September 11, 2012

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beauty, color, f164, Fine Art, journal, signature, technique

Resting Place – Northwest Oregon

Folio-Resting-Place2

Resting Place – Dry Creek, Oregon, 2012 by Gavin Seim – PPA 2013 Loan Collection.

The forests of the Pacific Northwest are almost primeval in beauty. Tinkling water and gently blowing ferns make an almost unrivaled tranquility. A scene so stunning that in a story, it would be require a giant beast or a sinister wizard to balance the scales. But the tranquility is real and there are no monsters lurking in the shadows. At least, not today.

Forest light is like seasoning on a platter of summer vegetables. It tickles the palette and pleases the senses, but only if used in the right proportions. That happened here. We camped down in the forest and I started early in the morning, having scouted this Dry Creek Oregon location the day before with Nathan, as we filmed for the EXposed Workshop. In truth I did not realize how breathtaking it was until I stood there the following morning. I made my images and then wandered up to the waterfall just a few hundred yards upstream, poking around and peacefully musing about the forest light. I like to muse.

Awhile later I was about to leave when I saw the light. It was beautiful before, but suddenly the sun moved to just the right position when the radiance glimmered and danced through the foliage. Not to harsh, as often happens from high sun over a forest. Just that perfect glow. I quickly setup again and made this image, thankful that I had not rushed away to breakfast, or assumed that the first light was the best I could get. The reward for my patience was Resting Place. Perhaps the best pictorial I have ever made, and certainly one I’m very proud of.

Resting Place – Dry Creek, Oregon.

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

Currently Released prints….

 

For Photographers. How it was made…

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May 10, 2009

1

f164, Fine Art, Nature

Imperfection. Yellow Flowers:

Photography is about light and how we see that light. I took these last weekend using a Lensbaby which is a selective focus manual lens (a tilt shift look, for those who know what that means). The result is a little imperfect and not as clear as the expensive lenses I often use. It’s not for everything, but used at the right time it can be effective. This flower was not at it’s prime, but because of that it stood apart from it’s nearly perfect brothers and sisters. It took  my attention and in the end was my favorite of the group. Imperfect, but not unseen.

These flowers (Arrow-leaved Balsamroot I believe) are everywhere this time of year. Bringing focus on just one, instead of the many, keeps the eye on the beauty and not on the crowd, while still knowing the crowd exists. This starts in camera, but does not end there. Even in the film days photographers worked with their images to put the attention where they wanted it.

Just to illustrate the power of the edit, I’m posting one of the plain uncorrected images next to the final version below. In this case basic correction, then one of my effects and plenty of burning and dodging (lightening and darkening certain areas on the image) brought of the depth and made the flowers stand out the way I intended. For you photography lover I’ll post a before and after to show the processing… Gav

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