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The photo-blog of an entirely unknown photographer.
u n d e r e x p o s e d
Much like Apollo 13, I consider this photo set to be a successful failure. I went out shooting this weekend with an idea: I wanted to capture nature reclamation of abandoned human buildings. I've seen some phenomenal images (and even some HDRs!) from Pripyat, the abandoned town near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Russia. The town was abandoned in a hurry, and no one ever ventures back there for long, maybe just a quick day to take some pictures or go exploring. The images of a town abandoned in an afternoon and then left for 30 years are haunting.
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I believe the area I was shooting used to be an old train water station. I haven't been able to find anything on it, but someone (I think it was a random stranger at the dog park) once told me it was a water station on the railroad. The area is not even 30 miles from my house just off a county road. You can see the towers and other old concrete foundations from your car on the road and ever since I drove by them for the first time at the beginning of 2006 I've really wanted to go shoot there. Interesting that it took me 2 1/2 years to go shoot a site 20 minutes from my house.
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Overall the whole photo set, and actually the whole place, has a very "Half Life 2" feel to it: somewhat post apocalyptic - though there was a lot more green where I was shooting. (Is it a coincidence that I'm playing HL2:EP2 again right now?) Still, that look is a good thing since the initial idea was to go shoot nature overtaking the decay and time worn abandonment. Unfortunately, after about 30 minutes of the 2 hr shoot I ended up falling into 'find neat HDR shots'. I'll note, in my defense, that I planned VERY poorly for this shoot: I was out in ~85F and sunny walking around with full gear for ~2 hours with NO water, and I was a little thirsty when I left. I actually ended up cutting out early and skipping about 3 spots I saw that I really wanted to go shoot. I have every intention of returning and not allowing myself to shoot HDR for a 2nd session. Getting off the tripod should allow for more creative shots.
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Here's why I think I failed: I have maybe one (2nd image in the blog) or two images that I feel actually convey the feeling and concept of nature reclaiming abandoned human structures that I set out to shoot. So I got some good shots, sure: but not what I was going for. I used to go out and look for shots to take, now I find myself having a goal: something I specifically want to get when I go out. Sometimes that's disheartening since I fail, even when I get good shots. Then again, once I feel like I can decide on a style and get it, I'll feel like I've taken myself to the next level as a photographer. I need a few more experience points before I level up I think.
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For my technical note: The purpose of this set was to teach me something I've been needing to learn and I know it: What things AREN'T good HDRs, and what things the HDR adds nothing to. I'm only posting my HDRs because, hey, I'm on a roll. But I also ran through the 0ev images in lightroom like normal to see if any of them look better or as good non HDR (pleny of them that way). Some of the HDR I cooked, some of the HDR I kept realistic looking. The last image, for example, looks NOTHING like what the human eye saw there in non-HDR. As I mentioned above, I believe the next time I go shoot for myself I will try to force myself back out of HDR completely: I need to be able to shoot without a tripod and not have to have my computer spend 3 hours merging 71 3 exposure HDRs (not to mention the tone mapping process!!!). One final note: dirty sensors are bad, dirty sensors at f/11 are ugly, and dirty sensors doing HDR at f/11 is nothing but pain. 87 spot removal points. 87!
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