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.“

Thanksgiving Morning

70-200mm f/4L | 1/20 sec | f/16 | ISO 100

Yep, it’s been quite a while since I posted anything, and I’ve still got plenty of things to post, but I figured today I should at least say Happy Thanksgiving!

I just took this shot early this morning. The warm/cool contrast really caught my eye, as well as the backlit trees in front of the hills in shadow.

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.

Wildflowers

17-40mm f/4L | 1/25 sec | f/14 | ISO 100

I always try to be on the lookout for scenes that perhaps might not work too well as “fine art” (at least in my opinion), but might still be something that a local magazine or other publication might want some time. This is one of those images. Bright, blue sky. Nice puffy clouds. Green plants. Bright, colorful wildflowers. What do you think?

And I’m not sure what the blue/purple flower is. Anyone know?

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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Sun-Lit Red

Canon 40D | 17-40mm f/4L | 1/25 sec | f/4 | ISO 800

I took this a few months ago up in the mountains. I was wandering through the (very wet) forest looking for shots, when I stumbled upon a beam of light shining through the forest onto this red pine, and only on this one small spot. I knew the sun was vanishing very quickly, so there was no time to set up the tripod for the shot. So unfortunately I had to take the shot hand-held, the ISO bumped up to 800. Oh well.

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.

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…