This was our camp spot up on Smith Mesa and my view was a few yards from my trailer. It’s one of my favorite places, overlooking the entire Zion Valley. I come here every year or so to relax and get images that due it justice. This year I took home two, this one, and a spectacular panorama that we’ve not finished yet. I’m ecstatic since this not an easy area to get the right conditions in. This is a unique combination of sunset light and visible stars. It’s the real thing, exposed for around 30 minutes just after sunset.
The Night Watcher by Gavin Seim - Near White Sands New Mexico, March 2012
An open New Mexico sky and a gentle foreground glow from the lights of a distant military base. This tree stands alone on a dusty patch of earth. In the daytime you might not think much of him. But as he watches over the trailing stars of night his delicate majesty is revealed in full.
I made this just outside the camper in the same spot near White Sands where I made Sliver Moon Blues. A seemingly barren patch of earth, that in three days offered me two new images. But I had to work for it and I was up until the middle of the night making it happen. It took well over an hour for each exposure and that adds up fast. It was worth the effort however and the Night Watcher is the result.
Three Pines. Kaibab National Forest, near the Grand Canyon. Spring 2011.
The night is intriguing to me as a photographer. Stars trail through the heavens, and branches rustle as winds sift through the darkness. The world turns unnoticed by most of its occupants, and yet it is not still at all.
Night photography is a challenge; I have to go against my natural preference to be relaxed comfortably in a warm house or trailer rather than standing in darkness often cold, wondering what made that cracking sound I just heard behind me. The next challenge is the technical difficulty of making the image and composition in darkness and having the patience for an ultra long exposure. This one was over 45 minutes.
At times like this one, I can set up the image and go back to said warm camper and family, as the faint light works its magic. At times, my night exposures do not come out as I expect, and some never see the pages of this journal, but as I further explore the darker side my craft, I find moments like this when the simplicity and natural beauty of the elements draw my eye and make me smile at the wonder of creation.
This image is not perfect, and I’m undecided as to whether it will make the signature collection, but I do enjoy it, and it has taught me much about light and shadow…
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