Neglected

Sunset and Shadows, Carrizo Plain NM, California

I have sorely neglected this blog recently, in favor of my
daily posts on Facebook - come along for the ride:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kevin-Schafer-Photography/117105425030764

I will try and continue posting here, but there is
only so much time in the day...

Meanwhile, the story behind the picture:

I was waiting, unsuccessfully, for some kit foxes to emerge
from their den at sunset. They never showed, so there I was,
stuck with a 500mm lens on my tripod and a lot 

of time on my hands. It was a glorious sunset, throwing
shadows on the ridges of the Temblor Range (home
of the San Andreas Fault).

Normally, I would look for a classic “Sierra Club Calendar
Composition” with a wide-angle foreground leading to the
distant hills.But here the foreground was 

dull and already in shadow. So instead, I used what I had,
and looked for compositions through my 500mm lens.
The extreme focal length forced me to look at the landscape
as a collection of compressed patterns and light, 

almost an abstract: simply said, a picture that I could not
have taken with any other lens. The lesson: experiment
with the dramatic change in perspective that telephoto lenses
can offer – even when that’s not what you were after in the 

first place…

Nikon D800 with Nikkor 500mm F4 lens