WEEK 6: WE ARE NOT IN CALIFORNIA ANYMORE

The past 48 hours have been perhaps the most insanely unexpected and strange. Yesterday I was biking in a sports bra in the sunshine and the today I was bundled up indoors drinking a "snowgarita" and wearing everything I brought layered on top of each other. 

When people said "snow" I'm thinking, you know a California style dusting of snow. This was not the case. Today was our day off from the theatre, and we planned on going hiking, but it was a downpour of snow for almost the entire day. Yesterday, I took this picture of the cliff that is right at the end of 200 street. (I feel bad that these are phone pictures, I expect more of myself... but I really like that they are compositionally identical.) So this afternoon after it stopped snowing I went back to the same spot and replicated the shot with this class in mind. (They are not filtered or color edited.)

The first photo has two really really different elements going on. The sky (brewin' up a storm in there) is so dynamic and full of different shades. It looks really layered and kind of dangerous. The sun was coming in strong and sharp from the left of the picture, and is casting all of kinds of shadows with the red rock and the shrubbery. The sun must have been coming in between clouds to get such intense shadows. The colors brought out in the rock and the land are just incredible. 

In the second photo, those shadows are basically gone. But these pictures were taken at the same time of day. The cloud cover/ more even diffusion caused this to happen. The whole feeling is so much more subdued. The palette becomes nearly white, the sky becomes more gentle and and the shadows disappear. Perhaps all too often we associate cold and dark with danger- and warm and bright with comfort. In this circumstance the snowy picture feels soft and simple and the former feels very energetic and dangerous almost. There is a lot of energy in the first picture. You can see the crags in the rocks, you can see the movement in the sky. 

Yet, after is snowed and the sun came out, it was SO BRIGHT outside. Burning your retinas bright. I think the snow just bounces all the light around into the world and everything is lit from so many more angles that normal. I thought about you guys all day. I will take a million more pictures and I promise you some quality ones soon. 

Love 

Claire