Simple scene: Pacific Ocean from Russian Ridge

[Matt Tilghman]

Hello all.  Here's another shot from my favorite location, this one actually from February... yearning for the rainy season I suppose. In this simple scene from Russian Ridge, California, the drama was all in my mind. I know that the Pacific Ocean got its name when Ferdinand Magellan passed through the Straits of Magellan and into the relative calmness of the ocean beyond, but here I was rewriting history in my head. As someone who moved from Florida to San Francisco, it's hard for me to imagine that anyone considers the Pacific calm. However, unlike the Atlantic in Florida, many of my chances to glimpse the Pacific come from mountaintops. From up here, where you can't make out the swells and breakers, the sea looks as tranquil as an alpine lake. Even though I know it's incorrect, I imagined that the Pacific Ocean got its name when the early land-based explorers ascended these coastal mountains and got their first glimpse of the ocean, from up high. It's the only place where I can see the Pacific as "calm."


Pacific Ocean from Russian Ridge

Thanks for looking!

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Congrats on keeping brightness levels between foreground and background, highlight and shadow, believable! Or, in other words, refraining from opening shadows too much.

[Bullfrog]

I like it, I think I would love it if it were a panorama.  I see the lines provide form, my eyes are just wanting to see more. 

And yes, the colours are realistic and the light is good and its a very pleasing image colour wise.

I confess I find what I see on screen to not always converge with what I get on canvas printed (I'm not talking about the profile, I simply mean the image printed often reveals flaws that may be forgiven when viewed on screen under a luminous backdrop) and probably am guilty of providing more contrast and/or opening up shadows.  I have struggled with this concept of "realism" vs "fine art"  or "artistic expression" and have decided its personal taste - neither is wrong.

[sdwilsonsct]

Another fine one, Matt.

[Matt Tilghman]

Thanks for the compliments, guys!

[Paulo Bizarro]

What a wonderful photo. Full of interplay between geometries, tones, and colours.