March 4, 2012

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beauty, f164, Fine Art, infrared, journal, line, National Park, Nature, signature, silver, technique, travel

The Skinny Kid – Joshua Tree NP

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.

Release details: Prints available. Contact the gallery. Learn more about prices. Available prints…

 

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February 23, 2012

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color, f164, hogarths, journal, musings, private, signature, silver, technique, travel, water

Morena Sunset – Morena Reservoir CA.

DRAFT: We found this amazing camp up in the Coral Canyon area. A surprisingly little used OHV area in CA that is stunning on nearly every side. It had rained recently bringing out the winter green, but our days here were beautiful and warm and when we weren’t exploring the landscape we we’re drinking good coffee or lying out on a blanket  with the kids, looking up at the blue sky.

I spotted this on our first drive the night before but sat on it for a day. Going back, I let the kids play in the road (it was more of a trail and mom was watching them), while I climbed up the hull onto a mountain of boulder for a stunning view of the valley and the unique shape of the Morena Reservoir. I waited as the sun sank and the light begin to sing.

Morena Sunset. Gavin Seim, 2012.

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January 22, 2012

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beauty, f164, Fine Art, hogarths, journal, line, Nature, silver, technique

Churning Beauty – The Oregon Coast

Churning Beauty, Jan 2012 by Gavin Seim. HWY 101, Oregon Coast.

One thing I love about the sea is the way it displays natural art with such simplicity. We traveled the 101 for a few hundred miles early on in our winter tour. With that came some bad weather and some moments of sweeping coastal beauty.

The line of beauty is something most experienced artists are familiar with. If not in name, then in practice. It’s that sort of sweeping S curve that comes from nature itself and is nearly always pleasing to the eye. That’s what really stuck me here. The entire coast with it’s waves rolling, is a series of sweeping curving lines. One has to wounder if Hogarth, the man recognized with making the line of beauty a known artistic element, looked out over these very shores.

The result of this days work is a square that showcases details of the ocean. Leaving much to imagination, but leading me thru the scene, reminding me how beautiful and powerful the water is. The passage of man means nothing to the sea. It simply moves on, rolling over the footprints and awaiting another day.

Release details: Prints available. Contact the studio. Learn more about prices. Available prints…

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December 14, 2011

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f164, science, silver, technique

Dynamic & Tonal Range in the RAW File.

Right cut. Original RAW file desaturated in LR. Left cut, same file with the Dynamic Silver III preset from Silver Shadows 2 applied in LR.

Just a few quick observations today. One reason I stay in a RAW as long as possible is that quality and dynamic tonal control is at it’s highest on an original RAW file. Once we leave that environment, we can certainly still work with tonal values, but we throw away some of that precious information.

On the right is a sharpened and desaturated original file from Sunset’s Hidden Falls. On the left, the same file with nothing more than applying Dynamic Silver III from my new Silver Shadows 2 toolkit. This effect pulls out dynamic range without flattening the shadow and contrast too much. It could also be done manually of course.

Once I have the dynamic range under control, then I’ll move on to external edits as needed. I don’t hesitate to go into Photoshop (though I try to stay in 16bit mode) for detail work. I did plenty of that on the final version of this). But getting my basic tonal range managed before I leave the RAW file behind gives me better results and helps me maintain that quality as high as possible for my wall prints. It’s a better wokflow and a better image.

Gav

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August 2, 2011

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beauty, f164, Fine Art, hogarths, journal, line, musings, signature, silver, technique

The Whispering Brook – Olympic Rainforest

The Whispering Brook, Olympic Forest, below Dosewallips Falls. Gavin Seim, Summer 2011

The water of the rainforest always seems to be moving,. Running, drizzling and dancing over the ground. Dosewallips falls rolls down a face of stone into the gathering pools below, overflowing them and running on towards into the deep forest, making a journey to the larger streams and rivers, then finally to the sea. It’s a mesmerizing dance of water set in one of the most beautiful places and is something to stop and look closer at.

We spent the past few days in the Olympic forest and as beautiful as the it is, I find it can be complicated. There’s so much to see that it can be a challenge to covey simple beauty in a single frame. Part of that challenge is deciding what element best conveys the feeling the the place when the image is initially made.

I found myself looking closely at the stream below the falls, all the rocks and paths the water had made. But I stopped in this one. It’s shape and line telling a story of waters journey in a simple scene. There’s a lot of little details here, but you have to take the time to look for them. It’s simple, but complex in it’s own way and as always, I am mesmerized the the subtle complexity and beauty of creation.

Release details: Prints available. Contact the gallery. Learn more about prices. Available prints…

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