Bret Edge
Personal Background
Back then, Bret Edge only shot photos for fun. He was shooting everything he saw when he went on trips. He was disappointed in the bad photos he shot that didn't represent anything of his trip. In 1999, he attended a photography exhibit by Jack Dykinga, David Muench and Ansel Adams and got inspired by their work. So after that he went get a Conon Rebel for his own and taught himself landscape photography
Style
I feel like a lot of his photos are taken when it isn't too sunny. He has many photos where there's clouds covering and has a bright side and a dark side. I also feel the he takes his photos in a certain time of the day and also has a certain angle to make the photo look as if there's a shift between the bright side and the dark side. So with this, comparing to a painting, it's a bit different how you would see bright paintings but his photos are neutral light. Not too bright or not too dark.
Philosophy
I feel a lot of his photos were personal. The interview I found said that he used to take photos for market wise. But now, he goes hiking with his family and take photos that are also able to use as a family photo. He interacts his personal life into the images he displays. A lot of his photos seems like it's trying to tell other people like "Take shots how you want to, don't shoot to market" or something close to that. His personality shows that he enjoys while shooting the pictures rather than shooting the pictures as if its for work.
Influence
This style of photography influenced me quite a bit. Trying to learn his style, I noticed it didn't have to be a good weather. It just could be a photo where you can adjust your angle when you shoot it. When I say adjust my angle, I mean so that it fits a darker side and a brighter side of the image and try to make it half and half. Now I'm not too worried on whether it's a good weather or not.
Sources
Compare
I wasn't able to get the same setting but I took my time and tried to get it close. The shadows up front but able to see the light and color behind was really hard. I kept getting either all shadows or all light. I also think my time of sunrise was earlier than when he took this image. Bret Edge's photo was clearly more natural.
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I tried to get the same angle but it didn't quite turn the same. I thing I was too far away from the trees. His you can see the ground but mine can't. I feel like the trees were taller than the ones he took too. I tried to get the sunrise in but the trees and the sun were not in the same direction of my photo but I tried what I could.
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I couldn't find a place with many trees together. His image, the trees are more close to one another. The forest I went to, the trees were kind of spread out and more thick than the one he had in his photo. I also wanted to get the leaves and all but sadly winter so I couldn't get any bright colors in. I feel the way he shot the image was more linear and feels like the trees go more straight.
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Personal Artist Statement
All three of these photos I chose were similar but different. It was pretty fun getting creative to try hard to get the pictures similar. I feel Bret Edge used couple different strategies to take photos. He most likely used the rule of third to get pictures balanced and a lot of his trees were to be with leading lines or view points. Many of his work also showed depth. I was trying to see how I could get depth into my photos as well. All three of my photos were taken so people could see t=depth in them. The way Bret Edge took his photos got me interested in many things because there are angles of things that makes you feel more into even though its something you see everyday.