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Happy 4th of July!

Press "L" to see a bigger view on darnk background....its worth it

Some would say the path to Freedom is expression free of boundaries and constraints while being yourself......but I think Freedom has a lot more to do with finding ways to cross chasms and gaps in our way of thinking and dropping the binds that cause us to become islands...

"What is freedom? Freedom is the right to choose: the right to create for yourself the alternatives of choice. Without the possibility of choice and the exercise of choice a man is not a man but a member, an instrument, a thing."
— Archibald MacLeish

Info about the shot:
Canon 5D Mark II
Zeiss 21mm
ISO 200
360 Secs @ F/8

I lit the bridge with an flashlight. Uploaded to LR 3 with some temp tweaks. Processed in SIlver Effex with a slight Selenium tone, dodging and heavy burning/ Lense falloff vignette added and burned the edges all the way around.

Pressing "L" provides you with a more pleasing and larger view on a dark background.

Stu Jenks and I spent most of this particular evening shooting the shit and enjoying the hell out of one another's company. Stu and I have similar politics....and like me...Stu just likes to tell it like it is.

This shot was all Stu.....he danced with that hoop and Christmas lights all the way through the frame. All I did was set up the composition and push the shutter. Stu has this rhythm when he paints with the hoops. You can practically keep time to it. I was standing behind the camera watching him and I realized I had a huge grin on my face. I never saw anything like it.....he was in a zone that I'm not sure many of us can get to....completely immersed in the process. It was at that moment I realized Stu was an artist....and I was just a guy taking pictures.

I joked with him I was gonna name the shot "Stu....working the pumice." Then Janet cruised into the area from the darkness and somehow the title took on a double meaning and mentions of the urban dictionary and our new term would be found there shortly....hilarious...

I shoot pretty wide...a Zeiss 21mm....Stu shoots with a Rollei and his focal length eqautes to about a 50mm. So his shot of this tree was tight and up close....I was right next to him and wider than wide on the scene. A square crop seemed more fitting...with his light painting and all.

Post processing....a white balance adjustment to draw out more stars....a sepia tone, a green filter to draw out some of the pine boughs, and some lightly burned edges on the photo to draw the eye in to the center.....

Canon 5d Mark ii
Zeiss 21mm
600 seconds @ f/8
ISO 100
Lightroom/Silver Effex

I hope you enjoy viewing this one as much as I enjoyed hanging out with Stu and processing it.

Make sure you press "L" to see it bigger and better.

From the full moon in June, Mono Mills Pumice Flats...illuminated with a warm bulbed flashlight....

Eight separate 8 minute frames stacked for a total of 64 minutes of total exposure. Stacked in startrails.exe, processed in Lightroom and Silver Effex Pro.

ALthought it looks like daytime...its actually close to 2300 hours in mid June on Tioga Pass in this shot.

Andy Frazer and I were shooting up on Tioga Pass during the Mono Lake Night Photography Festival/Workshop.

The road was closed but slight access was still available. The road just opened three days after this shot was taken. The lakes were frozen, ice everywhere, and lots and lots of snow.

This was take under the full moon and all that white stuff in the foreground is Lake Ellery.

This was a 6 minute shot @ ISO 200 f/8

Thanks for visiting.....

Stu Jenks , Scott Martin , and I teamd up to light paint, hoop dance, and compose this shot.

Scott and I have a tradition to collaborate for one shot while shooting Bodie @ night. We have taken some 1-2 hour shots together than came out quite nice (see Here and Here ). We spent almost the entire night trying to get a comp to work on an icon but no matter how hard we tried to force our will on the subject we just couldn't get it together. Scott was ready to throw in the towel....I was irritated at getting NOTHING for the entire night so we took a walk. We ended up hooking up with Stu (whom I like very much) and I talked the two of them into heading over to this broken down rock walled building. We had 1.2 hours left on our permit to shoot and I knew a long exposure was getting dicey.

Stu, if you visit his link through the hyperkink on his name above, shoots some beautiful square format film based night shots. His introduction of flame and lights into his scenes are incredible. He often uses a coppery toned finish on his prints (thus the treatment here to this shot I did in his honor). Scott on the other hand is a perfectionist at light painting. I don't think there is a better light painter out there imho. Watching Scott work is impressive as is watching Stu's rhythm and creativity.

Basically we all three pitched in on this. I was more of a pedestrian really....the other two were the super stars. We didn't really talk Stu into much...he's game for almost anything...so he did his hoop dance along the missing roof (seen above with the 5 hoops of light). I was afraid Stu was gonna fall backward and break his neck...or arm at the least. Scott painted the doorway and walls and I added light to the back wall and grassy floor of the building with a gold colored reflector.

Stu sets up his Rollei behind me for a tight shot of the subject and since I'm so wide with the 21 Zeiss I have to get right up in close to get the scene right. Scott opted not to set up....I think he was burned out and maybe not in the mood.

I set up my shot for Seven 6 minute exposures. Stu would do his hoop dance in the first frame and Scott and I would light paint the next frame in case one of us made a mistake we wouldn't ruin the whole stack. We knew we had one shot @ it so Stu got to work. He did a great job and Scott and I took over. While the remaining frames clicked away we wandered the area.

All in all....a great and memorable night. It was a total pleasure working with Stu and Scott. The first time I think I ever worked with more than one person.

I don't normally process my photos like this...but Stu had a serious influence on me....so much so I have sought out a medium format film camera and will be shooting the next full moon with B/W film.

So Stu and Scott....thanks for the willingness to work together....I think this turned out great.....the copper toning, hoop dancing, and square format is in Stu's style..the light painting 100% Scott and his steady hand....and the star trails and gold toned light painting me....

I hope you enjoy this.....I know it was damn fun to make.