Exploring Place: Gates Pass

So this is yet another segment that I've been planing on... First off I wasn't planing on shooting at Gates Pass but I made this great portable kit (Strobist inspired) and I felt like I needed to justify making it. Yeah it weighs a ton and is huge but its all in a backpack that I can bring with me anywhere. I've decided to at the moment not show you what it looks like... maybe later when I use it again.

First off I just need to clarify what this project is all about. This isn't about making anything what you would call "relevant" in the traditional sense of the word. Its more about exploring places that would appear to be interesting locations for taking photos and seeing what I might be able to do with them in the future, getting comfortable with location shooting and putting these places to the test to actually see if they make good places for taking photos.

I started off at this like cottage thing up on a hill that has an amazing view of all the valleys in the area. I've been up there before (this time without flip-flops, smart move) and its always kind of been a place in the back of my mind that I would like to shoot at. Of course this is Tucson and its the middle of summer so needless to say it was a little hot. By the time I got up there I was dripping with sweat... of course that might have something to do with the 50+ pounds on my back and an uphill hike too.

I looked around a bit to get an idea of what I could do and where I could set up lights ect. (also to show you an idea of my surroundings) and well here's just a quick look at that:



Of course I had to also explore the interior of the cottage like thing... unfortunately not as pretty as the surrounding area.




Anyway I'm guessing your curious what I ended up with... Ok no problem here they are (oh and don't forget that you can click on any of the photos in any of my entries to get a larger view):

Photo 1:

This first one took a while for me to get the right angle and crop but I think it turned out ok. However, I did miss my focus which was a problem I had for most of the day. Thats what you have to deal with when you are your own art director, photographer, model and client... you loose focus (yeah I know, bad joke).















Photo 2:

I readjusted my camera and got a little closer... I was going for "bad ass" what do you think? Yeah I know its hard to take me seriously with such a nerdy shirt. But what a fun place to shoot, right?

















So here's my set up for the first...

Pretty simple right?

Photo 3:

This one was a bit tougher because I was really trying to get more light in the cottage to balance with the sun a little more. I ended up using all three SB-800 flashes on full power... still not quite enough. I know now what I would do to fix that next time. I wont bore you with that unless you ask so there you go.





...and here's my setup:

yup pretty straight forward...

Photo 4 & 5:

Yes they are almost the same photo... I missed my focus and because of that I felt the tight crop worked better because the background becomes more important... at least that's how I see it.

I posted both to get some feedback. I really liked the technique I used but this was at the end of my "exploration" and I was fucking tired so mistakes were made. I like it anyway though (you could call it a "happy accident") because this is an old jail cell and I think the dark look combined with the focus on the outside actually brings more relevance to the photo.

The technique I used was the Nikon high speed sync with the SB-800's. Just one on a light-stand and pointed down at me and of course the Pocket Wizard shutter release.





Sorry no "reveal" shots for this one but here's a few pics of the surrounding and a cool tag in the adjacent cell:


BONUS!
There's this craze on the internets with this whole HDR thing and I thought I would just give it a try and make some while I was out to just kind of test out the software I just got... It's nothing too spectacular as far as HDR photography goes but I thought they were fun. Maybe I'll do something with them in the future and really polish them up... time will only tell. Anyway here they are:


Well that's all please comment or ask me questions!