Shore Styers Mill Park

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Shacktown Falls

I'll go ahead and say that this morning didn't really go as planned.  The subject that I was most excited to photograph didn't pan out at all.  Since I was going in to work late, I decided to take the time and try to shoot a sunrise.  When it comes to the edge of light photography near home, I have to be a little cautious since there are very few places that offer nice visual anchors, have no street lights, and don't have the horizon blocked too much.  With a potentially good sunrise being forecasted, I thought that I would try my luck with an idea that I've had for a while.  There is a nice little barn just off of Union Cross Rd which I've shot several times in the daylight.  It is situated where the background is to the East.  The sun has just recently moved to the position of the sky that would be directly in the background.  The timing was perfect for this shot.

I got up a little earlier than normal so that I could be at the barn in plenty of time to get set up for the sunrise.  As I pulled onto the road where I was going to park, the sky behind the barn was starting to light up and it looked like I was going to have a decent sunrise.  My happiness was quickly dashed as I realized that there was a 53' semi trailer backed up to the main opening of the barn.  That successfully screwed up my entire shot.  I paused for a moment to take the scene it.  It was workable...without the trailer that is.  I decided to abandon this location for the day and try again later.

I spent the next 30 minutes driving around aimlessly looking for something to put under the sky.  I wasn't able to find anything before it was too late.  The sunrise was colorful, but not overly dramatic.  That helped to ease the disappointment in the morning's failure.  The sun was now right at the horizon and I had to decide what to do next.

My original plan to go go to Shore Styers Mill Park and try to work the waterfall there.  This had been kind of the "B" plan as my hopes were all tied up with the barn that I was going to shoot.  I have been to this waterfall a handful of times and have found it pretty, but difficult to shoot.  There is a lot of graffiti around the shore lines and it is kind of difficult to get into position to shoot it.  I was almost going to give up on that location before I even got there.  However, when I started trying to decide where to go next, I didn't have any real options, and the clouds were looking great for waterfall photography.

Yadkin's Jewel

The trip out to the falls didn't take long at all since it was right off of the highway.  I was pleased to see that there were no other cars in the parking area.  As I pulled in things didn't quite seem right though.  I could see the waterfall much better from the parking area than I had been able to see before.  It also appeared that there had been some trails actually cut into the landscape to get to the falls where before it had been more of a scramble to get down to the base of the falls.  The observation deck was long since gone, but there was no remnants left behind like I had remembered from my last trip here.  In short, it looked like Yadkin County Parks and Rec had really done a lot of improvements here.  When I looked at the nearly perfect water flow over the rocks, I was immediately at peace with my decision to come here and was quickly forgetting the early morning barn fail.

I have to admit, the trail down to the falls was nice with steps and everything.  Once I got down to the creek, I noticed that a lot of the brush had been cleared away along the shore.  There was a lot less graffiti in the area, but I could still see "AMANDA" sprayed on the opposing shore.  This has been here since my first time ten years ago or so.  Regardless, I was seeing so many opportunities, and I had a clear path to get up to the falls without having to fight my way there.  I got my camera out and left the 70-200mm lens attached since I knew I would be shooting isolations as well as possibly a panorama.  I added the Singh-Ray Color Combo Polarizer and I was off!

A Step Ahead

I started to shoot some basic compositions and realized that they all lacked inspiration.  There was one section of the waterfall that really caught my eye, so I started to shoot some isolations with that small section.  As I was framing up the shot, I started to think about doing a sweep of the main portion of the waterfall as a panorama.  I leveled the tripod and did a mock sweep to check the composition and exposure before shooting an eight shot series.  As I reviewed the images, I realized that the rising sun had started to change the lighting causing parts of the waterfall to burn out.  I reset the camera and lowered the exposure a bit by stopping down the lens.  This gave me more depth of field so I was fine with that.

The second panorama series turned out to be nine shots total, and it appeared to have turned out wonderful.  When I got it home and stitched the images together, my suspicions were right.  This was a great image, and by far my favorite from this waterfall.  It was partially due to the clearing that had been done in the park, so I'm very appreciative for their efforts with that.

Swerve

With the success of my panorama (or my hope at success at the time), I was really motivated to create some great images at this waterfall.  I grabbed the camera and started to move closer to the waterfall.  There is a very shallow section on the left edge that allows you to climb onto the rocks to get some unique views.  Even though I was up close and personal on this waterfall, I opted to keep my long lens attached.  That allowed me to really get some great isolations, and my bag was back on the sandy shore some 50 feet away.  I didn't regret not having the bag as everything that I wanted to capture I was able to do with the 70-200mm.

What a Rush

One of my favorite compositions came from this vantage point within the waterfall.  I shot across the entire thing to get the far edge which had some great rocky features to it.  The direction of the water combined with the alternating diagonal element from the rocks made for a very dynamic image.  As a nice little surprise, I got a bit colorful water at the base which framed the bottom of the image so well.  This waterfall has always been about isolations for me, and this one here is one of my all time favorites for capturing the pure power of the water here.

By this time I had shot pretty much each section several different ways from each location.  I was feeling like I had everything that I needed from this waterfall and was feeling very good about how the morning had unfolded.  I had been here about an hour at this point, and for a single subject under perfect lighting, that was plenty of time to work out what I was wanting to get.  It was time to call it a day and head on to the next location.

