Saturday, August 25, 2018
 |
| Rural Twilight |
These have been interesting times for me over the last two weeks. There has been a lot going on in pretty much every aspect of my life since the last trek to the Blue Ridge Parkway a couple of weeks ago. Last weekend, there just wasn't time to get out and do any photography. This weekend, I had a little bit of time, but not too much. The problem this weekend was the weather. The forecast pretty much called for very little to no clouds for the good parts of the day. The good parts are the ends at sunrise and sunset. I was pretty much set on not going out to get any pictures this weekend, which was fine. I still had a good many from the Parkway to handle my daily Instagram posts.
I did wake up around 5am on Saturday morning to check the weather since there was a chance of a decent sunrise in the Piedmont. I wasn't sure where I would go, but I wanted to be able to get out and do something if the weather looked promising. The reports were pretty dismal though. I saw no clouds, and the sunrise forecast had gone pretty blah overnight. I turned the alarm off and went back to sleep.
When I finally woke up, I wasn't even thinking about doing pictures. Toni, Sierra, and I went out and visited the book store, went to a movie, and then had dinner. All the while there were pretty nice clouds that developed in the sky. Unfortunately, the sun was high in the sky, and while the clouds were nice, the lighting was harsh and flat. Toni kept telling me to go and work on some pictures, but with the existing lighting I had no interest in shooting anything. I was hoping that the clouds would hold out till sunset as they would look really good then.
When we got home after dinner I started to look at the weather forecast. It wasn't really looking promising for clouds, and the sky was fairly empty at this point. The sunset forecast, however, gave me a little hope for some color in the sky. It might not be much, but it was worth going out and trying.
 |
| The Simple Life |
Now I needed to come up with a location to go. I have been trying to shoot a barn nearby for several months now, and I keep getting stymied by the sky at every turn. I have been trying mostly in the morning for a sunrise behind the barn. The idea has always been to get there long before the sun comes up and trying to capture some interesting colors in the sky, while still being able to expose for details in the barn. Twice now I've tried that and failed. I have also been out trying for some cloudy shots, but to no avail. It has been about 4 years since I have successfully shot this barn, and I wanted to get it in the summer before the trees started to change, or shed their leaves.
I went ahead and set my course for the barn off of Union Cross Rd in Forsyth County. My thought was I would probably get there and turn around, or sit for a while before deciding to give up. I know, this is a terrible attitude to have, but honestly, I didn't really feel like going out. Had it not been for Toni prodding me, and my memory of many landscape photographers' vlogs talking about going even when you don't want to, I would have stayed home. Even if I didn't get anything, the weather was nice and it would be nice to get behind the camera for a short time if nothing else.
When I arrived, the lighting was actually pretty good on the barn with the setting sun lighting the face. I went ahead and got the camera out and fitted my 70-200mm lens with the Sigh-Ray Color Combo Polarizer. I actually stayed across the road to get the composition that I wanted. Since there was not much interest in the sky, I wanted to minimize the amount of sky that I included in the shot. I mainly wanted to get the barn, and the tree that stood next to it. The plan here was to shoot a color image of the barn, but when I got home and looked at it, the colors were just lacking something. I liked the lighting and composition though. I decided to see how the sky would stand a monochrome conversion.
Once I got the conversion started, I could tell that the clouds were a little more visible, and the textures of the wood and crops stood out more. I worked with the contrasts and tonal relationships until I was happy with the image. It wasn't what I had envisioned when I shot the scene, but it wasn't bad either. It was a good start to the evening.
 |
| Carolina Farm |
The sun was dropping now, and the lighting was improving. The clouds were also coming into play above the barn. I flipped the camera on its side and framed up a shot that captured the barn, tree, and the clouds above. I was really liking this composition. However, when I was looking in the review after the exposure was made, I realized something. In my excitement to set the shot up, I had missed a power line right at the top third point, which is why I missed it. I lined up perfectly with the grid lines in my preview screen. I was going to need to get to the other side of the road and shoot under the power line.
When I got there, I knew that the long lens was the wrong choice for my new location. I quickly swapped out to my 24-70mm lens and swapped the Color Combo Polarizer over as well. I recomposed and found roughly the same image at 35mm that I had found at 70mm earlier. This is the power of lenses, I can get the same compositions from wildly different positions. I was also able to get a bit more sky and foreground in this image with the perspective change. I grabbed a few exposures as the clouds moved across the sky.
I continued to shoot different compositions as the sun faded to my rear. I was a little disappointed to see the best cloud formation in the sky, and also the best lit one, was to the South. There was nothing at all to put under that patch of sky except a line of trees and a power pole with a lot of power lines draping across the scene. This just wouldn't work at all. Oh well, I had a nice barn to work with.
As the sun dropped out of sight to my rear, the colors started to change up significantly. There were purples in the sky now, and the twilight sky was upon us. I set up a few different shots, and exposed as close to the right of the histogram as possible without blowing the image out. It looked terrible in the review image, but I knew that would be the case. I needed it slightly overexposed so that I could keep the detail in the barn, and I could recover the sky detail easy enough in Lightroom. I wasn't sure how any of these would turn out, but I knew if they worked, I would have something entirely different from anything that I had shot before.
