Monday, October 2, 2023
Sunny days, that is what the weather holds for us for the foreseeable future it would seem. There have been quite a few of the sunny days in the recent past as well. For those who have followed my work for any length of time, you will know that I really don’t like working in sunny conditions. Of course, not too long ago I made a case for going out during those times that you typically wouldn’t, so there’s that. With the weather not really doing much to add any variety, I was left deciding if I wanted to forego the beginning of the Fall Color this year and hope that I had some better conditions develop by the time peak hit. It was seeming as if to get the early color, I was going to have to brave the horrible conditions that were a sunny day.
Now, we all know that I am not one to get overly excited about the Fall Color because it is just another element to my photographs and not the reason that I go out. In fact, last year, I spent some time talking about how I just wasn’t feeling the Autumn Season and decided to just focus on my decay photography. My arguments for both types of photography still stand, and when I decided to go out today it wasn’t because I felt like I had to go in order to photograph some colorful trees. In fact, the reason that I left the house was to photograph an early ’60’s Impala that I had spotted in Lenoir on Saturday. This car was sitting beside of a shop along one of the roads that I typically travel when I am cleaning the carbon out of the Miata. I hadn’t seen this car before, but it caught my eye this time. The patina was perfect on it, but the location was less than ideal. It was going to be an isolation subject for sure, but I was going to have to get permission since it was well within the property, and surrounded by signs indicating that they didn’t want me to just walk up and take a look.
Since this was a business, I was able to get the phone number and I called to see if anyone would answer. I just got an answering machine which didn’t surprise me since it was the weekend. I was inspired to photograph this car despite the location and the fact that the weather wasn’t all that great in the coming days. The car did have a building that was offering some amount of shade which I figured I could take advantage of if I timed the shoot just right. It was just going to be a matter of how to time it since the building faced West with the car on the North side. It was going to get some amount of sun throughout the day, but there was a trailer in front of the car that might just block enough of the sun for me to work in the afternoon.
When Monday came around, the weather was….you guessed it….sunny all day. I had some business to take care of in the studio during the early part of the day so while I was downstairs, I called the business to see if I could swing by and get some photos. Well, I got the answering machine again well after the time the business was supposed to be open. I finished up what needed to be done and decided that I would just drive out there and give it a try. I had also noticed some trees starting to change up around Blowing Rock and felt that I might be able to get something there potentially if the car turned out to be a bust.
I grabbed my gear and headed down the road to Lenoir. The sun was bright, and I didn’t like that one bit. I was just hoping that the shadows were going to work with me enough to make the photos possible. When I got there, I drove by slowly and noticed that the vehicles outside were different than what I had seen over the weekend. The sun was also shining on the car much too strong at this point. Since I was already past the business, I just drove down some side roads and looked for alternate subjects that would work in the existing light. I found nothing, and within a half hour or so, I was back at my original destination. I pulled up to the front of the business and checked the door. It was locked so I knocked. There was no answer, and no signs that anyone was inside. I lingered for a moment and then went back to the truck to get a business card which I used to write a note about my desires to photograph the car. I left the card in the door and hopped back in the truck. I was off to Blowing Rock at this point with nothing photographed as of yet.
When I got into Blowing Rock, I saw the few trees that had started to change, but they weren’t all that picturesque, so I decided to just keep on driving through. I picked up the Blue Ridge Parkway as I was leaving the main part of Blowing Rock and went out to see what Price Lake and the Cone Manor were looking like. Neither offered any potential photos for me with the existing lighting and the crowds already forming up. I had to wait behind somebody at Cone Manor who was waiting for that one parking spot to be vacated by a family that was leaving. This is usually the clue that I don’t need to be at a location because too many people spoil the photo and usually ruin my mood.
I ended up headed North along the Parkway to some areas that I had thought might be changing a little. Shortly after crossing the US 321 exit, I came to one of the locations I had in mind. This was a lone tree in a field that I had photographed a few years back but didn’t have much luck with it at all. I had gone too late in the day which forced the scene into shadow which didn’t help the compositional options at all. This time, I was a lot earlier in the day and saw that the tree and most of the hillside were in full sun. The light didn’t look bad at all, and I kind of liked the shadows approaching the fence line. I pulled off the road and got out to look at things in a bit more detail. The tree was about 60% changed and the sunlight was making the colors pop quite nicely. The distant hill had some golden trees splashed among the remaining green trees which I liked. The fence was in shadow which gave a very nice contrast to the hard lines which also worked.
