Webshots Blog

Rock City, as this painted sign on the barn announces, is indeed beautiful. Just a few miles from downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee, this natural wonder features gigantic rock formations that are millions of years old and panoramic views of seven states: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

Rock City includes many attractions, too, such as Deer Park, home to wild white Fallow deer; Fat Man’s Squeeze, a narrow space between two rocks that you can walk through; and Lover’s Leap, whose name comes from a Romeo and Juliet–type story.

According to the website SeeRockCity.com, “Rock City officially opened as a public attraction on May 21, 1932. Soon after, Garnet Carter enlisted the help of a young sign painter named Clark Byers, who was hired to travel the nation’s highways and offer to paint farmers’ barns in exchange for letting them paint three simple words: See Rock City. The distinctive black-and-white signs appeared as far north as Michigan and as far west as Texas.”

Thanks to Webshots member assistantchief84 for this great barn shot with an interesting history.

Though commonly washed in hues of blue and white like most parts of Greece, the architecture in Santorini features a splash of other color now and then, such as the red on this weathered door.

A red door is a significant symbol in many countries. In China, some say a door is painted red before the New Year to invite good luck and happiness, while in Ireland, it’s done to ward off ghosts and evil spirits.

The scarlet entry also has deep religious undertones. In Catholicism, a red door represents that the blood of Christ has been smeared on it and that the area beyond the door is holy and sacred. For Protestants, and especially Lutherans, the red door harkens back to the time of Martin Luther, who posted his 95 Theses on the red doors of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany—the crimson color symbolizes the church as part of the Reformation.

And for homeowners, a red door announces that the house is paid for, free and clear.

Whatever meaning a red door has for you, thanks goes to Webshots member spanakis100 for opening our eyes to this vibrant symbol.

All photos by: Stephen Matera
Mount Rainier	Tiger Mountain	Crystal Mountain
Christine Falls	Skagit Valley	Tipsoo Lake

Photographer Stephen Matera truly has a gift for capturing the decisive moments of nature. He lives in the Pacific Northwest and regularly captures its beauty and spirit with a strong graphic quality. You may have seen his image of Mount Rainier which simply seems to be bathed in prismatic light. It’s not computer trickery; it is pure patience with a little luck to be at the right place at the right time. With the careful study of light, shadow and composition, Stephen regularly travels throughout the western US to capture his subjects at their finest moments. Nowadays, he incorporates his background in landscape photography with shooting commercial outdoor action-sports photography.

If you have any questions or comments for Stephen, please feel free to leave him a comment below. - Penny Adams, Photo Editor

______________________________________________________________

Tell our members a little bit about yourself and how you got interested in photography.

Generally, I’ve been hiking, biking, and skiing for as long as I’ve lived in the Northwest. I always had fun taking photos when going out in the mountains with my friends. I lived in Seattle where the mountains are very close and accessible. I often go for short day trips or long multi-day outings in to the Cascades or Olympic Mountains. As I continued going out in the mountains, I began taking my camera with me, having fun but putting more effort into it. After a while, I experimented with submitting photos to some local magazines to see how my work stacked up. I had some luck and continued to put in more effort and time shooting and selling photos, all the while keeping my day job. After shooting and selling successfully on the side for a few years, I decided I liked it and was successful enough at it to give it a go full-time. So I made the leap to full-time photographer and haven’t looked back. It really helped having time to learn to shoot and build up clients before I went full-time. I’ve known photographers who have made the leap without many established clients or developed photographic style who struggle for a long time.

Did you always know that photography would be your passion? Growing up, whose work did you admire the most?

Great question. Yes, I’ve been passionate about photography for a long time, and a big part of that is a passion for the subject I’m shooting. And that is really is important for me, because it’s a lot of work being a photographer. I still sometimes laugh when I think about how lucky I am to be earning a living doing something I love so much. I still have the drive of someone just starting out shooting. Ask my wife, she’ll tell you how hard it is for me to stop shooting sometimes. When I’m shooting, I get intensely focused on what I am shooting. I’ll get in a zone of consciousness where I tune the rest of the world around me out. Sometimes I get so focused that as soon as I’m finished, I realize I’m very cold, hungry, and late for home!

