August 8, 2013

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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August 2, 2013

These have been over 6 years in the making. Ever since Lightroom 1 I’ve been refining our ultimate presets collection. I could not be prouder of Power Workflow 4. It’s at a whole new level, taking advantage of the best Lightroom has to offer and putting more control at our fingertips. Power Workflow 3 served us well for 3 years but it’s time to move up. Behold, Power Workflow 4. It’s been a long time coming and you won’t be disappointed… Gav

Get them here.

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July 11, 2013

It’s now official. EXposed, our workshop about everything exposure and mechanics of light won the coveted HOT ONE Award from Professional Photographers of America. in the educational DVD’s category.

hot_one_winner_2013-tmp-380x400

This is super exciting for us since EXposed was a brand new direction in workshop films that is not being done much. We’re really proud of it. We worked hard for the cinematic approach in this 4+ hour series, roaming thousands of miles and visiting incredible locations to study light and discuss how we can better use it. We did just that.

EXposed has humble roots – We jumped in head first and worked hard resulting in a film that was better than we ever imagined. It got rave reviews and now this HOT ONE award on top if it all helps to reenforce that our idea was indeed a good one.

If you have not seen EXposed now is the time. It’s guaranteed to make you a better image maker. Pick up a Download or DVD copy. You won’t be disappointed and the value is better than most workshops you’ve seen.

You can even watch a series of free segments from EXposed right here.

For a short time you can get EXposed for just $49.00 – Just enter promo code: EXPOSE in your cart.

Let us know if you have questions… Gav

 

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July 11, 2013

Video_ Selling Wall Art – Photos as Fine Furniture-1
It’s road trip season. Check out Gavin’s road trip article for a huge list of resources.

Click To Listen>> Photography Podcast. PPS #93

Direct Podcast FeediTunesPodcast Alley

Today’s Panel… Gavin Seim Bary HowellScott Jarvie

This week Gavin and Barry talk about the latest topics and then dig into some stories of past photography adventures.

This episode brought to you by the Seim Effects and the award winning EXposed Workshop.

PPS #93 Forum Discussion HERE.

Main Time Indexes:

  • 00:00 Introductions.
  • 01:40 Barry Speaks
  • 17:55 A bit of video discussion
  • 24:30 News and LR5 talk
  • 34:30 The Stolen Facebook Photo Fiasco
  • 52:20 It’s Story Time
  • 1:18:47 Picks and Fishing
  • 1:37:25 Scott Jarvie Joins in

LINKS…

EXposed Workshop win’s a hot one award.

Gavin Road Trip Journal

Gavin’s road trip article with a list of gadgets.

VIDEO: Selling Photos as Fine Furniture.

Canon C100

Graphene Camera Sensor.

The Stolen Facebook  Photo Fiasco.

Jarvie’s Faith in America Project.

Picks…

GAVIN –

SLR Pro Dot

Bucket Boss Jumper Cable Bag.

Epic 25ft Jumper Cables

Barry –

Stool with tool storage.

Air Display – iPad

Rapela Scatterrap.

Scott –

Jumper Power  Box
(Here’s a heavier duty version)

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July 6, 2013

 

Perfect Sunset - Clear Lake California-3
The Perfect Sunset, Above Clear lake CA, Winter 2013 by Gavin Seim

There is nothing quite like sunset in the forest above Clear Lake. Here lies small group of towns nestled around the water in the remote hills of California. There is nothing like it. Driving up into rolling high hills to camp, each sunset is a wounder of color and shadow, storybook trees and glowing foliage. Perhaps it’s partly the warn memories of camping here with my family combined with the fresh air and quiet atmosphere. Whatever it is, this place represents as perfect a sunset as I can imagine.

We’ve camped up here a few times and even did some scenes here for our new PHOTOGRAPHICS film. This beautiful view is actually just off the forest read leading up. Each night the sun falls behind the hills that circles the valley and fades into the magenta hues of rolling shadowy hills. I rarely shoot into the sun because it’s rare I find a situation that it really works in. But I timed this image just before sunset to maximize the glowing light and this is was it feels like to stand here and watch the sunset. It will make a beautiful print.

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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