Are you ready?
When the light calls, are you ready? On my way back to Las Vegas from Death Valley, I noticed a storm brewing up beyond Beaty, NV. I pulled over and made this image in the middle of the road.
And then, well past Beaty, the sky to the left of me was pretty much pitch black. A few sprinkles spotted my windscreen, yet, on the other side of me, the sun was clearly visible, and, creating this incredible spot light on the mountains to the left of me. Incredible! Another stop!
And then the sky on the left became split in two. Some deep blue on the left and the dark Strom cloud on the right. DRAMATIC!
With my heart pounding, I was shouting, where is a good foreground subject! GIVE ME SOMETHING!!!! In about two miles, I spotted some abandoned buildings, and took the dirt road to see what I could find. BINGO! I jumped out, and, frantically ran around like the preverbal “chicken with his head cut off,’ (Gosh, what a horrible expression that is!) making one composition after the other! Do I make the sky all black? Do I include both the blue and the black? If so, how much of each? John, pixels are free, try them all! Oh, okay! 🙂
A color conversion below, for those who might be interested.
So, are you ready for the light? I was and am glad I was!
Here’s a question: When you see something, do you have your equipment with you?
If you do, how long does it take you to get out of the car and begin shooting?
Yup, that is essential what I was asking. Your second question made me laugh. Valid though!
seconds,even with the camera on a 5 ft tripod in the back seat, often in anticipation of a shot i’ll have most of the setting in place to capture that fleeting moment when your driving down a road looking for images.
Well done!!
Incredible light and images! I am writing a blog post now for a sunset picture and was comparing landscape photography to sports photography – sometimes it’s just as fast paced! Beautifully done!
Good analogy Brian. Thanks for checking in! Always good to see your name. We need to do lunch again soon!
Great work JB.
Thank you E! Appreciate your reading the post and taking time to comment.
I love your dialog with yourself! Terrific share and images.