While I spend my share of time traveling to exotic locations to photograph, I still contend that photographing in one’s backyard is viable for the average photographer. Now I confess that I have a fine backyard for this–8 acres of boreal forest, and not all backyards are the same. But, you don’t need acres really, as beauty can be found in very tiny places. To substantiate my perspective on photographing locally, I try to include a photo from “my backyard” in the annual calendar I publish on Interior Alaska. And speaking of publishing photos, it makes me smile when I sell pictures taken from my backyard, and a recent photo sale brought this subject to mind for a little discussion. Here are a few pictures that I’ve taken on my property premises, and even a few from within my own house! I’ll start with this shot, featured for the month of November in my Fairbanks and interior Alaska wall calendar.
Window frost, Fairbanks, Alaska. One day while working on the computer my eyes needed a break. When going up a set of stairs in my home I saw this frost pattern on the window door window pane. The sun was just rising and the angle of light accentuated the patterns, enhanced by the warm colors of the sun and the blue sky. I grabbed my camera and took a few frames with a Canon 1Ds Mark III, 100mm macro. 1/2 sec @ f/11, ISO 100
The frame below just sold for a window display background at 16 x 7 feet! As a panorama it worked perfect for this application. I did of course photograph the individual frame as well, but the panorama has an interesting, repetitive pattern. I took the picture from my deck, looking across my driveway at the snowy forest trees.
Snowy birch trees in Fairbanks, Alaska. Panorama stitch from 5 vertical frames. Canon 1Ds, 20-200mm (105mm) 1/15 sec a f/16, ISO 100. The 1Ds made an 11 MP file so I often shot panoramas in a vertical format to increase file size. Now with the 21PM file of the 1Ds Mark III, I often shoot panoramas in the horizontal orientation. Taken from the deck of my home in Fairbanks, Alaska. Published as a window display backdrop, and in a corporate calendar.
I have the good fortune of living in a latitude friendly for aurora borealis viewing. Once in a while, when the displays are strong, they can be photographed in a more southerly direction from the deck on my house. That was the case in this photo. It was published as a wallpaper backdrop in the old Fairbanks airport, about 12 ft high by 18ft long.
Aurora borealis and boreal forest, Fairbanks, Alaska with the city lights of Fairbanks in the distance. Canon 1Ds, 17-35mm (17mm), 30 sec @ f/2.8, ISO 320. Taken from the deck of my home, published as a wallpaper backdrop in the old Fairbanks airport, about 12 ft high by 18ft long.
One last shot that I took from the window of my house.
Winter sunrise over boreal forest and Alaska Mountain Range, Mount Moffit. Taken from a window on the second story of my house, looking south to the Alaska range. Canon 1Ds Mark II, 70-200mm (200mm), 1/2 sec @ f/25, ISO 100. It was published in a brochure and a corporate calendar.