When I got home and started to process it, it took a minute or two to start seeing the colors develop that I had seen while shooting the image. What would normally take 5-10 minutes, probably took about 15 minutes to process. I really started to see the possibility of this one looking like what I had envisioned while shooting the image. Yes, this one might be a little more "worked" than most of my images, but I felt that it deserved a little extra processing to be true to my vision. It is not manipulated, and is not a composite. It isn't even an HDR image. What it has turned into is a highly saturated image that has been dodged and burned to bring out the details that I found important to the image. It is a true representation of the actual scene, and is spot on with how I interpreted the scene at the time.
Just as I was about to pack up the camera, I started looking for the moon which was full. I knew it would be coming up very soon, and it should be near the barn. If I was lucky, I would get the opportunity to shoot the mood with the barn composition I had set up. Unfortunately, it was a bit far to the right for that to happen. I did move my position and shoot the barn square from the front with the moon just to the right. The composition was weak, and there was really no excitement in the image. It turned out to be one that I left in the discard file. I added my 2x teleconverter and tried for a moon shot at 400mm just because it was rather clear looking. It turned out pretty good, but I have just never really cared for moon shots that aren't a part of a complete composition. It was just a moon, and it was no better, or any different, than any of the other hundred moon shots I have seen. It fell to the discard pile as well.
At the end of the evening, I had shot 59 frames of this barn and the moon. I knew I didn't want my normal 10% cut to be keepers since this was just a single subject. I was actually looking for one, maybe two images to keep. In the end, I found that I really liked three images. They were all quite different, and represented a different story of the barn. I was happy keeping all three of the images and sharing them with you.
Saturday, February 24, 2018
 |
| Waterfall Walk |
The weather has really not worked with me for the past month or so. Every weekend it has been raining, except for that one where the sun was blazing all day long. I've kind of gotten used to the routine of hiking in the rain and leaving my gear opened up drying over night. When I saw the forecast for this weekend, I was prepared for that same chain of events. There was clouds and rain for the vast majority of the day on Saturday, and more of the same on Sunday.
I figured that this would be another opportunity to get some waterfalls done, and what better time to try and find some new ones. I know there are some other cascades at South Mountains which I have not found yet. I also wanted to try and photograph the main waterfall, High Shoals Falls. It has been probably 10 years or more since the last time I have ventured up the stairs to shoot it. Arguably though, it is not all that photogenic of a waterfall. To make matters worse, the boardwalk really gets in the way despite giving you a very close view of the waterfall.
 |
| Soothe the Soul |
My day started as any other photography day...Early. I woke up with Toni at 4am and worked on getting on the road at 5 so I could be at the park when the gates opened. The most current forecast called for some light showers at 8am and cloudy until sometime in the afternoon when the clouds would start to break up. I wanted to give myself the most time under the clouds. As I was heading down the road, I could tell that there were very little clouds in the sky. I kind of expected that as there was only supposed to be intermittent cloud cover for the first part of the day. The closer I got, the less clouds I was seeing though.
This was really starting to be an annoying pattern for this park. It seems that every time I come out here expecting clouds, I get bright blue skies and difficult lighting. I was starting to think that I was going to spend four hours on the road for less than ideal lighting once again. I didn't have a plan B in mind, and knew that much of the park was in the shadows early in the morning. At least I had that working in my favor. I was looking around as I approached the park to see if there was something that I could get with the existing lighting.
I did see an old tractor by a shed that I had seen the last couple of times out, and had always wanted to photograph. The lighting wasn't quite right, and I wasn't sure I could get it from the road. I filed it away in my memory for later as I had done many times before.
 |
| Blue Sky Reflections |
When I got to the park, the sky was blue overhead. I could see some light clouds in the distance, but they were moving away. I could see that the creek adjacent to the parking lot was in the full shadow of the mountain. I hadn't really worked this area before since there were usually fishermen in the water. This time, it was all empty so I decided to go and check it out. I found a nice set of cascades next to an overlook, so I decided to maneuver my way down to the water.
Looking at things, I figured that doing isolations would be the best bet. For that, I decided to use my 70-200mm lens with a Color Combo Polarizer attached. I started working on compositions and found that my exposure time due to the lighting was between 13-30 seconds. That was plenty for a nice abstract flow of the water. The trick was picking areas of the cascades that made sense and had a cohesive flow to them.
One of the neat ones that came from this section is the picture directly above. Since the sky was blue, the water was reflecting a nice blue hue just before dropping over the rocks. The rocks had some warm tones on them which balanced out the overall cool shade of the water. It made for a very interesting composition with the color pallet.
 |
| Uneven Flow |
There is just something about cascades that really hypnotizes me when I see them. I could just look at the moving water for hours. The patterns of the rocks is what makes it all so interesting. This section of the creek really illustrated this quality for me. The rocks were strewn about with total randomness, yet everything just fit together so well. It is the wonder of nature, and I was so happy that I was able to photograph it.
