How Jessica Fridrich Sees the Natural World Differently

Many people say they love nature photography. But how many people can tell you why one specific photograph makes them feel something when they scroll on their social media feeds? 📱 

Photographer Jessica Fridrich shares her journey into the love for one of the greatest artists of all time: nature. Drawing on her inspirations and on some of the most renowned natural locations in the American Southwest, such as the Paria Plateau and the Vermilion Cliffs region, Jessica shares what motivated her to start hiking with purpose rather than simply taking photographs of her adventures. 📷 

In this episode, Jessica shares the importance of asking the right questions before taking a photograph, crafting a story within your photo, and using lighting effectively. She explores some of her favorite techniques for getting the perfect lighting for her landscapes, such as her love for special light, taking the same location 20 or 30 times to perfect the lighting, and her preference for golden hour, blue hour, moonlight, and even night photography techniques such as long exposure and light painting - without the use of heavy Photoshop fixes. 🖊️ 

She also shares some of the preparations that go into her most well-known astrophotography time-lapses, including her visit to The Wave in the American Southwest. Hear about the permits to enter The Wave, some of the challenges of photographing The Wave during the night with the Milky Way in the sky, and some of the challenges of the desert landscape that most people do not see in the final print of her photographs. Jessica also shares some of her next travel goals for the planet, including her dream of capturing the northern lights in Arizona’s White Pocket area. 🌌

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“Rather than taking pictures while hiking, to hike to take pictures.”

Photographer Jessica Fridrich shares how landscape photography became more than a hobby and turned into a completely different way of experiencing the outdoors. 📸 

Transcript

Welcome To Four Worlds

Steven Ruffing 0:01

Welcome to the Four Worlds Podcast from Tomorrow's World Today. We're diving into the latest in tech, science, and sustainability, from nature's mysteries in the world of inspiration to the hands-on crafts of creation, the bold breakthroughs of innovation, and the scaled-up wonders of production. This is your ticket to the stories shaping tomorrow.

Meet Photographer Jessica Fridrick

Steven Ruffing 0:23

Welcome to another edition of the Four Worlds Podcast. Joining us today is Jessica Fridrick. Jessica is a photographer whose work celebrates the greatest artist of all time, which is nature. Jessica, thank you so much for joining us. How are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Very good. How about you, Stephen? Thank you for having me.

Steven Ruffing 0:42

Very good. And thank you for joining us. Before we really jump into your photography, just for the audience that uh maybe unfamiliar, if you want to just go over your work and kind of what you do to get things started, to familiarize everyone with you.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

I do research in multimedia security and forensics. It's a lot of math, a lot of engineering, a lot of digital imaging too. So some of this background actually helps the artist in me.

Steven Ruffing 1:18

Yeah, and that's what we have you in here for. I did see that with some of that helping the photography in you. And that's what we really wanted to focus on. We were really interested in your photography. And of course, it's about nature. You said it in your bio, the the greatest artist of all time. I'd just like to jump in and start with some of those memorable moments or specific trips where the photography began to take precedence over the hike itself while you're out walking around in

Paria Wilderness Changes The Goal

Steven Ruffing 1:47

nature.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

So I've been always taking pictures, you know, going for family trips and documenting, you know, where we've been and so on. And then it was back in 2012. What preceded this actually was a trip that I took, you know, with my family, with the children to show them the beauties of the Southwest. And I noticed a beautiful place in some of these brochures basically. And it's called Paria Builderness or Paria Plateau, also known as the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument. And we were in a minivan. I saw wanted to go there and take everybody there, but it required driving through sand and over rocks, and you know, there are no, there are just jeep trails to get to those places, kind of off-beaten paths. So I postponed this for the next year, 2012, and I teamed up with my student, with my former PhD student. Before a conference we had in San Francisco, we spent a few days in Paria wilderness. I wanted to go with someone because I was scared to go alone. Right?

Steven Ruffing 2:51

I don't blame you. Just safer with someone else. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

So, but that was a transformative experience for me, basically. This is when I really fell in love with the wild part of the southwest. Not visiting the uh the national parks, but the off-beaten path places. They are beautiful, they are not as big, they are not as well known, but so much

Photographing For Emotion And Connection

SPEAKER_01 3:17

beauty. And this is when also I started asking the question of why I take a picture. And uh, and that led to the slow process of rather than taking pictures while hiking, to hike to take pictures, basically.