South Deep Creek

Well, you know me....there is always time for one more image.  As I was starting to put the camera up, I noticed the small cascades downstream from the waterfall.  I started looking for compositions that I could do to isolate those little cascades.  I made my way down stream a little bit but couldn't really find anything that I thought would make for a dramatic image.  However, I was starting to see a bit of connection between the cascades and the main waterfall.  Thanks to the recent clearing, I was able to get in a good position to capture the cascades as a foreground element.  I chose to capture the more voluminous section of the waterfall as the background.  The reflections in the creek made for a great midground as well.

I shot a few different compositions, but in the end it was this simplistic one that held the most visual impact.  It was one of the last few of the 56 images that I shot for the day.  I was done at this point, and ready for the next adventure.  I went ahead and packed up the camera.

Once I got back to the truck, my intention was to go and hunt for rural scenery since I was in Yadkin County.  I started to drive around and noted that the light was still very good, and there was even some good detail in the sky.  However, I was having to start looking at the time so that I didn't get caught too far away from work when it was time to go in.  Now that I was seeing a time crunch, my creativity was starting to wane, and after such a successful session with the waterfall, I was actually a little creatively exhausted.  With all of those factors working against me, I decided to go on home to be with Toni for a bit before work and to maybe get the images processed.  

I actually had about 2.5 hours to work with when I got home, and I made use of every bit of that to get these images ready for print.  I am so glad that I went out this morning after seeing how the images turned out.  After my last trek in the rain, I was feeling a little down about my photography, so this was the perfect time to have a successful session.  These images are much more what I expect from myself, and they speak much clearer than the woodland intimates from a couple of days ago.

Touring the Countryside

Sunday, June 11, 2017

Sponsors

The weather this weekend has been less than stellar for the types of photography that I enjoy.  That has pretty much kept me inside and the camera on the shelf.  Well...that isn't exactly true.  I've been working on a little project for a client that I will release later on in the month.  Since it is a gift, I am trying to keep it a secret.  The only problem is, I'm very proud of this particular project, and I can't wait to share it with everyone.  As great as it turned out, I only tripped the shutter three times for the project.  That left me...well...wanting more.  That is where the weather came into play.  For the most part, there was nothing but blue skies to be had, which hardly gets me excited to take pictures.

By Sunday, I was really wanting to go to the mountains and do some landscapes, but the weather was nowhere near where I would have wanted it.  It wasn't worth the drive out to the mountains, so I decided to stay at home.  As the afternoon started to tick by, I noticed that the clouds were starting to move into the area.  not much, but enough.  I started going through my memory to think of places that were close by that I could hit around golden hour, just before sunset.  For some reason, this old piece of yard art came to mind in Yadkin County.

I have driven, and ridden my bike past this old blue race car numerous times.  I have even pulled over and tried to photograph it before.  It was never the right time, or the right conditions.  I'm not sure why, but I was unable to shake the vision of this old track car.  That usually means I need to go out and photograph what I'm locked on because my subconscious is telling me that something great is about to happen.  At least that is how it seems.  I didn't have much hope for this car, and in fact I was already thinking about plan B's when I got to the car and decided it wasn't a good candidate.

Sponsors in B&W

Well, after dinner, I had kind of cooled my jets on the car as the clouds were starting to fade away.  I wasn't really interested in photographing the clouds, but I wanted a bit of diffusion in the light.  Well, I had listened to the voices in my head enough to know that I had better go on out there to see what they were talking about.  I grabbed my camera and headed out to Yadkinville.  All the way there, I was trying to talk myself out of trying to photograph the car.  It was on a business property, but I had a sneaking suspicion that the owners were the house right next door.  Would they let me photograph the car or not?

When I drove past the car, the lighting actually looked really good and the sun was in the perfect position to light the car like I had always wanted.  The parking lot seemed very small, and very much like an extension of the house.  I drove by, not really wanting to face a armed homeowner this evening.  However, the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to give it a try.  I turned around, and pulled into that small parking lot.  I walked over to the house and rang the doorbell.

I waited....

I waited....

No answer.  I went back over to the garage and knocked on the door.  No answer there either.  At this point, I went back to the car with the intention of leaving.  However, I looked around, and saw that I was in the wide open.  There was even a neighbor across the street mowing.  Nobody seemed to care that I was there.  What I was wanting to photograph was right off of the road, and I was comfortable with that.

I brought the camera out slowly giving ample time for anyone to voice their displeasure at my presence.  That never came, and I was able to mount my 24-70 lens with a polarizer with no issues.  I went and set the tripod up and started to make compositions.  I started high, and worked lower, and the lower I went, the closer I went.  Still nobody was paying me a bit of attention.  I was very careful not to get too close to give anyone the indication that I might be up to no good.  After about ten frames, I decided it was time to call it a day.  I had pressed my luck long enough, and felt that I had a great picture in there somewhere.

Hmmm, only ten frames thus far.  The sun was still up, and my shutter finger was itching for more action.  I decided to continue off into the sunset in search of...well, a sunset.  I wasn't in the mountains, but this was farm land, and I was hoping to find something with a barn, or open lands that would work under the sky that was developing.  It wasn't the best sky I had ever seen, but it was developing into a decent potential for a sunset. 

John Deere Green

As I was driving along Courtney-Huntsville Rd (one of my cycling roads as well), I found an old Combine on the side of the road.  It was not an old abandoned farm implement like I would normally have been drawn to.  It was an active piece of machinery.  What I liked about this was the sky behind it, and the fact that the Combine was in it's natural setting.  What the heck!  I might as well see what I can do with this scene as the sun was quickly dropping.

