It’s amazing how industrial areas can be so Terminator like intimidating. I was shooting with my friend Debra at a gravel quarry and there were all these machines, pipes, conveyors and everything else. The randomness of where everything went and the question of what they did was kind of scary. This shot kind of shows the feel of what I felt. The sky that evening helped things too. Shot with a GH2 and processed in CApture One and worked a bit on the ipad.
As you may know by reading the blog I am in the Palouse running a fun and exciting workshop. Visit www.podas.info to view the images and activities. This image was taken at a property near endicott. This very nice and interesting man has built an old time Texaco gas station out in the middle of no where. There are old cars, old gas pumps and other cool stuff. This is the from of one of the old cars. There are so many good images coming out of this trip. I’ll have more soon.
So, what do you do when you go to an industrial site (Gravel Quarry) and want to make the place look gritty and sort of apocalyptic? You use a good camera and some of the app you can find on the iPad. This shot was of a big old dump truck at the quarry, obviously not used much. I shot a variety of angles of it and this is the one I selected. I like the flat tire, low angle, and the hose coming off of it. I pulled the image into the iPAd and used SNapSpeed to adjust the drama, grit, and selective colors. Enjoy!
A week or so ago Debra, my shooting partner and friend called and said let’s go shoot. It was a warm day (and I don’t move fast on warm days) and I said slowly OK. I knew I needed to go out and do some shooting. It’s great therapy especially when you need to clear the mind. It was also one of those evenings where it looked like a storm could blow in any minute. So, we headed off and we had no place in particular in mind to go. Then I remembered a place my son and I stumbled upon a few years ago and using my iPad with satellite view I located the gravel pit and we headed there. The gates were open so we went in and we spent nearly two hours there shooting Debra went her way and I went mine. At one point when I was coming back from the dredging area Debra was standing on this old dump truck. So, I said pose and as Debra always does she struck a few unusual poses. I love this one as it just works on so many levels. I shot it with my iPhone, even though I had my big boy camera with me. I wanted to use the ProHDR app to capture the details in the sky and not lose detail in Debra. Damn, it worked great. I then took the image into my iPad and played even more adding border, grain, more dramatic light effects etc.. Man, this si so much fun. So, here it is. I think it is one cool, bad ass shot!
Time to change from B&W images to some wow color. Today’s image was made on some abandoned trains not to far from where I live. I have been shooting these for several years now. They are parked on a siding off the road and pretty well hidden and they deteriorate further on every trip I make there. Actually pretty creepy. You are missing the smell that goes along with these images. To shoot this properly I had to shoot three exposures and HDR them together. Then I took them into iPad and used Snapseeed and PhotoForge to make the final image. Kind of surreal, which it is.
Here is a real simple shot made in Antarctica. I haven’t posted any rust shots for a while and thought today would be a good day to bring you rust. This was a cover of a tank hatch at a whaling station in Antarctica. I took some creative liberties with in on Snapseed on the iPad. I like it!
I am home now and major catch up mode after weeks on the road. Adventures took me form Ireland to China and then to Chicago. Great stuff, great PODAS workshops, super nice new friends. But, it is always good to be home. I have a few small trips in the next few weeks before heading to the Palouse for a major PODAS workshop there. Also, we launched a new workshop yesterday in the UK with Miss Anelia and Drew Gardner. Check it out!
One of the things I love to do when visiting a new location is just to drive a dn look around and see what can be found. Near Skamania, Washington I found an old repair shop and shot a ton of pictures there, some of which I have already posted on this blog. Today is another of a gas pump of all things. I love the old red pump and junk around it. Shot with a GH2 and enhances a bit on my iPad with a few different apps. Kind of cool.
By the time you read this I’ll be in Ireland. I pre-scheduled this post and it is a follow up to yesterdays image. More from the same mechanic’s yard. This is a rusty wheel thingy.
While at my sons wedding a few weeks ago I went exploring and found this corner mechanics shop with a variety of old and rusty things. The place was a photographers dream thus for the next day or so you will see images from there. This was one that was just randomly nailed to the wall of the building. Why a license plate and a horseshoe? Don’t know but it caught my eye. There were old tricks, gears, junk, and even a truck that was sold old it had to be from the thirties. It had a big Redwood tree still on it’s bed and there was tree growing out of it. Look for more soon.
One of the most fun things to do (in my opinion) is to get in the car and go explore. I did this the past weekend and I have more shots to post from that adventure. Today’s image is one I did in Michigan at a place called Sunset Juuque. It’s kind of like a Disneyland of junk. All neatly arranged in these little set ups by the clever owner. This is one I call Sad Gypsy. I discovered this place because I was just driving around. No matter where I go I like to drive and explore. If I see something I stop and check it out. A lot of the times I end up shooting it. You have to capture the moment. Odds are this set up is not there anymore. It could have moved or just rotted away. You have to get it when you see it. This was done with my basic set up of a Canon 5dII and 24-105 lens.