It was something, but I was going to need a bit more interest in the sky for it to really come together as a photo. Since I could see clouds to the left that were headed over the scene, I went ahead and got the camera out of the bag and tried both the 70-200mm and the 24-70mm lenses to see which offered the best framing. After a couple of switches, I ended up going with the standard zoom between 60 and 70mm for the right framing of the scene. Before mounting it to the tripod, I added a polarizer to the filter holder to add a bit of punch to the colors. Once I had it all built up, I found the perfect composition and got the camera locked down. I made a quick check of the exposure and then waited for the clouds to move through the scene.
When I say “move through,” that is my optimism talking. In reality, the clouds would roll in behind the tree and then when they emerged on the other side, they would start to dissipate into thin air. By the time they made it to the other ridge, they were usually completely gone. This happened with at least a dozen clouds that came through and I was left with very few options for compositions. I tried some with no clouds in the sky which were very easy, but just not effective as a composition. I’m a fan of negative space, but what I was looking at here was just empty space which was completely different. I needed to have some clouds in the scene, and I wanted to get three of them if possible. That only happened twice in about 20 minutes, but that gave me options when I got home.
This first composition of the day wasn’t one that I was overly excited about because of the blah sky, but I had something in the bag now which meant that I could at least play in Lightroom when I got home. I was seeing that the shadows were getting further up the hill, so I decided to call it quits here when I saw no more clouds lining up for their turn at the disappearing cloud game. I just continued to head North on the Parkway because I wanted to see just how bad the road closures were going to be beyond US 421 which I had recently noticed was closed once again.
Before getting to that point, I passed over the Continental divide and thought that there might be some decent color around there, so I pulled down a side road where I lived for a short time during my Junior year at ASU. In a few minutes I could tell that the color wasn’t going to be good at all down here, but I knew that there were a few barns in the area that I might get lucky with. I just continued on down the road and crossed several locations off as I passed by. What I didn’t cross off was a very interesting looking pickup truck that was sitting under some trees. As I was driving by, it kind of looked like a Dodge, but it was lower and wider than one. I couldn’t identify it, but it was kind of cool looking.
While it wasn’t freshly restored, it didn’t have a lot of the indications of age that I tend to gravitate towards. I saw no rust, no patina, and it looked like it was pretty well complete in terms of trim and body parts. I couldn’t shake the look of the truck though. It was just that cool to see. I wanted to get a photograph of it, but that was going to be rather difficult. The sun was still very high in the sky which was causing some pretty harsh shadows. I would have been much happier if it was cloudy, but I had to work with what I had. The next problem that I was going to run into was there were two buildings behind the truck. The one to the rear was a bright white structure, and the one to the driver’s side was a large brown building. Just in front of the truck was a light brown post that held a large sign for the property. There was a house to the rear on the passenger side, and just a lot of distractions all around the truck. I was about 15 feet from the roadway, so I didn’t have much room to work which added to the complexity of the situation.
I still wanted to see what I could do with this old truck. The house that was nearest to it looked to be unoccupied. The farm down the long driveway opposite of the truck looked to be in operation so I drove down that driveway to try and find somebody. There was no sign of activity at all, and the vehicles that were down there had all been there for some time looking at the sediment on them. I went back up to the main house and knocked on the door. There were signs of a renovation going on there, but no answer at the door. Looking around, I found no other options for finding an owner. I hated to let this go because I just didn’t know if the truck would be here at another time, and I was kind of falling in love with the lighting on it.
Looking at the angles I would need to work with, I found out that my best shooting position was going to be right at the edge of the road, or possibly in the road. That would keep me within the easement and make me feel a little better about shooting this old truck. I went ahead and rolled the dice. I parked the 4Runner right on the edge of the road in the gravel parking area where the truck was parked. I parked it far enough away that it wouldn’t show up in the chrome, but still close enough so it didn’t look like I was up to something. I quickly pulled out the camera and mounted the long lens to it figuring that I could use the compression to help minimize the background. Well, that lens put me square in the middle of the street which I wasn’t comfortable with. I needed to get in closer, so I swapped out to my standard lens once again.
