Gary Randall Top Ten Photos from 2022
Happy New Year.
I’m looking forward to another awesome year in 2023 but thought that it would be appropriate for me to share a few of my favorite photos from 2022. Sometimes a favorite photo may not be the best photo, but when it’s coupled to the experience the resulting photo means more. The photo becomes more personal. And so while you’re looking at these photos please keep in mind that these are my personal favorites.
I and my good friend Alyce Bender had the incredible opportunity to lead a group of photographers in a bayou in the American south. Caddo Lake is located on the border of Texas and Louisiana and is so incredible. I’m used to fern infested and moss laden Pacific Northwest conifer rainforests. Landscape full of lush green trees, creeks and waterfalls. Caddo Lake was a completely different landscape altogether. The trees were deciduous conifers that were moss covered, not even similar to anything that we’re familiar with in Oregon. The bald Cypress in this submerged forest were covered by Spanish Moss. As it was late Autumn the trees were in fall color or had already lost they’re needles/leaves. To add to the amazing scenery there were incredible white egrets and blue herons that would either roost in the trees or would be wading among the submerged bases looking for food such as frogs and fish. These birds became subjects to many of my photos from that trip.
In this particular photo our group was cruising through the swamp when ahead of us there was this amazing gateway into the light beyond, and as soon as we entered the channel an egret and a blue heron took flight. This is probably my favorite photo from that trip, and maybe the whole year.
Bandon Oregon is one of my favorite places to spend time. I love the beaches there, with hidden tunnels in the rock cliffs, and the majestic sea stacks the line the coast line. Bandon Beach is easily accessible and is situated in the middle of my favorite part of the Oregon Coast. It’s also a short drive south from there to the California Redwood forests.
This photo was made while I was conducting a workshop with my good friend Chris Byrne. The group was in the groove as the beautiful morning light painted the distant clouds with a soft pastel brush. This particular sea stack’s name is the Howling Dog. When seen from a point of view a little more south than where I was it takes on the profile of a howling dog with its head pointed high toward the sky.
You will see four photos from Caddo Lake Texas in this list and I had to fight to not include more. This is one of my favorites from the trip and plan to print this one for myself. The vegetation on the surface of the water is giant salvinia and is, unfortunately, a terribly prolific invasive weed that is threatening the health of the lake. The open water showing through the plants, showing an incredible reflection, was created by a boat that had just passed through. It made an excellent lead in to the beautiful trees beyond. I shot this from a distance using my 70-200 lens.
I have mentioned the egrets at Caddo Lake previously. This photo is a great example of how you can wait for the birds to line themselves up with parts of the landscape to help create dreamlike photos. This was taken early in the morning just as the light was filtering through the trees into the swamp. The birds was wading around in the misty water searching from tasty morsels.
I have to really think hard to decide which of the photos that I made in the swamp is my favorite. This one is very close to the top of the list.
Autumn at Lost Lake Oregon. These beautiful leaves are vine maple (Acer circinatum). Vine maples are one of my favorite trees in the Pacific Northwest forests. At the end of the season when they’re in the open areas of the cascades they can turn brilliant colors that range from bright yellow to brilliant reds. When they reside in the forest canopy they are often covered by thick coats of beautiful lush moss and their leaves turn a bright yellow, contrasting the rest of the dark greens on the confer trees that tower over there.
Lost Lake is located at the north side of Mount Hood just south of the beautiful Hood River Valley. It’s always a great place to photograph Mount Hood if the clouds aren’t obscuring the majestic mountain.
This is Latourell Falls, Columbia River Gorge Oregon. I love this waterfall and one of the reasons is because of how the water falls in soft, shear transparent fabric curtains, seemingly tossed by a gentle breeze. To capture that effect one needs to use a quicker shutter speed to minimize the movement of the falling water during exposure, otherwise it becomes a solid white column in the back of the photo. You can clearly see the curtain effect in this photo. And then when that shutter speed is used the creek in the foreground appears to be “crunchy” and not soft, contrasting the soft feel of the falls behind.
In this photo I used a 2 second exposure for the creek in the foreground and then a 1/20 second exposure for the waterfall behind. I then blended the two together for the final effect in Photoshop. I think that it made a better photo than either of the two that I used to create this image.
