HDR Photography
Through the long North Country winter (my favorite theme, of late), there are few activities more fun than bombing along empty back roads in my Mini. Camera on the seat next to me, tripod in the back, and gnarly snow tires beneath me. Adventure and strangeness and exploration: there’s always another road I’ve never before ventured down. In this photograph, I capture the experience: crusty Mini, open field, and the beginning of a lovely sunset.
After a (relatively) warm weekend, the North Country is set to be entombed once again in winter. Though we’ve been promised by the false weather prophets that this cold spell won’t match the ferocity of January’s efforts, I can’t help but think back to mornings of almost unreal atmospheric thermal energy. On the edge of St. Lawrence’s campus, the sky was clear and the sun rose and cars puttered to work as though everything was normal.
Legendary tuned cars abound in manga and anime—the overpowered monsters in unassuming guise who reveal their true (horse)power in the last seven minutes of each episode. In at least two that jump to mind (Wangan Midnight and Shakotan Boogie), Datsun Z cars are the chief culprits.
This particular Z has been hanging out in Berkeley’s South Campus neighborhood as long as anyone can remember, delivering supplies to I.B.’s Hoagies. Each year, it’s modified a little further towards some ultimate form that exists in the mind of its owner. In the mean time, I love the idea of this rough style monster out on delivery service.
I live above a four-way intersection, and see three or four big crashes a year—typically from drunk drivers who run the red light. This particular night, however, saw insanity in the intersection due to a multi-hour power outage. The normally orange-hued nighttime tarmac was, on this night, lit only by headlights, emergency flashers, and road flares. It was all very strange, very surreal, and the perfect subject for a photograph.
Part two of the promised double-post, I caught this while playing car photographer with my new f/1.4 lens. Some front damage notwithstanding, this little red Mini is a handsome car, and even better looking in HDR.
This shot was just taken to test out a new lens and to play with the depth of field, but I like it so much I’m posting it here. There’s something about that lime green that is just asking to be photographed. This is a car that would stand out pretty much no matter where it was parked.
While in Vancouver, BC, this weekend, this mid-1950’s Austin Healey 100 (check out that chopped windscreen!) blasted past us. (And I know it’s not technically a hot rod.) I just loved the driver’s expression and demeanor: hair blown back, sunglasses on, focused on the drive. The details of this picture are what really get me, though; the car was perfectly washed and waxed, and you can see reflections of both the road and the surrounding buildings in its perfect surface.
I had my own staging of Two-Lane Blacktop in central Oregon this weekend, with the company of this particularly lovely 911 Carrera 4S Cabriolet. This is grass seed country, and this particular weekend fell in the middle of the harvest. Long, perfectly maintained roads are intercut with forested hillsides and busy fields. By this point in the evening, however, nightfall brought calm with it.
For every sunny hilltop like the one above, there was a tree-lined valley. The setting sun really picks out the details of every treetop, but it’s a shame that Oregon has such a clean, healthy atmosphere. Without other molecules in the air to scatter the light, the sunsets lack the exciting colors of other parts of the country. This photograph captures the feeling of blasting down the road, wind in my hair, with only an occasional truck for company.
Decaseconds 