Wenda Pyman

-For me, photography is a means of self-expression, but also I seek to convey a sense of place for the viewer. I want to draw the viewer into the scene and experience that awe and oneness with nature that speaks to me. It’s is not just about light, composition or location, but finding harmony and balance between color, lines, textures and rhythmic patterns.
-My work has been particularly influenced by Larry Ulrich, David Muench, Ansel Adams, and Eliot Porter as well as other well-known landscape photographers. My challenge is to intercept the light and capture the scene in all its glory. Recently, I feel I have gone full circle. I started with black & white photography in high school, then switched to color since 1983, and then more recently, I've returned to black & white. I feel black & white conveys drama and emphasizes patterns and lines that could be lost in color. For that, I look to Ansel Adams and Edward Weston for inspiration and some of the other Group f64 members.
-My images have appeared nationwide on cards, calendars, music CD album covers and magazines. My fine art prints grace the walls of art lovers and photography collectors. My work can be found at the Moraga Art Gallery. I belong to several art alliances: ArtSpan, LAA and OAA, and participate in solo exhibits & group shows. My fine art prints & stock photos are available for purchase at: http://wendapyman.photoshelter.com.
-My process:
Currently, my workhorse equipment is a Canon DSLR 7D, a Canon 10-22mm wide angle zoom, Tamron 18-270mm zoom, a Canon 100-400mm zoom and my trusty tripod. For most landscapes, I depend on my wide angle zoom to give me a great depth of field as well as the expanse I want to convey to the viewer. The main thing for me is to be at one with my lenses and equipment and to know what to use when.
-Usually, I plan my shoots. However, spontaneity is also a talent. I don’t want to be hung up only on technical aspects that make a good image. I want to have an emotional connection with the scene as well as eliciting a response from the viewer in that final image. Developing a sense of light is as important as developing an eye for composition. To achieve what I call a “knock your socks off” image, I take into consideration location, time of day, season, weather, accessibility, lighting as well as a lot of other factors.
-At my computer, I go through some “tight editing”, followed by “post processing”. I shoot in RAW, which records a lot of digital information of the image but then has to be processed (not unlike a darkroom in the film days). Unless one is shooting jpegs, post processing is a necessary step in making that final image.
-It is not unusual to hear someone ask or say, “is this Photoshopped?” Maybe this question comes up when the image looks over-enhanced or not realistic in colors or nature. Even though there is a lot of manipulation one can do in Photoshop or other editing programs, I still tend to “wait for the right light”, appreciating my surroundings while waiting. I prefer to be out in nature rather than in front of my computer and try to keep the image as true as I saw or visualized it.
-As I mentioned in my bio, I started out with B&W on film. I now like the option in the digital world of switching to either. Black and white can evoke an emotional drama which may not be felt in color. To quote Andri Caldwell, “To see in color is a delight for the eye but to see in black and white is a delight for the soul.”