Pullfolio Showcase

Trees on a plain

Pete Saunders’ (ongopt.pullfolio.com) passion is landscapes–not just any landscapes but ones that are created from his inner vision.

Sure, any landscape can be pretty, but is it compelling? Does it lure you in? Does it take your mind to a different plane?”

He currently lives in Stockton in northern California– which is one to two hours drive from the coast and mountains and is surrounded by multiple climate zones.

“This is a city of 250,000 and yet I can be in farm fields and foothills in just five minutes drive. This is the town where Cool Hand Luke was shot in 1967 and, though it has grown much since then, I can still drive to areas that look as if Paul Newman would walk out that prison camp at a moments’ notice.”

Pete can be contacted for inquires about all his landscape works, projects and pricing at ongopt@comcast.net

Predator

Pete was born in London, England but located to very rural Connecticut, USA when he was only three.

I had the run of the back woods, swamps and fields of New Enlgand–which had a profound effect of me. Then abruptly at the end of my elementary school years we relocated to Miami, Florida, which gave me the taste of big city life.

His primary profession is a home health physical therapist, allowing him to drive throughout his work area in the county.

I have the ideal job for landscape photography, because I get to drive in a out of rural areas and scout locations by time of day or time of season.

His combination of rural and city experiences have given him an interesting outlook on landscape photography.

I believe that the purist landscape doesn’t exist in my world. The hand of man is all about. You will find man’s presence in my works. Is this a good thing? Is this a natural evolution of man’s prowess over nature? Does man’s works dwarf or are they dwarfed by nature? Can there be harmony? You decide…

Cloud on a hill

Q&A with Pullfolio:

How did you get started?
My dad gave me my first film camera at the age of eight. I thought this was cool. I now have a camera just like Sean Connery (Aka Bond…James Bond). I photographed everything: cows, fields, trees, hills and especially clouds–which always looked so very cool to me. Unfortunately, I was so excited about what I shot, I opened the camera back to see what was on the film! Today I am very lucky to still have that excitement of instant gratification by looking into the screen of my digital camera right after a fascinating capture.

Tractor under a dark cloud

What work do you want to do, and why?
Landscapes which show the interaction of man and nature for good or bad–especially farming.” Here in San Joaquin county, the individual farmer is still a major force but is a rapidly dying breed unfortunately. Farming does pay well here for now, but costs are increasing daily, the kids have all gone to college and on to different professions, developers are buying up the land and what is left will eventually be run by giant farming conglomerates. Mostly what’s left are old, stout men who would rather be doing nothing else. They are dedicated, not trusitng of government rules but absolutely love the land here. They are indeed fascinating to talk to–once they get to know you and have convinced them you are not from the government.

Reflections

What motivates you as a photographer – and do you have any idols in the photography world?
Serenity–that it still can be found through photography in this hectic and crazy world. The chase–of capturing an unexpected but stunning image. The locales–going someplace special in the quiet of dawn or the introspection of dusk. And having your two children and wife along at times to share in the moments.

I have a photography guru, who shall be nameless but knows who he is, who was kind enough to brutalize me into creativity. Many thanks! And Marty Knapp, one of northern California’s premier landscape photographers, who once told me to go out and shoot, shoot, and then shoot some more. I have!

Mistical orchard

So show us your best image, and tell us why it is?
Mistical orchard because I had waited a couple of years for the right conditions. Usually we get much seasonal winter fog but not for a couple of seasons before this shot was taken. I had tried this type of shot before, but either the trees were not symmetrical enough or the fog was just not right. Then one early New Year’s day morning two years ago it all came together. There was very little post processing done to this photo except some contrast and color adjustments. The sun was beginning to shine through in all the right places, giving the trees a unique color and porcelain texture. The tones of this scene contributed to a three-demensional look. This one hangs framed on one of our walls.

Pastoral surreal

What do you plan to do in future?
I will continue to showcase California’s diverse vistas and highlight man’s harmony and disharmony with its land. There are a few local galleries here which could benefit from my contribution-my artistic style which seems to be different from most. I haven’t seen too many landscapes with an edge showing here. I plan on changing that!

Hyper yellow tree

For the gearheads: what equipment do you use?
Well, if I could just click my eyes, process a photo in my head and then have it printed out …

My camera is the Nikon D700, which seems to be ideal for landscape photography. Full frame sensor, true wide angle, noise free high ISO and a tank-like but compact body allows me to enhance my creativity much more than all my other Nikons before it. Landscapes have many extremes of light which the D700 has the tonal range to handle–plus holding up the physical aspects of the terrain and weather quite well.

My primary use lens is the Nikon 14-24 2.8. This has got to be one of the best wide angle out there. Shoot at any aperture, shoot in poor lighting. Just go for it! Wide angles are so compelling IMO. People complain that you cannot place filters in front of this lens. Why would you want to? The nano coated lens does just fine in most extremes. Besides, I tend not to use filters and use only NDs for extremely slow shutter speeds. My other lenses include the 80-200 2.8, 60 prime 2.8 and the 50 prime 1.4. One day I would love to have the 24-70 2.8.

They are all just tools however. Gotta have the eye man!

Sheep hill

What do you think of Pullfolio so far?
Ease of use. It has a nice scrolling system with options for how you want to organize. Best of all it’s linked to all your photos and groups in Flickr, allowing easy additions of your copyrighted photos.

Thank you. And now, let’s see some images!

Windmill sentinel

One cannot live in northern California without seeing these clean energy giants. Get up close and you will see just how big they are!

Glow tree

Taken on a cold but dreamy winter morning. The light, the low ground fog–all just so right together.

Barn with setting clouds

Just how many old barns in northern California are there? Home builders actually try to buy these here for wood beams in custom homes.

Lone lamp

A lone lamp in Lemoore, Califonia, which means it’s in the middle of nowhere. Can somebody please tell me what it’s doing here? Maybe a lonely beacon in the fog that day.

Bugs-in-a-field.

“Bugs in a field” seems so surreal, so I made it look surreal. Farmers leave their junk all over their fields here. One man’s junk is another’s artwork.