My Photography Portfolio - Israel Orta Photography
Oia, Santorini During Blue Hour
Years of outdoor and nature photography led to my creation of online portfolios of what I call “Painting with Light.” Photography is all about light. How you capture that light and turn it into a finished product is very important. I have learned to experiment with different lighting to create unique perspectives.
It all started through simple work-related travels with some opportunities to take some time to do sightseeing and photography. Over time, I planned some dedicated trips for photography. The places I have been able to photograph include many locations in mainland Greece, the Greek Islands of Santorini and Patmos, some parts of Jordan such as Petra, many locations in Morocco, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, Lassen National Park in California, and most recently the Moab, Utah regions of Arches and Canyonlands national parks.
My photography portfolio can be seen on my website hosted through Zenfolio at: www.israelortaphotos.com. I also have a portfolio hosted in 500px at: https://500px.com/p/IsraelOrta?view=galleries. And a third location, Viewbug, which shows many award-winning photographs. Viewbug is a community of photographers who vote on photographs to select the best ones for awards. You can see my page of 29 significant awards at https://www.viewbug.com/member/IsraelOrta#/IsraelOrta/awards?filter=vbawards.
My most award-winning photograph is of Oia, Santorini during photography “blue hour.” This photograph is featured in this journal and it is found at: https://www.viewbug.com/photo/28849211. This photograph has been featured in ViewBug many times and has won the following awards: “Top Shot 21,” “Legendary Award,” “Contest Finalist in the Battle of Professionals Photo Contest,” “Contest Finalist in Travel Destinations Photo Contest,” “Contest finalist in HDR Cityscapes Photo Contest,” “Contest Finalist in Getting dark Photo Contest,” “People’s Choice in Night Life Photo Contest,” and “Contest Finalist in Night Life Photo Contest.”
Forty minutes prior to taking the series of photographs which were processed to create the final image, I was four kilometers to the east on top of a mountain capturing photographs of the sunset. As soon as the sun set, I ran from the top of the mountain all the way to the end of Oia, Santorini, found the only available spot to open my tripod, set it up, and captured a series of images which would lead to processing to compose the final product. I took the images towards the end of Blue Hour circa at about 8:45 PM in early August. I wanted to capture the effect of the twilight and the artificial lights. The combination of natural and artificial lights provided an excellent contrast for the architecture, the sea, and the sky. I was inspired to make this photograph because of the thrill of trying to take “Golden Hour” photography from the top of a mountain in Santorini and then run down four kilometers as fast as possible to capture “Blue Hour” photography at the western end of the island. It was a goal and I was able to do it. I only had limited time in Santorini, so I had to make maximum use of my time.
Photography is a lot of work. Many times I have awakened extremely early to position myself to do the work of outdoor photography. I welcome your reviews on my photographs and I will make additional journal entries to announce new photographs published. Thank you for taking the time to read this post and to see my photographs.