Not wanting to spend all my time with this section of the creek, I decided to move on down the trail. My ultimate goal was to get to High Shoals Falls and go beyond it to complete the loop trail. I told myself that I wasn't going to bother with scenes that I had photographed before unless they were noticeably better than previous times I had visited. That concept was put to the test at the fork in the creek.
When I got there, I could see that the water was moving rather nicely, and was possibly a little more voluminous than previous attempts. However, there wasn't anything in the way of compositions that held a candle to my recent Autumn shots from this area. I quickly decided to move on down the trail.
 |
| Taking a Bow |
My second test came just a few steps down the trail when I arrived at my favorite yawning tree. I looked and found that the water was looking better than my last time here. The lighting was definitely better as well. I decided to stop here and give it a few shots. I opted to use my 24-70mm lens with the same Singh Ray filter on the end. I got in position on one of the rocks that gave me the best view of the little waterfall as it plunged between the rocks.
I was missing the Autumn colors this time, but I was thinking that the overall image was a good bit stronger than what I had several months ago. The anchor of the image was the waterfall, and the tree that I love so much worked the midground. From this angle it really looked like the tree was taking an overly dramatic bow...so of course, that became the title of the piece.
 |
| Kinetic Energy |
I still wanted more of the tree, and decided to flip the camera on its side to compose a portrait shot of the scene. This allowed me to emphasize the tree a little bit more. The only problem with the tree was that there were a couple of fallen branches that were poking over the rock that I had initially seen as a distraction for an up close shot of the tree. However, upon looking at it once again, I decided that the tree looked like a skier getting ready to jump off of the rock, while the fallen branches looked like the skis. I know, I read too much into a scene, but you have to admit...you can't help but see it too. With the arms sticking straight up, the body leaning forward, and the skis about to clear the rock, there is a lot of implied energy here. Add to it the motion of the water, and this image is full of motion. It is one of my favorites from this location because of that.
From here, it wasn't too long before I got to my favorite section of secondary cascades. The first one had a lot more flow to it than normal, but I wasn't sure I wanted to try shooting it just yet. I moved to the other side where I have always had good luck. Ironically, there was too much water on this side. I just wasn't feeling very good about making good pictures with the current flow. I opted instead, to go back to the other side, and climb over the railing. Once on the ground, I was seeing some pretty good compositions from this section. One of which is the opening image to this entry. It is also the first time I have used the boardwalk in a composition. Considering I always try to eliminate the man made aspects in my waterfall pictures, I actually really like this shot.
 |
| A Sacred Splash |
With the waterfall being rather narrow and tall, I thought that I would do pretty well using my 16-35mm lens with the polarizer. It worked out rather well, and allowed me to include foreground interest, as well as getting in close to the lowest cascade to emphasize it in the composition. I forget how much fun the wide angle lens can be at times. I enjoyed playing with it on this section that normally I would have used my middle lens on.
 |
| Moment in Time |
I spent a pretty good amount of time here moving around an inch here, and an inch there. It was all about how the different cascades lined up, and how they related to the other elements in the scene. With the perspective of the super wide angle lens, I was constantly reminded that position is everything. I had to be aware of every aspect of the composition, knowing that I was constructing every element as they related to one another. No point and click here, that's for sure!
Eventually, I determined that I had everything that I wanted to get, and I packed the camera back up. I gave the next section a second look, but I was positive that there was just too much water for the images I was wanting to make. It was time to start climbing the stairs at this point. Normally, I would just turn around since I am just not a fan of High Shoals Falls. Today, I had promised myself another shot at it though. I bit my lip and climbed the hundred and some steps to the overlook.
 |
| High Shoals Falls |
As you can see, this is pretty much just a steep water slide. There is not much in the way of details in the water. If I were to have used a long shutter speed, it would have just been featureless white streaks down the rock. That wasn't what I was going for at all. Looking at the scene, I decided that my 24-70mm lens would be the best tool for the job, along with the Color Combo Polarizer. There were several issues that I was going to need to address before being able to shoot though.
First, there was a nice overlook that got you right up to the waterfall. This same overlook appears in so many pictures of the waterfall because you just about can't avoid it. My solution was to set the tripod up on two legs, and swing the third over the railing for stability. This was where having independent legs is a must for a landscape photographer. With the ballhead positioned just inside of the railing, I was able to compose an image that didn't include the railing.
Second, since I was so close to the waterfall, I was getting a lot of spray which was going right on my front element. There was no way to block it and still have a field of view. My solution was to work very quickly and minimize the time in the spray.
