Sun Pillar at Whitesbog
Sometimes an image needs time before you know what to do with it.
This scene from Whitesbog has been sitting in my archives since February 2021. I was out that evening with my friend Rich Lewis, and we both noticed the zigzag channel cutting through the frozen bog, pointing straight toward the sun pillar forming at the horizon.
I processed it back then and couldn't get it right. What I felt standing there — the softness of the light, the way the pastel colors held against the cold — kept slipping away when I pushed the edit too hard.
So I left it alone. Four years later I came back to it with a different instinct: stop fighting the softness and let it lead. That turned out to be the answer.
Patience in photography isn't only about waiting for the right moment in the field. Sometimes it means waiting until you know what you're looking at.
This scene from Whitesbog has been sitting in my archives since February 2021. I was out that evening with my friend Rich Lewis, and we both noticed the zigzag channel cutting through the frozen bog, pointing straight toward the sun pillar forming at the horizon.
I processed it back then and couldn't get it right. What I felt standing there — the softness of the light, the way the pastel colors held against the cold — kept slipping away when I pushed the edit too hard.
So I left it alone. Four years later I came back to it with a different instinct: stop fighting the softness and let it lead. That turned out to be the answer.
Patience in photography isn't only about waiting for the right moment in the field. Sometimes it means waiting until you know what you're looking at.
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