andrew_v's photostream  

This is another one of those images that I took relatively recently, but have edited on several different occasions, working it till I finally got it to where I had imagined it in my mind.

To me, one of my favorite things about this shot is that I can honestly say, it is extremely close to how I pictured the final product looking while I was photographing it. Recently, much of my long exposure landscape photography has been inspired by the work of Michael Levin and this image is no exception. What strikes me about his work is that it usually feels like it's working on only 4 of the zone (referencing the zone-system) as opposed to using all ten. I'd imagine that this isn't technically the case, but he produces his images in such a way that they appear in that manner. They seem to have a bright highlight, mid-tone highlight, mid-tone shadow and then strong shadow with seemingly not much else in between.

Another thing about this image is that it pushed me. I knew the result that I wanted and knew (generally) what needed to be done to get there. But, I had to try to learn a few new techniques to accomplish what I wanted. It feels good to push like that. There will most likely be a few of you who will disagree with this thought, but I enjoy when I am having to work equally as hard to pre-visualize the shot, capture the shot and then post-produce it. In fact, with some of my recent photography, some of the more difficult work has been done in post-processing as opposed to in camera.

This brings up the whole arguement of where the line is between producing natural images working mainly in camera, and producing images that rely almost entirely on post-processing to come alive. While this is a long enough topic to warrant a blog post all of it's own, I'll weigh in with a few of my thoughts. 1. Didn't the photography of Ansel Adams rely heavily on work done much after the actual photo was taken? 2. If you are pre-visualizing a shot in a way that a camera maybe cannot capture the scene, it's still incredibly important to weigh the end product and use your camera as a means to get as close, technically and creatively speaking to your end goal as possible. (Meaning in my mind, it's not an either work in camera or work in photoshop… it's an intelligent weaving of the two to reach the desired outcome.

Anyways, I've talked enough. I'll have to write out my full thoughts on the subject sometime soon.

I took this a few days back and have forced myself to edit it slowly. There are times my excitement to show a new image gets the best of me and I'll rush to post it and find myself viewing it a week later filled with ideas for how I could have made it better. That isn't to say I won't be doing that with this image… I tend to be someone who is constantly trying to improve upon work both future and past, but I wanted to take my time.

It was so quiet at this spot. Come to think of it, I made a really concerted effort to take my time in capturing this photo as well. There are benefits, at least for me, in taking my time. I think I enjoy the process more… and my images become more intentional. Maybe I truly am the only one who benefits from the intentionality I am trying to create with my work, but I enjoy it. And it's worth it.

I love the opposites in this image. Everything is liquid and flowing (including the sky) except for the dock which is solid. I decided to produce this in a way that mirrors those opposites with a dark image overall contrasted against the dock.

One of my favorite things about photography is it's ability to capture what the human eye cannot… Time.

This is a three minute exposure of some old pilings on Clearwater Beach.

This is a 25 second exposure of a boat ramp in Safety Harbor.

This is a 30 second exposure of a boat ramp that's on the side of the Clearwater Causeway which runs across part of Tampa Bay and Safety Harbor. I had to move a little quick to take it in between all the boats that were coming in for the night, but managed to get a good clean exposure.

You can visit my blog for a before and after look at this image… - bit.ly/zdYU7n