It’s not a spectacular photo but I like it.
One more from Caddo Lake Texas. Not only do I like this photo but the experience from the beginning to the end was a journey in its own right. The morning was incredible. My friend Alyce Bender and I arrived at the lake two days before the workshop was to start. We stayed at the edge of the lake in a primitive, but comfortable little shack – Two bunks, a table and two chairs and, thankfully, a nice warm heater. It allowed us to wake up and walk to the water’s edge. Alyce woke up to check the conditions at daybreak and came running back telling me to hurry as there was a beautiful mist on the water. It was exactly what we had hoped for. It was 28° F when we took the canoe out and started rowing around in the amazing Cypress forest. I took some beautiful photos of the egrets as they talked their prey and then as the sun broke over the hillside and into the forest I was blown away by the light cutting it’s way through the trees and displaying itself in the mist rising from the water.
When I processed this photo I really wanted it to be perfect. I got it the best that I thought that I could get it and then I decided to get some critical feedback. I belong to an amazing group called the Nature Photographers Network. It’s a website where you can find some of the top names in landscape photography hanging out and giving advice. It’s also a great place to share photos and also to post one up to the general population for critique. I’m so glad that I decided to pass the photo in front of a few other trained eyes. The best analogy that I can think of is when you’re writing something, at least in my case I can’t seem to be able to proof read my own writing. I have to have someone else look it over for me to find flaws. I’ve come to the conclusion that I will be putting more of my work, especially my best, up for a group critique.
Check this link out for more information about NPN. https://npn.gary-randall.com/npn
The breathtaking California Redwoods on a foggy morning. I took this as my friend Chris Byrne and I were guiding a group of photographers at the southern Oregon coast. We had left Bandon Oregon and drove south to take in a sunrise at Heceta Head Lighthouse before heading to the California Redwoods. Chris and I were worried because there didn’t seem to be any fog at all, and we really wanted some for out clients.
We all arrived at the trailhead and we packed our camera gear up and we headed down the trail. To be completely honest and day in the redwoods, no matter the weather is incredible, but it’s magical when the light rays pour through the giant trees. The group was amazed and were set up with their tripods photographing in various directions. As I stood there surveying the trees I started to notice a slight mist starting to come in from the ocean and within minutes we were all bathed in this incredible light. The beams slowly changed as the mist filtered through causing us to feel as if were were in a dream.
When we all gathered at the trailhead afterward lengthy sentences were few but one, two and and an occasional three word exclamations were many.
This was taken in the Mount Hood National Forest in Oregon on a beautiful Summer day. My wife Darlene and I were out on a drive to a favorite view of Mount Hood, taking wildflowers photos with my Tamron 90mm macro lens. We came across this area that was blanketed with these beautiful little yellow flowers. I took some pretty straight forward close up photos and was about to leave, less than thrilled with the outcome of my efforts, when I decided to just put the camera down in the flowers and snap a few photos. They looked pretty cool so I flipped up my preview screen so I could get an idea of what I was taking, and to better control some of the focus and took a few more, with this being one of them.
This photo has a fairly narrow depth of field but the area is centered between the front and the back and is in good focus. This looks nice large. I feel like a bug in the flowers.
The last one was taken here in Brightwood Oregon from my front porch. I live in a beautiful place, especially in the Spring and early Summer. Everything id fresh and healthy and the birds are busy. This Steller’s Jay was wanting some of the goodies that I put out for the birds in the trees around my yard. I love how the blue color pops put from the natural color of the trees of the forest. This isn’t a photo of a wild animal in some exotic place but it’s a photo of home. I like it.
I took this photo with my amazing Tamron 150-600 G2. I love that lens and have photographed everything from wildlife to landscapes to macro photos of butterflies. It’s an incredible lens and much more diverse lens than people give it credit for.
And so there you have it. My favorite ten photos from my year. I certainly have many more that are my favorites, and it took some thought to choose these. I hope that you like them too.
I’m hoping for great things in 2023 and I hope that you are too. Thank you all for your support. It means so much to me.
Gary