This allowed me to get right at the edge of the road, but I was still having a hard time eliminating the distracting buildings. I found one angle that worked fairly well but forced a bit of the white building to the rear of the truck into the scene. I shot a few exposures from here thinking that I might be able to minimize it in post. I still wasn’t being run off, or challenged so I tried to work the shot best that I could without getting too close. I liked the angle I got as I moved further to the front of the truck, but that put both buildings well within the frame. I had the camera down as low as I could go without extending the center column and having it go horizontal. I needed to get lower, so I did just that which got the camera about eight inches off the deck. Here was where I had another problems pop up.
As I mentioned, I was positioned right at the edge of the road and the pavement was a few inches higher than the gravel that the tripod was sitting on. I was actually in the road, which meant that I was a few inches higher than the camera which was quite low to the ground. I think that the body was about five inches above the pavement that I was kneeling on. This made composing the shot quite difficult since my 5DS R doesn’t have an articulating screen. This is something that I usually don’t miss, nor think about, but in this instance, it would have been very helpful. As it was, I pretty much laid down on the pavement so that I could see the LCD (no way I was going to be able to use the viewfinder to set the shot up). There was a lot of estimations involved in how the shot was framed because I just couldn’t see what I was doing at all. I knew the general placement of everything so I just guesstimated at where the camera was pointed and set the focus on the headlight which I could make out.
I fired off a couple of frames hoping that nothing was moving and that I had the composition framed correctly. Thinking that I had it right, I pulled the camera out of the ballhead and checked the image review to make sure that I had the image that I thought that I did. Much to my surprise, the image was as perfect as it was going to be. The low perspective solved all of the issues that I had been concerned about. Yeah, you could still see both of the buildings, but they were minimized to the point where I really didn’t see them as a distraction. The upward perspective helped to highlight the fruit in the tree above which I liked if for no other reason there was a color contrast introduced to the scene. There was no sense in working the scene anymore. Had I had permission to be there, I would have moved in to get some isolations, but that was not even all that important since the chrome was shiny enough to cause cameo problems if I had tried. I was satisfied with this one, and I knew that I had a winning image on my hands from this quick stop.
When I got the images home, it was indeed this final composition that hit a home run with me. I just loved how it turned out and short of cropping a bit off the top and bottom to emphasize the length of the truck, the framing turned out perfect. I did the first edit in full color which was not all that easy since the truck and the trees were of a similar shade. I had to play with the hues a bit in the scene to get the separation that I needed, but once I had that the photo just kept getting better and better. When I was shooting it, I had the passing idea of doing it as a black and white, which I still thought would work. I just didn’t want to discard the color image because it had turned out so well. I just made a virtual copy and did a fresh edit on that file as a low contrast black and white. When I was done with that edit, I was equally as happy with it as I had been with the color. I felt there was no reason to choose between them since this might be the only time I ever get a chance to photograph a Hudson pickup truck. Yeah, this one was certainly unique, and I wanted it to have a special place in my collection of old iron images.
When I finished up with the Hudson, I made my way back to the Parkway and headed North again. I didn’t find anything else worth photographing along the way and eventually came to US 421 where the Parkway was closed down. I just followed the detour signs as I knew they would put me on US 221 towards Jefferson. I just didn’t know what the deal was with the area between Hwy 16 and 18 since I knew the Parkway was close South of Hwy 16 but was hoping that it was open North of that intersection. The detour took me out past Hwy 16 which told me that things were still closed past Jumpinoff Rocks. It was looking like I was going to access the Parkway off of Hwy 18 which wasn’t far from Doughton Park which I wanted to check out anyway to see how the color was looking.
As I was going down Hwy 18, I branched off to explore a bit and found myself at a location that I had seen before. There was an old horse trailer situated on the side of a driveway going up to a construction office. I had stopped here once before on a cloudy day and thought about photographing the trailer. The light was too flat and there wasn’t enough interest to the trailer then, but with the sunlight being so bright right at the moment, the colors seemed to pop on the trailer, and I was really liking what I was seeing. I pulled up into the driveway and got a closer look. I didn’t think that I was going to be able to get a compelling overall shot of the trailer, but that wasn’t what caught my eye anyway. What I was wanting to work with was actual condition of the metal and I knew that I was going to concentrate on detail shots more than anything.
