Darryl Hodson (skibreeze7) Interview
Keywords: landscape, seascape, photography, skibreeze7
I live and work in Astoria, Oregon, the oldest American settlement west of the Rockies. The city is located near the mouth of the Columbia River, in the northwest corner of the state, with the Pacific Ocean just about 10 miles away.
I feel blessed with living in an area that I consider to be a "target-rich environment" for shooting the beauty and wonder of God's creation, including the Pacific Ocean beaches, the Columbia River, and the Pacific Northwest rain forest.
If I had to categorize myself, it would primarily be as a landscape/seascape photographer. However, I enjoy photographing a variety of other genres, including macro, street, travel, abstract, and some portraiture.
Super and ultra-wide angle lenses are what I predominately shoot with, especially for landscape/seascape images. The majority of the time I use a tripod, and virtually always when shooting at sunrise or sunset.
After purchasing my first digital SLR (Nikon D70) in 2006, I had many questions, and Nikonians had a wealth of information that kept me coming back for further edification.
The images posted in the various forums at nikonians.org have been a rich source of inspiration for me. While still shooting with only film cameras, I actually took a break from shooting seascapes for almost ten years, because ocean beach images had become just too mundane and "cliché" for me. Then, to my embarrassment, I saw an image posted by Dean Andersen (DeanAZ), of Haystack Rock, in the landscape forum in 2008 that had a unique and compelling perspective that I had never seen before. At that point, I realized that the problem wasn't with "cliché" beach images, but with me. That caused me to examine my lack of imagination and creativity in "seeing" the scenic landscape before me and to set to work with a renewed mindset. This was a major launching pad for me in coming up with a new approach to how I shot landscapes, breaking away from the classic picture postcard images as much as I could.
One of my mottos has always been, "Quality through Quantity." By that, I don't mean I just fire the shutter willy-nilly, but if I happen to be in a situation where there are some great photo opportunities (e.g., perfect sunset conditions), I'll try to maximize the situation, shooting with various focal lengths, exposure times, angles, compositions, etc. Card memory is cheap, so it doesn't hurt to try to amplify the possibilities in front of you.
Originally written on November 30, 2016
Last updated on December 30, 2020
More articles that might interest you
G
4 comments
David Summers (dm1dave) on November 17, 2017
Great to hear from you Darryl! You work is consistently stunning!
Vernon Nelson (TwoPenniesvman) on December 9, 2016
Loved your story line especially moment of inspiration, rings true for me too.
Dr. Patrick Buick (profpb) on December 7, 2016
I live near the beach and I too needed this inspiration. Thank you, Nikonians for making my life.
Aart Louw (AartPapaya) on December 5, 2016
These pictures were indeed very inspiring. Great work and story.