P#36: A Two-Part Picture of The Snake River Overlook

What a Difference the Equipment Makes

Ed Cooper: This is a two-part photograph of the Snake River Overlook. It shows the same scene photographed from two different ways. (click the image for a larger version)

I had a view camera set up on a tripod at the Snake River Overlook in the Tetons. I photographed the same scene in the same format. The top one is infrared film with a red filter and a polarizer. The bottom photograph is just regular black and white film with no filter.

You can see the striking difference between the two. It's almost a difference between night and day. When I looked at that scene, what I saw was the upper scene in my mind. I didn't see the lower scene; I saw the upper scene in my mind, the one with infrared.

Audri Lanford: So it's clear why you wanted to photograph it. This is what we were talking about before where it's just so dramatically different.

Ed Cooper: This is also in The Soul of the Heights book.

In Closing

Sometimes two photographers can shoot the very same location with very different results, and some just don't understand why. In these Snake River Overlook shots, Ed Cooper shows us just how different the same scene can be with just a slight change in equipment.