Sunday, January 8, 2023
Nothing about this trek would be considered normal. I went out in the rain to shoot a location that I had never seen before, and then decided to explore until I found a subject that I could shoot in the middle of a rain shower. Normally, I would have just stayed home, or gone to shoot waterfalls. I don’t know exactly what came over me and pushed me out the door this morning, but the only thing that I can guess is that I was just feeling particularly creative and needed to get out to capture something.
This is how it all began. I was working with John as part of the mentoring program a couple of days ago and we were talking about a scouting trip that he had taken off of 268 a few days before. He had spotted some scenes that he thought I might like to photograph. Since I’ve been spending a fair amount of time with John lately, he is pretty good about knowing what I like to photograph so I put the location in my head and waited until the weather looked good to go out and give it a try. Well, the weather was supposed to be cloudy all day on Saturday, so the plan was to go out and give it a try in the early morning. Well, the clouds had other plans for me as they were very thin and at maybe 60% coverage. As the day went on, the clouds continued to thin and clear so there was really no sense in going out there. Instead, Toni and I ended up going into North Wilkesboro to do a little shopping at the antique store and a boutique after we had a little lunch. You know, for the weather messing my plans up for the day, I ended up having a very good day with Toni instead.
Sunday was also supposed to be cloudy, but there was rain forecasted all day long. Historically, when I see forecasts like this, the rain is kind of hit and miss and there are usually a number of hours during the day that there was no precipitation. I was counting on that and saw that the lower chances were later in the day. When I woke up it was raining, so I just did my normal morning routine and got things taken care of down in the studio. I kept watching the weather icon that said it was sleeting which I knew wasn’t the case. There was an icy mix to the North of us, but that was well up the mountain. I was just watching for the clearing icon to come up…but it never did.
Occasionally, I would check the weather radar to see if there were any holes coming in the rain, but even that was showing to be less than promising. I just kept busy down in the studio and started to make plans for my next Behind the Camera which is due out on February 1st. At some point around 11 or so, I looked at the radar and saw that the precipitation had cleared up to our South which was where I was wanting to be. I didn’t think much about it and just got up and went to get socks on. I glanced outside and saw that everything was still wet, but I didn’t see any rain. That was about as much thought as I put into it. I just got my gear and headed out.
Of course, as I exited the garage, I could see a light mist falling on the windshield. It wasn’t bad, but I had really thought that the rain was done for a while. I decided to carry on since this was right at the edge of the rain and I was going further away from it. Things looked good for the first two miles and then the mist started to get a little heavier. I had my windshield wipers on at this point and it just brought back a rule of mine for photography. If I have to wear sunglasses or use the wipers, I probably need to forego the photo session. But here I was headed toward 268 and I didn’t seem to care that it was raining. My thought was that if nothing else, I would get a chance to scout the location to see what was there to work with. If I didn’t get a single picture it would not be a problem because we were only talking 15 miles away give or take.
The closer I got, the more the rain fell. It was dampening my spirits, but I was still feeling rather creative, and I was looking forward to finding something that I might be able to photograph. I was thankful that I had a rainy kit in the back of the truck that I just keep in there for days like this. The kit includes all of the hoods for the lenses as well as an 82mm Color Combo Polarizer that can be used with all but the 70-200mm lens while using a hood. I just kept that option in the back of my mind knowing that unless the rain was just really heavy, I could get filtered shots with my 24-70mm lens with no problems.
When I got to the road that I was looking for, I started to really look around to see what was there. John had been right, there was a lot of potential out there in the form of subject matter. It was setting and organization of these subjects that caused the problems. Nothing was in a place that would lend itself to photography. It was a painful reminded that not every good subject was a good photo waiting to be shot. After driving the road in both directions, I decided that there was nothing here for me and I made my way back to 268. From there, I just started to drive and explore…in the rain.
Normally, I would have gone on home with the scouting mission completed. The rain was getting heavier, and I really wasn’t wanting to be out in it. However, I still had this inner need to create something which kept me driving. I worked through a lot of the side streets which I had been on most before. Eventually, I ended up on 18 going towards Lenoir. This was a familiar route to me, and I had been out this way many times, but still felt the need to continue on. I really wasn’t seeing much that I felt like photographing, and the rain was really putting a damper on things.
Eventually, I did make it to Lenoir and just continued through the commercial stretch looking at everything. I happened past a small garage with a little car lot attached to it and caught a glimpse of an Impala on the back row parked very close to a Nissan Hardbody pickup. The car wasn’t overly rusty, but it did have a nice teal color to some of the panels. The shape was interesting to me, and I knew that there were some opportunities for isolations with that car. Because of how it was parked, there would be no overall photos made of it, but it was the first subject that had caught my eye thus far. It was also something that I knew I could shoot with the 24-70mm lens using the hood and the 82mm polarizer.
I pulled into the parking lot and just double checked that there were no signs indicating that I shouldn’t be there. When I was satisfied, I got out and built the camera as I had planned. I went over and started to work the car. I went with the low hanging fruit first by shooting the driver’s side front quarter panel. It was the easiest to compose and that got me rolling for the day with my first shot in the bag.
I then moved to the rear of the car where I knew the characteristic trio of taillights was. I had already seen that the emblem was still attached which made it all the better for me. I worked on a few compositions back here before I settled on one that I liked. Because of the chrome that was in such good shape, I had to use a 10 second timer to allow me time to get out of the area so I didn’t end up as a cameo in the shot. It seemed to be rather effective, and I was getting some decent images of the rear quarter.