I pulled over and got my camera out.  I started with a 70-200mm lens, but quickly found that I wanted to get a little bit wider, so I swapped my 24-70mm back on.  Since the compositions I was looking at were facing North, I decided that I would go ahead and add an intensifying polarizer to help with the sky.  In a couple of minutes I was back at making compositions.  This lens was working out much better.  The sky was looking really cool, and I was thinking that I could deal with the contrast difference by processing the RAW file with a little care.  I opted not to add an ND Grad since my compositions kept the combine well into the horizon.

I think what drew me to this rather simple composition was that it was full of primarily horizontal lines that repeated through the picture.  The clouds, the boom,the yellow stripe, the very shape of the combine, and the rows in the field.  They all repeated the same pattern.  It was a relaxing scene, and one that told a story.

End of the Work Day

Whenever, I tried to include the sunset to the West, the combine went too far into the shadows.  When I started to process the images, I wasn't able to bring the detail out without causing a ton of digital noise.  That was not acceptable and I chose to toss the pictures out.  However, Toni came in and took a look at what I was working on.  She liked the one with the actual setting sun included.  I explained my position, and she balked.  She liked it and wanted it in the gallery.  Well, I hate to tell her no, so I bypassed the image and didn't include it in my final cut.  Well, I didn't say no...but I didn't do it either.

As I was getting things ready to go into the blog, I remembered that I actually had taken a series of images of that scene with the intention of experimenting with HDR photography.  I went back into Lightroom, and found the three images.  I did a quick merge and looked at the final product.  I wasn't a fan.  It was washed out, and didn't really look all that great.  But I had never done this before, and knew that I would need to do a little polishing of the image.  Well, as I started to move the sliders around, I started to see a lot of potential.  I completed the process and decided that this one could work.  There was no noise in it, and the colors were pretty great.  I was wishing that the combine was something different, but beggars can't be choosers.  The picture worked, and captured the scene that Toni liked better than my first pick.  So, in a way, I did say yes after all.

It was a quick trek, but at least I got out of the house with the camera.  I also photographed two different scenes that I had never pulled a camera on before.  I was ecstatic about the old race car when I started the processing.  it turned out better than I had envisioned it.  Showing me once again, when that inner voice says "go", I had better listen to it.  I also did my first even HDR photograph, and found that I actually like the effect.  I didn't over process it, and it doesn't have that grunge look to it.  It is actually quite natural, and appears as my eyes saw it.  That is always the goal with my processing.  I want it to appear natural, the way I saw it at the time of the capture.  This fit the bill, and I was quite happy with the outcome.  in fact, I am happy with all three of the shots that I decided to keep, and the one black and white conversion turned out very good as well.

A Quick Trip to Yadkin County

Friday, October 21, 2016

With my recent schedule at work lately, I have been racking up some overtime, and have been needing to burn some hours.  As it turned out, I had the opportunity to take a half a day off today, and got my work done in time to take advantage of that.  Before going in, I checked out the weather to see if there might be a chance of doing some photography during the afternoon.  With mostly cloudy conditions, and a chance of rain, I was all set to go and do some waterfalls.

One of the closer waterfalls to me is not one that I have photographed all that often.  It is in Yadkin County off of Styers Mill Rd.  It is a really big waterfall for the Piedmont, and it can be rather pretty at times.  The problem that I have with it is the vandalism along the sides of the falls.  Years ago when I went there, there was spray paint on both sides of the falls which was very, very difficult to clone out in post processing.  Because of the paint, it is very hard to make a satisfactory image of the whole waterfall.  However, I'm starting to look into doing some more intimate shots of waterfalls these days, and wanting some practice at isolating specific elements of the falls.  With the dry days that we have had recently, I figured this might be a good time to try this waterfall again.  My intention was to work only with my 70-200mm lens, and keep the shutter speeds relatively quick for waterfall work.  I wanted more detail in the cascades.

Like Liquid Lace

When I arrived, I found that I had very mixed emotions.  On the one hand, there was nobody else at the waterfall, so I had the place all to myself.  On the other hand, there was evidence of all the people that had been there long before me.  The spray paint was still there, and there were beer boxes trapped under limbs in the middle of the stream.  There were also a few trees that had fallen since the last time I had been there, blocking the view of most of the left side falls.  The weather was just about right though, so I decided to give some isolation shots a try.  I picked out parts of the waterfall that really stuck out to me, rather than trying to compose a shot that encompassed everything.  The results were pretty good, and I was liking what I was capturing, but was wondering about the lack of colors in the images.  Seemed that brown was the predominant tone, and the rushing water was the only other hue to bring balance to the image.  Fortunately, the water played a big part in these intimate images.

It wasn't long after I started to make exposures that the clouds started to break up.  I could tell that the sun was causing some major exposure problems in the water when I was checking the review image in the LCD on the camera.  I was starting to get large areas of blown out detail which I didn't want.  I needed to be able to capture all of the nuances of the cascading water to make these images work.

Rhythmic Flow

It turned into a waiting game.  I would compose the image and then set what I thought would be a good exposure when the light was right.  I found myself around f/29 and 1.3 seconds for the most part.  I would watch the clouds move overhead and try to time it to where they covered the sun.  Sometimes, it was only seconds that I had to work with, but I took advantage of those seconds.  However, the longer I was out there, the less frequent good light showed up.  I decided to cut my losses and head out in search of other subjects that could actually make use of the sky.

