Industrial Train Car

by Nick Exposed · January 28, 2012 · 23 comments

ISO 100 25mm f/9 1/60sec

Im writing this description a day late because yesterday was focused on my wonderful (now) 2 year old niece, who was having her candy land themed birthday party. Because of this my focus was on her and taking photos of her party so I didn’t take my usual photo walk. However that left plenty of opportunity to share another photo from Fridays findings. Often times when Im out running errands I like to force myself to explore the various routes of getting to where Im going. Theres something invigorating in exploring the different scenery available on the way to work, the market or anywhere else you may be going. And if time permits, Im not afraid to get lost and explore even more.

Thats exactly what happened on friday with this photo. I was out running an errand and turned down a wrong street. I realized my mistake shortly after but decided to venture on forward to see where this unfamiliar path would lead. I was excited to find these railroad cars down this road in an industrial parkway. I fell in love with the industrial yet clean feel and decided to shoot a few exposures for an HDR version of the scene. Continue reading →

Ol’ Rusty

by Nick Exposed · January 27, 2012 · 41 comments

ISO 400 21mm f/11 1/125sec

I had the pleasure of running across this beautiful Chevy Impala earlier today as I was out running errands and shooting around town. I cant help but to fall in love with rusty old vehicles like this. In fact I probably find more interest in this decayed beat up Impala than I would in a fully restored garage queen (and trust me you don’t typically hear that from a car guy like myself). But theres just so much character to a car like this, you know its had its good ol’ days! The rust adds a distinguished unashamed ambiance to this once so popular vehicle. Sure its rough around the edges but it still stands with tall with confidence ready to take on a new challenge to add to the many adventures it holds in its past. They say “If only cars could talk… the stories they would tell”, well this old classic is sharing a “thousand words” worth of stories right here, and oh what exciting stories they are. Each knick, ding, scratch, scuff and divot is a separate tale engulfed with emotion and even bits of pain. This is evident in the rust trails on the fender from what seems to be tears shed of both Joy and Pain, as its moved through this world treasured by some, and discarded by others. But don’t worry Ol’ Rusty, even though your imperfect, thats perfectly fine with me!

Old Dodge

by Nick Exposed · January 9, 2012 · 28 comments

ISO 200 29mm f/6.3 1/200 sec

This beautifully decayed and run down Dodge pickup is right down the street from my house. I spotted it just a few days ago and have been excited to shoot it. I love the looks of grungy run down vehicles, something about seeing something that was once worth a good deal of money, now sitting as a lawn ornament hardly worth 300 bucks for scrap. It reminds us that true value is not in our possessions but in the other beauties of life.

The farm decal on the side of the truck brings to my imagination that at one point this truck probably did its fair share of work on the farm. I picture the timeline of the truck from its fresh beginning as a beautiful blue chromed out pickup on the lot, through the dings and scratches of farm life, to the retired wore out heap of scrap metal that most all vehicles someday become. But, even though he may be run down, he still stands tall and welcomes guests at the gate as they approach the farm.

Storm rolling in

by Nick Exposed · January 2, 2012 · 8 comments

ISO 100 34mm f/5.0

One of my favorite things about photography is High Dynamic Range imagery, often referred to as HDR. What this means is I take multiple exposures of the same photograph and combine them together to get much more vivid detail in the image.

Normally I would achieve this kind of image using a tripod, however I didn’t bring any gloves with me and was shooting for about 45 minutes in the freezing Michigan weather before this, so needless to say it was already difficult to move my fingers let alone unpack my tripod to get set up all over again. So instead I stayed inside the nice warm comfort of the car and just shot out the window bracing my camera against the front a-pillar to hold it steady. However in doing so I had to drop my aperture down in order to stay at ISO 100 and get a faster shutter speed, which f/5.0 isn’t ideal for this kind of shot. But being its more of a busy scene, some slight intentional lens blur isn’t exactly a bad thing. It gives it a bit of a softer feel which is popular among some HDR photographers.

This shot as I mentioned above was on my way home from another shooting of various landscapes in the area. Im a big sucker for industrial/farm equipment shots, so I had to pull off to the side of the road and fire off a few shots of this. Luckily I had left the previous location with the sun still dropping as it gave the sky such dimension, adding a very dramatic emotion to the silo’s.