“CONFLUENCE”
CONFLUENCE is the cumulative course project for Unity Environmental University’s ARTS 101 Class: Introduction to Landscape Photography, photographed and presented by Jacob Towne. It is the culmination of five weeks of study and effort. It is intent of the photographer to demonstrate and highlight the skills and techniques learned in that time.
I chose to focus on the subject of waterscapes. There is a cyclical nature to water, and it forms the very base of all life on Earth. Particularly, I wanted to focus on the American River in Northern California. This river runs from the Sierra Nevada Mountain range to its confluence with the Sacramento River in downtown Sacramento.
It holds significant cultural and environmental significance to the local populations of animals and people, as well agriculture and plant life. In capturing the river, I hope to be able to capture its importance as well.
One of the most difficult and technically challenging aspects of waterscape photography is capturing the movement of water. For this reason, I wanted my project to highlight the movement of water. Through these series of photographs, we look at the movement of water not only in one location, such as over rocks in the river, but as it moves through the landscape overall.
My overall vision for this series was to find that emotional feeling of restlessness that I as a photographer feel in proximity to running water. As I mentioned before, water is always moving. There is never a moment when you are standing in a river where you are standing in the same water as before. It is always different, always changing, and always running. It was my goal to try to capture that feeling.
In the editing process, I explored different light settings. Light is such an important part of the overall composition of an image. It creates shape, texture, and mood, and so in adjusting different luminance, vibrance, and saturation levels really helped me select the best photos in terms of creativity and composition.
As spring turns to summer here in Northern California, there is a vibrancy in the air, and so much color on the ground. So much of that explosion of life has a direct correlation to the amount of snowfall in the winter. That snowmelt directly impacts the flow of water during this time of year, and capturing the yellows and greens was just as important to me as capturing the drying, dead trees from fire season past.
Wildfire, like many other naturally occurring cycles, is about regeneration and rebirth. The contrast between the shoreline and the hillside, with the new growth and the burnt husks of trees, really fascinated me. I appreciated the clear divide of the river through the photos, as it really creates a boundary between these two elements.
The final shots of the American River as it makes its way to Folsom and Sacramento were really breathtaking. The canyon is in darkness, with night setting in, but the top is alight with the last rays of the sun.
These elements, and many more, were some of the reasons I chose to highlight waterscapes as my subject for this course project. I firmly believe that freshwater is the most important aspect in today’s conservation of the world. This small stretch of water is just a fraction of the 30-mile-long entirety of the American River, but it is no more or less important than any other part of the river.
As I continue to explore the foothills of the Sierra Nevada that I now call home, I am awestruck by their natural beauty and inherent fragility. These natural resources that we take for granted are not guaranteed, and I hope that by highlighting just a portion of it, that it can inspire others in my area to care just as much as myself.
It is everyone’s responsibility to conserve and protect these environments and habitats, but we have to start somewhere. And where better to start, than your own home.