I started driving around and found the sky to be wonderful, but the clouds were quickly breaking up, and it seemed that in order to follow the the clouds, and good light, I was going to have to work my way back East.  I was headed that way, and happened to pass by an old Pontiac I had photographed several years ago.  I've been wanting to work this old car again, but have been a little hesitant since I have seen signs of life on the property.  Since it was the middle of the day, I felt that if anyone lived there, I would have a decent chance of catching them at home to ask permission to photograph the car.

When I got there, the corn had all been harvested, and the car that was parked in the yard had not been moved in some time.  I could see no signs of occupancy, so I decided to take my chances and grab the camera.  I started out with the 70-200mm lens, but found that I was not able to get the compositions I was thinking I would with that much reach.  I stepped down to my 24-70mm which is a very flexible lens, and it allowed me to get up close to the car from several different angles.

Quietly Resting

Of course, by this time the sun was really not doing me any favors.  Most of the clouds had faded, and moved to the East.  I was here though, and I wanted to see what I could come up with on this car.  There was a good deal of filter use for these images.  Not only was I using a polarizer, I was using in some cases, 6 stops of neutral density for the sky.  It was not ideal, but the histogram was showing that I was capturing detail in the images without clipping at either end of the spectrum.  That was promising.  As with the first time I shot this car, the best light was from the rear of the car, so I spent some time back there once again.  At least there was not as much need to hold back the sky when shooting from the back of the car.

Oh the Memories

Once again, my favorite image of this car was from the rear.  There are some interesting compositional tricks for this shot.  There is a clothes line just off of the passenger side fender of the car.  Sure, I could clone it out, but I really don't like doing that unless it is absolutely necessary.  Instead, I decided to blend the posts in with the tree in the distance.  You can still see both posts for the clothes line, however, they don't create a visual distraction because they become part of the tree in the distance which is a much more appropriate element to the image.  There is a great sense of depth in the image because of the implied diagonal of the composition which I really like.

When I was finished working with the Pontiac, I found that the sky was pretty much awash with blue, and the wind was really picking up.  I decided to head toward the house, and scout any other subjects I might could come back for at a later time.  I found a few, but none would work in the current lighting, so I just made mental notes, and called it a day.

It wasn't until I opened up the images in the computer that I saw that the RAW files actually looked better than I had thought they would.  It is very hard to judge a picture from checking the LCD, which is why I mainly just look at the histogram to make sure I haven't lost any tonality in the image.  They looked good from this objective measure, but the subjective measure had to wait until I could see them outside of the sun.  I was pleased, but was really wanting to do more with waterfalls today.  Oh well, I'll get them next time.

An Early Morning in Yadkin County

February 1, 2016

Yadkin Valley Mill in B&W

I had been watching the weather for several days before this morning hit.  There were going to be clouds over Yadkinville, and they were going to be low clouds.  That normally means lots of texture in the sky.  It also happened that I was going into work late, so I had time to drive out there to give the old feed mill another try.  I keep seeing it from the highway every time I drive down US 421, and it has always captured my attention.  With the large booms, the composition kind of makes itself, but it leaves a lot of open area that can only be filled with the sky.  This means that the sky I choose to photograph under is the most important part of this particular image.  I have tried a lot of different skies, but I haven't quite found the one that I like the best.  This morning was promising to be pretty good!

I woke up early and headed out to the mill in time to photograph the blue hour just in case the clouds would cooperate with me prior to sunrise.  I wasn't sure exactly what would unfold before me, but I wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything since I would be working on a rather tight schedule in order to make it to work on time.  I got there about an hour before sunrise, and got my camera built.  I found my first spot to shoot from and fired off a test exposure at 30 seconds.  It wasn't quite there, so I went ahead and switched to Bulb mode, and tried a few exposures in the 90 and 120 second range.  These were working pretty well, but the clouds were much thicker than I had anticipated.

Yadkin Valley Mill

While I was getting some definition in the clouds, the long shutter speed blurred most of it.  This one exposure actually showed some promise with the swash of light blue against the deeper blue.  The faint reflection of the sun reflecting off of the clouds to the left added just the right amount of complementary color to the sky.  Even the textures were working out pretty well.  It wasn't until I got home and did a monochrome conversion that I found the real personality of this image.  It almost became sinister in appearance, and I liked it!

As the sun came up, I realized that I was going to be hard pressed to get the shot that I was after.  Instead of giving up, I decided to pick out intimate details on the old mill and photograph them instead.  I started along the front of the building where all of the windows were.  It took a little work, but I finally came upon a composition that I liked, so I got it framed up and shot the picture.

Looking Within

This had a lot of things working for it.  First of all, there was the snow at teh base of the window.  This matched nicely with the white in the window frame.  The tin siding is not normally my favorite thing to photograph, so I was very fortunate to have a tree right next to the window, and some errant branches moving into the frame.  This gave me the texture of wood that I love so much in these images.  The color of the trees also helped to balance out the siding and overall neutral tones.

I continued around the building looking for some other subjects to photograph.  I came upon the loading area and found a lot of little odds and ends to play with.  There was a lot going on in here, so I decided to look at things as a graphical design more than anything else.  That was when I started to be able to frame up some different compositions that otherwise would have made no sense.