Steven Ruffing 3:33

Yeah, exactly. That was uh I I really like that quote because it's it really puts things into perspective and it makes nature really the main character, if you will, right? Yes, yeah, yeah. And and just speaking of the American Southwest, a majority and a lot of your work really focuses on that region. What is it about the twisted sandstone and the specific geology of these areas that continue to spot inspire your creative process after so many visits and after all of these years?

SPEAKER_01 4:04

So it's not just sandstone, it's also limestone and granite, but I'm just thinking all of them, all of the sands and all of the stones. So, you know, if I may continue with, you know, what I said before, the you know, asking the question of why you take a photograph. If you really ask yourself why you take a photograph, it kind of holds you accountable, like why am I taking this picture? What is the purpose? And once you start asking this question, it naturally weeds away a lot of bad pictures. And uh you start focusing on the story behind the picture. You want to communicate emotionals, emotional states, emotions. You want to tell whoever is going to be looking at your picture perhaps what you felt when you were there. And you want to create a connection with the nature basically, with that awesome place. You don't want to photograph to just show an awesome rock. I I noticed when I was showing pictures on that 2012 trip that people were clicking through the pictures, but they stopped at some of them, some of them worked and they made a connection. They their eyes wandered around the picture, they asked questions, they wanted to go back to that picture, they engaged basically. So it's that engagement that that I'm seeking basically in taking the pictures. The twisted sandstone is essentially a means to engage. It could be other things, it could be northern lights, for example, it could be, and it could be portrayed in so many different fashions. And I think I'm not the only one when I say I'm fascinated by nature and what it has created in the American Southwest. A lot of people won't are fascinated by this. It kind of brings us back to that primal fee, primal feel of connecting with nature and being just standing in an awe in front of something that took millions of years to form and wondering how it was, how it's even possible that something like this happened in an organic fashion. It's just that fascination that I think it's actually very common that makes people uh uh want to come back.

Steven Ruffing 6:20

Yeah, you're right. And and just speaking of kind of off-the-beaten path, I think that that plays into it as well. Some of these places that that you've been to that some people may not have the opportunity to see or visit. And I think that really helps people engage and just helps that kind of curiosity. And you're absolutely right, that is such a common thing for people just wanting to be and engage in nature.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Yeah, I go to disconnect basically. I go to so that I can be in the moment, and it's kind of cleansing the mind. It's like a reset button almost. Right. Because you don't have cell phone signals, you know, and uh when when you scout a place, you walk through the place, you imagine compositions, you imagine what it's gonna look like when it's sunset, after sunset at night, what it's gonna look like in six months, when there is when the when the sun is at a different location, the geometry will be different, and it's like it's like a problem solving. It's not really too far from doing technical research because you come to a fantastic rap formation and you want to solve the problem or how to communicate it in a in a meaningful way, how to communicate that. Sometimes it's about how to isolate the subject or perhaps how to not show the subject as a whole, and how to incorporate other subjects into foreground and and switch it around. You know, sometimes you want to switch the hero to be the supporting actor rather than the main actor. So many different tricks, many different problem-solving strategies that you can use. When I'm in the zone, time stops. It's it's fascinating. You execute pictures or execute a picture, and two, three hours pass, and you feel like it was like 10 minutes based on it. It's when you know you are in the moment, and it's a very convincing experience, very con you kind of connect with that place.

Waiting For Special Light

Steven Ruffing 8:12

Yeah, everything just kind of adds up, and and what with all of that in mind, thinking about the the story you want to tell, the uh how the viewers are going to react to it, I'm sure that what you reference as special light, you emphasize that and waiting for it, which is often rare and unpredictable. How would you describe this specific type of light that you look for, and how does it change the way that that you perceive? I have the desert landscape written here, but realistically, any location that you're at in capturing and photographing.

