Brown concrete, orange late-afternoon light on late-summer clouds, and a general mid-(twentieth-)century vibe.
Two Views on Final Views
A couple of months ago, I published what I anticipate will be my final pictures of St. Lawrence University, and with this post, I believe I’m releasing my final pictures from St. Lawrence County more generally. They’re an interesting pair, because I feel they capture the dichotomy of the area.
The first image is a high, dramatic drone shot into the Adirondacks, taken near Colton. Nature! Topology! Wilderness! (Clicking through to Flickr, you can see this shot was even featured in their Explore page.) This was perhaps what I was expecting when I moved to the North Country. This was the last such picture I captured on a rare quiet weekend while preparing to move out.
The second picture is one I took on the last day of classes at St. Lawrence. A charming view of our small town, I suppose, but also a vast, flat landscape with a few too many parking lots and strip shopping centers to quite constitute rural life. This was perhaps a better depiction of everyday life in the North Country, and a strong contrast with the drone views that I get now.
Living the #GRIDLIFE
Last weekend brought me to the #GRIDLIFE Circuit Legends event at Lime Rock Park. I finally finished processing pictures from the event. Today’s post features some of my favorites from the event, but there’s definitely more to come.
Let’s start with this BMW M3. This was my first time trying longer exposures with moving cars to get serious motion blur. I’m honestly thrilled with how it came out and can’t wait to try more.
#GRIDLIFE was also remarkable for the access available to the pits. Enthusiasts were just roaming around as mechanics got to work on their cars.
That provided opportunities for even kids to get to see the cars up close.
The bucolic nature of Lime Rock added some chill vibes to what would otherwise be a pretty high-adrenaline setting.
Nocones Garage built this race car from a Subaru 360.
The red Honda S2000 in the background wasn’t even part of the team with the two red Subaru BRZs, but they were all kind enough to keep their cars in a line.
I like the array of tools and materials in front of this BMW M4.
While the Acura RSX’s team worked aggressively on their car, the BMW M2 team in the next stall looked on.
I spotted this Toyota Supra by the gates coming into the show.
The owners of that BMW M2 earlier got their beast out onto the track.
Shots like this, with huge amounts of motion blur, are the kinds of dramatic moments that really got me excited to go through with the wasted shots necessary to capture the perfect ones.
This show wasn’t just a chance for me to expand my shooting abilities; I also practiced some new photo-processing techniques. I don’t normally do a ton of color grading, but shots like this one really feel richer with some amped up forest green.
Speaking of forests, this trio was stopped by the gate, too.
From a forest of trees to a forest of people surrounding an FD Mazda RX-7 making its way back to the pits.
I had a chance to look into some pretty nuts engine bays.
A Honda S2000 looks the part out on the track.
Beneath the Boss S14 body kit, this drift monster is still a Nissan 240SX.
As is this less-disguised example. Just look at those sparks!
Watching four cars drift in parallel was really something…
But this shot of bonkers tire smoke from an 86 really got me attention.
Tree Outlier
A cliff face may not seem the optimal spot for a tree, but there will always be specimens that go against the grain. (I couldn’t help myself.) The lights of the granary barbecue across the lake almost makes me think that this particular tree is pining (again, I’m sorry) to pick up its roots and go join the party.
Best Wishes for a Fast Recovery, Coachella Valley
“Coachella Valley was just battered by Hurricane Hilary.” — What an odd sentence to write. Today, we’re looking back to times when the idea of this dry lake bed being hit by a hurricane sounded like science fiction.
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Colton’s Dam
Every town between the high peaks of the Adirondacks and the low point of the St. Lawrence River seems to have its own modest hydroelectric dam to capture their slice of the accrued aqueous kinetic energy.
Last Light on a Gazebo
Is there any better place to settle in and watch the sunset than a cozy gazebo atop a cliff overlooking Mohonk Mountain House?
Forest Fortress
Rather than a fortress in a forest, this is a fortress composed of forest—or at least, it feels that way. While the far-off mountains and the lights of Palm Springs may be visible from the air, the ground-level setting is far more constrained and cozy.
P.S. Can you spot your humble photographer in this shot?
From the Beaches of Florianopolis, Brazil
The beach pictures from La Jolla Shores inspired me to revisit some of my other past beach shots—but these are from a bit farther away: Florianopolis, Brazil.
Applying the same low-contrast processing really revealed a lot more of the details on the clifftop figures. I’m amazed when I compare these shots with similar ones I processed years ago. It’s amazing what a decade of practice can do!
Cliffs and Sky: Mohonk
A big dramatic sunset sky and lake reflections provide great context to the wall of stone that is both Mohonk Mountain House itself, as well as the cliffs on which it rests.
A Double Look Back at La Jolla
Building from my “How Did I Miss These?” post from a few weeks ago, these images from La Jolla, California likewise escaped me years ago.
In this case, though, these images are a return to a return.
While I lived in La Jolla in 2007, these images of its beaches weren’t captured until I returned there in 2012.
This bright beach-going moment was also a chance to experiment with a new manifold of photoprocessing options.
Though I typically prefer high-contrast images, the soft sky and ocean hues just weren’t a natural fit for deep, dark shadows.
This is, to my memory, the first batch of photographs in which I’ve ever lowered the contrast significantly.
Lowering contrast while increasing the exposure led to these dreamlike images.
(Though a truck atop a narrow pier is perhaps a different kind of dreamlike.)
Lastly, we finish with a dramatic panorama of downtown San Diego. This one’s definitely worth clicking through to see at full size.
A Night in the Back Yard
Holiday gatherings with palms in place of pines are out of the ordinary to this northeasterner, but the strangest modification remains the outdoor dining.
Storm Rolls in View
The two people looking over the idyllic setting of Mohonk Mountain House from a clifftop gazebo makes this an official entrant in my “the view and the viewer” (alongside this one, this one, probably this one, and definitely this one.)
Rapid Patterns
Though there’s chaos in the turbulent flows of rapids through Stone Valley, I like the rhythm in the repeated lengthscale between crests. The long exposure smooths out the water, but the trees remain sharp and spiky.
Sunrise at the Golf Course
Warm morning light on palm fronds and mountain faces, placid reflections in the water hazards: I’m not much of a golfer, but images like this one help me to understand the appeal.
Decaseconds 