Neglect

Of these, this one was my favorite.  The colors work very well together, and I liked the fact that the wooden planks work nicely as leading lines into the image.  The rust gives a wonderful texture that compliments the textures of the wood and tin.  The vines encroaching all over give a sense of time passing and lack of use.  This image really does exemplify the "Rustic" theme for me.

While working on these little details, I happened to see that the clouds were starting to break up a little bit.  There was a tree at the corner of the lot that I had been working on with little success that I thought would benefit from the current lighting.  I grabbed my gear and went out to the tree and started to set up some of the compositions I had worked out previously.

The Story

The branches of the tree were so haphazard that I couldn't help but be drawn into it.  The band of blue sky in the background helped to break up the expanse of white in the clouds.  The morning light was still very warm and diffused.  The exposure was simple, it was the composition that was difficult.  I had to avoid a power pole, minimize a shelter, and time the shot so as not to include traffic on the highway to the rear.  That was a lot to consider, but the picture came out as I had visualized despite all of the potential pitfalls.

When I was going through the pictures, Toni saw the tree and told me that I had to name it "Story".  I'm not sure why she came up with that, but since I did shoot the tree primarily because of her little voice in my head, I decided to honor her wish.  This picture is all her!

The morning came to a close much sooner than I had wanted, but it was time to head to work.  I was happy that I had the chance to get out and do a little shooting this morning, and look forward to other chances like this on days I go in late.

A Feed Mill, and a Pair of Chryslers

June 22, 2014

Derelict Mill

I have had this location on my to-shoot list for some time now.  I have scoped it out at various times of the day while going to other places but haven't quite found the right time to shoot it.  I had decided that an early morning storm coming in from the West with a relatively clear sky to the East would make for a dramatic shot with the mill lit up under foreboding skies.  That was the plan, and according to the weather forecast I was very likely going to see just those conditions developing this morning.  I got up early so that I could beat the sun out there, so I would have plenty of time to work out a composition before the clouds came in at 8am.

When I arrived, there were just some thin clouds in the sky, nothing much at all.  I spent some time dialing in my composition, and playing with exposures.  I actually got a few really cool shots with a pink sky overhead.  Typically, I would have been all over those images, but for this particular subject, the color just didn't work.  It needed more muted tones to be successful so I discarded the pink skies.

As the sun came up, I started to realize that I wasn't going to have the light show that I wanted, and was expecting.  There were still just very small strands of clouds in the sky to work with, so I went with my plan B which I had figured out on the way out to the mill.  It was time to do some more work with my 10-Stop ND filter which would reduce the amount of light that entered the camera enough to turn a 1/2 second exposure into 8 minutes.  I already had a 3-Stop ND Grad fitted to control the exposure in the sky, so adding an additional 10 stops of light reduction was serious!

The picture that leads this story off is the second attempt and represents a full five minutes of exposure at f/18.  The clouds show a very nice cottony movement across the sky, and there is even a little bit of color left in them...but not too much.  This mill has a sad aura around it, and I wanted to capture an image that represented that.  When I looked at the LCD, I wasn't sure if I had gotten it or not, but the sun was coming up fast now, and my exposures were shrinking down into the 30 second realm.

Office Space

I went ahead and moved in close to the old structure and looked for some intimate shots.  I came across the front area and found that all of the windows were long gone.  There were still some tools inside, and there was this one right at the window which caught my eye.  With the low sun shining into the building I had enough light to work with so that I could capture this old rusty implement  framed in the window.  The fact that the window frame was all but completely rotten was an added bonus for me.

There wasn't a lot else to work with here at the mill because the sky had gone to a fairly empty blue shortly after sunrise.  After making another quick check of the hourly forecast and deciding that my time would be better spent going elsewhere, I decided to pack it up and see what else I could find to put in front of my camera.

Derelict Mill in B&W

As an interesting side note, I have been doing a lot of studying on the extreme ND filters and have found that typically their effects are much better rendered in monochrome.  Because of that, I was actively thinking in B&W when I was shooting the old mill.  When I got home, I made the conversion with this image and was quite literally shocked at how the sky turned out with the addition of a high contrast red filter with a little bit of subtle tonal tweaks.  The clouds even formed a natural vignette in the frame to help keep the eyes where they are supposed to be.  I knew I had a winner with this image when I saw it on my screen.  I could see this one printed out very large and framed for the house!

___________________________

With the mill behind me, I set off on an unguided tour through Yadkin County in search of something else to photograph.  I was still in my rustic mood, so I was looking for barns and old cars to photograph.  What I saw wasn't all that promising in the current conditions, and I was starting to wonder if I was going to find anything else before it was time to get home.  As luck would have it, my travels landed me back in a familiar part of town where I have been several times before.  I knew that there was a car there which has provided me with several stunning images...but these were night shots as there was a lot of clutter in the area.  Despite that, I decided to check it out since I was in the neighborhood.

The old Plymouth was still there, and still in the same condition.  However, the already tricky location of this car was made much, much worse by the two trucks that were parked close by the car.  What's a photographer supposed to do?  Well fortunately, there was another vintage Chrysler parked on the back side of the lot, and there was only one other car parked next to it.

As you can tell, this one wasn't in the best position either.  It was worth a try though since last time I wasn't able to shoot it since I was working in the dark, and black just doesn't show up well at night.  In order to capture this car the right way, without including the other car beside it, I had to get a little creative about angles, and focal length choices.  I still had my 24-70mm lens attached, and decided that it would work fine for what I was going to have to do in order to photograph this old sedan.  I added a polarizer to help control the glare, and I went to work on the Chrysler.

