Painted Hills Evening Light by John Gavrilis
© 2012 John Gavrilis
Honorable Mention 10.
      Juror's Comment
      From Scott Atkinson:

      "Cloudy evenings can spell doom for landscape photographers. On rare occasions, there’s a brief window when—while facing east—the setting sun peaks through a crack on the horizon behind you and spotlights the shapes and colors you’re viewing against a still-dark, stormy sky behind. You can’t say it’s coming, but for a moment it’s there, and things become eerily electric and present…like life newly seen. This image is a striking record of that kind of craft and patience. The striking hills, color bands, and gullies seem from another world, but are simply from this one that’s bursting with beautiful light."


    • Title: Painted Hills Evening Light
    • Artist: John Gavrilis
    • From: Aptos, CA USA

    • e-mail: gavrilis24@aol.com
    • Phone: + 1 (831) 688-8855
    • Website: www.GavrilisPhotography.com
    • Other: gavrilis24@aol.com
    • Address: 3004 Vienna Pines Ct.
      Aptos, CA 95003, USA

    Artist Statement

    "This was my fourth trip back to The John Day Fossil Beds over a 5-week period. We arrived on this gloomy cloud covered day wondering if we would ever see the sun. I was told by the park ranger that the park had received an incredible amount of rain the day before. He pointed out the unusual scarring on the surface of the fossil beds, where the rain had funneled down to the base of the formations. Although the cloud cover didn't seem to be going anywhere, I noticed to the west a clearing on the horizon. I was anticipating a very dramatic 'last light of the day.'

    "I had setup both my 4x5 Linhof and Canon 5D Mark II cameras on their respective tripods, and proceeded to wait nearly four hours. Sure enough, the late day sun finally broke through beneath the clouds and lit up the fossil bed formations. The dramatic light lasted about a minute, before the sun dropped below the horizon."

    Camera - Canon 5D-Mark II
    Lens - Canon EF 100-400 L Series
    f-22 @ 1/13 sec
    filter - B+W Warm Polarizer