April 29, 2012

King of the Valley – Valley of the gods Utah, Spring 2012

We drove out of Colorado and into Utah, planning to see Monument Valley. And we did, but what was better than that was Valley of the gods Utah. A place created in the same magnificent beauty as Monument, but open and spacious. Where you camp below giant spires of red rock and stay up late into the silent night looking at the stars streaking overhead.

Sometimes I think God used more colorful paint in Utah. We stayed three days here in the valley on this little used public land. Exploring the area and enjoying the sweeping colorful views. The sunset brought some of those great early spring clouds and that radiant color of light that only Utah seems to have. It was a memorable place in our 2012 trip and a colorful image for my collection.

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April 23, 2012

Photo Couch Podcast #29 MP3

Gavin is trudging thru the huge dunes of White Sands National Monument, discussing the odd light that he found there and looking at being prepared for whatever the light gives you.

Blue Suede Dunes - Gavin image from sunset. Click image for full post.

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Photo Couch is the companion podcast of Gavin’s f164 project. Sort of an audio journal. Nothing fancy here. Just short musings, tips, and thoughts on photography. You can listen below, or subscribe for free and get all the latest episodes. If you want more, you can also check out Gavin’s full podcast, Pro Photo Show.

 

 

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April 6, 2012

A study image only. Canon 5D MK2, 50mm 1.4 @f5.6, 1 hour, ISO160. Bright rock light from the moonlight

An image study for photographers.


Star trails, turning night to day, midnight landscapes. There is amazing image potential for the photographer willing to do their homework and pre-plan setups to take those grand steps into the dark of night.

This photo is lacking. What it shows me is not. I was in the New Mexico highlands. The sun has long set and the light is only from moon and stars in this one hour long exposure. This image is not fully up to my standards and hence may never make it into my Signature Collection. That said there’s something to be learned from it.

I’m trying to develop some baselines and ideas for working what I call ULE’s (Ultra Long Exposures) and I wanted to share some of those here. This image represents the first time I used “only” past experience to determine exposure time, running a single one hour exposure at 5.6, ISO160.

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March 25, 2012

Sliver Moon Blues – Near White Sands NM, 2012.

It was just awhile after sunset and I was not expecting an amazing view. We setup camp on the barren landscape of a tiny lake in the New Mexico desert, near White Sands. We ran the usual paces, unloading kids from the truck, planning dinner, getting settled. This is an image from an unlikely place that’s reminded me to never overlook potential.

I noticed what that moon was doing. A sliver moon, but with it’s shadowed area beautifully visible (there’s probably a name for that). I realized it was setting fast and that I had to do something, so I setup just a few yards from camp and started to work. It was not an easy image due to the rapidly setting moon and the low light, but I made this before it set fully and I’m thankful for a good night and an unexpected image.

 

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March 4, 2012

The Skinny Kid by Gavin Seim. Joshua Tree NP, Feb 2012

The family and I camped down on the flatland’s and took a nice drive into Joshua Tree that day. It was warm, but got cooler in the highlands and the choice to wear shorts turned out less than ideal. So the family was back in the car warming up after hiking and I ventured out near Skull Rock, finding this skinny little Joshua Tree standing alone, everyone ignoring it’s simplicity.

The Skinny Kid grew on me and soon I was experimenting with angles and ideas for how to best showcase what he had to offer. In the end this simple black and white scene struck me. A starkness of line. A cast shadow showing that his reach extends beyond his size. This tree has a perfect vantage. He gets to watch over this rocky landscape without distraction and reign as King of it’s trees.

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