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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A portrait of Gavin and his family by Ken Whitmire. Made while they were camped out for Wall Portrait Conference 2012. It hangs as a sixty inch print on canvas in Gavin’s living room.
There’s nothing like miles of open road and your beautiful wife riding shotgun. Like giggling kids in the back seat with camera bags and cracker crumbs. Like the warm wind that whips in the window and tosses your hair. There’s nothing like the feeling of adventure and uncertainly. Of going somewhere you’ve never been before, tasting nature on the air, and doing something that, just maybe, no one else has ever done before…
A photographer and family road tripping across the USA? No easy task, but it teaches you a lot. About versatility, family, and of course, photography. In fact, many of my most advanced techniques and studies come from the zero deadline environment of road tripping.
In 2011, we spent around 3 months on the road. In 2012, we’re spending nearly that just for our Winter tour and probably 4-5 months in total. To be clear, we’re not just heading to snowbird hideaways and hunkering down. We travel, thousands upon thousands of miles, exploring the US and all it has to offer an American Pictorialist seeking the very best views in the world.
How It Works:
The long trips start months in advance: planning the direction of travel, lining up workshops or events to help pay the hefty gas bill. We’ll be up around three thousand dollars just for fuel for our Winter tour. That part can be a real burden, and it really makes you think about what’s happened to costs and the economy in this country. But let’s not get into that just now; I’m having fun here.
Next, I work like crazy around the studio in preparation. That also involves making sure sessions are scheduled for our return or out the door before we leave. I run a low volume studio that focuses on high end wall portraits, so I can be flexible regarding when and how I organize sessions, but it still takes planning. I don’t want to lose too much business. I make sure the house is sewn up, too, and try to leave things tidy. We make sure the maintenance and latest upgrades are done on the Super Camper. Back at the studio, I tie up all the loose ends, put out a sign that says, back in three months, turn ON the print spotlights, and lock the doors.
Here’s an inside look at The Super Camper. A few upgrades have been added since this, but you’ll get the idea.
Snapshot of the the crew hiking in White Sands New Mexico, March 2012.
Time To Roll: The wife and I load up everything we can fit, including the our three kids, and off we go To The Wild. The main thing that gets us out there is the Super Camper. It’s a 2011 Forest River 21SS that’s been tricked out as a boondocking machine. Still, It cost $20,000 brand new and we’ve probably only put another 5k into it. It’s pulled with our 2001 GMC 2500 Crew Cab 4×4 running a Duramax diesel. For those interested, this little trailer and all the upgrades we’ve installed run up to about $25k. No chump change, but not so much considering what we can do with it.
Evening Passage. Upper Tipsoo Lake, Mount Rainier National Park, Fall 2011, by Gavin Seim.
We made a trip this fall into the forests above Yakima, below the rear entrance of Mount Rainier national park. It’s a breathtaking view up here if the weather favors you. And while it was pretty grey on this evening around sunset, the sky had it’s moments and beauty. There was indeed a gentle subtlety singing in those peaks, hidden away within the folds of light and shadow,
The result is Evening passage, a silent reflection in the upper lake, made calmer my the gentle passing of clouds and ripples in this long sunset exposure.
Release Details: Prints Currently available. Contact the Studio for availability and ordering.
51 inch Master Original Canvas – Limited edition of, 1 | $2900
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.
Release details: Prints available. Contact the gallery. Learn more about prices. Available prints…
Canyon Dance. Grand Canyon National Park. Gavin Seim, Spring 2011
The final rays of glistening sunset are often the most remarkable. Their golden glow flaring for a mere moment before dying into memory and waiting for another sunrise.
Next to the unimaginable vastness of the sky itself, the Grand Canyon is one of the largest most beautiful things I’ve seen. It’s views take the breath away and make me wonder at God’s creation. But as magnificent as it is, it’s a challenge to convey, as it seems that landscapes of this scale often fight against being pulled into the single, two dimensional frame.
Knowing the crowds would come, I set up at Yavapai Point nearly two hours early. I went to the overlook and set up my digital, along with my 4×5, claiming the space as my own and not moving. By the time the sun set, I was crowded in on every side. It was hazy, as often seems with the great distances across the canyon.
The walls that I planned to photograph did not respond quite as I had hoped. But just as the sun set, this side of the canyon walls came alive with color. I had been crowded in so much that I could not move the tripod even the two feet I needed. Frantically, I leaned over and rested the camera on the handle of my second tripod where the 4×5 sat. Then I made the frame that would become this image and preserve that fleeting light. In all my planning, I was still not fully prepared for the moment, but I made the best of it. This frame does not do it’s beauty justice, but it gives a tiny taste of my awe.