Royale Adornments

What you see here is not a product of visual trickery with Photoshop.  I didn't make the neighboring car disappear at all.  I just got in close and chose a wide angle to keep the right edge of the frame skirting down the side of the car I didn't want included.  I also got down low to emphasize the grill which I though was the focal point of the car, and what told the best story.  When you have an understanding of the camera, and the lenses, you can avoid many of the problems that you come across in the field at the time of the shot, as opposed to waiting until you get home to clone things out, and crop your frame.

Discarded Luxury

If you have been following me recently, you will already know that I enjoy photographing the fronts of cars.  I like the grills, emblems, and hood ornaments.  This Chrysler had it all, and the shapes and textures of it all begged to be photographed.  I flipped the camera on its side and got in close to capture the essence of this car.  While things still shine, the debris from the trees really leaves no question that this once proud car has seen the last of its passengers...at least for now.

Simple and Effective

After working the available angles on the Chrysler, I decided to have another go at the Plymouth sitting beside the street.  The location of this car makes for difficult photography all by itself, but today I had two trucks which were added to the mix that were guaranteed to make things much more difficult that I had planned.  After having such success with the black car, I was feeling pretty confident about this rusty sedan.

All Grins

When I just can't shoot the whole car, what else am I supposed to do other than pick out the parts of the car I really like.  The nose of this one has stayed in my mind since the first time I saw it.  For a completely un-aerodynamic profile, the curves and lines of this car are nothing short of sensuous.  It was that essence I worked so long to capture.  I eventually found myself in a zen state and I was finding angle after angle to showcase the workmanship and lines of this old car.  I could probably shoot the angles on this car all day long without getting tired...and from the looks of it, I did spend quite a bit of time working the front end of this car.

Rough but Solid

The Face

Shedding a Tear

There is just something about this car that I just can't get enough of.  The patina is very unique and rather uniform over the entire car.  While it is missing pretty much everything, it still seems like a complete car.  This car still has a personality, and I glad that I have the opportunity to capture it.  After nearly an hour in the lot, it was time to head home and get my (responsible) day started.

I had about 60 images from the morning, and I'm pleased to say that I have 10 images that I would consider keepers from this set.  This is much better than the three or four I was expecting as I was actually pressing the shutter button.  Now I just need to see which of these images will make it into the gallery rooms here.

First it Rains, Then Nothing But Sun

May 22, 2014

Ever get that feeling that the universe is against you?  Ever find yourself trying something over and over without success?  I'm really starting to feel that way about working waterfalls these days.  I've been trying to get to both Linville Falls and Roaring Fork Falls for some time now because they are two of my favorite falls to visit.  Since the early Spring, I have been watching the weather and trying to figure out the best time to get out there.  For the most part, the cloudy days come after too long with no rain, and both of these waterfalls benefit greatly from increased water flow.  The few times when it appeared that everything fell into place, I was at work which meant there was no way I could get out there (its over a two hour drive away).  It just wasn't looking promising at all.

Last week, on my last day off, I saw a window where I might be able to grab a quick session with both of these waterfalls.  The forecast was calling for storms and rain for much of the day, but as I was looking, there appeared to be some clearing shortly after lunch where I could stay dry and make use of the residual cloud cover.  I grabbed my stuff and headed out just before lunch.  Much of the ride out there was in the rain, but the intensity was ebbing so I kept thinking positive thought.  In the last few miles of the ride, the rain started back up with a purpose though.  When I arrived in the parking lot, I chose to stay dry in the truck and hoped that it would pass.

I checked my phone and saw that the edge of the rain looked like it was over me based on the radar image.  However, the hourly showed rain for the next hour before clearing.  I had driven over 2 hours to get here...I opted to stick it out.  As the hour ticked by, the hourly forecast kept stretching the rain further out, until eventually there was no respite from the downpours in the near future.  With tail firmly tucked between my legs I started the truck and headed home without even opening the door.

I had unfinished business with the waterfalls, and I had been watching the weather yet again.  With rain in the forecast off and on yesterday, the water levels should be up, and there was approximately 75% cloud cover forecasted for both Linville Falls and Little Switzerland.  With the rain chances in the single digits, this was going to by my day!  I made plans to leave shortly after daybreak to time my arrival with the clouds around 9am.  I was a little bit late leaving because I was seeing some changes in the forecast, and Toni was telling me that there was a chance of rain now.  Despite this, I opted to give it a try since the extended forecast showed no more promising days for a very long time.

When I left, the sky was fairly clear, but I could see clouds in the distance.  That was falling right along with what the forecasts were telling me was going to happen.  I was very optimistic, and excited about getting out to see my waterfalls again after many years.  I stopped in Wilkesboro to get gas, and happened to see a couple of old pickup trucks which were parked right off of US 421 showing to be for sale.  They were the right body styles for what I liked to photograph, but one of them was spray painted black, and they were parked very close together.  I had other things to focus on right now so I didn't even stop to look any closer.

When I arrived at the Blue Ridge Parkway, I started to see rain drops hitting the windshield.  There were sporadic and I've worked in worse.  The main thing was I was seeing the cloud cover that was going to provide my diffused lighting that I was wanting for the two waterfalls.  The further South I traveled though, the more rain was falling, and the more foreboding the clouds were becoming.  I was starting to cuss under my breath and thinking that I should have just stayed home since this was turning into a repeat of last week.

