August 8, 2013

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f164, journal, Nature, technique, travel

A Super Campers Guide to the Galaxy

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.

A Super Campers Guide to The Galaxy!

If you’ve read stories like how we spend months on the road in a camper with our kids or seen our road trip journal, you’ll know we love Super Camping. This is about Independence exploration and taking on the world. Not loading up and heading to a resort with a pool and a waterslide. We camp in the wild for free at the most amazing places in America.

We generally do this 3-5 months a year. Traveling, exploring and working on new pictorials and films like EXposed. We usually camp off the grid in the middle of nowhere and it’s the best kind of camping. Better places, more privacy and more adventures. Here is my definition of Super Camping.

Super Camping – An independent style of camping that includes staying outside of developed campgrounds (Boondocking), usually for no cost. Super Camping generally uses a RV, tent or other rig that is prepared to function off grid with solar or battery power, food reserves, comms, medical and gear suitable for adventure, survival and mobile repairs.

Snapshot of the the crew hiking in White Sands New Mexico, March 2012.

How We Roll:

We load up everything we can fit including our kids into our 2011 Forest River 21SS that’s been tricked out as a boondocking machine. It’s pulled with a 2001 GMC 2500 Crew Cab 4×4 running a Duramax diesel. For those interested, this little trailer and all the upgrades we’ve installed in it runs up to about $27k. No chump change, but not much considering what we can do with it and truth told you could do it much cheaper with an older rig.

We’re compact but self sustaining with solar, extra batteries, and a  generator juts in case. With this we can also run sound systems and other logistics when out speaking or doing events of the liberty trail.  Combine that with water mods, good organization a rear hauling rack and the truck itself and we’re ready for the wilderness. The tanks and lines are also winter ready and we can turn on heating pads if things get chilly.

There’s nothing like finding the best places in the world to camp for free. – Boondocking in remote areas is the ticket if you want the best places. We’ve learned that sometimes you need a bit of Gypsy boldness to do this constantly. Being an activist on the side helps with that. We stay off private property without permission of course, but on public lands rules vary so you just need to learn the ropes. We research the area to which we’re going and or sometimes we just pull off on a side road and set up camp. We rarely cave to the “lets just pay for an RV park tonight” option and nearly always find a great campsite for free.

Whether it’s a photography project our out standing the line for liberty and and enhancing patriot resources, the super camper gets it done. The rest of this article is a resource that I maintain. It contains all the best resources and tools we’ve gathered over the years. From places camped to maps, gadgets and resources we use to make it go smoothly. if you want to do some Super Camping or have an RV, you’ll want to read 0n.

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April 25, 2013

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4x5, art study, beauty, color, f164, Fine Art, journal, National Park, Nature, signature

Sunset at the Celestial City – Grosvenor Arch, Utah

Grosvenor Arch - Utah - Gavin Seim_4
Sunset at the Celestial City – Grand Staircase National Monument Utah, Grosvenor Arch. Spring 2013, Gavin Seim

Grand Staircase is a secret hideaway of Utah – A grand place beyond most National Parks in beauty, in remoteness and in a wild hauntingly beautiful atmosphere. There is another wonder to behold with each new curve of it’s bumpy roads.

It’s not one of those parks you simply drive into on paved thoroughfares, hot dog carts lining the byways. We came in off HWY 89 and camped two nights within the park before we exited the other side. It was a slow winding gravel road with lots of hikes, pullouts and things to see, but no civilization except perhaps a bathroom here and there.

We made it up to the Arch late on our second day and waited for the sunset. The feature here was the double arch, but what struck me about this place was the way the entire structure stands alone out here. Columns of colorful rock sprouting from the ground in stunning display, set in a minimal non-dictating scene. It was a beautiful thing. It made me think of the distant view of the Celestial City from the classic novel, Pilgrim’s Progress.

As the sun set and the light danced on the rocks I knew I needed a panorama of this one. This was the last image I made as the light softened and fell behind the hill. It peeked from the clouds just before disappearing fully behind the horizon and left me in awe of creation.

Release details: Prints Available.. Order Open Edition originals above.. Master prints and Signature Limited Editions are listed below and can be ordered by contacting gallery.

Released prints:

For Photographers. How it was made…

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April 25, 2013

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art study, beauty, color, f164, Fine Art, journal, National Park, Nature, signature, technique

King Over the Thistles – White Sands New Mexico

The sun rising in White Sands NM, Spring 2013, Gavin Seim
The sun rising in White Sands NM, Spring 2013, Gavin Seim

Out here in white sands there’s not much for water or trees. So when you stand this tall, alone in the white, snow-like drifts of sand, you get to look down on the landscape. King of the shrubs, thistles and tiny creatures. Usurpers fallen at your feet.