SPEAKER_01 8:44

It's a lot of fun and and and frustration as well. Right. You have to come back so many times. Sometimes you scout a place, yeah, you figured out a good composition, and you go like, oh, I have to be here near solstice or something like that, or near Equinox, you know, or I need something to close the picture from above, and I just don't have that now. So you have to come back maybe 20, 30 times in hope that you know one day it's going to happen. I try not to create things in Photoshop. I try to have them as complete as possible within the camera, and that just makes that just means that you have to come back many, many times. I look for lighter that that helps create the story, basically, that helps create, capture the idea that's behind the picture. It's and it's an important element in the image, and um it's not always present. So sometimes what works is actually in the middle of the day, but most of the time it's at sunset or right after sunset during the blue hour. Sometimes you have to shoot at night and supply your own light to help isolate the subject. At night, it's kind of like a studio shot at that point because you provide the light. You can still use residual glow from this from the horizon, you can still use uh moonlight. Perhaps you can light paint, you can use low-level lighting. There are many different techniques. And uh, how to how you approach this is what you know, what is the main thing you want to you want to have in the picture. So it it varies so much. Sometimes you seek that golden, you know, like the last, they call it um the last bite, you know, before right before the sun hits the horizon. Sometimes you want, I call it the sunset glow, which is a very soft, non-directional light that that gives you that gives you what you really need. It's it's a lot of fun to work with light.

Steven Ruffing 10:48

It is, yeah. I I come from more of a television background, but so it's not so much we're shooting nature, but this still one of the most important things is lighting, no matter what you're doing, whether you're you're doing photography or or videography, all of that. Light is such an important piece of storytelling that I don't know if a lot of people would get or or understand or even know of. So I'm glad that you mentioned that. And you also mentioned those visiting places 20, 30 times, I mean dozens of times before you got the shots that you wanted. How do you kind of handle the those? I put in quotes failed trips, but I'm sure you look at that a little differently and wouldn't call them failed trips where the weather doesn't cooperate. And you know, does that process of waiting make that photograph a little more meaningful or special?

SPEAKER_01 11:39

Of course it makes it special when when things finally fall into place. Most of the time I I don't bring the great shot back. And and it also depends what you call great. You know, we have our own bars, you know, for for this. And most of the time I don't get delight. But at the same time, you have to, I mean, you you can't let yourself be too frustrated by that. Because if it frustrates you, then it's probably not something you should be doing in the first place. And maybe you should just enjoy the place rather than, you know, and so sometimes I just go into that mode. It's still an awesome place to be, even though I didn't get the shot. And sometimes you come back with completely different shots because you have to be open to other possibilities.

Steven Ruffing 12:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:24

Yeah, planning versus improvisation. I mean, you have to balance that. You know, you you can't come with too rigid of a structure. I'm, you know, I'm gonna do this no matter what.

Steven Ruffing 12:35

Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

There are other opportunities usually that you can that you can come up with or ideas for the, you know, if you revisit in the spring, you know, you come back in three months. So so it still is a useful trip, you know, as long as you are open, basically.

Steven Ruffing 12:51

Right. And that's why I when when the words failed trip came out of my mouth, I'm I'm thinking, is it really a failed trip? Even if you don't get the photograph that you want, you're still in most likely a beautiful location. So you really just take that and and you mark that down as a win on its own. And before I I don't want this question to lose me, but you you did mention the difference between planning and improvisation because you mentioned a little bit before your background in

Planning Versus Serendipity In The Field

Steven Ruffing 13:20

science and research. How much of your shooting style is driven by that technical planning, like using charts or weather tracking versus following your gut artistic instinct when you're out in the field?

SPEAKER_01 13:32

So I use kind of I use both. And it's it's it's good to have a plan and it's good to be ready to abandon and plan as well. Like some of the most technical shots I took required really a lot of planning and to get a permit to the famous formation called the wave, which is notoriously difficult to get permits to. And I needed that for like around mid-September, so that there is a puddle in the wave so that I have a reflection, so that the Milky Way is in the right position. There will be partially uh light supplied by the moon, which will be crescent that I'm gonna make use of, and on top of it, I need that permit, and I need to hike in alone into that wilderness and and be scared of all the sounds. Right. It was a lot of fun. I so I did execute that shot, and and it was it was the most difficult one to execute for all these multiple reasons. At the same time, sometimes I come with a plan and I realize that there are other better opportunities, and you just execute them. So it's part of the fun to just be open, you know. And um, I don't really use like star charts because I know the sky really well. All I need is to just stand in that place. I can imagine what it would look like with constellations. I've always been fascinated by astronomy, so it's there. I don't need to use, I actually don't use many apps or charts. I just go with Witterflow and I just experiencing the place and being observant. And improvisation and serendipity is extremely important in photography. I would say most pictures I take are not planned.

