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.
Release Details: Prints Coming Soon… Contact Gavin for details.
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.
Trilogy of the Surf, by Gavin Seim. May 2011, on CA 1. Triptych print release pending. View the larger images below.
The Pacific Ocean mesmerized me as we drove, trailer in tow, along Route 1 this Spring. It’s so vast, an endless expanse peeking through the passing trees. I spotted a large pull-off along the winding highway, so we stopped for the view and a trailer break. Cyrus and I looked over the edge, seeing the waves strike against the rocks below. Soon I found myself setting up, adjusting the composition and then capturing frame after frame. I was entranced at how each and every image could be so similar and yet so different, the patterns and tones of water combining in endless ways along the rock, though all going to the same place.
Normally, I’m all about a single frame, but it was too little here. Sometimes I break my own rules, and, after a lot of consideration, I really felt this sequence worked. I spent hours finalizing which final images would go into it, and how I could best present them. Then weeks went by as I rethought, making sure I could do nothing to make it better. I’ve also made some test prints, and I plan to release it as a single triptych print and perhaps a few as three separate images (kept together, of course).
Due to the computer’s insufficiency at conveying a wide image, I’m also adding the individual frames from the sequence below so you can take in a bit more detail. Just bear in mind; they will be presented as the triptych above, not separated by themselves. I hope these waves mesmerize you as much as they do me. Enjoy…
Endless lines with dappled light and colors, even after sunset. I think there’s a lot to learn about photography from the ocean: the patterns and lines, the way it plays the light. Never have I seen so many perfect lines as in the waves and currents. Now excuse the quality of this video as I was using only my iPhone, and it was nearly dark, but crank it up to HD, and I hope you’ll get a little of what I felt here.
This is from our Spring tour while in Pismo. I did take home some photos of the ocean that you may have seen in the archives, but the other thing I took home was awe. Maybe I just sound crazy, but my excitement was genuine. I came away with stronger concepts of line and tone. I’ve always loved water, but this challenges me to look at it even closer; to see beauty even in the smallest details of surf and learn something about light from its ever changing surface.
City of Silver. Bryce Canton National Park Utah, Infrared. Spring 2011, Gavin Seim
The spires of Bryce Canyon make me think of the ruins of an ancient city. They feel timeless, their detailed pattern texture glaring into my eyes as they’re struck by the light. The place is absolutely stunning.
But it’s not simple. It’s vast and intricate, so bringing its sun-washed beauty into a two dimensional frame is a challenge. With this scene, the simplicity of a black and white image allowed me to focus on the study of line and tone, leaving the color we’re familiar with from the Utah red rock to be filled in from our own minds.