Third, the wooden surface that I was set up on was less than solid. When I moved, the camera would move. That meant that when I was ready to release the shutter, I had to remain rock steady and even hold my breath as the timer went though the 2 second countdown and released the shutter for a fraction of a second.
 |
| Desperation |
With all of this, it is a wonder why I even tried to photograph this waterfall. The images still aren't knocking on the door to my all time favorite waterfall images, but it was nice to shoot it again after so long avoiding it. I did manage to get an intimate picture that is a little bit thought provoking...at least for me. I had never noticed that one of the rocks near the bottom looked like head. For what ever reason, today I saw it as just that. The large branch was situated as if to help the person being overtaken by the water. It could also be the object holding the person under the water. Sadly, when I look at this picture, I see Toni dealing with her struggles with Bipolar Disorder. The medications which are supposed to help seem to cause so many other issues, and I can see her desperation as the days go on. I've always wanted to do a photography project to illustrate Bipolar Disorder. I think that maybe this one could be part of that project.
 |
| Cascade Waves |
Back to happy thoughts...
After about four times here, I finally decided to continue down (or rather, up) the trail. There were more steps leading to the top of the waterfall. I'm thinking about 200 more steps give or take. I wasn't sure what was beyond High Shoals Falls, but I was sure I was going to find out today. It actually didn't take too long to get to the top. When I did, I found a couple of small cascades along the rocky surface. They weren't much, but I was here, I might as well get the camera out.
I would have loved to have gotten down to the water level, but I saw plenty of signs saying not to cross the fence. These signs were a little different than the others I've seen at waterfalls. These actually had the General Statute number on them. That make it a little more serious, and I opted to follow the direction of the signs and stay on my side of the fence. Because of that, I was going to need the reach of my 70-200mm lens.
 |
| Spilling Over |
I needed to get as close to the water as I could to get the angles I was after. In order to do that, I did something very similar with the tripod as I had done at the waterfall a few minutes prior. This allowed me to get much closer to the railing than I would have been able to otherwise. I started to hunt compositions, and I fired off several frames as I attempted to capture what I saw. It all came down to the angles, and incorporating the elements that found important in a way that made sense.
 |
| Liquid Fingers |
Because of where I was having to shoot from, isolations turned out to be a great compositional solution. I was able to pick out the bits of cascades that I found most interesting. I also found out that the water was reflecting the colors of the rocks as well as the trees on the shore. This gave some interesting color tones to the image. Of course, it was the textures of the water that I was most interested in.
When I was satisfied that I had all I needed from this location, I continued down the trail. I didn't know what else I was going to run into, but was hoping that there were more pictures to be had. Well, there really weren't. The clouds which had barely stayed in the sky were now pretty much gone. The lighting was not great at this point, and I found myself concentrating on where I was stepping since I was hiking steadily down a steep hill at this point. There would have been a few interesting things in the fog, but for the present conditions, it was just a nice hike with no reason to take the camera out.
I thought about going down another trail, but the sky wasn't really looking all that great, so I decided that I would go and see about maybe photographing that tractor I had seen on the way in. I loaded everything up in the truck and started back out of the park. The tractor wasn't far from the entrance, so I started looking once I got out of the park. When I saw it, there was a guy working on a truck right beside of it. Could it be that easy? I pulled into the driveway and introduced myself to him. I explained why I was there, and found that he was very willing to let me photograph the tractor. Jackpot!
 |
| Just Tired |
As it turns out, I picked a great day to be here. After seeing it in front of the shed for some time now, I was being informed that there was a buyer coming to pick the tractor up later this afternoon. With only hours to spare, I had gained permission to get up close and personal with the tractor. I noticed that there was a good bit of clutter on the ground, but I thought that it helped to tell the story of "redneck living." That was how the owner put it when he asked if I just liked photographing "redneck living." I had to laugh, because in all honesty, I guess I do. Regardless of how you label the scene though, it all worked together so well. The siding on the shed matched the oxidized paint on the tractor, and both objects had a similar accent color of red. The balance here was perfect, and quite frankly, it looked staged for the purpose of photography.
I was very lucky that for the time that I was working the tractor, the clouds had covered the sun just enough to give me that all important even lighting. I can't express how lucky I was for this scene to work out when it did. Had I passed it by once again, I would have never seen it again. The conditions couldn't have been any better which made it an even sweeter victory. And the icing on the cake...an old house being held up by a tree.
 |
| Delicate Balance |
Off to the side of his property was an old house that was barely standing. In fact, it was two trees that kept it from collapsing it looked like. I had seen this house from the road, but never thought it worthy enough to stop and shoot. Now that I was out with the camera, and had access to the field, I really had not reason not to photograph the old house. I'll admit, it was not the easiest of compositions. I couldn't get it from the front because the fallen covered porch ruined the flow of a composition. The tree nearly blocking the window made it difficult to get from the side, and shooting from the rear corner was an odd composition. It was my only choice though, and that was just what I did. I shot one singe frame after attempting about a dozen compositions. I figured if this wouldn't work, nothing was going to.
After this, I packed the camera up and thanked the property owner before heading back down the road. I spent the next hour looking for other subjects. I saw a few potential compositions, but the light was just too harsh at this point. I will just have to come back on another day to try to get some more rural scenes in Connelly Springs, NC.