Just to make sure that I had it all covered, I went back up to the front of the car and looked at the passenger side. This fender had a bit better coloration to the fender, and the hubcap was actually straight showing the “SS” emblem much better. I had to get a little creative to shoot around the pickup, but I managed to get an angle that didn’t show the Nissan as a reflection, and there was no color cast from the burgundy paint. I was able to get a couple of frames shot of that corner of the car as well.
Up to this point, I had shot the normal angles that I would go for with a car like this. It was a good way of getting started, but I knew that I could do better than that. I looked around to see what other bits and pieces excited me. The surface of the car wasn’t so much patina as it was sanded down with paint, primer, Bondo, and rust. At least the colors worked well together, but I had to find something of interest in terms of shape to make a photo really work.
I spent some time up around the windshield which had this great curve to it. It flowed into the vent window which shared the curve. This was what started to get me excited about the design of the car, but I wasn’t liking the angle I was at from the front. I moved to behind the dash and started to consider the interior of the car as an element to go along with the curve of the A pillar and the vent window. That was looking much better, and I started to frame up a composition based on this angle. I tried a few different crops to decide where I wanted the frame of the image to be. I knew that I wanted the window to be opened up leading to the steering wheel and ultimately the A pillar.
As I played with this concept, I started to see how I could place the instrument cluster within the vent window to separate them from the steering wheel. I really liked how this was looking and just hoped that I could get an edit that fit how I was seeing this composition. I’ve noticed here recently that I have been shooting more compositional elements inside of vehicles and I’m really liking the interest that it provides. In this case, it is the interior that is the main story with the exterior of the car just providing a framework for the details that are clouded with the wet glass. I really liked the mystery that this provided, and the cloudy glass went well with the soft textures of the sanded body. Ultimately, this composition became my favorite photo of the day and was the most inspired that I shot…at least in my opinion at this point.
I didn’t stop there though. I started to work my way around the exterior looking for shapes and design elements that I liked. The next place that I stopped at was the driver’s side quarter at the rear door. I really liked the way that the lines all worked together and how the door handle was contrasting to the blue paint. With a slight tilt of the camera, I was able to get the main lines to render as diagonals which added excitement to the image. I decided to define the shape of the C pillar by including portions of both windows on either side. The door handle was placed in the lower left, so I had a good framing element that also countered the pillar. The trim that went through the handle added to the collection of shapes while it also defined a triangle at the bottom left. These compositions are a lot of fun because they really have nothing at all to do with the car and are just boiled down to the actual shape of the subject.
I didn’t have to spend a lot of time here which was good because the rain was actually getting rather heavy now. There was water running off of the lens hood which was doing a great job of keeping the lens and filter dry. I rarely worry about the camera as Canon has done a terrific job of weather sealing the body and the lenses. I just always worry about that water spot that will appear in the final image. As long as I can keep everything dry on the front of the lens, I am a very happy camper.
I wasn’t seeing anything else on that side that I wanted to photograph, so I went back to the other side once again. This side was very close to the Nissan and there really wasn’t much room to move around. I had already shot the front of the car, and there wasn’t much left to shoot that I had access to with the exception of the front fender and A pillar. I started to look at that pillar in the same way I had started out looking at the other side. This side had a couple of key differences that made me like the composition better over here. First of all, the glass was more interesting with a bit of delamination going on. Second, there was no steering wheel or any other driver’s controls on this side. The simplified interior really helped out as I started to dial in a composition that I liked.
What I was wanting to focus on was the soft curve of the pillar with the detail in the glass. The hard lines of the door provided me with diagonals which really helped the overall composition. I had just enough color contrasts to pull the image off thanks to the rusted portion below the molding. It all seemed to come together nicely, and I was happy with this composition as well. I didn’t think I would like it as much as I did the one of the interior on the other side, but this was what I had initially gone for before shooting that composition.
The rain was coming down pretty hard at this point and I noticed that the filter was starting to fog over as well as it now had two rain drops on it. With that in mind, it was time to pack it in. I had a total of 21 frames from this location and thinking back through what I had shot, I was pretty sure that I had two or three keepers. I had no idea that I would come away with five of them though! It really was a fruitful stop considering that there was just one car worth taking photos of, and it was in a lousy location. I wish I could have gotten an overall photo of the car to tell a bit more of the story, but that was just not possible. It was the isolations that really came through for me here and I actually ended up working several different compositions from what I normally would have.
I do hope that you have enjoyed coming along with me on this trek. I wish that there was more to it, but after leaving Lenoir, I drove around for another couple of hours and eventually gave up fighting the rain. Even though there was just one stop, and one subject, this trek was totally worth it in my opinion. If you agree and any of these photos speaks to you, please consider ordering a print. There is absolutely no better way to enjoy a photograph that to hold it in the form that the photographer intended. It is also a terrific way to support treks like this. The more prints that get sold, the more motivated I am to go out and create new images for the portfolio. Remember, this isn’t a hobby for me, it is my business and the way that I provide for my family, not to mention the costs of actually creating the images to begin with.
If you are interested in learning how I create these images, consider signing up for a mentorship session or two with me. As you will see, I am very open about what I do and how I get the images that I do. I’m here to help you grow as a photographer, and anything that I can do to help you on your journey, I am willing and happy to do. Call me to discuss what you are interested in, and we will make sure that we are a good fit and that I have something to offer you.
Until next time….
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