Steven Ruffing 15:17

That's I I I had a feeling that was kind of the case because, like you said, it's so good having a plan, but nature doesn't always have a plan, and you have to react to that. Yep. Mm-hmm. And but that just going back to the wave and in that process of getting the permit and and the long trek and being alone out there in an unfamiliar area. Was that when you finally got the shot you wanted? Was that one of the more memorable ones and most rewarding one, would you say? Um or was it kind of you were like, I got the shot and that wasn't worth the the permit or whatever? How what was your thought process there?

SPEAKER_01 15:59

Oh, I was super excited actually. It was definitely a memorable moment. It was a very special moment, and it looked way better than what I imagined. And what I was surprised by, actually, is that when I looked at the LCD screen, it looked amazing. And I mean, to have it technically correct, you you have to take multiple exposures and do things to cancel out noise and and all that because you shoot at high ISO setting and all this. But the image basically looks like what it looks on the L C D monitor, and it's a magical moment because it's completely dark, you just have a crescent moon, you you see the stars, the moon is kind of blocked by the rock formation itself, and then you point your camera, you can't really compose too well. I mean, you have to use flashlight so that you see what you are fitting basically, but it doesn't look like anything. You basically take a picture of a black rectangle, but then after 10 seconds, let's say, or 15 seconds, something appears on the monitor and it's completely it just takes a breath away. It has all the colors, it has the Milky Way, it has everything in it. It's just because you light paint portion of it, some of it is given by the moon, a long exposure gives you the Milky Way, and it all came together that for this particular setting, I saw an exposure and everything. It just was well balanced. The picture was almost good as it was, considering that you just pointed uh your camera to a darkness. It's it's just unbelievable. This was one of the moments that I just realized how much I love you know astrophotography, because it's it gives you the biggest difference between what you can see and what the camera can see. And uh, and it's fun to try to imagine what it would look like. So I was pretty excited from this experience actually. And that moment you just don't think about these coyotes somewhere and maybe mountain lions, you know, and and rattlesnakes, you know, you're just in the moment and and you have such a high, you know, such a wonderful experience. Yeah. So some of these are very memorable, like this one. Some of these are, yeah, I got the shot kind of, and that's probably not going to work too well. And and sometimes you just you know get a momentary decision, you know, you just realize, oh, geez, you know, this this is actually a good idea to do given given the moon, you know, given everything, and then you shoot it, and that excites you on a different level because it's not premeditated. So it's it's a lot of fun. Um yeah, I mean, I'll let you know.

Steven Ruffing 18:37

Yeah, absolutely. I love I love talking to people that have a clear passion uh for what they do and that have fun with what they to do, even after all of these years. So I really appreciate how you your perspective on it. And you mentioned this is kind of just out of my own curiosity, you were talking about the natural elements that you have to deal with, like you said, the coyotes, the rattlesnakes, the whatever's lying in the darkness or what have you. I like to give people a little behind a peek behind the curtains when I interview artists and just kind of put in perspective how difficult the process actually is because they only see the photo itself. What are some of those more bizarre or unique experience experiences that you've had with some of the elements that you had to deal with?

Monsoons Flash Floods And Safety

SPEAKER_01 19:27

You know, the desert can be pretty rough. And um, I love to shoot during the a monsoon season season when you have clouds, you know, you have water. Water could be used for reflections if you know, like on sandstone it can halt. So you have additional elements that you can have in the picture. The light is softer, you have you know higher humidity than than usual, you have awesome thunderstorms, but with them also comes the danger of flash flats. And those are very common in the desert. And if you are just you know out in the in the wilderness, they they can surprise you, and you have to be vigilant, you know, as to what you know what you're gonna do and make sure that you don't put yourself in a position that could be dangerous. So what was interesting is that it was also at the wave, actually. One day I had to go through flight three flash flights on the back. I had to wait through them. They were not really too bad, so that I could just walk through them. I didn't, you know, I wasn't afraid that I would be taken away by the stream. But and then then you you go back to your Jeep, and then you try to get out of that area when you realize that the uh the mud is extremely slippery. It's that really fine, Utah, you know, northern Arizona line, it's very slippery. Then you come to a place that normally you can drive through in a minivan and there is a raging river there. So you can get cut off, and then you have to realize that what is another way to get out of here basically, or do I need to wait it out? So you need to have food with you, water, and all these things. I also carry a beacon, you know, a satellite beacon. So so it's not just the wildlife. Actually, wildlife usually they say that people shouldn't or don't need to be afraid, as long as you don't step on a rattlesnake, which I almost did once.

