Rust Hunting in Danbury

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

After this past weekend, I was left feeling a little unsatiated when it came to my photography.  Yes, I was able to go out and I spent about an hour in the field, but when it was all said and done I had only worked one composition.  It turned out nice but I was still wanting more.  As luck would have it, I had a meeting Tuesday evening and that meant that I would have a little bit of time in the morning to go out with the camera.  To make matters even better, the forecast was calling for clouds and even a possibility of rain.  After all of the rain that we have had recently, this meant one thing...WATERFALLS!

I started to look at the time that I would have to work with and that put three locations in range for me.  That was Hanging Rock, Styers Mill Falls, and Widow's Creek Falls at Stone Mountain.  Any of these would look good right about now but just thinking about them caused me to yawn.  I've done some fantastic waterfalls here lately and I do enjoy them...but the ones that are close just weren't exciting to me right now.  In fact, after working so many waterfalls in the past couple of months I really didn't feel like that was where I wanted to focus my attention.  Add to it the fact that I've been to each of these falls more times than I can count and know every composition available for them.  I wanted to be creative and shoot something different.

American Textures

I looked back to a previous trek that took me out to Stokes County when I found three different rusty treasures.  I remember driving out to that location that I passed by Priddy's General Store which made me look back.  Thinking about the low clouds I was going to have got me considering a long exposure on the store for a little dramatic flare.  I was starting to get a little excited.  I also recalled seeing an old Mustang behind a house coming back home from the previous shoot as well as what looked like a parts car storage behind a shop of some sort.  All within about 10 miles of each other I had three possible locations to shoot rural and rusty subjects.  This excited me, and gave me the thrill of the hunt which was missing from waterfalls.  

French American Stalemate

I started to plan out my morning which would include dropping Sierra off at school and then heading to Danbury.  I wasn't quite sure what order I would work things in, but was really interested in shooting the General Store.  However, looking at it on Google Maps, I was a little concerned about compositions and felt that this might be a long shot subject.  I was going to be close and figured that I could at least give it a second look if I didn't shoot it.  The Mustang would be a sure thing as long as the owner was home as I would need to get fully into the property to shoot it.  The shop was a bit of a question mark since I had only seen it for a fraction of a second driving down the road.  I saw rust, but didn't know the compositions or even what types of cars would be present.  Based on all of this I decided to start with the Mustang and then decide from there where to next.

403

After dropping Sierra off, I took stock of the sky.  It had been phenomenal at the start of the day and the clouds were still really great but losing the definition.  This was going to be just fine for the automotive stuff and I didn't feel bad about putting off the store since the sky wasn't good for long exposure work just yet.  I made my way out to the area where I remembered the Mustang and the shop to be.  It was going to be difficult to find the Mustang coming from this direction as I would have to look behind me so I figured first come first served.

Car of the People

As luck would have it, I found the shop first and slowed down.  I could seen about a half dozen old cars in the back and a couple of them I didn't recognize the makes of.  They weren't quite the rusty messes that I like to work with, but I saw some potential.  It was a shop they were behind and I could see that the doors were open.  This was going to work out very well I thought.  I pulled off the road and took stock of the cars in the back once again before finding a place out of the way to park.  As I was parking, two guys came out of the shop with that look of questioning on their faces that I know ever so well.  I got out of my truck and introduced myself and shared why I was there.  They seemed cautious of me, but were willing to let me shoot some pictures which was all that I needed.

Double Dubs

I grabbed my gear and went around back to see what was there in detail.  I saw four cars up against the tree line that were definitely American and I was able to determine that these were Ramblers.  I just don't see that many of those around anymore, and it was a pretty cool find for me since my Grandfather had driven one many years ago.  On the other end of the lot there were two cars that looked German and turned out to be Volkswagons.  In the middle there was a modern Mercedes V12 car which I cared absolutely nothing about, but beside it was a blue car I wasn't familiar with.  The emblems were long gone from the back, but doing a little further looking I realized that this was a Peugeot 405 which was another really cool find!  The last car was some type of personal car which held no interest to me, but was cool at any rate.

American Decay

I went with the easiest to work with first, and that was the pair of Volkswagons on the far end.  For these, I opted to fit my 24-70mm lens and the Singh-Ray Color Combo Polarizer.  That gave me a great deal of flexibility in composition.  I found that there was a great tree that was behind the cars which I tried to include in several of the compositions.  Also, I saw that the clouds in the sky were getting much better so I was able to do compositions from down low that included the sky.  What I had to worry about was a shelf and a couple of trash cans on the far side of the cars.  Fortunately with some creative compositions I was able to block them out with the cars.  I was even able to shoot from both sides relatively easily.

Ramble On

As I ran out of compositions I moved over to the Ramblers and started to work them for a while.  I tried to get them individually, but that was very difficult to do with how close they were.  I found that the better compositions included several of them at once.  The trees made for a nice back drop for most of the shots and the sky cooperated with me in the other direction.  The held a lot of interest, but I was running into exposure problems.  With the front of the cars in deep shadows the sky was overexposing too easily.  I added the Lee Filter Holder and then started to work my Singh-Ray ND Grads to keep the sky under control.  I started with a 3-Stop and found that was not enough and added an additional 2-Stop.  That still didn't give me what I was after, so I swapped that out for another 3-Stop which seemed to work well.  I had the soft edge one down lower to soften the line of the hard edge while keeping the cars exposed properly.

Classic Peugeot

This seemed to be the key and I moved over the Peugeot and had to get real creative with compositions since the Mercedes was parked right next to it.  I worked low so that the smaller in comparison Peugeot would completely block the large Benz.  That put a lot of the sky in the picture so I was having to use the ND Grads here as well.  I was able to drop down to just a single 3-Stop grad though which was nice.

Moby Dick

I was about ready to call it a day and go find the Mustang when I started to consider other options.  I went crazy and slipped on the 16-35mm lens with the slimmer B+W Polarizer for vignetting concerns.  I started working all three sections once again and found that I was getting some very dramatic compositions that included the sky.  Of course with the sky, I was having to add combinations of ND Grad filters to keep the exposure right.  Regardless, I was getting some very different feeling images while working on the same basic compositional ideas from earlier.  I was really on a roll, and loving getting in close and adding a lot of perspective distortion to the images.  The fun did eventually dry up and I found that I had run out of compositions.

Double Vision

I started to pack things up and saw the 70-200mm lens sitting there looking all pitiful.  OK, I'm a real softy and wanted to show it some love.  I attached it to the camera and added the Singh-Ray Color Combo Polarizer once again and started to work some isolations.  It got rolling with a shot of the taillight on the Rambler wagon which I found quite interesting.  That lead to other isolations of emblems and rust.  I even started to shoot head on shots of the Peugeot since the front end was quite a bit different than anything in my collection and it was just cool to look at.

Needs a Second Chance

After roughly an hour and a half on location, I had run out of creativity and the sky was starting to get a little active with some movement.  I would be able to shoot long exposures with this sky, but the only way to do that here was to include trees which were blowing too much to try several minutes worth of exposure.  I packed up my gear and thanked the guys once again for letting me shoot the cars and headed off to Priddy's.

Classic Flare

It didn't take but about 15 minutes to get there and the sky was still pretty good.  The problem that I immediately saw was that there was a Tesla parked in front of the store.  That wouldn't fit my vision at all.  I did take the opportunity to look at how the compositions would work out.  Honestly, I wasn't all that happy with what I as seeing.  The sky would be a great element, but to include that I would need to include a lot of power lines and some other clutter that I didn't like.  The store wasn't all that interesting on its own, although it did have a yesteryear feel to it.  With all the things working against a picture of this, and not much really going for it, I decided that this was not worth my time.  I looked at my watch and wondered if I had time to try and find the Mustang at this point.  I really didn't since I was going to have to talk with the owner to ask permission.  The day was done, and it was time to get to work.

Spotlight on Decay

I spent the day not really having a clue in the world about what I had captured through the morning.  I was hoping that I had about six good images out of the bunch.  I wasn't quite sure how many I had captured since the last time I looked I was at 60-something frames.  When I got home I went right back to the office to upload the pictures from the day.  I had to wait a bit because there was an update ready for Lightroom which needed to be installed.  That took a little while, and then I finally was able to upload the images from the day.  I was surprised to see that I had 83 frames captured in less than two hours.  My hopes were for eight or nine keepers to turn up out of the bunch.  I went through the culling process and kept tossing images out and when I was finally happy with what I had in front of me, I was looking at 21 images!  That is a 25% hit rate which was amazing.

French Patina

 I eliminated a few others as I was doing the processing and finally came away with a total of 14 keepers from this trek.  I would say that is a pretty good haul for a morning.  It definitely satisfies my creative desire from the previous weekend.  I am very happy at this point, and can now look forward to the next trek to see what I will capture then.

As a reminder, if you are interested in trying out some of the filters that I use, be sure and visit www.singh-ray.com and remember to use the code "KISER10" when checking out to get 10% off of your order.  I sure wish I had that code when I was purchasing my filters years ago.

A Little Rust in Stokes County

Saturday, October 6, 2018

It is officially Fall here in NC according to the calendar.  The leave should be changing, there should be a certain brisk quality to the air.  I should be in the mountains photographing the leaves somewhere around 4000 feet.  The reality here is that we are still having ninety degree days, the trees are still green, and there is no telling when Summer will actually end.  This is really messing with my head as I was getting into the Fall mood in the closing days of September.  When it came to deciding where to travel for pictures, it should have been an automatic answer of the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It was not going to be quite that easy to decide.

I really didn't want to dedicate a full day to traveling to the mountains for more green.  The rainfall has been minimal, so waterfalls weren't really an option either.  Fortunately, I have been getting back into my mode of shooting old cars and trucks.  That gave me a viable option.  I also had some new locations that I wanted to try out as well.  These are two places that I have seen before and filed away in my mind for when the conditions were right.  In both cases, I wanted overcast skies and a low sun.

Come Friday, I had not really had any time to think about what or where I was going to be shooting.  I had no idea what the weather was going to be, and just didn't have the gumption to really go out at all.  I guess this is what happens when the week has some unexpected ups and downs along with considering a complete rework of my website.  Not to mention, I am starting to really put a lot of thought into where I could do a workshop for a small group of photographers.  My mind was pretty much fried.

Inspection Due

As I was getting ready for bed I checked the weather and it showed cloudy conditions to start the day, but partly cloudy fairly early in the morning.  It would likely be a good landscape day, but I just didn't want to photograph any more green landscapes right now.  There weren't going to be enough clouds to do what I was wanting to do with the old cars that I had found.  More than likely, I was going to be out of luck on Saturday and would just stay home.  I wasn't arguing with that one bit actually.  I did have Toni wake me up before she left for work so that I could check the weather one more time.

A quarter of five in the morning happens all too quickly on a Saturday morning, but such is the life of a photographer.  She woke me up and I checked the weather.  It was looking pretty much the same as it was showing the previous night.  I rolled over and went back to sleep.  I figured today just wasn't going to pan out at all.  About an hour or so later I woke up again and started to think about options to shoot.  I looked at the weather again and saw that the clouds were pretty thick outside, and that the partly cloudy conditions were going to be around 70% coverage.  I then had the idea to look at a new app that I installed a few days ago.  This is "Clear Sky" and shows the detail of where the clouds are, and what kind of coverage is expected.  This gave me a different perspective showing good cloud cover until early afternoon.

That told me that I was actually able to go to the two locations in Stokes County if I wanted to give it a try.  The main location I wanted to try was off of Hwy 8 and was an old garage with a busted Chevy sitting out front.  I have passed this location many times and wanted to get a composition, but the lighting had never been right with it.  I also knew that I wanted the overgrowth of late Summer rather than just an empty frame rail.  I was running out of time to shoot this car unless I wanted to wait until next Summer.  With the weather looking good, I decided to go on and give it a go.

I grabbed my gear and set off on the drive into Stokes.  The entire way there I was behind a dump truck that was going between 25-35mph despite the road being a 55mph limit in most places.  There were no passing zones where I could get around him so I just sat in place and took in the scenery.  A bit over an hour later, I arrived at the car.  I have no idea who owns the property, but I decided to take my chances with this one and pulled off on the side of the road.  I picked out my 24-70mm lens and added a Singh-Ray Color Combo Polarizer to it and mounted the camera on my tripod.  I worked compositions on both sides of the car and tried to include the sign on the shop wall that stated that this was an Official Inspection Station.  I found that rather funny when paired with the Chevy below.

The problem that I was having with this composition was that to open things up and let them breathe a bit, I needed to include the sky.  The sky was brighter than the shadows I was shooting in which caused exposure problems.  Instead of hoping that I could recover the shadows, I just went ahead and added a Galen Rowell 3-Stop ND Grad to control the exposure at the very top of the image.  This worked very well and allowed me to get the exposure that I wanted on the main subject while keeping the sky from blowing out.

After a while shooting with this lens, I decided to swap out to my 70-200mm and step away from the car to get a bit more compressed look to the image.  I found myself shooting basically the same compositions with this lens.  Without the perspective distortion, the car seemed to disappear into the background of the shop.  In the end, I didn't like any of the ones that I shot with the long lens.  In fact, out of thirty some pictures, I ended up only liking one enough to keep it.  This was part of the reason it took so long to shoot this car.  I knew that getting a good composition was going to be difficult with the lay of the land.  I am quite happy with this image though, and it captured everything that I wanted it to.

I seemed to end this one rather abruptly.  When I decided that I was done I went back to the truck and broke down the camera rather quickly.  I was getting sweaty and hot which was just not cool at 10am in the Fall!  I got back on the road and decided that I would check out another location that I had scoped out a few weeks ago further into Stokes County.  I had pinned the location on my phone so I just let it direct me to the location.  I didn't have a lot of hope for this location since I was expecting it to be gated like when I saw it last.  The car was sitting in front of a pretty bland commercial building, but it did have grass growing up underneath of it at least.  My plan was to shoot with the 70-200mm lens with possibly the 2X teleconverter attached.  That should isolate the car well enough from the road.

Wing and a Prayer

When I got there, I was actually surprised to see the gate open and a truck by the corner of the building.  I didn't drive fully into the property though thinking that there was a good possibility that the gate might need to shut while I was shooting if I could get permission.  I parked and started walking up to the shop.  I saw no movement or signs of life.  I knocked on doors to no avail.  I looked around and figured since the gate was open, and there were no fences I might be able to stick around and shoot really quickly.

I grabbed my camera and mounted the 70-200mm lens as I didn't want to get too close to the car.  I had also seen a couple of other old cars that looked promising as well which I could do easily with the long lens.  Of course, I added the Singh-Ray Color Combo Polarizer since I was dealing with glass and metal.  I got everything set up and turned the camera on as I heard a lawn mower coming down the road.  By this stage in my tenure as a photographer I knew a lawn mower driving on the road toward where I was could only mean one thing.  The pavement needed to be mowed.  (Pausing for laughter).  It meant that the property owner was on the way to talk to me.  This could mean that either I was going to be leaving shortly, or I was about to have better access to things.

As the mower turned into the driveway I knew I had pegged the situation.  I made sure that the tripod was stable and I walked over to meet him.  I wasn't sure how this was going to go, but I introduced myself and explained why I was there.  He ultimately gave me permission to shoot the cars out in the open area of the lot which included the Chevy that I had seen earlier as well as the shell of a Nash, and a Chevy Nova just on the side of the building.  This was great news, and I was very thankful for the opportunity.  It did come with one caveat though.  It appeared that he was mowing the yard while I shot the cars.  I get it, I really do.  I would want to watch a stranger doing anything around my property as well.  We managed to stay out of each other's way for the duration of the time that I was out there.

Roll the Dice

Now that I had permission to be on the property, I was set to do more than just a quick overall shot before moving on.  I had the long lens on, and did a couple of shots that I had previsualized when I had originally found this car.  They weren't all that great, so I moved on to doing some more intimate shots of the sections of the car that particularly interested me.  One of the sections that really caught my eye was the broken quarter window on the driver's side.  I loved how the glass was shattered and it paired so nicely with the patina on the side of the car.  As an added bonus, there was a skull and crossbones decal on the door under the handle that really set the tone for what this car is...or was.

Deluxe Decay

While I was shooting my intimate shots, I moved to the front of the car for my trademark headlight/grill shot.  Typically I would do this with my normal lens, but since I was usually zooming to nearly 70mm I decided to just keep the long lens attached.  It worked just fine this way, and I managed to get a nice composition from the corner of the car.  The chrome really stood out against the black paint and the rusty undercoat.  The lines all seemed to work together to form an abstract design that flowed.  Oddly enough, there was what appeared to be chrome paint on the bumper corner from an earlier repair possibly.

I was pretty sure that I was done with this car for now.  I needed my 24-70mm lens to try some other compositions, but before I switched that lens in, I wanted to work on the Nash that was parked on the side of the property.  This was just a shell and a hood, but the blue color along with the rust tones were just perfect against the trees in the background.  I knew I was going to need the long lens for this since it was parked very close to a more modern minivan and I was going to need to cut in close to avoid that.  The trees were also taking up a very small section behind before dropping off to show power lines and a house across the street.

Nash in the Grass

I found this a very hard vehicle to form a composition with.  The hood was angled off to the driver's side which pretty much dictated that I shoot from that side.  This was fine since there was a long bungee cord holding the hood to the A pillar on the passenger side.  It distracted from the composition way too much for me to want to shoot that side just for that reason alone.  The lack of a front end of the car made the hood the anchor for the car, but there were no wheels visible through the grass to balance out the front end.  I couldn't really do a full on quarter view since there was very little body.  Essentially, I was taking a picture of a hood and a windshield frame.  The colors were good, and the grass was tall so I went for it.

Gnashing Beak

The sky was not looking great, but for the shot that I felt was really the key view, I was going to need to include the sky.  Looking up, I didn't see much definition at all in the clouds.  This was not going to be good at all to have a blank void at the top of the image.  I flipped on the live view and started to reduce the exposure to see what effect it had on the sky.  I was seeing it go from white to gray, but I could still see no detail in the clouds.  That told me that it would be worthless to add an ND Grad to the lens as it would just turn the white sky gray.  If this was going to work, I was going to have to hope that I could pull the detail out in post processing later on.

As you can see, I did capture some detail in the sky here.  I didn't do anything out of the ordinary to accomplish this.  I just added a grad filter in Lightroom where I reduced the sky exposure slightly, and then worked the "Dehaze" slider ever so slightly to get a hint of definition in the sky.  It worked very well, and I ended up with a sky that was worth being in a photograph.  The blues in the clouds as well as in the body of the car balanced very nicely with the greens and reds  which made up the rest of the composition.  When I was done with this, I thought about trying something with my 24-70mm lens, but opted out of it as there was too much potential clutter in the background if I went any wider than what I was already shooting at.

Winking

I still had one more car to work with.  It was a pale yellow Nova sitting on the side of the shop.  I was not happy to see that it was a four door version though.  I would have much rather shot a two door, but I couldn't argue with the patina on it, so I got to work.  I started out focusing on the front of the car against the side of the building.  I thought by cropping out the back half of the car I might be able to disguise the sedan body.  That image lacked any kind of emotion though and ultimately didn't make the cut.  I worked around more and more and found that my standard quarter shot worked the best for this car using the trees as a background instead of the building.  It wasn't a two door model, but with a 16:9 crop, I gave it a little bit of a sleeker feel leaving the primary focus on the front end of the car.  I really liked that there was a headlight missing which really finalized the story of the car.

Weather Worn

I looked around the Nova to see if there were any isolations that I could do.  Nothing really stood out to me though.  The few areas that I would have typically worked were missing key parts that made the composition in my opinion.  I decided that this one view was all the old Nova needed and moved back to the original Chevy out front.  I was ready to try some different things with this car now.  I swapped the lenses for my 24-70mm while keeping the Polarizer attached.  I got in close to the car for a little perspective distortion and started working the composition.  I wanted to minimize the building behind the car so I elevated the camera to about seven feet.  This gave an interesting view of the car and really concentrated on the patina on the hood.  More importantly though, the building was minimized.  I was able to compose the shot in such a way that I was including the stairs to the door on the right side of the image for a bit of balance in the image.  I cropped it as an 8x10 to keep it simple and add a little visual punch to the image.

Hot Rod Deluxe

I liked how this composition was looking in the camera, but felt that it might not work as well at full size later on.  I really wanted to get down low to show the stance of the car.  The problem there was I was going to have to include the building as well as the sky which was still rather bleak looking.  As with the Nash, I decided to give it a try and see what I could bring out in post.  I dropped the camera down low to the ground and started to frame up a composition.  What I found was I was able to get the angle where the two sections met.  This was good as it helped give depth where a straight building would not have worked.  It helped to lead the eyes to the car which was great.  I also had a minimum of sky to work with which was a plus as well.  The angle was such that there was no way I would be able to get an ND Grad to work, that was unfortunate.  However, as with the Nash, I felt that I would be able to get some detail out of the sky in post.  It was worth a try anyway.

When I got home, I found success here as well.  I did the same techniques as I did with the Nash to bring out the little bit of detail in the clouds.  It wasn't much, but it was effective in setting the mood, and providing just enough visual interest to make it worth including in the frame.  What was really a gamble of a shot turned into my favorite of the day.  Funny how that works out isn't it?  I really do like this piece for the angles that are in it, the lines, the patina, and the shape of the building fully holding the car in the frame.  It was similar to what I had previsualized, but so much better in every way.  

Style and Decay

Now that I had my workhorse (for automotive photography at least) lens back on, I set to work picking out more details on the body.  The rust was wonderful, and this car still had a good bit of its chrome still in tact.  I started to look for abstract compositions that excited me.  The sides gave me all sorts of views that worked well I thought.  I looked for textures, and transitions between the paint and the rust.  Occasionally, I was able to get the rust stained paint that glistened under the diffused light above.

Fractured Finish

The rear fenders really held my attention with their lines.  The chrome trim at the tops of the fenders was great on both sides of the car.  In an attempt to capture the awesome shattered glass once more, I worked out this composition that had lots of rust staining, abstract lines, textures, and just all around great patina.  I'm usually not a fan of shooting black cars in this condition, but I have to say that this one is among my top choices with patina.  The contrast is just so perfect and the paint still has a good bit of gloss that really draws the attention to the rust.  I'm so glad that I had the ability to get up close and personal with this car.

Where to Go?

Before I packed up the camera, I set up a shot that captured the steering wheel which still had the Bowtie emblem on the horn.  The dash was pretty much in tact, and I was able to compose a shot that included the side mirror and hood ornament as well.  The chrome of the door frame made a great leading line and frame for the cockpit as well.  It is a little bit of a different image for me, but I'm starting to like doing them when the opportunity presents itself.  This is also a great example of what a polarizer can do for you.  The glass is in tact for the most part here, and had a glare on it from the clouds.  By adjusting the polarizer to this point, I was able to eliminate the glare and be able to shoot into the car with no issues.  

At this point, the property owner was finishing up mowing and was going around to the side of the building.  I was pretty sure that I had gotten everything that I could from this location.  I started to pack up and went around to let him know I was leaving.  We chatted briefly and he told me about another location with some older cars and said that he would try to get in touch with the owner of that property.  It sounds really promising, and I really hope that it works out at some point in the near future.

By this time, I wasn't sure how many images that I was going to have as keepers, but I knew that I had shot a total of 72 frames, evenly split between the two locations.  The first location I had been mulling over for a year or more and felt that I had a lot of good stuff from there.  This second location was my alternate subject that I really didn't have much enthusiasm for.  It turned out to be my favorite location of the day with lots of variations on compositions, not to mention three different cars to shoot.  It really is funny how the success of a shoot doesn't necessarily relate to how much thought or planning had gone into it.  I love that about photography, and it goes to show that to be successful in this game, you have to adapt to what is there at the time.  Planning will only get you so far, reading the scene will get you the rest of the way.

Pot Branch Falls

Sunday, September 23, 2018

Swooping In

A couple of weeks have passed since I have been out making any photographs, and my goal for this weekend was to change that.  The weather was looking good with clouds both Saturday and Sunday at home as well as in the mountains.  My initial thought was to spend the day around Graveyard Fields on Saturday to catch some of the early fall color.  That would leave Sunday available to get two framed pictures to the Dixie Classic Fair for competition.  It would all work out quite well.  Well, you know how planning goes for me...

Saturday turned out to be completely sunny across the state and there was nothing that I could do with a camera, or at least nothing that I wanted to do.  I decided to take my pictures to the Fair early in the day in the attempt to miss the football traffic from the Wake Forest game at noon.  There was no such luck, I wasn't even able to get to the parking lot.  I abandoned that hope and went home.  I started to work on a Plan D or something like that.  The weather was looking great for Sunday with clouds, showers, and even the potential for fog.  That forecast was pretty much from home to the mountains.  The trick here was, I needed to be able to get the pictures dropped off between noon and 4pm as that was the only time I could get them there.  To avoid last minute problems I needed to aim for something around 2pm for a drop of time.  That was going to cut my available outing time down to a minimum.

With the weather looking gloomy I decided that waterfalls would be the best bet for the day.  I didn't want to revisit one that I had shot before though, so I started to research other options.  As I thumbed through the waterfalls in NC, I came across one that I had not seen before called Pot Branch Falls, which was located in Golden Valley, NC.  It was about two hours away from me, and the hike seemed rather simple and quick based on the description.  I was pretty sure that I could get there and have time to shoot it, and even have a little excess for another subject along the way.

With the Curve

In order to give myself the most time, I decided to get up when Toni left for work at 5am.  This would get me to the waterfall by first light and leave me with the majority of the morning to work it.  I could tell when I left that it was cloudy, but not quite the full overcast I was expecting.  As I went further West, I found myself under heavier clouds and even fog.  This was going to be perfect!  I was glad that I had opted to shoot waterfalls over Graveyard Fields since I would not have gotten the colors that I wanted in the dense fog.  The excitement kept building as I came into Morganton, but started to fade when I saw the sky as the sun came up.  There was some obvious blue up there, and the clouds were thinning out substantially.  This was actually great conditions for doing the Autumn landscapes, but I was woefully out of position for doing that at this point.  I opted to carry on and continue to my destination hoping that I would find something else along the way that was promising.

With my hopes dashed a little bit, I did continue on and found a good bit of fog developing as I made my way through Morganton.  I saw an old Ford N Series tractor on the side of the road that looked really nice in the fog, but I was wanting to capture this waterfall if the conditions held.  I decided to wait on the tractor till the return trip.  I was proceeding with a new found dedication to seeing Pot Branch Falls.  It was short lived though.  As I approached Jonestown Rd, the last paved road before the falls, the fog cleared as did the sky.  Oh well, I was minutes away from my destination.

Eroded Steps

The old service road was actually a great deal of fun to drive down for the 3 miles it took.  There was even a small creek crossing to get to the falls.  What I did notice was that the sun was hidden on the other side of the mountain, so that gave me a great deal of hope to have the waterfall in the shadows.  When I finally arrived at the parking area the sky was pretty much bright blue with a few clouds here and there.  I needed to hurry and take advantage of any shade that I could find.  Fortunately the hike was quick and easy to navigate.

Scooped Rocks

When I arrived at the waterfall, it was indeed in the shadows which made me very happy.  There were several sections to the waterfall and each had a different feel.  What I was after was the long drop through the rocks that could be viewed from the bottom of the waterfall.  It was a simple scramble to get down to the bottom, but there was a problem that I had not anticipated.  There was a large tree that had fallen and was laying across the base of the waterfall blocking the view of the best part of this location.  I tried to figure out a way around it, and even had a fleeting thought of trying to pull the tree out of the way.  Don't worry, I didn't try as I know how heavy those things are, and knew I had no chance at relocating a tree.  This was very unfortunate, and I had to regain my composure to figure out how I would shoot this waterfall.

What I decided to do was to shoot isolations of the upper sections which were rather interesting on their own.  For this, I decided to use my 24-70mm lens with a Singh-Ray Color Combo Polarizer attached.  This gave me a lot of flexibility about how I captured the elements of the waterfall.  I even used it to get a panoramic view of the top of the main drop (pictured above).  I stitched together what amounted to five images in portrait orientation.  I was standing almost on top of the water, and I was shooting at 24mm.  I wasn't sure if it would work or not, but by carefully moving through the composition, I was pretty sure that I had the raw material needed to stitch it together the way I was envisioning it.

Cavity

After I played around with the 24-70mm lens for a while, I decided to bring out the 70-200mm for some real isolations.  Of course, I kept the polarizer attached to the front element.  I started to work isolations of the section just upstream of where I started.  There was a few interesting little creek cascades with the eroded rocks I found so interesting.  I even set up another panorama of this section (Eroded Steps) in order to capture a little different perspective.

It took me about an hour's time to work this waterfall to the point that I was satisfied with my images.  I was really surprised that the lighting remained really good for the duration of my time.  I just wished I could have gotten the shot I was there to get.  I will have to wait until the tree is no longer there to get that shot though.  I did have a lot of isolation images of the different elements of the waterfall which was my secondary goal for coming to this waterfall.  At least I was able to achieve that goal, and I shot a brand new (to me) waterfall.  It would seem I am back to enjoying the thrill of exploring new waterfalls, and will likely continue that through the fall and winter when there are less people around on the trails.

I made the hike back to the truck and made my way back out to the road headed to the house.  I was looking for the old Ford tractor while enroute though.  The only problem was the sky was pretty blue and the lighting was getting rather harsh.  Oh well, it wouldn't be the end of the world if I missed out on the tractor.

As it turned out, when I got to the tractor and really started to look at the setting, I decided that it was not quite the find that I had thought it was.  It might have worked better in the fog, but currently, there was too much clutter around it to make it work as a photograph.  I shrugged it off and continued down the road.  As I was coming up on a gas station, I could see a rusty car off on the side of a neighboring field.  I saw it in just enough time to hit the brakes and pull off on the side road which ran alongside the field.

Mercedes Scorn

My eyes had not deceived me at all.  That glimpse of rust turned out to be an old Mercedes sitting next to tree line.  The lighting was pretty good on it as I was coming back into the cloud cover.  I looked around and didn't see any indications that there were trespass issues, and I saw no structures at the field where I might try to ask permission.  Since I was totally in the open, I decided to take my chances and I pulled into the field and grabbed my camera with the 24-70mm lens attached.  Of course, I added the Color Combo Polarizer to the front and got set up for my first exposures.  There wasn't a lot to work with around the car, so my overall shots were dependent on things like the branches overhead to really make a cohesive composition.

What I did like about this car was the bent hood and broken windows.  The chrome bits were still there which was pretty awesome to me.  The front end of this car really caught my attention as a matter of fact.  After I did some overall shots of the car, I started to get in closer and work my way through the weeds to get some intimate shots of this old Benz.

Where Did the Time Go?

As I was setting up a shot off to the side, I decided to get low and have the headlight looking off to the side.  With the composition I was able to get, I swear the car looked like it was pondering something pretty serious.  That is what I love about headlights on these old cars, the personality and soul of the vehicle shines through.  The patina of this car was amazing and the textures just jumped out at you at every angle.

Handle It

I started to look for ways to capitalize on the patina and found that the passenger side door had a great deal of character in the surface.  I used the door handle to anchor the shot and got in really close to fully show off the old paint, scale, and rust.  It has been much too long since I have shot a real rusty car and I have to say, I've missed it.  There is just so much that can be done with these old cars.  After every shot I made of it, I was looking over my shoulder expecting my time to be cut short.  Fortunately though, nobody seemed to car that I was here.  I wasted no time, and kept working different compositions of the car, and even started to look inside for ideas.

Take the Wheel

What I loved about the view from the passenger's door was the strands of headliner that were hanging loose from the ceiling.  The window was mossed over, and there was obvious mold in the seats.  It just screamed age, but there was still a lot of recognizable features inside the cabin which told the story of the car.  The rusty frame of the door kept your eyes centered on the interior which I liked as well.  I tried a few different compositions here, and was really wanting to open the door, but I have a hard and fast rule that I shoot them as I find them unless I have an owner with me who allows opening doors and such.

Benz Attitude

One thing that I couldn't get away from was the front end of this car.  The fact that the chrome was mostly in place was amazing, and I loved the bumper and the grill.  I thought about shooting a perfectly symmetrical composition here, and thought about a straight on, off centered view as well.  In the end though, I decided to go off to the side and make a head light and the grill the main points of the photograph with the opposite headlight as a balance element, all linked together by the bumper.  I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but after seeing it on the computer monitor I was happy I went this route.  It is a little different than my normal shot, and suites this car all too well.

Locked Eyes

Even though I had seen some success with an angled composition, I was still wanting to try something a little more intense from the front of this car.  I got positioned right at "eye" level to the headlight and squared up with the front of the car to get this very dramatic view from the front of the car.  What I really liked about this view was the patina that turned into the background to the headlight and marker light.  The slats under the hood were less than pristine, and the chrome surround made for a great framing element on the right side of this composition.  The fronts of these old cars really make for great abstract pieces.

Patina Luxury

When all was said and done with this car, I had a total of 80 frames shot divided up very equally with 40 at the waterfall and another 40 at the Mercedes.  It was a simple day with only two subjects in front of the camera, but considering the weather playing tricks on me and a fallen tree that blocked my view of the waterfall, I really can't complain.  The day went pretty much as planned and I was able to drop my two pictures off at the Fair with plenty of time left to spare.  I'll have more on those pictures in the next installment of my Behind the Camera feature around the first of the month.

Behind the Camera: My Wabi Sabi Style

Welcome back for another installment of my monthly "Behind the Camera" series.  In this series, I delve a little bit into the motivations behind my photography and why I do some of the things that I do.  This month, I have decided to talk a little bit about my interest in the rusty and aged subjects that I have been shooting here of late.  I'm actually scheduled to do a webinar on this very topic later this month with Singh-Ray so this is a chance for me to start to get my ideas together on the topic.

I started photographing old barns almost immediately when I got my first camera.  In fact, the first day I went out with the intention of capturing "art" instead of just pictures, I found myself at the Old Mill in Guilford County, and also found the remnants of an old house well in the woods off of W Market St in Greensboro.  Those constituted my first images with my first "real" camera.  From there I started to concentrate more on landscapes, but if I came across a nice barn I would shoot it as well.  I read recently that old barns are a favorite subject for newbie photographers and I guess I fell right into that mold.  My primary motivation for photography was capturing the landscape though.  It just took me a while to learn how to organize things in the landscape to make a compelling image.  I think that this is why barns are a favorite subject for photographers.  There is already a point of interest in the landscape, and an anchor to capture the eye of the viewer.  My landscapes at the time looked like a layer cake with the sky above, with a fairly flat horizon and not much in the way of visual anchors to draw you in.  A barn added instant visual interest to the picture and I enjoyed that!

For years, I would go out to capture the landscape, but I would keep finding rural settings that would grab my attention more and more.  I found that I loved to see how the wood aged, and how rust would start to coat the metal roofs.  Then I found my first location with some old trucks.  I had not thought to capture vehicles before, but for some reason the rust caught my eye.  There were a total of four trucks at this particular property, three of them were stuck in the woodline, and the fourth was just on a ridge at the beginning of a clearing.  There was even a pair of tractors that I started working with in the same area.  In the end, I had a whole bunch of pictures with subjects that I had never really worked with before.  I was amazed at how much personality that the images had, and the textures of the rusted trucks added a pretty cool touch.  I was so impressed with the way one of them turned out, I actually entered it into a photo contest later that year.  It actually won a third place ribbon, but I forfeited it because I felt that the judging was flawed across all of the categories.  That is a different story altogether.  The point was, the pictures of rusted vehicles were obviously appealing on some level to others as well.

It wasn't until I came back from a long hiatus from my photography that I started to learn why I was being drawn to rusted relics, and old barns.  I had even been drawn to rotting tree trunks over the years.  As part of my re-education in photography, I selected a lot of books to read in order to brush up on some of the new technology and techniques.  One of these books was Creative Landscapes, by Harold Davis.  In addition to hitting on lots of different elements in landscape work, he also touched on some of the concepts behind it.

Spring Cradle

The first concept that he speaks of is "Tao" which is a philosophy with roots in ancient Chinese culture.  Tao is traditionally connected with the landscape painters who seek a spiritual connection with the landscape that they are painting.  This applies to both grand landscapes as well as intimate, or even microscopic renditions of the landscape.  It was these connections to the landscape which had always drawn me to what I wanted to photograph.  I was finding myself being drawn more and more to images that I shared a emotional or spiritual connection with.  Old wood, whether it was in a natural setting as seen above, or as part of something man made, drew me in on a very deep level.  As I was reading this book, many of my motivations on photography started to make sense.

As I moved through the book, I came upon another concept from the East which really should have stumped me, but it was like a light had turned on when I read it.  The concept that the author was trying to convey was an ancient Japanese aesthetic and world view called "Wabi-sabi".  This view accepts that everything passes, and is by nature, transient and incomplete.  Art which is based in the Wabi-sabi concepts accept that this decay and decline is beautiful.  That decay is then used as the prime vehicle for conveying the emotion in the imagery.  Simply put, "All things pass, and in their passage lies beauty."

Under Cotton Skies

As I was finding my rhythm once again in photography, I was putting to use this newfound knowledge of Wabi-sabi and looked to strengthen my connection with what I was shooting.  I celebrated the decay that once appealed to me as just something interesting to photograph.  That decay became the main element in many of my photographs.  Barns fit that bill very well, but in no time at all, I was working on finding old cars to photograph for the same reasons.  Being a car guy at heart, I found that I was able to achieve a great level of Tao in my compositions because I already had a deep connection with these vehicles that were left derelict in yards, or in the woods.

A Rusty Streak

In the beginning, finding these old cars was quite difficult.  It usually involved a lot of luck as I was just driving around and a sharp eye looking out behind houses, and in the woods.  I found that barns were quite a bit easier as they are pretty big, and usually set fairly close to the road.  It became the thrill of the chase to find these old cars though.  Since I have been doing this type of photography, I have gotten increasingly better at spotting these old relics.  For instance, the picture above is a Pontiac which has been sitting beside this field for a number of years now.  It is visible from the highway that I use most often to get to the mountains.  I had passed it by many times before catching it one day coming home.  I had trained myself to look off to the sides of the highways, well into the yards of houses that I passed, and there it was, right beside a big white house.  I exited the highway and snaked my way back to the location and determined that the property was more than likely vacant, so I had the opportunity to check the car out.  The driver's door was open, and the grass was completely grown up around it.  It had been here for a while, but I wasn't sure how long.  I don't know how I had missed it over the years, but I was glad that I had found it.  I have since been back many times to photograph it, with the most successful visit shown above.

Wide Grin

Other times, these cars are just sitting right out in the open for all to see.  In this example, the old Plymouth is sitting in a repair shop parking lot at a major intersection in Yadkin County.  I had been out driving in the area looking for some barns the first time I photographed it.  I have been back a few times and was able to take advantage of different lighting each time.  Also, each time I saw it, the car was in a different state of deterioration.  In this last visit, the trim was dangling, the wheels were removed from the front, and the windshield was broken out.  All of these elements gave more clues to the current state of affairs for the car.  It is the continued visits to this car that really fascinate me.  Whether the changes come from vandals, or parts scavenging, it shows a different character each time.

Impressive Stance

There are other times that I rely on word of mouth as to where to find these cars.  The salvage yard where I found this rotting Buick was based on a tip from a friend of mine.  I have since been to White's Salvage yard twice to photograph the different cars in the lot.  They have a lot to choose from and every time I go there, I come back with some pretty amazing images.  The nice thing is that the owners don't really mind that I am walking among the boneyard.  Their only request is that I do it during business hours and let them know that I am there.  I find that completely understandable.

The other end of the spectrum to finding these cars and even barns is that so many times they require entering the property to photograph them.  This is harder than it sounds, especially with me being a police officer.  I just don't feel comfortable walking right onto private property to photograph something.  Ideally, I will be able to make contact with the property owner so that I can ask permission.  The conversation usually goes a little something like this:  "Hi, I'm a photographer and I enjoy photographing old cars and barns.  I notice that you have a ____________ in the back yard and I was wondering if you would mind if I shot a few pictures?"  The answer is typically "You want to take a picture of that old junk back there?"  We chat for a few minutes and then with any luck I will get permission to enter the property.  Other times, I am denied that permission, oftentimes before I'm ever able to ask.

Cracked but Intact

Here is one of those funny stories from my adventures searching out these old cars.  I was out driving around one Sunday and happened upon Pack's Body Shop which had a rather large salvage yard attached to it.  It was obviously closed, but I noted that there were no fences, or other barriers in place.  There were no signs indicating that I wasn't allowed on the property, and nothing in place that prohibited me from walking through.  I parked right up front in the parking lot to indicate that I was there, and grabbed my gear to start photographing the area.  I was out there a couple of hours that morning and had no issues at all, even with lots of cars passing by.

Several months later I returned on a Saturday and figured that I would do the same thing.  I got my gear and started to get set up near some cars up front.  This time, there was a guy that slowed to a stop in the road.  I went out to meet him and asked if he was the property owner.  He wasn't but stated that the owner lived right down the street and that I should probably go ask him.  I could handle that, so I went down the road on foot and found the house where the owner lived.  I knocked on the door and stepped back from the door allowing a full view of myself (hey, I understand folks get apprehensive about strangers knocking).  While waiting for the door to open, I caught a sense of movement from the side of the house.  I looked over and found a gentleman coming around the corner with a gun in his hand.  OK, it wasn't pointed at me, so I was not terribly concerned, although I was unarmed.  He inquired as to why I was there and I gave my normal speech.  He was less than impressed and said that he never wanted to see me on his property again.  I attempted to plead my case one more time, and was met with a similar reaction.  I left, and have not returned since.

That was the first time that I had been turned down for a chance to shoot on somebody's property.  It was one that I will always remember since there was an off chance that I could have gotten shot.  Although, I am glad that it went that way rather than him finding me among the cars and shooting first and asking questions later.  

There was another time that I was coming from Hanging Rock and stopped off to photograph a truck that was sitting under an overhang of an old gas station right off of the road.  There was nothing but businesses around, and it was a Sunday.  I got out and set the camera up and started to get my composition just right and I see a truck coming from a little ways down the road.  They slowed and entered the lot.  Before I could ask anything the driver asked (with his right hand conspicuously out of sight) what I was doing there.  I answered that I was photographing the truck sitting under the overhang.  His response was "Who takes pictures of things that don't belong to them, you need to go."  I tried to show examples of what I did, but he was not interested, and I still couldn't see his right hand.  I figured it was time to go, so I packed up, and while loading my camera gear back in the bag he continued to question why I was there.  Knowing that there was probably a gun aimed at me, I opted not to engage in any arguments.  I got in the car and left with him following behind me for a mile or so.

Fire Prevention

On the other hand, I have had the completely opposite experience when photographing these rural scenes.  One of my favorite stories is one that happened recently in East Bend, NC, at Outlawed Restorations.  I had found this location after a full day of photography in the mountains.  It was just too good to pass up, so I pulled off to the side of the road and surveyed the scene.  There were a couple of houses that could have been attached to this property, but with the changing weather I needed to shoot fast and didn't have much time to ask any permission.  I figured that the scenes that I wanted to shoot I could get from the street.  I started working out positions and compositions, but before long a gentleman stepped out of the shop that I had assumed was closed since it was a weekend.  I was all prepared to be told to leave, but saw him motioning me in to talk.

