f.64, Direct Sunlight, a 150mm lens.

So through the past week(s) I've continued to check out the area I like to call roads to nowhere. I shot a bunch of film out there, somewhat arbitrarily from my main project, or maybe it isn't. I've just been trying to give myself a lot more freedom with what I shot so the images don't become overly formulaic. (and although much of my work of late has been successful, I feel at times it has become just that)

I'm really happy with the top 3 images, the bottom two feel a little too pretty the more I look at them, to be honest they're all kindof pretty but again, the bottom two are just a little too much.

So here comes a bunch of new stuff that I may or may not edit into my book!






Further Note, I shot most of this work at f.64 and really really overexposed to increase my shadow detail. Shooting directly at the sun became a little wonky but I am tempted to really like how this stuff looks. Also special thanks to Abe for letting me borrow his 150, it's nice to have choices of lens length when I'm shooting this stuff.

Not much time left in the semester, The book is really close to being edited (and needs to be finalized by the end of this week to be honest). next post will prolly be in 2 weeks. Happy Thanksgiving.

Longer Exposures...

Tried to post this the other night but didn't have time...

So, the days are getting very very short...I've kindof adopted this habit of wanting to shoot all my landscapes at f.45 so exposure time is rapidly becoming an issue...sortof. Last week I did a bunch of longer exposures, did several hour longs that were too thin to print, but these ones range from 10 minutes to an hour and I'm pretty happy with them.

These first two are a revisit to the rapidly disappearing woods behind my house, I'm much happier with the light and color here, a lot less contrasty and a little more appropriate.



I also shot this long kindof amazing little spot where marsh, concrete, and river come together. (whether or not the picture does this spot justic i'll let you decide.) I haven't shot anything at night in several years but I am pretty happy with this.

Roads to Nowhere...(The Roads)

I feel like the project has been getting too heavy into "trash spots" and industrial leftovers. I've been hiking the hidden roads southeast of my house and finding this stuff to be less overbearing as evidence of man vs environment...Here are two images I just finished working on. My volume may slow a bit as I'm going to start focusing a lot on editing for the book I'm self publishing.

So I got my negs back of the roads that I have been hiking, two of them had some huge problems, my own fault...I really like the wind movement I got out of these shots. I prefer the muddy marsh road but this leafy path is nice as well.

reshoot

I forgot to post this last week, this is a reshoot of the overgrown sign, I like this version a lot more, you can see the older one here.

some details...

The other day when I was under the Route 1 Bridge in Newbury I shot these...

So I'm trying to use the goose (6x9) a lot more now, It feels a lot like shooting with 35mm (obviously), which is nice. I got these detail shots, they're pretty not special but for some reason I like them.

So I decided to try to shoot the dump, Its kindof amazing how not so many years ago this was just a big pile of garbage. (now it's a big pile of garbage with grass growing out of it...and methane exhaust pipes) But I'm not sure if this compisition is too thrilling. However...




...I do like this lot, a lot. there's just the smallest amount of pavement remaining in this landscape, It's kindof got a lot going on but I like the amount of nature vs the amount of relic. Had shot some other 4x5 sheets this weekend but I will need to reshoot the other locations in a more interesting manner.


some medium format should be coming up soon have a few rolls to develop!

Newbury, Perspective

Two new 4x5 shots, I'm really happy with these and the top location has a few other gems to shoot but I need to catch the light early in the day... Who would throw away this perfectly good picket fence...?

So I've been rethinking my perspective a bit, maybe focusing down a bit more. Focusing more directly on the evidence of man and nature. I shot these in Newbury, both in empty lots near a bridge, but in these I've tried to obscure the location a bit and focus more on the land at hand.

I like them, hope you do too.

5-13-08

Finals, Review Boards are here.
I have been focusing more on printing lately, (reprinting mostly) This past week has been really beautiful with the weather. The sun has been out in full force and I took some time to tune up my bike and start riding a bit, as well as a day to the beach! (such things are necessary to break up end semester stress!)

However I did manage to come up with several sheets of film that I'm happy with. While wandering in the woods near the Old Newbury dump I found a Shantee Town (sp?) Was a bit scarey at first after passing several "No Trespassing" Signs then stumbling across this. It looks like it hasn't been inhabited for some years, I found maybe a dozen shelters and I hope to return there to shoot some more of them.

This shed was probably the most ornate of the structures I found, some were little more than just caves. I'm assuming most of these were built from junk dragged away from the dump, which is less than a quarter mile from here.


I also returned to the old B&M tracks a bit more, these old tracks run all through essex county and I'm always finding some interesting stuff amidst the old path that's been left behind.


I think this will be the last new work I post for a few weeks, Moving to NYC next Tuesday, and although I plan on shooting through this week I don't know how soon I'll have fresh scans up.

That being said, I still might be making new work up until this coming weekend, as long as I have a significant bit to develop I'll put it through the works on friday.

-DA

5-6-08

The new camera is great, I got my first batch of film back today and did scans and some quick retouching for this post. no more light leaks! Great to have my own camera and get rid of some mechanical problems from the one I had been using from school.

So I found a really exciting new location in Groveland. This road has become flooded because of a beaver dam. The dam is maybe 15 feet wide but has created a huge flood plain, engulfing this road and making it nearly impassable. It's crazy to see nature just taking land back like this with a little help from it's furry friends.

I also stumbled across this old mill-house in Byfield which has split in half from wear and weathering as far as I can tell. I want to revisit and reshoot here but it will prolly require me to get a bit wet, tresspass, or possibly both. still worth it though!

This last shot is just a longer view of one of my favorite bits of lost road, old 95 peaks out here.

There's a lot more to be seen but this is just a quick edit. Review boards are coming up and I'll have to make a post to summarize that. Just wanna say special thanks to Natt for helping me get around to these locations and assisting in shooting.

-DA