Steven Ruffing 21:25

Oh no. Those are the things you have to think about.

SPEAKER_01 21:30

It's the elements, you know. The picture is not the best when you have weather happening. So when a photographer said that they have terrible weather, it means that they have blue sky and long windows.

Steven Ruffing 21:39

Right. That's a great point. That's a great point. Oh my god. I love giving people those little a behind the scenes look, you know, what photographers really have to deal with. So so that's great.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

Well, it's it's part of the fun. I actually because of this. started liking like off-roading and actually did some rack crawling in Sedona on the broken arrow trail and had a lot of fun actually doing that it's it's contagious you know be careful you tried once and either you you hate the experience or you'll love it and you want to do it again it is it's a that's another danger of it forget the rattlesnakes you might get addicted to to the experience very addictive yeah yeah this was Jessica this was great and I'd I'd like to wrap up just a little bit you've been to so many extraordinary places what are some of those bucket list areas that you want to explore and capture the beauty of so it'll probably surprise you I don't really have any bucket places okay I know a lot of photographers do have bucket spaces um I just uh make decisions on you know which area to explore

Chasing Northern Lights Over Arizona

SPEAKER_01 22:55

and look around for opportunities. Yeah but I do have one desire basically I would love to capture some of the southwest formations with um with northern lights I know some of the storms can be intense enough so that you can see them brightly even from even from Arizona basically it's extremely rare but perhaps one day I will be able to I have a favorite place to go which is called White Pocket in Arizona. Would love to get a shot from White Pocket with northern lights. So I would love to have this for now I I shoot northern lights mostly for the northern lights themselves or kind of creating abstract images from them rather than landscape shot with northern lights. But would would love to have some nicer pictures than that basically different kind of pictures yeah well I'm I'm I'm looking forward to following along and and hoping you get those shots.

Steven Ruffing 23:53

Is there anything else that you wanted to add as you know you know we're wrapping up I this was this has been great but I just want to kind of give you the floor to let people know what else you have going on whether it's coming up or or where to find you.

Prints Portfolio And Where To Follow

SPEAKER_01 24:06

So I post my work it's on jessicafig.com which has some of some of my portfolio basically I sell pictures too I usually make I mean I don't make them but they are C prints gramogenic prints up to 40 by 60 inches in size. I've sold quite a few of these I had an exhibition here in Binghamton at the Brunelli gallery so I have some of my customers and um some of them are my friends and they keep telling me how much they enjoy the pictures when they hang the wall in their houses so if you are interested I can you know I can sell you an image there you go look into it because your your work is is great and and I encourage anyone to check it out and and I'm sure they'll love it and and they'll buy uh buy an image because I I could see it looking great on a wall. Yeah I have a mini gallery in Canap at the Escobars restaurant a Mexican place. I I put up a few of my pictures in there for people to enjoy they they have themselves have pictures you know in the houses. So uh they are awesome the C prints are awesome because they the chromogenic print absorbs the ambient light and throws it back at you and depending on what the ambient light is the image can look in so many different ways if it's you know a cold daylight or if it's a warmer light towards the end or beginning of the day or the inside lighting they look they look amazing.

Steven Ruffing 25:43

Yeah I'm not trying to be like a sales you know right no you got to sometimes you got to you know you ask you know where they can see my my work so you know so I'll be visiting Southwest again you know this year. Actually I'm planning a trip soon I'm also planning trips around northern so yeah I I flew to North Dakota just for two days to to catch a big storm and that that was truly truly amazing experience actually no that that's amazing and and I I can like I said I said it before I commend your hard work and I appreciate you taking your time and telling me all about it. This was a lot of fun Jessica I really appreciate it. Well thank you for having me Steven of course that is all the time we have thank you Jessica and thank you everyone for listening we'll see you next time thanks for listening to this episode of the Four Worlds podcast. Until next time you can catch up on the latest innovations shaping our world at tomorrow'sworldtoday dot com follow us on Facebook and Instagram and be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel