Friday, April 1, 2022
As you might recall, my last trek took me into Eastern Wilkes County where I followed Charles around to several of the places that were a part of his family at one time or another. It was a follow up to an earlier venture out there when I had gone looking for a barn that my doctor liked looking at on the way into work. This is how it goes sometimes with these treks. I’ll go into an area that I haven’t spent a lot of time in for something as simple as trying to find a certain location. The deeper I dig, the more I end up finding and I eventually end up meeting folks that will direct me to other areas that I wouldn’t have ever seen otherwise. This was one of those treks because I ended up photographing something that I wouldn’t have seen from the road, and even if I had, I wouldn’t have known how to get to it, or who to ask to be able to.
As part of the area tour that Charles had taken me on the other day, we ended up deep into a property near his house where there was a barn situated at the top of the field. This barn had been his Great Grandfather’s and it was still standing. When we first went by, he hadn’t been able to get in touch with the current property owners to get permission for me to get any photographs, but he took me in to take a look at it figuring that it would be ok to come back later for a photograph. The lighting wasn’t good at all at this point because the clouds were a little bland in the sky, and the resulting shadows on the landscape pushed the barn into darkness along with the trees that surrounded it. I took a quick look around and found that there was one angle that was going to work to showcase the barn because it was the only corner that was open to view. The sun was behind the barn causing too much contrast, which would only get worse as the day went on. I tried to get my bearings as far as where the sun would be rising and found that it might just work for an early morning shot when the sun came over the trees to the East. I felt that it was important to have the sun shining on the subject to bring the lighter colored barn out from behind the brush. I needed that bit of visual pop to make the photo work. Ideally, I would have some nice moody clouds overhead, but the main thing that I was going to need to happen was the morning light on the barn with some sort of interest in the sky.
Looking at the weather forecast for the following days, it looked as though Friday was going to be my first chance at the right light for this as the clouds were going to be nice and low with a high percentage of coverage. The clouds were going to look right, and I would hopefully have some directional sun, and maybe even a break in the clouds to light the barn in the way that I was hoping for. I think I even said in that blog that I was planning on coming back on Friday morning to shoot this location. Well, as Thursday came to a close, I found myself looking at the weather forecast which showed low clouds until around 9am and they would be breaking up until a clear sky developed around 11am. The sun was going to need to be above the trees and I was hoping for a bit of a break in the clouds, so I planned on getting out there around 8:30 which should put me in a good timeframe to work the barn.
I woke up around 6:30 and listened to the wind howling outside. It didn’t sound too hospitable to me and looking at the weather we were looking at around 15mph winds through the morning. The clouds were doing about what they were supposed to, but they were going to be clearing off much quicker than I had anticipated. This meant that I was going to have less time to work with, and I might just not get the sky that I was after. With the wind added in, I felt like I had better just stay in bed. I got comfortable once again and just couldn’t help thinking that I might be passing up a great opportunity to get the shot. I wasn’t going to need much time, and I was only out to get a single photograph. It wasn’t like it was too far away from me, so I really didn’t have anything to lose by going. I had everything to lose by staying home. I reluctantly got up and got dressed.
Before heading out, I looked outside and saw that the clouds were rather thick, and I figured that was a very good sign that I might get the light that I wanted. I had to send out a quick email before I left though, since it was in response to an email I had gotten the night before. It was a potential client shoot for a book project in Virginia which was something that I wanted to get on quickly so I didn’t lose the opportunity to do the shoot. If it turns out like I hope it will, I’ll have my second book cover added to my resume as well as promotional photos for the subject of the book. It was definitely a project that I wanted to jump on. After I got that email done, I loaded the truck up and headed out to Roaring River once again.
All the way there I couldn’t help but notice how nice the clouds looked to the North, and how empty the sky looked to the South. I was right in the middle of two personalities in the sky and I was heading due East. It was going to be a complete surprise to me whatever the weather was when I got to the barn because it all depended on exactly where on that line of clouds it was situated. Fortunately, the trip wasn’t long at all, and I found the remote access point for the barn easy enough. I made my way through the trees and finally came out at the barn. At first glance, the clouds were looking terrific as was the light. I got out of the truck and grabbed my camera. As I walked around to the corner of the barn that I knew was going to be my composition I ran into the problem that I thought I might. The clouds were great to the right of the barn, but the sky was rather empty looking to the left. The wind was howling, much stronger than I had anticipated, so I was hopeful that the clouds would move into position soon enough while the sun was still low.
I got the camera set up where I figured I would have the right angle and fitted the standard lens along with the 105mm polarizer because I might need to add an ND Grad depending on what the lighting was going to do. If the sun stayed uncovered, I wouldn’t need one which was the hope. I tried a few test shots as a few clouds moved into the left half of the photograph, but the images weren’t balanced at all because the heavy clouds were all stuck on the right third of the frame. I watched them come closer to the barn, but they seemed to disappear right about the time they cleared the roof of the barn. I had hurried to get set up around 8:30 and was now just sitting there wanting the blank blue sky to fill up with something interesting.
A few minutes in I realized that the angle that I had on the barn was a little too shallow and I wanted to get more of the side in the shot, so I moved over to the right about 10 feet or so and recomposed the shot. I liked this much better and committed to this composition. The clouds were starting to move into the right location within the frame and I was getting excited, but just as they were getting close, the sun got covered up. The barn went dark, and the sky was much too bright for the composition. I could have put on a grad filter, but it really wouldn’t have worked since I was needing light on the barn more than anything else. I just sat there and waited. I could see a break in the clouds coming for the sun and it was only going to be a few minutes or so.
Well, 10 minutes later, the sun broke out once again, but the clouds were all gone over the barn as they had been before. I was watching the clouds approach the barn, but they just fell apart the minute they started to get into the frame. There I was looking at a beautiful cloud bank to my right which would have been perfect over the barn, but it seemed that the barn was like a little kid with cotton candy, just eating whatever happened to stick out from the tightly wound hive of candy. I had the right light, but the sky wasn’t even close to being right. It was 9:15 at this point. I had been here for 45 minutes and had only gotten a handful of shots that I was pretty sure would not be good at all. The clouds were starting to break up, but every bit of the clouds that ventured over the barn was picked off as if there was a sniper laying in wait for them to stray from the pack. I told myself that I would stick around until 10 to see what happened. That gave me another 45 minutes to stand there in the cold wind exposed as I was. I had already lost my hat twice from the gusts, but it was a much needed piece of equipment to keep the sun off of the back of the polarizer.
As I waited, I really looked at the composition that I had chosen. The light was changing on the barn, and I wanted to get a bit more depth to the image. There was a tree off in the distance that I could include in the composition to the right which I really liked as it gave me a nice diagonal element through the frame from near to far. I also looked at the sky and saw where the clouds were just not coming past the tall trees behind the barn. In hopes of getting a few more clouds in the frame, I decided to move back to the left, only this time I went about 25 feet and then came in closer. That allowed me to use a wider focal length which would show more of the sky, and make the barn a bit more dominant in relation to the evergreen in the background. I also elevated the camera well above my head to get more of the sky in the distance than what was overhead since the clouds were having a hard time progressing past a certain point.
This new composition seemed to be a little better than what I had the previous two times, and I was glad that I had changed it up a little. It is always a good idea to keep evaluating your composition as you are shooting to see if the conditions dictate a change in position. This is also why I strongly suggest using a tripod because you can keep your composition over a long time, or you can make subtle changes to it as you go. I was finally really happy with the composition and could see that I had a much higher chance of getting clouds in the frame this way. It was still a matter of waiting to see what happened. At 9:45 I was starting to get fragments of clouds moving overhead and I started a series of images, but the balance was still off with way too much visual weight being on the right side of the frame. I had given myself till 10, and that was only 15 minutes left. The sun was getting a bit harsh at this point and the clouds were breaking down quickly. Whether I had chosen 10 or not, it was looking like that was all that I was going to get out of the sky and sun.
Just before 10am, the sky started to change up and the clouds actually broke through the magical barrier that had been there for the last hour and change. I was finally going to get the sky that I had been after since I had arrived. The exposure for the camera had been pretty well locked in since the beginning where I was exposing for the reflected light on the light-colored siding of the barn. Because of the wind, I had the ISO set at 200 which allowed a 1/40 of a second exposure at f/11 which gave me sufficient depth of field. At this point, it was just a matter of blocking the light from the filter with my hat and grabbing shots as the clouds moved by. It seemed that it was all happening so quickly after so long of just waiting. I’m pretty sure that if I hadn’t given myself a timeframe to work this in, I would have left long before this shot was taken. I have to work on my patience because far too often, the conditions do what I want them to do right as I am closing the camera bag. Having only one location to shoot today gave me the ability to be patient and I’m so glad that I did.
I’m really happy with the composition here, and I’m very thankful that the clouds did what I needed them to do eventually. The edit took some doing when I got home which surprised me. It wasn’t because I had done anything wrong in the field, but I had to get the color tones to relate in a way that they really didn’t at the scene. The barn had more of a green tint to it which kept it from popping out from the surrounding vegetation. I had to work with the color profiles and the individual color tones to get the barn to separate from the greens a bit better. There was also a bit of a fight over how much saturation I wanted in the sky for this one since there wasn’t much in the way of warm tones to balance out the cools of the sky. It took longer than it should have, but I was not upset by that since I only had a single image to work with from the day. It became a very important image for me to get right since it was the best from the day, and the one that would represent the trek as a whole.
I hope that you have enjoyed this trek and that you like the photograph that resulted. I’ve already shown it to Charles who approves of my vision, and I’ll be getting a print ready for him as thanks for showing me the location. Of course, if you like this image as well, I would love to get your very own print prepared and sent out to you. There is just no better way to enjoy a photograph than by seeing it in the intended form. There are too many variables with computer monitors and…gasp…cell phone screens to ensure that you are seeing what the photographer wanted to present. A physical print takes all of the variables out of the way and you are left with an honest presentation of the art work captured.
I suspect that the next trek will be a trip back to Stone Mountain to get ready for my next workshop. There is still a vacancy for that group, so if you want to get signed up there is still room. I’m really looking forward to getting back out in the field teaching other photographers once again. I’ve missed it through the Winter, and it is an aspect of my photography that I just really enjoy doing. I hope to bring back some new photographs from that scouting trip as I did on my last one.
Also, with Spring knocking on our doors, it might be time to get that portrait session booked with me. I’m starting to have a lot of fun with the conceptual shoots now and working on really capturing the personality of the subject. I’m not talking about the standard portrait sessions where you come in and say cheese. Nope, I am talking about a full-on planning session that determines location, clothing, any props, time of day, and a complete concept roll-out before the shoot even happens. This is the direction that I want my portraiture to go in, and while I am still offering introductory prices you might as well jump on it now. Operators are standing by…. Well, not exactly. You will get to speak with me if you call, text, or email. I don’t have operators, or a staff. I just have a photo wench and she’s there to help with production.
Until next time….
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