having not photographed
there for several years, I was
able to see fresh again, on my
recent visit.
One
thing that struck me was how
crowded it was, and it became a
goal to try to photograph it as
though there were no people
there. This may be the theme of
the new portfolio, something
along the line of: La Jolla,
Without People.
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Sea
Lion and Gull
(one
of my favorites from this trip)
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La
Jolla Rock and Water Detail No. 8
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La
Jolla Rock and Water Detail No. 7
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La
Jolla Rock and Water Detail No. 5
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La
Jolla Rock and Water Detail No. 6
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La
Jolla Rock and Water Detail No. 4
(I
love how the sea lions almost
become one with the rocks)
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La
Jolla Rock and Water Detail No. 2
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La
Jolla Rock and Water Detail No. 12
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La
Jolla Rock and Water Detail No. 10
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La
Jolla Rock and Water Detail No. 11
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La
Jolla Children's Pool No. 5
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La
Jolla Birds and Cliffs No. 6
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La
Jolla Birds and Cliffs No. 4
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La
Jolla Birds and Cliffs No. 5
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La
Jolla Birds and Cliffs No. 3
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La
Jolla Birds and Cliffs No. 2
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La
Jolla Birds and Cliffs No. 1
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Here
are two events for people in the
Denver and Fort Collins area:
- 7/6/2018
- First Friday at the Bas Bleu
Theater, Fort Collins. I'm
showing my large works from
5-7 pm. Location: Bas Bleu
Theater, 401 Pine St, Fort
Collins, CO 80524
- September
28, 29 and 30: Fort Collins
Studio Tour. I open my home
studio to the public and will
be showing my new Faroe Island
images.
I
look forward to seeing you at
one of these events!
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The
Story Behind the Image
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In
October of 2015 I drove 7,000
miles from Colorado to Nova
Scotia and back again. It was a
multi-faceted trip as I got to
see and do many things that were
on my bucket list, including:
seeing the fall colors of New
England, visit all those tiny
northeastern states, visit Frank
Lloyd Wright's "Falling Water"
house (a near religious
experience), see Nova Scotia and
everything in-between.
And
of course there were unexpected
surprises along the way: things
I'd hear about and then go and
see. I was fortunate to have
complete flexibility because I
had no plans nor timetable.
One
thing I heard about was the Bay
of Fundy in New Brunswick. It's
famous for having the largest
rise and fall of tides in the
world, some 50 feet! I had to
witness that as the tides in
Colorado are quite small by
comparison.
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Upon
arriving at the bay, I
discovered these great rock
formations called the Hopewell
Rocks. Each day as the tide goes
out and you can walk quite far
into the bay. And then slowly
the tide comes back in and
completely floods the same area,
leaving those unique rocks as
solitary islands in the sea.
I
arrived at the bay midday when
the tide was out. No problem, I
thought. I'll just wait for the
tide to come back in. I
positioned myself at the base of
the stairwell that led down to
the bay and waited. And waited.
And waited.
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Isolated
No. 15
It
took quite a few hours for the
tide to finally come all the way
in, and it was almost 11 pm
before I was able to create
Isolated No. 15 above.
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By
then, the platform I was
standing was starting to be
overtaken by the sea. It was so
dark that I was using 5-8 minute
exposures and using a flashlight
to try to illuminate detail on
the rocks.
A
very long exposure gives a great
smoothing effect on the water,
but it also introduces a lot of
noise into the image. It took
quite a bit of work to make this
image usable.
But
the image turned out exactly as
I had imagined it and I was
pleased to add it to my
"Isolated" series.
Sitting
and waiting for the tide to come
in gave me many hours to think.
It was here that I started
thinking about the role of
Passion in creating great
images. I came to the conclusion
that Passion was as important as
Vision when creating an image
that you loved.
It
was also here that I met a great
many people who would come down
the stairway to see the Hopewell
Rocks with the tide in. Each
would ask what I was doing
photographing in the dark and I
must have explained long
exposure photography to 25
people (and I might have said
that I was photographing the
rare "Fundy bay whale' to a few
of them).
