Seen Two Different Ways

I saw this image of Titus Canyon in two different ways. Our workshop group was photographing details on the canyon granite walls. I turned back around and saw the sun highlighting the colors on the mountain face above. Cool shadows in the canyon provided a sharp contrast. The color highlights are what caught my eye. But this was a black and white photography workshop. Throughout the workshop, Chuck Kimmerle had been emphasizing seeing and thinking in black and white as we take our shots. I tried to put on a “B&W filter” over my eyes. I started to see greater contrast between the sky, the highlighted mountain face, and two levels of shadow contrast along the canyon walls. Exploring further, I began to see the subtle (and not so subtle) tonal contrasts in the canyon walls as well as the mountain face. I locked the scene in my mind.

Reviewing my images back at home, I picked this image as one of my favorites. I processed it in B&W and was able to capture the B&W image that I had previously set in my mind. The following is the B&W version.