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Many photographers spend their careers hopping from one repertoire location to the next. In fact, many of the locations have special times of the year, which are considered best and if you plan your schedule well you can maximize your time with the repertoire while it is in season. If you follow the migratory pattern of the landscape photographer you might spend fall in Grand Teton National Park at the Snake River overlook (next to the parking lot) where Ansel Adams took his photo. In the winter you can swing by Yosemite to make some photos of snow on the rocks in the Merced River, spring in the high desert shooting wildflowers, and summer in Glacier National Park making your contribution to oeuvre of bear grass photography after which you'll certainly follow the signs to St. Mary Lake for some sunrise shots. If you are new to landscape photography this can be a little bewildering and you might consider attending one of the many workshops set up by landscape repertoire veterans to show you the ropes. You will learn what lens to use, where to stand, what time of day is most popular for the particular location. Since you will be shooting in the company of other photographers you will also be instructed in photography etiquette—an important skill when shooting with the crowds at the repertoire spots. Workshops are advertised as a means of developing your personal vision but are frequently indoctrination into the tradition; like a sewing class that teaches you to make a shirt from a pattern. My advice for those intent on developing personal vision would be to save the $500-$2000 workshop fee and spend $10 on Emerson's Self Reliance and a trip to the museum.
Because the competition is ferocious and so many people are shooting the same subjects, landscape photographers spend an inordinate amount of time praying for something—anything—to set their photos apart. The prayers normally take the form of requests for peculiar light or odd weather; something like lightning striking Delicate Arch would be ideal. In fact, it was just this quest that led landscape photographer Michael Fatali, known for his fervent assertions that he relies solely on natural light, into an ignominious encounter with the law in September of 2000 when, during a workshop, he lit some Duraflame logs at the base of the arch to give it an unusual glow. It may have given the desired glow, but it also left a difficult to remove layer of waxy soot. Mr. Fatali was fined and banned for a period from the park. While most photographers have good field ethics, the drive to squeeze the most photography from the fewest locations has led to problems. Photographers have been known to uproot plants that interfere with their compositions, bait animals and trample sensitive spots in order to gain an edge on the competition. In the last decade, however, digital technology has made many of these techniques obsolete. It is now possible to uproot an entire tree with the stroke of a mouse. Another noted photographer, Art Wolfe, was heavily criticized when, in 1996, the Denver Post brought to the public's attention the digital alterations in his book Migrations. Some of the animals had been cloned. As the tools for digital manipulation improve and become ubiquitous we can expect to see an increase in unusual weather phenomenon at Delicate Arch and maybe even a jump in the size of zebra herds in Africa. Photographic manipulation is a complicated issue, however. When Ansel Adams significantly alters a photograph in the dark room it is the highest form of photographic art, but when Art Wolfe uses Photoshop, people call him a fake. For now, I am content to simply say it is an interesting question, although perhaps a more interesting question is, why does the market value a digital heard of zebras above real ones?
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©2003 Mark Meyer