About 10 miles before getting to Linville Falls the rain stopped and the clouds thinned just a little bit.  This was going to be perfect!  I had gambled and it had paid off!!

Don't cash out your chips before the dice finish rolling....

When I parked in the visitor center parking lot, I realized that it was awful bright.  I stepped out of my truck and took a look at the situation.  The sun was blazing through an opening in the clouds, but it looked like there were more clouds about to move into position under the sun.  I took a deep breath and grabbed my equipment for the short hike to Dugger's Creek Falls.  The clouds moved into position and everything started to come together for me.  I shimmied down to the actual water below the observation bridge and started to build my camera.  From experience, I knew that my 24-70mm would be sufficient to capture the composition I was after.  I added both a polarizer and my vario-ND filter.  I then waded out into the water and found my composition.  Unfortunately, my shooting location was dictated in part by the water level.  While it was nearly perfect for the waterfall, the actual creek was pretty deep where I liked to shoot from.

Serenity Cove

When I settled on a location, I set the camera up and framed my shot.  I managed to get a test shot for exposure before the cloud cover moved away.  All of a sudden the leaves started to glow with reflected light from the bright sun above.  I figured that I would just have to wait a little bit for the next batch of clouds to move into position.  Fortunately, my exposure was just about dead on, and the shutter speed was perfect for how I wanted to render the water.  Over the next 30 minutes I fired off another half dozen frames as the light changed, but couldn't get anything nearly as glare free as my first exposure.  Seeing that the sun was going to be a problem, I decided to change gears a little bit.  I would get in a bit closer and shoot a more intimate composition.  The problem was, I was at 70mm on my lens, and as far forward as I could get without fully submersing myself.  Fortunately, I had my trusty telezoom with me and that would give me the reach that I needed.

Hope Springs Eternal

I worked my way out of the water, back to shore.  I swapped out my lens for the 70-200mm and swapped the filters onto the front element.  I then waded back out into the water, only stepped back a little bit from where I was.  I got a little bit lower than I had been, and went for a portrait orientation with the lens at about 90mm.  Then it was a waiting game for the sun.  I looked up, and for the little bit of sky I could see, I was doubtful I would get a break from the harsh light.  I stood there, in the water for another 30 minutes waiting.  Either I was deeper than I though, or the Gortex gave up in my boots because the water found a way into my boots while I was standing there.  Nothing like cold mountain water swishing around thick hiking socks!

The waiting did pay off though as I managed to see the sun fading in time to turn the camera back on, fine tune the exposure, and crank off a quick frame.  Just like that, it was over.  Looking up, all I saw was blue sky.  Having gotten two different compositions from this waterfall, I decided it was time to pack things up and head back to the truck to assess the situation.  The barrage of sap that was now falling on me also prompted that same decision.

When I arrived in the parking lot, there was not a cloud in sight.  So much for 75% cloud cover in the area.  This was just no good at all.  Roaring Fork Falls is very unforgiving of directly light.  It was about 30 miles to the South, and I wasn't seeing any clouds in the distance.  I tried to access the weather on my phone, but I didn't have any service this time, so there was no way to check on the weather.  Not wanting to push my luck, I opted to forego Roaring Fork and save it for another time when I was assured some clouds.  It was time to bow out gracefully (well, not so gracefully because I wasn't sure I had anything usable), and start home while looking for other targets of opportunity.

There was not a cloud to be found along the Blue Ridge Parkway, and nothing all the way down the mountain.  I was pretty sure I was headed home with 11 frames from one waterfall and doubted that any of them would be good enough to keep.  Chalk this one up to another trek where I come home with my tail between my legs in defeat.  I'm not liking this habit one bit!

Cash Only

I was coming back into Wilkesboro and figured that I would check out the old trucks I had seen on the way up.  I mean, what did I have to lose.  If I couldn't do anything with them, I wasn't out anything but a few minutes of time.  I came to the lot where they were, and they were still there, and nobody was around.  I really liked the rusty truck, but the black one beside of it was a distraction I thought.  As I got closer, I was able to see that it was freshly rattle canned as the overspray on the windows showed.  It was a really cool bodystyle, but the paint just didn't quite fit my want.  The Chevy on the other hand was very cool with a wonderful patina along with multiple company logos on the door.  I decided to give these old trucks a go.

I tried very hard to isolate the Chevy from the Ford, and was able to do that rather well.  The problem though was the power lines above that came into the frame based on my composition.  I was going to have either power lines or a satin black Ford in the picture.  Since I can't stand power lines in pictures, I opted for the Ford.  At least the black color was subdued and didn't carry much visual weight when paired with the other colors in the scene.

Looking Through the Lens of History

I really liked so many aspects of this old Chevy, but the lighting conditions, and the Ford next to it really hampered my compositional choices.  There was more of this old truck I wanted to capture, but I just wasn't able to get it all while working the whole truck.  That is when Ton's voice entered my head.  She told me to pick out the details, and work the truck as an abstract.  Its nice that she can give me ideas when she is getting ready to go to work some 45 miles away.  I started to move around the truck to pick out the details that spoke to me.  I was actually surprised at how many of those details started to pop out at me.

Jack of All Trades

One of the things that initially caught my eye was the door on this old truck.  I could tell from the road that there was some sort of faded company logo painted on there.  It was only after looking a bit closer that I determined that there were several layers of logos on that door.  How cool was that?!?!?!  In addition to the door, I also really liked the spare tire holder, but I can't really explain why.  Fortunately, I was able to capture both elements together while also showing the stepside to give a visual clue as to what we are looking at.  The various colors that were present were just the icing on the cake, and I had a blast with post processing on this abstract art piece.

