Our monthly Photo Quest for September 2021 was “Small Projects” and we asked our members to submit between 3 and 5 images that would be tied together in various ways (here’s the announcement). In the galleries that follow, you can see the small projects that our members worked on.
As usual, thanks to everyone who took part and put thought and effort into their submissions! Stay tuned for the October Photo Quest announcement. In the meantime, take a look at our calendar to see what else is coming up in October.
You can click on any of the images in the grids below to open them in a “lightbox” 1-up view! (especially useful on desktop computer)
Andrew Szikla
Barb Kozikowski – Bandelier
I just returned from a vacation in Santa Fe and wanted to submit a series of photos to show the beauty of Frijoles Canyon in Bandelier National Monument and the spirit of the native peoples who occupied the area. I therefore submitted a general panorama (one of too many photos) of the volcanic cliffs. The remaining photos show the remains of a Kiva built by the ancestral pueblo people and other dwellings/artwork that was dug out of the volcanic cliff walls.
Barbara Whitman – Scripps Pier
I had never been to the La Jolla pier prior to this, so my goal was to take as many photos that represented what I saw in, around and under the pier. Unfortunately, the gate to access the pier’s boardwalk was locked so I could not walk above. The photos I chose to use in this Quest reflected the variety of colors in this particular sunset, including beautiful yet subtle reflections with beautiful highlights along the sand, sea foliage and shore.
Ben Radhakrishnan – Farmer’s Market Popcorn Story
A busy vendor in an open Farmer’s market demonstrates the transformation of corn from package kernels to tasty popcorn to the waiting customers.
Chris Gaines – La Jolla Cove
I recently obtained a wide angle lens and decided to take it out for a spin. Sunset at La Jolla Cove seemed a good place to start, and I am fairly happy with the results. I enjoyed seeing the significant differences in tone and mood created by shifting my frame even a few feet as the sun set and the light rapidly changed.
Dan Bucko – The Old Bridge
Man-made structure of hard pavement and reinforced steel unnaturally connects two divided paths. Over time this union settles, shifts and erodes. Neglect and disregard accelerate a gradual and inevitable decay. And eventually division and re-separation emerge as one road returns to two dead ends.
Dean Angelico – Fern Fountains
Erica Miller – Palm Abstracts
Frimmel Smith – Denali
As a serendipitous wildlife/bird photographer, landscapes rarely call to me. However, Denali in autumn with its brilliant foliage, everchanging skies, and rutting wildlife presented new opportunities to combine vistas with wildlife. Climate change has created a very different perspective from 50 years ago. In 1970, low tundra plants carpeted the park floor, and Caribou fed on them. Few tundra plants remain. Replaced with dwarf birch, willows, aspens and pines, the multi-height flora explodes in a kaleidoscope of hues, and the Moose moved in. (September 4 – 7)
Joseph Smith – Maine’s Textile Mills
In the early industrial period, one of the first products to be manufactured in New England using water power was cotton textiles. I’ve been visiting two of them: Sanford and Biddeford.
Biddeford’s mill (images number 4 & 5) has been renovated into apartments, shops and restaurants and has a fresh, updated look with hundreds of new windows. It was once powered by the Saco River.
The Sanford mill (images number 1, 2 and 3), once powered by the Mousum River, is only partially restored (the uninteresting part 😄), the rest is being left to nature and the elements.
These building are huge and when in operation must have been fascinating to see in action but probably not so to work in one.
Mark Ochenduszko – Aspens in Autumn
In the course of just a few days, the Quaking Aspens in Grand Teton turned from bright green to yellow and ultimately orange. The groves are sparse, but stand out brilliantly against the deep evergreen Ponderosa Pines. There are one hundred and one ways to photograph the stunning beauty of the aspens, from capturing an entire grove, to focusing on micro elements, and even, to photographing them by panning or de-focusing in an impressionistic style.
Alexander S. Kunz — Geometry of Shadows
As a starting point for my small project, I chose to limit myself to the interior of our house and what I could photograph with a 50mm prime lens.
Wandering around, I noticed how the light falling into the house from different windows created shadows at certain wall corners, and how these shadows overlapped and multiplied, creating geometric shapes and, depending on the wall color and direction of the light, also different color combinations.
I isolated just shapes and colors to create abstract geometrics, cleaned up many imperfections that the walls of an older house inevitably have 😜 and chose a soft rendition to focus on the shapes and colors while also trying to retain just a hint of what the photos actually show.