The day was actually rather successful with 100 frames saved in the camera. Of those, I found 15 that were worth keeping. I really have no complaints at all from the day. The weather was good when I needed it to be, and I had great conditions with the waterfalls. It was a great day, and it was sure nice to get out and go for a nice long hike. I needed the recharge!
Sunday, December 17, 2017
 |
| Farmhouse Sunrise |
Winter is one of those weird times of year for photographers. Personally, I really enjoy it, and have always been able to get out and get some really good images this time of year. However, it takes a little bit of time for me to calibrate to the season after so many months of having color on the landscape. I typically shift from doing landscapes to capturing more rural scenes which bring their own colors and textures. With Fall winding down, I am still in the frame of mind to work landscapes though. That was the original plan for the day when I was looking at the weather forecast. I was looking forward to increasing clouds through the day, and I figured that I could head back to Stone Mountain and go up to the higher elevations to work some scenes there.
I also happened to check out the sunrise forecast and found that pretty much all of NC was going to see a potentially colorful sunrise. Since Stone Mountain would be closed until after sunrise, I wasn't going to be able to do anything there, but I wanted to find a good place to take advantage of the colors of morning. My first thought was Salem Lake, but having just done a really spectacular image there, I opted not to revisit that same location just yet. My second idea was an old feed mill in Yadkin County which has changed a good bit over the last year with both booms coming down. I have tried to photograph that building under the morning sky several times, but haven't quite gotten it right. I figured it was on the way to Stone Mountain, so this would be the morning I would give it a try.
I woke up around 5am and was on the road a little before 6am. That gave me plenty of time to get to the mill and find my composition before first light. When I got there, the sky was already starting to show some colors and I was getting really excited. There was a problem though...actually two of them. First of all, it appeared as though they had plowed the field that the building was in. That would make it hard to get into position, and I really didn't care for that as a foreground. The second problem I was seeing was there was a tractor trailer pulled down to the cul de sac with the driver apparently asleep in the cab. Anywhere I parked would put me in his way, and had a great potential of getting my truck hit. Since the scene wasn't as I was hoping for, and the tractor trailer was causing problems, I opted to abandon my first stop on this photo tour.
 |
| Amber Skies |
It was still too early to continue on to Stone Mountain, and the sky was looking incredible. I decided to drive off blind and try to find something interesting to put under the sky. It seeks I'm always chasing something to give context to the sky when I am out with the camera. I was well into rural Yadkin County, so I knew that there would be trees and barns that might work for me. I drove around in the dark, paying attention to where the light was in relation to the ground features. The more I drove, the more I started to think that this was going to be a lost cause. I was happy that I was witnessing one of the prettier sunrises I've seen in some time at least.
At that point where I was about to throw in the towel, I saw a very interesting tree on the correct side of the road. As I got closer, I could seen an old farmhouse sitting between two trees. It was position absolutely perfect to give attention to the sunrise. I quickly pulled off the road and grabbed my gear. I evaluated the scene quickly and determined that the proper lens would be my 24-70mm with no filters attached. I got right up on the fence line (as close as I could get to the house) and started to compose my images.
I started off including all of the elements I had seen with the two trees and the house. The exposure was pretty straightforward and I did not need any grad filters as the sky was the predominant feature. Once I had a few frames that I liked from that composition, I moved over to the more interesting of the two trees and composed one just of the sky, anchored by the single tree. As I was reviewing the images in the LCD, I was pretty sure that I was going to like this composition much better than the one that I had shot previously. As it turns out though, I like them both equally as well. The sky was phenomenal to say the least.
As the sky brightened, the colors faded away, and I found no reason to stay at this location. I had seen an old truck about a mile back on the road and figured that I would try to shoot that as the sun got high enough to light it up. I packed the camera up, and went a little further down the road to see what I could see. I found a lot of interesting subjects, but none of them were striking me as picture worthy this morning. After a few miles, I turned around and went back to the truck I had seen in the dark.
You know the problem with scouting subjects in the dark? You can't see all that is around them. That was a fatal flaw with this truck. There were houses much too close to the truck, and no appropriate backdrop to use. I looked it over briefly, but found nothing that I wanted to work with at this particular time. But my mind was pretty much set at this point. I was wanting to work rural scenes rather than landscapes. I was getting my Winter groove back kind of early this year.
 |
| Weather Beaten |
I continued to drive around looking to see what I could find. The sky was interesting in some directions, and less so in others. The lighting was pretty uniform, so I was able to shoot in any direction, but to include the sky would be a little more difficult. I came across a group of old barns that caught my eye. The lighting was fine, but the clouds didn't have a whole lot of definition to them. They had a little bit, but I wasn't sure if I could successfully bring it out in the editing process. It was a nice enough scene to give it a try at least.
I pulled over, and pulled out the camera. I staring at a big sign that said "No Trespassing" so, I wasn't going to be able to get close to the barns unfortunately. I grabbed my 70-200mm lens and left the front element bare with no additional filters. I set up right on the property line still on the easement. I found that 125mm would capture the group of barns nicely, along with the trees, and some sky. I played around with my exposure a little bit in order to eek out as much detail in the sky as I possibly could. There was not a lot of exposure latitude to deal with, so I knew that I would be adding some contrast in post.
