Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Nylons, Cactus and Haze.....




Today started out weird.  
What a man wears to work exemplifies who he is.  Even if his new favorite socks are nylons!  
On the road again!   I flew into Las Vegas tonight to the usual Delta plane landing sideways.  The flight into Las Vegas is like the worst, steepest sleigh ride ever.  Must be all the hot air.  By dusk I found my destination-Kingman AZ.  Some 90 plus miles of dirt, cactus and today, DUST!  My car and my enthusiasm took me up to Windy Point.  With any luck I would see a condor, rattlesnake, bunny or the like.  My Nevada luck kicked in..but not with wildlife.  It was the scene that unfolded before me.  One of those shots that I have not had the opportunity to record was right in front of me.  I love the depth that the ridges getting lighter further into the image create.  I have seen this seen somewhere before on paper.  The subject is the whole scene.  Textures of the first mountain ridge, the haze in the atmosphere, and the slightly visible layering of the ridges at the back/top of the photo gave me the shakes.   Sounds real dumb.  But it was beautiful.  The black and white as it is here is slightly pushed off saturation in post production.   I pushed the contrast pretty high to help with the front to back gradation.  About 3 minutes in post.  The photo is almost dead on to what I witnessed.  
At the same location I noticed a lone cactus that was begging for a portrait.  The contrast with the background created some interest.  I kept my distance.  My last experience with cactus in Arizona put me in the hands of a stranger and "tweezers".  I was lucky today.  If time will allow I hope to hit "777",  again.

2 comments:

linds said...

I wish I could see the world the way you do, and just pull over on the side of the road and create an amazing photo....one day....when I'm 50 too ;)

Unknown said...

I love the layers! You're right, great depth...I on the other hand am stuck counting cars. Didn't bring my camera. I didn't think I would have any time to shoot. So far I have been right. Hopefully tomorrow doesn't show me something to record. I have no means!!! I guess I could beg Don to let me borrow his camera....