As I was developing my eye for composition, I had a few photographers whose work I really admired and tried to emulate. Probably the most influential to me was the nature and landscape photographer Pat O’Hara. He also lives in the Northwest so I really connected with the subject and composition of his images. But I am constantly looking at other photographer’s work for inspiration. I love to go shoot with other photographers. One of the biggest challenges of a creative job is continuing to evolve and come up with new concepts. Working with other photographers helps keep it fresh, keeps me inspired and motivated.

In your opinion, which subject is most difficult to master, photographing nature or sports?

Nature (or as I call it landscape photography) photography is much more difficult to shoot. I specifically avoided using the term ‘master’ because I don’t think I ever will. I’m always seeing ways to improve my images. Landscape photography has so many aspects that make it so difficult to do well. By nature, the natural landscape is chaotic. It is difficult to find a composition that creates order out of this chaos. I’ve always thought the best art seems obvious, but only because the artist has executed his vision so well that it only seems obvious. We often see a photo and think wow, that guy was lucky to be in that spot when that was happening, and imagine that if we were there, we could do it also. In reality, some of the best images are of such fleeting moments that last for minutes or literally seconds. In those situations, a trained eye doesn’t need as much time to know what to shoot, but it still takes time to set up a camera on tripod, etc. The logistics of shooting landscape photos are also very tricky. Time of day, time of year, weather, and difficulty of accessing an area all add up to make it hard for a plan to come together. I’ve been skunked many times on planned trips and been very lucky on unplanned trips. All you can do is make a good plan, go do it, and hope the weather cooperates. But then be flexible when it doesn’t. The best way to do it is just be out there with a camera, ready when the epic light is happening.

Sports photography is a different beast. While I believe my landscape eye has translated well to my sports photography, there’s an element of sports photography that is beyond my control. That element is the model/athlete. As a photographer, I can set up shots and have everything ready to go, and the athlete misses his mark or doesn’t do what he/she is attempting to do. That is the most difficult and frustrating aspect of sports photography for me. But as with the uncontrollable aspects of landscape photography, I have learned to work with it and increase the odds of things coming together.

What work are you most proud of? Is there a special story behind that image?

I’m often asked what my favorite images are. And usually, it’s one of the images from my last shoot. I’m always trying to push my creative boundaries and do something new because that’s where the excitement of photography comes for me. But if I had to choose a few images that have stayed with me as my favorites, it would be images from a five day kayak trip a few years ago along the north shore of the Island of Moloka’i, Hawaii.

It was a special trip for a number of reasons. But the photos from that trip have special meaning because of the difficulty of accessing this area along with the astounding beauty and weather/light that we had while there. The north shore of Moloka’i is very remote and rugged. My (now) wife and I were kayaking it with a couple of friends. Kayaking along the coast, the waves became dangerously big (10-15 foot swells) and there are very few places to safely come ashore so it is very committing. On that six day trip, we saw maybe one or two other groups. But there is really no other way to shoot that area.

All of your images have a strong emphasis in color. Do you manipulate your images in any manner?

In real estate the mantra is location, location, location. In outdoor photography, the mantra is light, light, light. Most of us think of photography as shooting a subject. In reality you are shooting the light. Great light can turn a mundane subject into a magical photo. And bad light can make a magical subject into a mundane photo. Brilliant color is a result of finding and understanding great light. Or sadly, it can be approximated by colorizing filters or digital manipulation in Photoshop. These are shortcuts to dramatic photos, but I say they are approximation because are easily recognized to the trained eye. I’ve seen too many photos with beautiful ‘sunset’ light in the sky (from a colored filter) but the lower part of the image has no color to it. RED FLAG!! As a photographer, I decided years ago that I wouldn’t use colorizing filters or digital manipulation to enhance my images. Viewer’s expectations are that what they are looking at is not manipulated. I don’t take advantage of that trust between the photographer and viewer. While I do use photoshop, everything I use it for are things that have been done traditionally in a darkroom for years: exposure, contrast, dodge/burn. I don’t mess with the color balance or saturate colors to add drama.

The Pacific Northwest certainly seems to be a popular location for nature photographers. if you only had 4 days and two tanks of gas what are your top 5 must-see recommendations for taking photos?