It
was a fun 10 hour experience and
I was lucky to come away with an
image I really love.
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Years
ago when I was challenged to
find my own Vision, I
immediately faced a dilemma: I
really didn't know what Vision
was. Sure, had a vague idea but
I could not define, identify or
even understand it.
I
had this notion that it was some
sort of creative ability that
you were either born with or
not. This caused me great
apprehension as I set about to
find it: I feared that I might
be one of those unfortunate
individuals who did not "have
it." That scared me enough
that I actually questioned if I
wanted to go down this path:
what if I discovered that I
didn't have a Vision?
Well,
I did go down the discovery path
and I did find my Vision. With
that discovery I learned
something very important:
We
all have a Vision, every one of
us is born with one.
Unfortunately for many of us,
and this was my case, it can
become buried when we conform,
follow the rules and value other
people's opinions more than our
own. For some of us, me again,
my Vision was so buried for so
long that I came to believe that
I didn't have one.
But
I did and so do you.
Here's
how I describe Vision:
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Or
put another way by a French
philosopher:
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Vision
seems so simple to me now, but I
remember back when I was
searching for it, it seemed so
complex!
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When
in reality it is such a simple
formula:
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Here's
another way to describe Vision:
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Imagine
if you took all of your beliefs,
knowledge and experiences and
blended them together...
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...and
then took that mixture and cast
lenses...
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...that
you then used to see the world
through...that is your Vision.
It is simply how you see the
world through the lenses of your
life experiences.
Vision
is not something I can point to,
identify or describe just as I
cannot describe my personality,
because it's too multi-faceted
and complex. Sure I can describe
parts of my personality, such as
"sometimes I can be moody," but
that does not come close to
describing my complete
personality.
My
Vision is comprised of many
beliefs, experiences, teachings,
preferences, prejudices, likes
and dislikes. You might think of
Vision as your photographic
personality. This personality
affects where I point my camera,
how I expose the image and then
process it.
Let
me give an example. Each year
when I visit Death Valley I
avoid the "iconic shots." Why?
Because part of my personality,
and hence my Vision, is to not
follow the crowd.
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Zabriskie
Point by James Brandon
So
when I see that everyone
creating images from Zabriskie
Point that look like this, then
I'll not be doing the same
thing.
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Photographers
lined up to photograph Zabriskie
at dawn
Likewise,
when I see everyone pointing
their cameras in the same
direction, my reaction is to
look in the opposite direction
to see what they might be
missing.
As
I photographed at Zabriskie
Point, here are some of my
photographic personality traits
that affected how I saw things:
- I
avoid the iconic shots
- I
don't like doing what everyone
else is doing
- I
like creating something unique
- I
love dark, high contrast
b&w images
- I
prefer abstracts over
realistic landscapes
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Time
No. 2
And
so while everyone was
photographing the iconic color
scene to the west, I turned my
attention to the east and
created Time No. 2. All of those
little photographic personality
traits that make up my Vision
allowed me to see something
unique and different from what
the others were seeing.
And
you, with a different Vision,
would probably have created
something entirely different
also. That's the beauty of
Vision, there are 7,596,362,764
unique Visions in the world!
Yes, we all have one, even
non-photographers.
So
what is Vision?
It
is the sum total of your life
experiences, it is the lenses
you see the world through, it is
your photographic personality
and it is your inner voice (or
the "force" for you Star Wars
fans).
There
is no need to be able to define,
identify or describe your
Vision. All you really need to
know is that your Vision is
there and then follow it.
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Ancient
Stones No. 12
The
winner of my last drawing is
Jeff Williams who will be
taking home a print of "Isolated
No. 3."
Congratulations
Jeff! Please
contact me and arrange for your
print to be delivered.
____________________________
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To
enter this newsletter drawing
for Ancient Stones No. 12
(above), send me an email at Cole@ColeThompsonPhotography.com and
put "Ancient Stones" in the
subject line.
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