Since I didn't have many composition options from my position, I didn't stay here long at all. I wasn't sure how this would turn out, but I was at least getting in the frame of mind to work rural settings again. I was fine doing this instead of going to Stone Mountain to shoot landscapes. The sky was iffy as to how it was wanting to behave, and I could tell that there was very little color to be had on the landscape.
I continued driving around for another 30-45 minutes before deciding that I might as well go and do a little hiking and try for some landscapes. My rural adventure was drying up. I went on to Stone Mountain just a couple hours later than I had planned on. The park was nearly empty which was great after a full season of elbow to elbow hikers. The sky was looking decent, so I decided that I would go high and shoot some landscapes from the summit. I started out the hike, and went on the loop trail which should have taken me right where I wanted to go. Unfortunately though, the trail was still closed due to damage. My only other option was to head out to Wolf Rock which I have done far too often this year. I ended up hiking back to the truck deciding to scrub hiking on the agenda. In fact, I might as well go home at this point huh?
 |
| Ford Coupe |
Just because I was headed home didn't mean that I couldn't take the long way. I decided to go the rest of the way through the park and exit on the back side. That would put me in an area that I had scouted back in January with Toni. I knew that there were some nice subjects out that way. One in particular that I was interested in was a house that had several old cars in the yard. I had returned there once over the previous Winter to ask permission to enter the property, but nobody was there. This time, I saw smoke coming from the chimney, and a car warming up in the driveway. Might as well ask...
Well, the owner was home and had absolutely no problem with me working around his property photographing his cars. I was excited about this! I pulled the truck out of the way along the road and grabbed my gear. I opted for my 24-70mm lens once again, and added my Singh Ray Color Combo Polarizer to help punch up the colors a bit. The first car I worked was a 40's Ford Coupe that was nearly complete. It was sitting next to an embankment that made for a great backdrop. I just had to be a little careful with the clutter that was around the car.
 |
| Organic Ford |
Before I moved on from this car, I decided to give the front emblem a little bit of attention. This was different than most of the bling that I have been photographing recently. The way it fit on the grill, and the lines created by the grill, hood, and fenders really worked together for an interesting automotive abstract shot. That was how I framed the image in the camera. I put the Ford logo in the most dominant position and let the rest of the line work around that part of the composition. It made for a very interesting picture, and the textures of the moss and rust really added to the artistic quality of the image.
 |
| Blemished Script |
Speaking of emblems, there was an old Ford pickup nearby that wasn't all that great for photography, but it did have a nice color paint on it. The tailgate had a wonderful stamped Ford logo on it that was painted white. It was a simple composition, but the fact that there was a huge section of rust at the bottom of the "F", I had no choice but to capture the image. It wasn't quite the same as a chrome emblem, but the white script really stood out against the light blue paint.
 |
| The Gutless Crew |
I should have counted how many cars this man had on his property. Everywhere I looked, there were cars, trucks, and jeeps. Most of them were just the shells and not much else. Some still had enough character to photograph though. The trick was isolating them from each other. Sometimes that couldn't happen, so I had to include several of them at once. The fact that the backdrop was a nice woodline was a huge bonus. I would love to know the stories behind these vehicles. That would have been the icing on the cake!
 |
| Chrome Scallop |
There were more times than not where I wasn't able to capture the whole car, whether because of clutter, or simply because there wasn't enough of the car to capture. When I ran into those situations, I would go in for the intimate study on some of the lines of the cars. Most of the chrome had been stripped off of the cars, but occasionally I got lucky and found some bling to work with. There is just something about the style and the lines of the automotive decorations from this era. Add to that the patina, and pine needles, and you have a very interesting picture!
 |
| Slowing With Age |
There were times that most of the vehicle was gone, and there were no embellishments left on the remaining shells. Occasionally, I would luck out and there would be some parts of the dash remaining. I found one that had an intact instrument cluster and a missing door. The one remaining window was right above the cluster, and there was a nice spider web on the dash. That made for a fun little composition to change things up a little bit. It struck me as funny that the odometer could be seen clear as could be, while the speedometer was almost unreadable. I doubt that either works any more though.
 |
| Fastback |
There was a great Ford fastback from the mid 60's sitting there. It didn't have a front clip, but it did have the chrome gills on the oversized "C-pillar" which really grabbed my attention. The patina around them was awesome and the swooping lines of the quarter window really fit with the flow. The lines of the fastback, as well as the body line on the quarter really added a lot of visual interest as well. I spent some time working on this element as I included it in several compositions.
 |
| Chrome Gills |
When it came to rust, I think that this Ford had the other beat. There was just enough paint left to really make the rust pop off of the metal. The chrome really stood out as well. Compositionally, this car made for some fine photographs with the lines. Pure art from Ford back in the day. I really wish that the car had been a little more complete though.