I looked around and saw a sign on the fence where the office buildings were and gave it a quick read. Essentially, it was a No Trespassing sign, and it was of the type that I would want to give a fair amount of consideration to. I did see a pickup at one of the offices, so I drove up to that door and got out to knock. I heard a voice inside, so I opened the door. The look on his face was one that told me he wasn’t expecting company at all, so I quickly introduced myself and explained the reason for being there. As it turned out, the trailer did not belong to the company, nor did the property that it was parked on. However, the driveway where I would be working did belong to the company. He was happy to let me get some photos from the driveway which was all I needed to hear.
I pulled back through the gate and off to the far side of the driveway before getting my camera out. This time, I went with the telephoto lens since I was planning on shooting detail shots and didn’t want to get too close. Once I got the camera all built up, I started to work my way from back to front on this trailer looking for areas that made sense compositionally. Since I normally don’t do much with these trailers, I wasn’t all that familiar with the different angles that I could shoot which slowed me down a bit. This was a good thing because I was really having fun with the colors and textures. Finding the right angles kept my mind engaged with what I was doing, and I was finding all kinds of compositions that I felt were really strong.
The areas that kept my interest the most were the wheels which had a beautiful red weed growing up between the tires for that bit of added interest. That plant was duplicated at the doorway on the side which turned into another composition as I moved through the different areas of the trailer. No matter where I pointed the camera, I was met with this vibrant blue which contrasted to the rust tones so well. The shadows from the different elements also added more dimension to an already visually interesting subject. Since I had permission to be here, I decided to take my time with the compositions and really try to get a few that were successful. This is always the approach that I recommend because it allows you to get very familiar with the subject.
Part of that familiarity allowed me to really see the fender and how it fit in with the side of the trailer. There were braces that were situated on either side of the fender that I chose to use as a graphical element. I picked the side where I could get the framing to show a similar curve in the opposite corner and then used one of the main structural braces in shadow to frame the composition. What I was looking at was a really cool collection of shapes all dressed in this interesting mixture of cool toned paint and very warm rust tones. The body lines added a bit of visual interest in the way of diagonals that were in opposition to the more vertical stains of rust across the paint. This was the specific area that I had first spotted which caused me to want to photograph the trailer in the first place. By taking my time, I was able to really home in on the composition that would allow me to show exactly what I was most interested in. The fact that this turned into an abstract image was just the icing on the cake because what we are looking at here is not nearly as important as the fact that we are looking.
I know that sounded a little confusing and it might very well be. It is currently 11:30 and my brain is getting sleepy. However, I know the key to an abstract image is being visually interesting while not telling the viewer what exactly they are looking at. It is these types of images that ask many more questions than they answer. For those of you that read the blog, you will have a lot of those answers, but think about seeing this one hanging on a wall without introduction. It would cause you to look and try to figure out what it is. While you are looking, the hope is that you will get pulled into it and realize that you really love the way that it looks. Then it can become something that you get lost looking into, instead of just a passing glance as you walk across the room. Art should aways be engaging, and that is my goal when I make these photographs.
Of course, I realize that there are many more compositions to be found here that aren’t abstract in nature. There are also compositions that tell a story by using the location as an element. By this point in my time here, I was looking for just such a composition. I had assumed that I wouldn’t be getting an overall composition because the scene was a little on the complex side. there was a large piece of rusty farm equipment to the rear of the trailer, and quite a few rolls of hay beyond that. On the other end of the trailer was a jumbled tree line, but I didn’t think that the farm equipment would let me get a good angle on the trailer from either the front or the rear. It was so close that a straight on shot from the side would have to include it as well. I really figured that my best bet was going to be from the front with such an angle as to minimize the farm equipment to the rear.
The problem with photographing the trailer from the front was the open door that was very much rusted and showed an orange red hue over too much of the surface to be a foreground element. It also messed up the lines of the front of the trailer which was a 5th wheel design. I pondered my options and decided to omit the door and use the opening as a framing element to the composition. This would allow me to concentrate on the most important part of the trailer which was the area around the wheels. As I looked through the camera, I started to see a composition taking place. I was going to be able to use the bales in the background to help tell the story here. It gave depth, and an element that went with the trailer. The piece of rusted equipment just kind of blended into the scene and didn’t cause much of a distraction at all.
