Archive
It’s Been a While / Unveiling a New Look
It’s been a while since my last post. Although I have dealt with health issues for some time, recent circumstances exasperated the situation, hence the lack of posts. As not to be a total loss, the down-time has been used to re-vamp and re-vitalize my on-line presence.
Last Glimmer of Light, Winter Park, CO 2007
To that end (and to take a visual break from the summer heat), leading off the images on my new, state of the art website I exhibit an old favorite of mine, Last Glimmer of Light in the newer, larger format. Captured just as the sun set on the Continental Divide as seen from Winter Park, Colorado, a moment later the light was gone.
As with all my images, the Fine Art prints exhibit far more detail than can be seen on-line, with this one showing the ridges on the mountaintop and snow on the dark trees at the bottom.
I captured this image many years ago and at the very last-minute as I dashed into a vacation rental and out to the deck just as we arrived at sunset. I barely had enough time to set up the tripod with a Canon L 400mm lens to assure the required detail in a subject that was so far away.
So, as I sometimes do, I twist the meaning of the title and present this new website to represent the opposite of…the last glimmer of light… for me. www.barrystevengreff.com
Granite Flow on a Rainy Day
Another black and white image of water flowing downward over and around hard granite rock in the beautiful state of Colorado. Although I usually stay away from even the slightest political
Granite Flow, Boulder, Colorado 2008
reference in my photography, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to achieve considering the way things are going, which certainly wouldn’t be described as smooth.
Notwithstanding, in my work I always try to concentrate on the natural beauty that has (so far) survived all that has occurred around it. This image was created on a rainy day, just outside the classic Colorado city of Boulder. The muted sky allows for the tripod mounted camera’s shutter to remain open long enough to slow down the motion of the water and the rain emphasizes the sharp detail of the granite rock.
Here’s to hoping things around us flow more smoothly going forward… although as I hear myself write it, I recognize just how hard it will be to achieve.
Flowing Downward / Rocky Mountains
A classic black and white image of a mighty river flowing downward in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.
Downward Flow, Colorado 2010
After a particularly snowy winter, the melting runoff created a powerful flow down river. Captured using a tripod from a bridge over the river, the slow shutter speed caught the motion of the rushing water as it made its way around boulders and fallen trees.
Happy New Year 2017
Happy New Year 2017
Torch Run, New Years Eve, Keystone, CO 2007
An image that has always represented the celebration of the New Year to me was capturing the “Torch Run” on the slopes of Keystone, Colorado on New Years Eve ten years ago this year. As the clock struck midnight, skiers, holding red flares, slowly came down the slope in a wide “S” formation. The resulting scene was spectacular to behold live.
Due to the darkness of night and the motion of the skiers, it took quick experimentation to capture just enough blur to show the movement, while maintaining enough detail to see some of the individual skiiers holding up their flares.
This was clearly an image I pictured in my mind before taking it, and had set up my tripod at the bottom of the mountain at the correct angle to capture the snaking skiers.
Here’s hoping the future year…is a bright one, I could certainly use one about now.
U. S. National Park Service Celebrates 100 Years Today
On August 25, 2016, the U. S. National Park Service turns 100 years old. By the Act of March 1, 1872, Congress established Yellowstone National Park in the Territories of Montana and Wyoming “as a public park or pleasuring-ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people” and placed it
River of Fallen Trees, Yellowstone National Park, 2010
“under exclusive control of the Secretary of the Interior.” The founding of Yellowstone National Park began a worldwide national park movement. initially, these parks were run by various government agencies so No single agency provided unified management of the varied federal parklands. On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the act creating the National Park Service http://www.nps.gov, a federal bureau in the Department of the Interior
Bison, King of the Mountain, Yellowstone National Park, WY 2010
responsible for protecting the 35 national parks and monuments then managed by the department and those yet to be established.
Over the years I have had the privilege of visiting several of these jewels. Yellowstone has so much diversity to offer. Its variety and abundance of wildlife; steaming, colorful, prismatic springs and gushing geysers to name a few. The Visitor Center at Old Faithful actually has a clock on the wall that notifies visitors of eruption times within a few minutes either way. Now… there’s an App for that….assuming you can get service in the Park, you can time your visits to make sure you capture an eruption.
So, Happy 100th to the National Park Service. Here’s wishing it many more centennials of protecting these magnificent, natural wonders. Here’s also hoping they are still around to be enjoyed by our children and our children’s children. For this folks… is Mother Nature at her absolute finest.
Missing the Mountaintops / Lofty Goals
Mountaintops Reflected, West Yellowstone, MT 2010
With all the News reports of snow around the country, I miss the endless photographic opportunities that comes with it, along with the all the chaos.
On this particular day, in a place where snow is a fabric of the landscape much of the year, I made my first and only, unsuccessful attempt at flyfishing in a Yellowstone river. When I finally realized there would be no fish this day, I looked up to see the remaining light highlighting what looked like the clouds reflecting the mountaintops below them. I quickly exchanged my fishing gear for my camera gear to capture the scene before the light was gone. Using the almost sihlouetted row of Evergreens as a foreground element, this image was the one good thing I caught all day.
Later that night I enjoyed a fresh local trout, pan fried to perfection, at a small, West Yellowstone restaurant …the next best thing to catching it myself.
And Now for Something Completely Different / Time for a Change
Fantasy Island, Ode to M.C. Escher, 2006-2010
Albert Einstein is attributed with the clever quote: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” Although it has come into question as to whether or not he actually said it, it is still both catchy and thought-provoking.
After an absolutely awful year of health, which is still challenging me through the new year, it leads me to think it would be insane not to try something new going forward. That being said, my work has always been known for its rendition of Mother Earth’s natural beauty with very little, if any, help from post production “magic.” Notwithstanding, over the years, I have (secretly) dabbled in the creation of scenes which have been born in my mind’s eye and then generated from several composite images I have captured over time.
Hence, for the first time seen beyond my eyes, one of my more complicated compilations, Fantasy Island. Created from over a dozen images taken over several years, this is truly one that the viewer can see new things at every different turn. Produced in the mystical style of M.C. Escher, following the composition around, brings you back to the beginning…or does it? It’s enough to drive you insane.
