• billboard

Wide-Angle Views: From Park to Pier


Taylor Varnau is obsessed with learning about photography; the Tamron SP 15-30mm F/2.8 VC Wide-Angle lens is his newest photographic preoccupation.

By Jenn Gidman
Images by Taylor Varnau

When Taylor Varnau isn't out taking pictures, he's using his spare time to read about taking pictures. "My wife gets mad and says, 'You're always on the computer!'" he laughs. "But that's how I keep bettering myself. I'm always online poring through tutorials and articles about photography."

Taylor started getting serious about his photographic endeavors when he had a few months off after getting out of the Air Force in 2012. "I started taking pictures around Bakersfield, California, where I live, and it just became my passion," he says. "Because I grew up in Colorado and was always outdoors, nature and landscape photography was a natural progression for me."

About six months ago, Taylor added a new lens into the mix that became a game-changer: the Tamron SP 15-30mm F/2.8 VC Wide-Angle zoom. "It's been on my camera ever since," he says. "It's the only lens I use besides my telephoto. I shoot a lot outdoors, and this lens lets me shoot as wide as possible to get as much of the scene as I can into the photo. Another big selling point for me as an outdoor photographer is that it's weatherproof. I shoot a lot at the beach, so it's inevitable I'm going to get wet, and my equipment is going to get a little bit wet. The fact that the 15-30 is weatherproof is awesome, and the fluorine coating on the front element of the lens really does its job. Any moisture and dust that gets on there, I can just blow it off without leaving streaks."

Because he does a lot of long exposures, Taylor mostly shoots on a tripod, but there are times when he's moving around and scouting for different angles, and that's when he taps into the 15-30's Vibration Compensation (VC) feature to minimize camera shake and keep his images sharp. "I can get up to ½-second shots handheld with the VC on," he says.

A prominent subject in the foreground is what Taylor tries to pinpoint to anchor his photos. "That subject might be an interesting rock or flowing water, like a waterfall or a stream," he says. And he's found new possibilities by shooting verticals. "I used to shoot horizontals only," he says. "Then, about a year ago, I started shooting verticals, and I can't get away from them now. I like the fact that I can have that prominent subject I talked about in the foreground, right at my feet, and still get a majority of the sky into the shot. Now I hardly ever shoot horizontal anymore!"

Taylor is also constantly on the lookout for leading lines or other ways to show depth in his images, best illustrated by a photo he took of a wooden footpath in Yosemite National Park. "I took this photo right after sunrise, around 7:30 in the morning," he says. "I just loved how the path led up into the waterfalls on the side of the mountain, as well as the colors and how the grass catches the shadows in the field."

© Taylor Varnau
15mm, F/10, 1/40th sec., ISO 100

About 30 minutes later, Taylor was driving through Yosemite and spotted a flooded meadow. "The waters were so still that it captured the reflection of the granite rock formations in the background," he says. "In terms of composition, I simply wanted to show the symmetry and how perfect the reflection was."

He did have one mishap that put the 15-30's durability to the test. "I went to hop up on a log right before I took this picture, and the log was wet with dew," he says. "I slipped and slammed my lens on the wood, but thankfully, the lens held up great and I was still able to capture this photo."

© Taylor Varnau
30mm, F/9, 1/60 sec., ISO 100

A favorite spot along the Kaweah River in Sequoia National Park is where Taylor captured a sunburst peeking through the trees. "This river flows all the way down to a town called Three Rivers, then into a reservoir," he says. "It's hard not to get sunbursts in this spot, because the sun is always being partially blocked by the trees. I took this picture right before sunset. I like that, in addition to the sunburst, I was able to get so many other elements into the photo, including the waterfall and rocks in the foreground, and the sky in the background."

© Taylor Varnau
15mm, F/16, ¼ sec., ISO 50

Taylor's sunset photos are often a combination of careful composition and, sometimes, a little luck from Mother Nature. "I was on my way to Malibu recently when I pulled over at a small beach that pops up right before you hit the city," he says. "The beach has a lot of rotting-away foundations for buildings that used to exist there. Where the pier used to be are now just posts leading into the sea."

The day was completely overcast when Taylor pulled in, but the clouds separated just before the sun dipped below the horizon. "It allowed all of that color and light to explode into the sky," he says. "I set my shutter speed down to about ¼ second to smooth out the water movement."

© Taylor Varnau
15mm, F/18, 1/4 sec., ISO 50

For another sunset shot, Taylor sought out contrasting textures, finding them in Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve off the coast of San Diego. The preserve includes miles of pristine Southern California beaches, as well as the rare, endangered Torrey pine, which grows only in the park. The scenic cliffs in the reserve overlooking Torrey Pines State Beach provided the ideal photo op. "I love the kind of textured rock that makes up the cliffs," he says.

With his sunset photos, Taylor prefers to focus on the bottom third of the photo(in this case, the textured rocks of the cliffs) and to set his aperture a little higher—"at around 11 or above, just to make sure most of the picture is in focus," he notes. It helped that the weather cooperated once more in this case. "When we got there, it was almost totally overcast, just like in Malibu," he says. "Then, right before sunset, the clouds opened up to let all of the light in. It looks almost otherworldly."

© Taylor Varnau
15mm, F/11, ½ sec., ISO 50

Taylor loves to head out into the California desert at night to capture the Milky Way, but there's a window in which to catch it at its best. "I like to go out in September or October, which was around the time this picture was taken in the California Desert National Conservation Area," he says. "There's only a small period of time between when the sun sets and when the Milky Way sets over the horizon. I took this photo at around 8:30 p.m." The Trona Pinnacles seen in his image—the conservation area features more than 500 tufa spires made out of calcium carbonate—have been used in a variety of movies and TV shows, including Planet of the Apes and Battlestar Galactica.

Before he hikes into the desert with his gear, Taylor uses a photo app that offers him detailed information on sky conditions, including when moonrises and sunrises are happening. "The app has an augmented-reality feature that lets you point your camera to the sky, in whatever direction you want, then scroll through the times of day," Taylor explains. "The app then tells you where the Milky Way will be during those times."

Taylor explains that the light on the clouds in the sky in his photo was from a town in the distance, while the light that appears on the pinnacles was from car lights and partially from a nearby campfire. "There's nothing like getting a Milky Way photo like this," he says.

© Taylor Varnau
15mm, F/2.8, 25 sec., ISO 3200

To see more of Taylor Varnau's work, go to Facebook.