The resulting composition was one where you knew that the entire trailer wasn’t in the frame, but it really didn’t bother you. The attention was pulled from the trailer to the background and then back to the peeling paint which became the subject once again for this photograph. To keep things from being too intense, I used one of my favorite color profiles that I can only use on a handful of images because of how it renders the colors. This was one that just fit that profile, or I guess I should say that the profile fit the subject. This one brings out more of the reds in a scene and desaturates things a good bit. Ironically, this made everything look more natural and there were fewer visual contrasts throughout the scene. It just seemed to work, and Toni even said that she liked it and thought that it turned out cool. Coming from someone who is less interested in my decay photos, that is a really big seal of approval in my book.
As I continued to work my way around the trailer, I was still looking for abstract compositions as well as more storytelling ones. My eyes found an abstract composition first though. This one, much like the fender shot was all about the shapes with the brace and the fender. I changed direction of the camera so that the shadows were different, and I opted for a tighter portrait orientation for this shot. I really wanted to focus on the way that this trailer felt. I wanted to create a photograph that you want to reach out to touch, already knowing what it will feel like. The rough texture of the rust along with the smooth paint, and the delicate flaking portions of the paint all work together in harmony just like the colors do. The brace looks like a handle to grab ahold of, but also provides an arch that matches the curve of the fender in the opposite corner. This is where photographing rust shines for me, there is just no better way to photograph textures than to work with aged steel.
As a final composition on this trailer, I decided to go for the full on shot that I had yet been able to accomplish. I knew that it wasn’t going to work from the front, and I was not sure it would work from the rear, but I wanted to give it a shot. I ended up standing almost back at the road to get the right perspective with the long lens. I didn’t want any distortion for this shot because the farm equipment at the rear of the trailer didn’t need to be any larger than it was. By compressing the scene a bit, I was able to put more emphasis on the front section which would minimize the distraction to the rear. It turned into a very simple photograph, but it seemed to be quite effective as I was looking through the LCD.
I fired off a few different exposures with slightly different framing before I decided I had what I needed. The last frame was number 56 for the day which wasn’t too bad considering I had gone out during the middle of the day when there were no clouds. This is not something that I would normally do, but if you take a look back at my recent treks, you might see that I’m doing it more and more these days. There are some benefits when it comes to the way that colors are rendered, but it limits so many compositions and directions that I can shoot which makes a sunny day less appealing to me when it comes to photography. Even with that in mind, treks like this prove that there is no “bad light,” only bad decisions on how to harness it. I’m hoping that I am making better decisions on how to harness the light that I have been given. I know that I am coming back with more workable photographs on sunny days than I ever have before which makes me think I’ve got it figured out, at least a little bit.
Thank you for joining me on today’s trek….well, according to the clock chime, it is now officially yesterday’s trek. It felt good to get back out again after more than a week away from going out in the field. That doesn’t mean that I’ve been slacking though. I had a very successful portrait session last week that started out as a request for a headshot. During out consultation it was determined that they were actually needing to build images for a comp card since they were wanting to get started in modeling. What started as a single photo, turned into a half dozen looks with us working both outside and in the studio. In the end, I delivered 21 photographs which will be more than enough to fill a comp card and start a portfolio. It was an amazing experience and one that I learned a lot from. I’ve also got another shoot scheduled for next week that I am about to start preparing for. I’m also working on another styled portrait shoot that is requiring building up a full set based around two different outfits. I might do a quick blog entry about these three shoots when they are all said and done because they are each going to represent a bit of growth on my part as a photographer. If you are interested in getting in front of my lens, let’s chat about it. The consultations are always free, and the resulting photos are getting better and better.
If you are like me and have no want to get in front of the lens, consider showing your support by ordering a print of your favorite photographs. This is a big part of my business and what allows me to go out on treks like the one I’ve written about here. There is no better way to enjoy photography than to hold a tangible print in your hands because it doesn’t rely on your monitor being calibrated correctly, or the screen brightness being accurate. When you see a print, you are looking at the photo the way it was intended to be seen.
Also, keep in mind that even though I have been remiss in my workshops this year, I am still offering mentorship sessions both short and long term. If there is something in photography that you are wanting to improve on, or even learn from the ground up, I might be just the right fit for you. Consultations are free and we can look at what you are needing. If I can help, I’ll let you know the best way to achieve your goal and we can go from there. it all starts with a simple phone call or email.
I hope you enjoyed this one.
Until next time…
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