The sun comes up each day throwing pastel beauty across this landscape, soon followed by harsh glaring light and waterless heat. But if you can stay standing, you might just become King of the Thistles.

Release details: Prints Available.. Order Open Edition originals above.. Master prints and Signature Limited Editions are listed below and can be ordered by contacting gallery.

Available Prints….

For Photographers. How it was made…

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April 4, 2013

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art study, color, f164, Fine Art, Nature, signature, technique

Sedona Nights – The Cityscape, Sedona Arizona

Sedona Nights, Sedona AZ just after sunset – Gavin Seim, Spring 2013
Sedona Nights, Sedona AZ just after sunset – Gavin Seim, Spring 2013

We spend a good four or five days in Sedona before moving down the road. I must admit it’s a strange town, but it’s bedrock beauty is nothing to sneeze at. Breathtaking canyons and spires of rock inspire the artists and are at the same time a challenge to photograph really well as they are heavily photographer. Only the best light will do.

We went to the popular airport view for Sunset one night. I’m not sure I’ve even found a crowd so large to watch a sunset. There much have been 200 people there snapping away. I however just stood around with my view camera and chatted because the sunset was a bit flat. It was pretty and all, but to make a wall print we need something breathing.

The sun set and the crowds washed away. We loaded up and headed down the hill, But halfway down I look at the light of the city coming on and turned around, realizing I had just left the best behind me. I went back to the now empty viewing lot and had my pick of vantage points as the last light faded in the sky and Sedona Night came on.

Release details: Prints Available.. Order Open Edition originals above.. Master prints and Signature Limited Editions are listed below and can be ordered by contacting gallery.

Limited Release Prints….

  • Coming Soon.

For Photographers. How it was made…

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March 16, 2013

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art study, color, f164, Fine Art, journal, musings, Nature, science, signature, technique, video

The American Pictorials Project – Year 5 of 10

The 40x40 master of Sliver Moon Blues on display at an exhibit last year.
The 40×40 master of Sliver Moon Blues on display at an exhibit last year.

by Gavin Seim: It’s now year 5 of a 10 year plan to build my American Pictorialist brand one day at a time. I thought I was setting out to take photos. Turns out there was much more I was after. I discovered what I really wanted was not pictures, but furniture. Grand prints that convey the majesty of creation. That’s easier said that done, but I feel Chroma and Silver galleries look better each year.

I got my first camera about 20 years ago now. It’s been a long road. But I may see a speck of light in the tunnel. It took mew a decade or so just realize that what I’m making is not pictures but fine furniture. To begin to really find my style. Something I hope to have mostly nailed down in the next three years both in my pictorials and my American Portraits which are something I don’t intend to give up. They are separate brands, but both have similar goals. Both are furniture for the wall.

The goals are starting to become more clear thanks to teachers like Ken Whitmire, painters of the past, history itself and many others who have shared their experience along the way. I’m learning that I have to focus. I have to remember what I’m trying to produce.

There’s lots of images being made and I don’t need to compete with that. I just need to make work I release as breathtaking as is possible. I’m getting to the stage where I know if the image is Signature worthy or just a nice snapshot before I press the shutter. Understanding that line has tuned out to be critical to my process.

Teaching has pushed me as well. Producing workshops like EXposed helped me see much better. What’s next is further refinement. Being more picky in the image making process as well as in the presentation. I’ve been focusing on slowing down for a few years now. I got into film and large format. I stopped making so many images and learned to focus on one whether it was a pictorial or a portrait.

But I think it’s time to take that further. By focusing on only releasing only 6-12 new pieces each year, the time spent on each will become flexible. Refinement and stunning presentation will be my focus and it takes a great deal of time to do that to my satisfaction – If I intend to stay sane I have to release less to make them more.

In recording the new Photographics Film I have been reminded that the elements that make a great photograph are not bound by one most import, but by a series of many including space, position, line, tone and presentation. If any one of these fails the image will often fail to be a stunning work of art and simply be a photo. I won’t forget that.

I am blessed and thankful that I can take my time. I just keep trying to move forward. In doing so I believe it will be better than I ever imagined when I picked up my first camera nearly 20 years ago. I had no idea where this would lead. Perhaps I still don’t. I still have 5 years to nail down the the American Pictorial. And if I don’t make that deadline, I’ll keep working.

Gavin Seim

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