About the Photographers



 
  Erik Barnes  
 
   Hello and welcome to Light in the Landscape, fine art photography captured with an artistic touch. My name is Erik Barnes, and I currently reside in Southern California with my wife Melissa and our dog Sadie. I found a love for nature and the mountains at an early age while living briefly in the small mountain community of Wrightwood, California. My wife and I are self-taught photographers and have been seriously photographing landscapes since 2007.
   Following in the artistic footsteps of my Grandmother Hewitt, I began my artistic career at the age of 11. After graduating from high school in 1989, I attended the Colorado Institute of Art in Denver, Colorado, where I majored in graphic design. Owning a film camera was a requirement for certain projects in school, so I purchased my first Minolta film camera. I learned the very basics of photography and the whole 'how-to-think- outside-the-box' concept, which proved to be invaluable to me. After college, I dabbled off and on with my film camera trying to find that certain photographic field that would allow me to express myself artistically.
   It wasn't until 2006 that I found my passion and became completely engrossed in the world of landscape photography. After doing a little research, I ended up selling all of my film equipment and switched to digital, purchasing my first Nikon digital camera in 2006. The entire 2006 calendar year was a learning one for me. Before venturing out into the world with my camera, I decided to use the entire year researching everything I could via the internet and in books about landscape photography and lighting. In 2007, I took what I had learned and combined it with my love of the arts and my artistic visions and began photographing landscapes.
   I hope you enjoy this beautiful country as seen through the eyes of my camera.
 
 
  Erik Barnes  
 
   Hello and welcome to Light in the Landscape. My name is Melissa Barnes and I currently reside in Southern California and Idaho with my husband Erik and dog Sadie. Growing up in Southern California, I have always had a love of the beach and the mountains. I would spend my summer vacations at the beach or at the Colorado River. I was always fascinated with the slr camera, but I was afraid of not knowing how to use them. With my 110 camera in hand, I would hit the beach. I never thought I would get as serious about photography as I did since meeting my husband.
   I started out as his assistant in 2006, when he tried his hand at casual and fashion photography. While helping my husband during his photo shoots and posing models, the bug hit me and I wanted my own camera. In 2007 when Erik began photographing landscapes, he bought me my first slr camera and began instructing me on the basics of light and photography. Erik imparted to me an understanding of how light worked in the landscape. I am taking what I have learned from my husband and endeavor to capture nature at its best. 

Our Equipment: We have captured our images with a variety of digital slr cameras and a variety of lenses. Those cameras include the Nikon D-50, Nikon D-80, Nikon D7000 and the Canon EOS 1Ds Mark II. The digital world is great because you get an instant preview of what you just captured and can make quick adjustments as needed. While the digital slr has it's advantages, I will be moving up to large format. I will be using a Walker Titan SF 4X5 large format field camera with Nikkor and Schneider lenses.  
   
   We would like to thank you for stopping by and if you have any questions or comments about our work, please feel free to contact us.