I woke up early this morning so I headed out to see if there was any sunrise magic happening. I ended up on a narrow country road along this bean field. I was especially attracted to the way the seed pods on the grass seemed to glow.
After the field, I turned my attention to this old barn. I like the juxtaposition of the old barn and the modern windmills in the background. Of course, both images benefit from the color contrast between the blue sky and the warm yellow light.
I’m excited that a selection of my work is now available at The Trafik Jam at 101 S. Orchard in Mackinaw, Illinois. The Trafik Jam is a new shop that carries a wide variety of local artists work ranging from jewelry to furniture. Besides using photography as a creative outlet, I also enjoy creating metal folk art and furniture pieces. A few of my pieces are available in Mackinaw, including a cattail sculpture, a wine rack and a glass top sofa table.
They also have a few of my photos for sale, including a couple of cornfield sunsets and a large print of the photo below from California.
I went exploring the other night just before sunset and ended up at this old, abandoned bridge over the Mackinaw River near Tremont. I love the way the rusty steel beams seem to glow in the evening twilight. As old as the bridge looks, it’s actually only been closed for a few years. It has a steel structure, but the deck is made of wooden planks about four inches thick. I can remember driving over it not too long before it was closed, but now I’m cautious even walking across.
What better way to celebrate the 4th of July than with a backyard barbecue and fireworks? We were fortunate this year in that we celebrated with friends on the 3rd and with our children and their families on the 4th.
The image above captures the spirit of the holiday, but it’s actually a composite of several photos. The yard and sky is made of two frames, both taken from our back deck. The first was with the yard lights on to show the details of the grass and trees. The second was a 5 minute exposure (light off) to record the stars. Since it was such a long exposure, I needed to use a special tracking mount for the camera that tracks the motion of the stars and avoids steaks (star trails). Since the camera is moving with the stars, the foreground was blurred in that frame. No problem, just combine the two frames to retain the best of both.
Lastly, I decided to add some fireworks. We certainly had lots of them around the neighborhood, but most weren’t visible through the trees. Instead, I used some fireworks photos from a couple of years ago at the Delavan Fall Festival and simply dropped them in behind the trees and in front of the stars.
I’m not sure I’d call the finished product a photograph, but it’s an interesting image.
Two of my recent posts have featured the same cornfield and the same sunset, and it’s interesting to look at the two photos side by side. Keep in mind that they were taken from the same general location along the edge of the field. The photo on the right was taken 20 minutes later and is much more literal. You’d easily identify the subject as a corn field, at least you would if you’re from the Midwest. The photo on the left is more abstract. If you were to see it from across the room, you’d probably identify the sunset component, but perhaps not the corn. In fact, your first impression is probably related to strong colors and the geometry of the photo rather than the subject.
The two photos have a lot in common. Both are vertical orientations. Both feature a cornfield in the foreground and a sunset in the background, with the sun’s hotspot in about the same position. Both are framed with the horizon about 1/3 of the way from top, so they’re 1/3 sky and 2/3 foreground. (As a general rule, you don’t want the horizon line to be in the center of the frame, but rules are made to be broken.)
In terms of timing, the photo on the left was taken 20 minutes before the one on the right. The important point of the time is that the first photo was taken about one minute before sunset, and the second was taken about 19 minutes after sunset. As a result, the colors are quite different. The earlier photo is heavily influenced by the strong yellow light from the sunset streaming across the cornfield, so there is a yellow glow throughout. In the second photo, the field is lit mostly by the blue sky above, so everything has a much cooler feel. One effect of that is that there is a strong contrast between the cool colors of sky and field and the red and orange glow of the clouds. So, the first photo has harmonizing colors while the second has contrasting colors.
The other big difference is the choice of lens. The earlier photo was taken with short telephoto lens at 105mm, so the scene is compressed and the sun’s hot spot is shown prominently. The later photo was taken with a 14mm extreme wide angle lens. Even with the vertical orientation, the frame encompasses a large area of the horizon. I particularly like the effect of the wide angle lens. Since the camera was so close to the leaves, it gives you a sense of being in the cornfield.
