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Great South Bay Sundog

Great South Bay
Long Island, New York

Image captured handheld while drifting on a small boat.
Nikon D90 digital SLR w/Nikkor 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED VRII zoom
1/2000sec F8 ISO200 Aperture Priority 0EV. 11/14/2010 17:03:37
 

"Toward The Sun" Fine Art Photography is mostly about capturing lightning in a bottle.  When I least expect it, light and form may abruptly and very briefly coalesce into a scene that has the potential to stir the emotions in profound ways.  If I'm quick and lucky I may get one amazing frame.  As a photographer, you had better be ready to recognize and act upon that fleeting moment of serendipity, for it makes all the difference.

One of the first shooting rules that I was taught as a boy was that I should never point the camera lens directly toward the sun.  This is good advise, as the sun can cause serious damage to your eyes and camera equipment.  However, with the proper precautions in place, this technique can be safe and extremely rewarding.  I was always attracted to the colors and intensity of sunlight refracting through the sky, or reflecting from the water, or from ice and snow, or from glass.  You should never point your camera directly at a full-on bright sun for more than a fleeting moment, look instead for something to obscure or diffuse the brightness such as cloud layers or intermediary objects.  Sunsets are usually much safer, but please use caution.  Although these types of images are very difficult to expose properly, and lens flare is always an issue to contend with, do not be intimidated by the technical and safety demands of pointing your camera toward the sun.  If what they say is true, that "You'll learn more from your mistakes than you will from your successes", then give it a go, you'll definitely learn a lot!

The images on this site were captured with a variety of cameras, primarily Nikon digital and film SLRs, and mostly handheld using available light.  The advent of high-ISO and high dynamic-range sensors, along with VR/IS (Vibration Reduction/Image Stabilization technology) has almost completely freed me from the tyranny of the tripod.  I occasionally shoot a modified Nikon D80 DSLR that has been reconfigured for sensitivity to short-wave infrared and have been very satisfied with the resulting "otherworldly" images (see The Passage).  My favorite lenses are optimized to reduce flare and coma, I also prefer compact zooms as they are much easier to carry and deploy in the field.

I have recently been using two lightweight 4x5 large-format film cameras (Ikeda Anba and Chamonix), along with a selection of Schneider-Kreuznach lenses and filters.  Because a 4x5 film transparency is 13 times larger than a full-frame FX digital sensor (and has much greater color density), you would effectively need a 500 megapixel digital camera (which does not yet exist) to equal the image quality of 4x5 film.  I'll post these new large-format photos as soon as possible, albeit vastly reduced in size for web consumption.  They will no doubt make very dramatic wall-size prints.

Thank you for visiting this site.  I hope you have enjoyed viewing my photographs as much as I have enjoyed taking them.

And remember: If you're heading out, never leave your camera behind.  Go look for the light, and it will find you when it's ready.

    - James Kirschberg / Photographer & founder of "Toward The Sun" Fine Art Photography

Pricing for reproductions in other sizes or formats is available upon request.
Please call 631-224-3415 or email me at James@TowardTheSun.com,
 and I'd be happy to customize an order to your satisfaction.

All photographs and site content copyright ©2011 James Kirschberg / Toward The Sun Fine Art Photography