Sleepless
The Appalachian mountains never truly rest. Old, slow, but always active. It’s easy to miss the sheer amount of activity going on up in those wooded ridges, but if you take the time to look, well you might yet be surprised. Colors dancing, winds whispering, sometimes even howling, trees swaying, birds playing. All around you, all the time, you just have to take a moment and look around. When you’re standing on a ridge line looking at a seemingly unchanging vista like this, it’s easy to think time has stood still just for you. wait a while, look around and realize you’re the one standing still.
This composition is an example of a spectator stuck in a moment while the world spins. Well into blue hours, little light for your eyes to latch onto [especially while you’re staring at a bright LCD screen]. While the foreground seems unchanging, the sky shows time passing, though it can be taxing to get such photos. This was me playing around with an idea, and barely a thought of composition. I knew it needed to be wide, knew it needed to be a long exposure. So I setup, grabbed focus, and went to work. I had a 10 stop ND filter strapped onto the front of my sensor, and the desire to see it through.
Sometimes that’s what photography is. An idea, no prep, no setup… just an idea and a moment to try it. Blue hour is there and gone, faster than sunset, I had two shots at this exposure, but I went a bit overboard. This ended up being my first shot, and I had to crop quite a bit out, which wasn’t what I wanted, but headlights, flashlights and other light sources caused unsightly blemishes within the scene, I did try a second shot, but it fell through when I couldn’t pull focus.
Never be afraid to make a mistake, and always look forward to the moments when the shot that shouldn’t work comes out looking good. Don’t ever be on location and think to yourself “Well, I wonder how this would look….” and walk away. Just go for it, Don’t be afraid to say hello to a stranger on the trail, or at a parking lot as you share an experience. We could all do with more friendly greetings in our day to day.
Until next time!
Aperture: f7.1
ISO: 640
SS: 480 secs
Focal: 8mm
Fujinon 8-16mm
