Swirling City, 2011 by Gavin Seim. From the bridge, Twin Cities MN. Time Exposure.
This was about a year ago now, during our Fall 2010 road trip and my visit to the Twin Cities to teach an HDR workshop. I was walking with my group downtown, crossing over a bridge, the name of which escapes me. It’s big city here. industry and concrete. But flowing water always mesmerizes me. I took my time setting up, feeling that if I hurried I would get little more than a snapshot. In the end my effort paid off in this long exposure just between St. Paul and Minneapolis. The structures of the city meeting with the awesome power of the water and doing a dance right in front of my lens.
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Isabella Breeze. Lake Isabella CA. Spring 2011. Linhof 4x5.
This has been sitting for the summer, but as we start traveling once again for 3 months of road touring, I decided it was worth posting. It’s my very first 4×5 exposure. Well, not including the accidental frame I ruined because I forgot to shut the lens. 4×5 film is something I’ve spent 2011 falling in love with. This frame is imperfect, but I wanted to share because I never want to forget the feeling it gave me. A sense of wonder at the sheer simple function, yet inspiring complexity and quality of the large format medium. It’s an operation that by it’s very nature forces one to slow down, to think and to visualize.
I stood right on the shore of Lake Isabella, almost at the water line at sunset on this early Spring day in 2011. It’s actually the very one I talked about on the drive back, during this Episode of the Photo Couch podcast. It’s was a calm relaxing sunset on the edge is this beautiful lake and it felt good. Once the sun had faded I packed up and drove to the other end of the lake where we had camped the trailer on the shore. Where kids and my beautiful wife were waiting with a hot spaghetti dinner.
Artists Sunset – Ken Whitmire in Pacific City Oregon. Fall 2011 by Gavin Seim.
It was one of those Sunsets. The ones with stunning clouds and radiant colors that seem to last forever. Like a great song that keeps on playing. I was on a road trip to the Oregon Coast with Ken Whitmire, the renown portraitist. Ken was working with a family on the beach in Pacific City and I assisted, while getting images and video for a project we were working on.
About halfway through Ken was on his ladder, having this family of five walk down the beach. I just stood back and watched. A bit envious of the amazing portraits he was going to take home. It was a stunning evening. I took in the incredible ocean landscape with some awe. In between video clips, I decided to go vertical and try to illustrate Ken as the working professional in his environment. I hoped for a sort of memorable feel that that artists and photographers could relate to.
This has been really well received. I admit, I did not realize it would strike such a chord, but I’m glad it did. To me this says something about creative craftsmanship and taking your time. It reminds us to take the extra steps up that ladder to make an image Great. That’s what Ken Whitmire has done for over fifty years and I’m glad I got to be a small part of that.
Our road trip was a memorable one in more ways than one. In fact by brother and I wrote a short short story about this trip. You can read that here on the Brothers Seim blog.
Release details: Prints available. Contact the studio. Learn more about prices. Available prints…
Song of a Dreary Day - Upper Tipsoo Lake, Mount Rainier National Park, Sept 2011, by Gavin Seim.
Mountains are something that never quite grow old. But they don’t always cooperate with my whims. Clouds and mists and empty skies,this was one of those days. Sort of.
We headed up the mountain around sunset. A group of photographers and I were out camping that weekend for an event I had organized. I was hoping for one of those radiant late summer sunsets, but not today. Oh, it’s beautiful and peaceful and all, but that does not mean the light was doing exactly what I wanted.
Still, even on the days that seem less than perfect, there is light. Light that has a subtle beauty all it’s own, especially if you catch it at the right time. Well, there was light on those peaks, and there were even dramatic clouds mixed in with that sky that at a glance appeared a bit boring. They kept peeking out as they blew past the peaks, and I waited for them. I think there was a song in that light after all.
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The water of the rainforest always seems to be moving,. Running, drizzling and dancing over the ground. Dosewallips falls rolls down a face of stone into the gathering pools below, overflowing them and running on towards into the deep forest, making a journey to the larger streams and rivers, then finally to the sea. It’s a mesmerizing dance of water set in one of the most beautiful places and is something to stop and look closer at.
We spent the past few days in the Olympic forest and as beautiful as the it is, I find it can be complicated. There’s so much to see that it can be a challenge to covey simple beauty in a single frame. Part of that challenge is deciding what element best conveys the feeling the the place when the image is initially made.
I found myself looking closely at the stream below the falls, all the rocks and paths the water had made. But I stopped in this one. It’s shape and line telling a story of waters journey in a simple scene. There’s a lot of little details here, but you have to take the time to look for them. It’s simple, but complex in it’s own way and as always, I am mesmerized the the subtle complexity and beauty of creation.
Release details: Prints available. Contact the gallery. Learn more about prices. Available prints…