Used and Abused

I'm a sucker for flaking paint, Bondo, and rust...providing none of the above is found on my personal vehicle.  The rear fender of this old Chevy had every bit of what I like to find on these old vehicles, and it was there on one of the most well formed bedsides I've seen.  The curves were just wonderful, and they lead up to the curves of the cab and front fender.  These old trucks were works of art in their day, that's fur sure!  I wanted to highlight this view, and I got down low, and waited for a thin passing cloud to pass by to diffuse the light.  I snapped the picture very quick, and loved everything about how it was rendered.  I even liked the added design element of the snow tire on the back wheel.  This goes to show a little about the truck's history.

Age Old Debate

With all my abstract pictures done, I did a quick walk around to see if there was anything I had missed.  When I stepped back and looked at the trucks from the rear, I could just about see them lined up for a Saturday night drag race.  Of course, if they were to do that, I'm sure something would fall off of them before 2nd gear was grabbed...But I digress.  The look here spoke volumes to me.  Ford vs Chevy...how long has that debate been going on?  Which one of these two trucks would sell first with equal asking prices?  Which was better photographically?  The debate was still going on long after the engines were removed, and rust threatened the very structures of the trucks.  I don't know the answer to which one is best, but the two of them lined up together in a final showdown makes for a fascinating picture in my mind.

OK, I was starting to feel better now.  I might have something from Dugger's Creek Falls, but I was pretty sure that I had a keeper or two from the Chevy.  I was starting to get my optimism back again.  In just a few miles, I turned off of US 421 and started to snake my way East along the local roads.  I was looking behind houses and businesses for clues that I am starting to recognize when it comes to looking for these old vehicles.  I'm not sure exactly where I was, only I was in Western Yadkin County, but I passed by a metal building and caught a glimpse of a pickup and a small car to the rear.  I got turned around and drove into the gravel lot.  The front door was open, so I poked my head in and found the owners.

I introduced myself and asked if it would be OK for me to grab a few pictures of the cars out back.  One of the gentlemen stopped what he was doing and asked for what purpose I was wanting to take the pictures.  I was starting to have flashbacks of the armed property owner telling me that he didn't want me on his property.  I answered that the pictures were for my own personal purpose and that I just really enjoyed photographing old cars.  With that simple explanation he gave me permission to go around back.

Ran When Parked

When I got back there, there were only the two cars I had seen from the road, and one of them was a little two door thing that I didn't recognize.  Both of them were light colored which posed a difficult problem in the early afternoon sun.  Oh well, I was here, might as well give it a go, right?  I set up on the light blue thingamawhatsits.  It was cute, and gave me a slight comical feeling, so I figured it was worth a shot or two.  While I was waiting on the sun to get covered a little bit, I noticed that there was nothing in the engine compartment.  With that, and the fact that there were no front wheels on it, I can only assume that this car was one of those that the seller would say "ran when parked"...even though obviously its not going anywhere under its own steam.  The sun kind of cooperated with me and provided me a few seconds where I could trip the shutter and capture this little car.

Lacking Motivation

I normally try to avoid putting buildings in my compositions unless they are wooden and a bit more barnlike.  However, I really liked how the curve of the metal building played against the trees, and the deep blue sky actually had a puff or two of cloud in it.  Seeing some potential in this angle, I set up again and waited until the light was right before tripping the shutter.  Thank goodness for an intensifying polarizer to really pull out the colors in the bright sun.

Hangar Queen

There was just one other vehicle behind the building and that was the GMC stepside parked at the back corner.  I noticed many parts for this model truck inside of the business and I can only imagine that this was one of their parts trucks.  The colors weren't all that spectacular on this truck, and the rust was minimal, but something about everything as a whole begged to be photographed.  There was a complete rolling chassis just on the other side of the truck, so composition was going to be difficult.  However, I was able to get in close, and shoot at about 30mm to get the perspective that I wanted while using the truck to hide the frame on the other side.  I was able to get the front end that had not grill, and an empty engine compartment.  I also included the fact that the vegetation was growing up over the bed in the back which tells the story about how long this truck had been here.  The hints of blue behind the trees helped to bring out the teal patches of paint on a mostly faded background.  The dirty wheel and the surface rust complimented each other very nicely to boot.

After about 45 minutes here, I was getting very hot and decided it was time to get back in the A/C and call it a day.  I had a little over 65 frames from the day.  Considering the fact that nothing I was planning for panned out, I was pretty happy about that.  I wasn't too sure if any of them would come out though.  The sun had been so bright I was having a hard time reviewing the images on the LCD, other than to check the histogram.  I was conservatively hoping for three usable images when all was said and done.

Obviously, I didn't have high hopes for this happening because it was hours before I even looked through the pictures to see what I had.  Looking at the digital negatives, I was pleasantly surprised and my excitement started to build once again.  As I was putting them through post processing and converting them from the RAW format I found that I had quite a few more than I had originally thought.  Seven pictures would have been a 10% crop and I would have been absolutely thrilled with that, but instead I ended up with 10 pictures I deemed good enough to hold onto.  That is not too shabby considering how I had been viewing my progress all day long.  All I can say is, I"m glad I went, and I'm glad that I kept trying to get some more subjects in before getting home.