This was where I met Dean Cornelius and he was quite gracious about letting me onto the property to photograph whatever I wanted to.  What a nice surprise!!  He told me a little bit about the vehicles on the lot and about what he did there.  The difference being able to be on the property versus standing on the road was huge.  The picture above was shot with my 70-200mm lens zoomed in to almost 200mm to get the composition I wanted for a panorama.  Once I got onto the property, I was able to swap to my 24-70mm lens and get images like this...

Shattered Dreams

There is just no substitute for being able to get up close and personal with your subjects.  Dean and I have since formed a pretty good friendship, and I've been back out to his place once more for my own purposes and then was invited back for a contract shoot of a Caddi that was going up for sale.  What started out as a normal contact asking for permission has since blossomed into other opportunities. I have to say, I like these experiences much better than those where a gun is involved.

Ole Caddi at Home

Another benefit of speaking with the owners of these cars is that I get a lot of the history behind them, which aids in the spiritual connection with the subject.  I've talked with several folks who have their deceased loved ones vehicles on their property.  Some are destined to be restored, others are just there as a tribute and memory to somebody they have lost.  Either way, it is fascinating to me to learn about these cars and what they mean to the owners.  As a car guy, I completely understand the emotional connection that we have with our vehicles, and how those vehicles somehow become linked to us.

There are plenty of times that I am unable to make contact with the owners of the properties, and in those situations I have to make a choice.  Should I just come back another time, or try to capture something from a location that I feel comfortable in.  I've shot a lot from the side of the road, and I've ventured onto property that looks to be relatively abandoned.  Every time I do this I expect to have a property owner approach me, so I usually work fast in case I am told to leave.  I'm always very conscious of signs indicating that they don't want anyone on the property, or fences that provide some type of barrier to the property.  Again, as a police officer, I just can't risk a criminal charge over my photography.

Found on Roadside Dead

When it all comes down to it though, I've found that these rusted out cars have a soul remaining and it wants to be captured.  When I see this decaying Ford, I am transported back to a time before I was even born.  I am hearing the cheers of kids in the back seat on a family trip.  I am imagining the owner of a brand new car taking it home and polishing it.  I can imagine the lengths that the owner would go through to keep the car on the road and then finally being forced to give up the ghost leaving it in the yard, until it could be overhauled.  In a way, the car's life flashes in front of my eyes, and I can imagine 40 or more years worth of history behind the subject that I am photographing.  It is my hope that I am sharing that same reaction with the viewers of the pictures.  It is a great case of "if that old car could talk..."

Time to Mend

The Wabi-sabi approach to photography applies to just about every aspect of my photography these days.  I might not always be photographing old rusted cars, or even barns, but I can find beauty in the decay of so many things that surround us.  This fence along the Blue Ridge Parkway illustrates that quite well.  In the middle of the Spring flowers and vibrant colors, we have a very dramatic sky that breathes life into the image.  Then there is the fence.  It has obviously seen better days and has been standing for quite some time.  Several of the boards have fallen, and what is still standing is showing signs of decay.  By definition, this really should not fit in the image, but it does.  In fact, the fence becomes the image in a way.  It is all beautiful and shows life in different stages all at the same time.

Chrome Scallop

Even in an abstract composition, I can find beauty in decay.  Here we have the side of an old Ford that has clearly been left out in the elements for some time now.  The chrome is no longer shiny, and the paint is no longer rich in color or gloss.  There is mold where Turtle Wax used to be, and pine needles where glistening reflections had once been.  To look at this pictures, you really don't know what you are looking at, unless you are really familiar with the cars of the era, but the shapes and textures stand on their own.  There is an understated beauty to this scene even though there is a lot of deterioration going on.

Guarded and Weathered

The next time you are driving down a country road and thinking to yourself "this is such a nice road," consider why it is a nice road.  There sure isn't a lot of high rises, and concrete.  The cars aren't flashy, and you will see that weathered wood and rust dominate the man made elements.  Might it be you too are enjoying the beauty is the passage of time?  We say it hearkens back to a simpler time, but I would disagree.  Sitting in your car with air conditioning and an automatic transmission whizzing down the road, are you really thinking that working on a farm is simple?  Maybe driving a car with three on the tree and an AM radio is somehow more relaxing than what you are in.  Somehow I think we are getting things confused, and we are actually seeing these things in the waning stages of life which is much simpler than when they were in full functioning trim.

For me, there is a certain quiet, calm, reverence to these old structures and cars.  I can remember the good times that were had in and around them, but not really the hard work.  I see many happy memories that I have never experienced first hand, and that helps to center me in a current world of turmoil.  I guess in a way I am capturing a fantasy image of what once was, while celebrating the life of the subject I am photographing.

Magic Bus

Another equally valid point to this type of photography is that you never know when these pieces of our collective history will be gone.  Case in point is this bus.  I have shot it a total of three times in various states of decomposition.  This was the most recent and it dates to 2014.  Shortly after I shot this bus, the property sold, and the new company that bought the building had this bus hauled off.  I don't know of the outcome of this bus, but I do know that it will never be here to be photographed again.  My camera was able to document the last days of this bus that served proudly for a career.  With every click of the shutter, I might be taking the last picture of an object that will ever be shot.  To be that kind of historian is pretty impressive when you think about it.

Just Tired

Here is one of those pictures that documents a scene that didn't last for another 24 hours.  Most would have passed the opportunity by, but I saw something really cool in this setting and stopped to photograph it.  I spoke with the owner and found out that there was a guy on the way to pick up the tractor to take it away later that afternoon.  This was absolutely the last chance to photograph this scene as it sat.  I found that it spoke volumes with all of the little subtle elements within the image.

I hope that I've opened your eyes a little bit as to why I'm drawn to these rustic scenes and rusty old cars.  I really do believe that there is a lot of beauty in them, and I really hope that I capture that beauty in a way that speaks to you.  I know of many in my audience that don't really care for these types of images, but I know a good many are coming around to enjoy them on some level.  There is beauty at all stages of life, and we owe it to ourselves to stop and enjoy it when we can.  

Until next time, enjoy the beauty that surrounds us!!  If there is anything that you would like to know about my photography, let me know.  I'm always looking for inspiration for these Behind the Camera entries.