Wow, tough choice, but a good question. Yes, it is incredibly beautiful up here in this mildewed corner of the United States. There is so much to choose from. Let’s assume you drive a hybrid (like I do) so you get 500 miles from a tank of gas. That will help things a bit because we’re going to do some driving. Starting in Seattle, I’d drive up to Artist’s Point in the North Cascades National Park. Then I’d work my way over the North Cascades Highway in to the Methow Valley. The North Cascades National Park is one of the least visited national parks but yet one of the most amazing for scenery. And the Methow Valley is a beautiful spot on the east slope of the North Cascades. I‘d then continue south along the Columbia River to Yakima. Most people will be blown away how different the climate is on the east side of the Cascade Mountains. It is a true desert only 100 miles east of Seattle. I’d then hit Mt. Rainier (Sunrise) and hike among the wildflowers there in August. I’d continue west towards the coast of Washington and check out the sea stacks and rugged coast with a side trip to the Hoh Rainforest. Finally, I’d hit Hurricane Ridge on the way back to Seattle, catch the Kingston ferry, hoping to see some whales or dolphins while crossing the Puget Sound to complete the loop.

For more information about Stephen Matera please visit his website www.materaphoto.com

Superman, Lois Lane and Lex Luther are at it again in Warner Bros.’s hot summer release, Superman Returns, which flies into theaters today. Produced by Bryan Singer of X2 and X-Men fame, the movie’s plot centers on the destruction of Metropolis, which took place in Superman’s mysterious five-year absence, and the current evil plans of Lex Luther, who has recently escaped from prison.

Taking on the role of the Man of Steel is newcomer Brandon Routh, and Kate Bosworth plays Lois Lane, who has moved on from Superman, is engaged, and has a young son. But, oh, we all know the fire between them still burns!

And who else could play the cruelest of villains but Kevin Spacey as Lex Luther? The rest of Superman Returns‘ all-star cast includes Parker Posey and James Marsden among others and is sure to delight both old and new fans alike.

We thank Webshots member wasptiger05 for celebrating Superman, a cultural icon.

Ahhhh, love. This happy couple strolls through the streets of Rome, Italy, enjoying one another’s embrace as well as the picturesque alley. The black-and-white photography speaks to the simplicity and elegance that love often is, and in a city like Rome, it’s hard not to get swept up in the romantic settings that are at every turn. Much amore goes to Webshots member rosieb88 for sharing this wonderful moment with us.

From the buglike perspective to the richly saturated colors, this happy bunch of flowers taken by mfunkas1 seems to be stretching toward the blue nowhere. Can’t you just imagine yourself nestled in this field, among the golden petals, looking at the puffy clouds and describing what you think they look like?

Sunday is a good day to put on a pack and walk up to a very high point, perhaps the top of the nearest mountain, and look out over the valley. Then, walk down the mountain so that when the light is at its most beautiful, before dusk, you can witness a scene such as this.

This Chinese mountain silhouette was shared by alanbuckner.

Despite what their name would have you think, many tree frogs are not in fact arboreal, but are aquatic or terrestrial. Sadly, many species of tree frog are now endangered and the same is true of their native habitats.

Webshots member rarcher119 shared this photo with us.

Many people associate the word “sushi” with raw fish, but it actually refers more to the rice in the dish as sushi can be made with a number of ingredients, including vegetables, seafood and eggs. Sushi is a dish made with Japanese rice that’s been mixed with rice vinegar, sugar, salt, kombu (edible kelp) and sake (an alcoholic beverage brewed from rice). Laid out in six pieces, the Makizushi, or rolled sushi, above is just one example of the many types of sushi offered in this delectable Japanese cuisine.

The artful and symmetrical presentation of the dish is no mistake: Many Japanese believe that balance is necessary in all areas of life—including food—due to their predominately Buddhist upbringing. We raise our sake cups to Webshots member industrialskitzo for showing us the beauty in what we eat.

Congrats to first-time NBA champions - Miami Heat!

What a big year for this team after coming so close last year. Turns out that Shaq and Pat Riley’s predictions came true.

This great shot of MVP Dwayne Wade and fellow teammates Eddie Jones and Udonis Haslem was taken by Webshots member jason477!