Speaking of complete cars, there was a Four door Bel Air that was in really good shape and was mostly complete. The paint was even in pretty good shape, although you could tell that it had been parked for a few years now. I tried several different compositions with it, but the paint was just too good, and the front was in the shadows. I was about to hang it up for this car when I got the idea to work on the hood ornament. While I was putting the composition together, I noticed something really cool. The shadows on the hood made for a very distinct division of tones, and the lower hood emblem was still picking up the light on the top edge. This was looking rather interesting to say the least.
 |
| Aqua Abyss |
It is no surprise that I really like working with emblems on old cars. Part of that is the emblems are usually set off by a wonderful patina. Not in this case though. Like I said, the paint was actually in pretty good shape, and there was no patina to speak of on the hood. I photographed this one with the full intention of really massaging it in Lightroom to take full advantage of the contrast that the sun was already providing. I wanted to keep the lower emblem in the shadows except for the top edge. The focal point was going to be the plane, and I wanted to gorgeous paint to melt around these elements. This wasn't going to be a grungy rendition showing the rust, but a pure abstract that makes you think of something else entirely.
The more I played with this image, the more I liked it. The cool tones were very relaxing to me. The simple composition was striking, and the editing that I did seemed to really accentuate the elements that I was wanting it to. I think that this is probably my favorite image of the day, and I've got at least one other vote in that direction from my daughter Lexi.
 |
| Eager For More |
One thing that I haven't photographed much has been old Jeeps. There were several on this property, and they were in varying degrees of condition. One of them on the front of the house was pretty complete, but was surrounded by a lot of clutter. The only way to really get this one was to shoot an isolation. I started out just with the grill, and then added the right headlight. However, I decided that I wanted to try to go at an angle to include the fronds of a tree next to fender for a bit of context. The predominant grill was still the focal point, but the headlight brings your attention to the tree so you immediately get the feel that this is an offroad vehicle. It is a little different than my normal compositions, but I'm enjoying thinking outside of the box these days.
 |
| Work in Progress |
Before packing it up, I went around the house one last time and found a semi enclosed garage that housed the project vehicle. Of course the lines of this car caught my eye as I've always been a fan of the 40's coupe designs. An odd element that I liked was the skylights above. They gave not only some visual interest, but helped provide a leading line into the photograph. I would have loved it if the trash barrel was moved, but ultimately, everything here tells a story. As my last set here on this property, I was going to tell the story of why there were so many cars on the property.
 |
| Hotrod Shop |
It was a complex story, and scene to photograph. I figured that in order to really put it all together, I could shoot this as either a portrait or a landscape. When I got home, I liked them both equally as well, for different reasons. I even liked the "Private Property" sign (mainly cause I had permission to be there) on the wall. Everything here was telling a story, and that is my job as the photographer...to tell the story.
After a year, I had finally gotten the ability to return to this location and shoot so many of the cars. It wasn't the landscapes that I had gone out looking for, but for that matter, my sunrise wasn't the scene that I had planned. In fact, nothing about today had gone to plan, but in the end, the result was so much better than what I expected. This will be a fun Winter I believe!
At the end of the day, I had shot 90 images. I decided that 15 of them were worth keeping, and I had another handful that I liked, but they weren't quite special enough to process. It was a spectacular day, even though I had my doubts at every step.
Sunday, December 10, 2017
 |
| Another Winter |
OK, so the roads are fine and I could drive anywhere I wanted to today. Normally, I would take advantage of that fact and head out to go hiking or maybe do the rural exploration thing. However, I had so much fun yesterday just walking around the neighborhood, I decided to keep with that theme for the weekend. I couldn't help but think to myself that a photographer worth his salt would be able to make great images close to home as easy as if there was a long road trip involved. We had snow on the ground, and that changed so much of the landscape, and since that was what I would be photographing, I didn't see a reason that I couldn't shoot the snow that was close by.
I woke up shortly after sunrise, and considered my options. I had gone to sleep last night expecting to wake up to mostly clear skies with snow still on the ground. The plan was to walk about a mile away from home to an old farmhouse that has been abandoned for many years now. That was the plan. That bed felt very good though, and I was more than happy to stay in it and rest a little more. But part of being a photographer is getting up early for no other reason than the light is better at the beginning of the day. Since I was close to my subject, I was already getting to sleep in late as it was. I guilted myself out of bed for the sole reason of, "the snow won't be here forever." If I passed up on this opportunity, I might not get another chance this Winter.
I got moving slowly with every expectation that I would talk myself out of going to the old farmhouse. I mean, I have been there about a half dozen times over the years and have photographed it in lots of different conditions. But there was snow today, and that was not a regular occurrence here in Winston. But what if I walked the mile out there, and the light is wrong? What if I can't get any good images? I could just stay home. I'm a photographer (insert expletive here)!! I will go out and try it to see what I can do with the scene. I had a previsualization of what I was expecting after all.
 |
| Shadow of the Tree |
When I got outside, I could see that the sky was nice and blue to the North, and the sun was providing some really good light. As I walked, I could see that the trees were still holding onto the snow that was covering the branches. It was mostly ice by this point, but it was still there. If I was lucky, I would get to benefit from this with the trees near the house. There was very little traffic on the roads and it was almost a nice walk with the warm sun shining on me. My fingers were numb, but I expected that and had gloves if I needed them.
