Rory W Photography Blog

Winner of Doug Chinnery’s “Best Photo of 2009″ Competition

One of my favorite images, Patterns of Nature, has one another competition (it’s first win was the sweepstakes prize at the 2009 Weber County Fair). It was chosen as the 1st place winner of Doug Chinnery’s “Best Photo of 2009″ Competition. I was honored to be chosen from among a great group of competitors. Here’s what Doug said about the image:

“This image really moved us. It stood out as very different from most images entered by its focus on an intimate landscape. We loved the beautiful colours and strong use of the vertical white trunks of the Silver Birches contrasted against the fresh green of the foliage in the undergrowth, made perfect by the Dandelion heads breaking up the spread of green. This image was made with a keen eye for detail, great exposure control and compositional skills – an image to be proud of. I would love to see a large version of the image.“

Aspens Panoramic

70-200mm f/4L | 1/40 sec | f/11 | ISO 100

These were some very well backlit aspens. I have had an eye out for a scene like this for a long time, and finally found one.

Autumn Glow

70-200mm f/4L | 1/30 sec | f/16 | ISO 100

The first of the autumn pictures! When I went up toward Monte Cristo this year, I had an unpleasant surprise – it’s been so cold lately at the higher altitudes that instead of changing to yellows and other colors, most of the aspens just froze and died. There was very little color. But I did find a few patches here and there. This is one of them.

And then of course the snow kept falling and falling today. That may be it for the fall colors this year!

Patterns of Nature

17-40mm f/4L | 1.6 sec | f/18 | ISO 100

I ran across this great little spot after an evening of highly-unsuccessful photography elsewhere. The aspens along the road were the thing that caught my eye, but when I went closer, I found this great patch of whatever this plant is. Granted, I’m no plant expert, but I thought it made a pretty cool composition and some great patterns.

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Backlit…

Canon 40D | Tamron 18-200mm 1/10 sec f/11 ISO 100

I know – it’s pretty much winter now and I’m still posting fall pictures? Well, yes I am because I still have shots to show. I took this right before the sun started dropping behind the horizon – the best time for backlighting.

Autumn’s Rainbow

Canon 40D | 17-40mm f/4L | 1/50 sec | f4 | ISO 100

I was quite impressed with this scene when I found it because there was such a variety of colors. This one aspen tree’s colors ranged from bright red-orange to vivid green. I just had to capture the scene.

November’s First Rain

Canon 40D | 17-40mm f/4L | 1/1600 sec | f4 | ISO 200

It rained last night, the first of November. So I figured I would post this shot today, which I took this morning after the rain. I chose to take the color out of this photo because the leaves were pretty dead and colorless. Plus I wanted to focus primarily on the water droplets. Add to that the autumn tones, and I think it makes a great fall photograph.

Hidden Colors

Canon 40D | Tamron 18-200mm | 1/4 sec | f/11 | ISO 100

This image I took a little over a month ago just stands out to me for some reason. I guess I just like how the brightest colors are hidden behind intense greens. I took this shot at Snowbasin. It’s a panoramic composite of three shots.

Autumn on Brown

Canon 40D | 17-40mm f/4L | 1/5 sec | f/11 | ISO 100

Not too long ago I read an article about looking for the small details in nature. This is one of those details that just really caught my eye.

Fall’s Last Light

Canon 40D | 17-40mm f/4L | 1/8 sec | f/11 | ISO 100

This is one of my favorite shots of the season. This grouping of aspens was amazing – at the time it was the only group in the area that had changed. The best thing about them is that they were the only ones hit by the light from the setting sun. I took this shot just before the last beams of sunlight vanished…