Ivan Makarov Blog

We hosted my wife’s family this week for Thanksgiving break. On Saturday we headed down to Santa Cruz Mountains for a brief hike in the redwoods forest, and I decided to try something new for me.

Redwood trees are rather hard to photograph, and just about every time I tried I walked away with no usable exposures. Because of how tall they are, and because of how these trees create huge shadows for themselves to sustain moist environment for their roots, they’re typically back lit and create a technical nightmare for a photographer. In other words, the trunks are in the shadow, and everything else around them are highlights. The redwood groves are typically a part of the biggest forest, so it’s hard to find them in a situation where trunks are lit up.

So this time I decided I wanted to try a new technique I believe landscape photographer William Neill first made famous with his portfolio The Impressions of Light, where he tried to imitate the style of impressionism explored by Monet and others, but with his camera. To see how he does it, check out the article here.

I think these types of images look the best when printed large on canvas, and I’m planning on doing that in the future. However, I do like how this one turned out and how the light helped me shape this image.

Either way, a walk in a redwood forest is always good for the soul, whether or not I walk away with any usable frames.