When I got out onto the main road, I could see the house in the distance. The light was hitting it just the way I was hoping that it would. There was a warm glow on the side of the house which was important since it was a white house, and I didn't want it to blend into the snow too much.
 |
| Come, Sit a Spell in B&W |
When I arrived, the snow was mostly untouched except for deer tracks which I could easily live with. Having shot this scene many times, I knew that the best lens for the task was my 24-70mm which gave me the option of shooting wide, as well as getting in and doing isolations on the house. I started off with a pretty standard quarter shot from the driveway. Looking at the deep blue of the sky and the clouds, I was thinking about doing some monochrome images to really make the snow, and the siding pop. I grabbed my Singh Ray Color Combo Polarizer to help with the contrast in the sky.
Something that I just love about this old house is the condition of that siding. The paint has been peeling for years, and there are holds developing in different areas. There is just so much to see on this siding. The textures more than make up for the lack of actual color on this house, although the chimney does stand out against the white quite well. There are also a couple of really interesting trees on the property that I can include in different ways with different compositions. This is just a really fun little place to shoot.
 |
| Essentially Bare |
With the blue sky and snow, the trees actually took on a whole new importance to my compositions. The way they were almost growing around the house was too interesting to pass up, and I was lucky enough to still have the benefit of the snow on the branches. Like yesterday, that really helped to define the lines of the branches and help the eyes see the flow of the limbs. In the composition above, the story is actually the tree, and the house becomes a secondary element. The framing really shows how the tree mimics the roof line of the house, and they really seem to belong together. The blue sky highlights the entire picture, and draws your eye right to the tree. The wooden door and chimney provide some much needed visual warmth to the image that is so predominantly cool toned.
 |
| Winter Arrives |
When I backed up a little bit, there was another really large tree that also favored the shape of the house. By getting a nice wide angle composition, I was able to use the foreground tree as a framing element for the entire house. For a bit of added visual interest, I would wait for the clouds to move away from the sun so that a shadow could be cast. Now, the tree not only frames the house, but is tattooed onto the house itself. This is a great example of having two different elements connected to each other, and enhancing each other. An image like this would not have had near the impact without the snow on the ground, so I was really thankful that I pulled up my photographer britches and braved the cold morning to get these pictures.
 |
| No Warmth Here |
Speaking of the cold, it was right chilly out there standing in the snow. The blue sky and the cooler color temperatures of late morning were starting to really flatten the image and I needed some help from the warm tones that were present. The best source of (visual) warmth was the chimney on the side of the house. One of the last few images of the morning featured that chimney as an attempt to balance out the color pallet in the image. It succeeded in bringing in a lot of visual warmth that complimented the blues quite well. The tree behind the house was a nice bridging element to break up the white of the house and snow, against the light gray of the clouds. The composition worked very well, but I was still quite cold, and wondered when the last fire was ever burning in that fireplace.
 |
| Come, Sit a Spell |
Funny thing about this old house...I have lived in my house since 2001. I drove past this house at least once a week and never really noticed it. In fact, it wasn't until sometime around 2008 that I started to pay any attention at all to this house. I was still getting started in photography and was leaving the house one day and happened to see the sun really lighting up the side of this farmhouse. I think it was in June or July, around the middle of the day. The sun was very harsh, but I started to shoot it anyway. I even lucked up and got a cat in a few of the pictures. The final images were all really good, and some of my best rustic pictures to date.
Since that time, I have ventured back to it many times. I have seen the aging process at work on the house, and have started to feel a connection to it. I don't know how much longer this house will remain here, but I do hope that it is a lot longer. Every year or so, I get the urge to go back and document the current condition it is in. It fits very well with my wabi sabi approach to photography, and I'm pretty sure that I am documenting something that won't be around much longer. That is a pretty important reason to get out there and make pictures.
 |
| Tall Tales |
of course, every time that I am out here with my camera, I keep wondering to myself about what all this house has been through over the years. I know that it has a lot of stories, and has seen generations growing up up. There have been tears dropped on the floors, celebrations had within the walls, and friendships developing on the front porch. These days, it is wood and brick sitting beneath trees that were just saplings when the house was new. In the passage of time, there is beauty. As nature reclaims the property, there is beauty. It is hard to deny that there is a lot of beauty around this old farmhouse. I'm just glad I'm able to photograph it and hold onto that beauty for a little while.
I wrapped my day up with just over 40 frames shot of this house. Of that, you can see I have a bunch of keepers. Considering that I haven't driven a single foot this weekend, I have really been fortunate with the camera to have captured all that I have. It just goes to show that if you look close enough, there is beauty to be had anywhere. A photographer doesn't need to travel hours away in order to capture a meaningful image.
