Valley of Fire Revisited
Back in 2010, I went out to the Valley of Fire for the first time (Read more: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 and Part 4).
Last night I went back with a different group of friends - Joseph Carey and John Faison. It was legendary. Ask me about stories when you see/meet me.
I was testing out my new Trigger Trap dongle and iPhone App on the way out and back, using the DistanceLapse feature - set to trip my D700 shutter every 130m or such. I forget what the setting was since I was playing with it... Anyway, I made that into a nice timelapse for your viewing enjoyment with images from the shoot in the video! (If you are curious, I assemble the timelapse in iStopMotion. This time I edited the movie in iMovie - i normally use FCP Studio.)
I like the results! Great feature. I have reservations about using Trigger Trap on a night shoot, so I used my other external trigger. Here are some final photos!
Best of friends, best of times in the Valley of Fire - part 3
Fireworks. 8-minute exposures. Need I say more? Click and enjoy,
And time for one non-explosive photo prior to leaving to drive back to Vegas.
Best of friends, best of times in the Valley of Fire - part 2
The feast is on.
This is our campground while we were cooking. OK, 20 minutes of that time.
Over the ridge in front of us.
Sylvester standing still for five minutes.
I am grateful that some talented and interesting people who mostly did not know each other prior to this day made an positive, indelible experience. Gabe, Nancy, Zoo, Sylvester, you're just plain awesome. Now, on to the fireworks...
Best of friends, best of times in the Valley of Fire - part 1
There is nothing like having your creative passions fueled by other similarly-minded people. And I mean friends who are simply awesome. In this case, I was planning a desert night shoot with my buddy Zoo (yes, Zoo) then Gabe told me that he and Nancy were planning a night shoot at the Valley of Fire - a destination I definitely wanted to hit. Done. So we hopped in the minivan yesterday around noon, picked up Sylvester on the opposite corner and headed north! After stopping for a mad shopping dash so that Zoo coudl cook insanely-delicious food that evening, we zoomed into the park right at sunset. We had called ahead to make sure there was camping available - it was imperative that our bellies be happy in addition to our eyes.
Gracious hosts and minivan transportation into the wild - NanGabe
IR/G9 photo at sunset.
We drove around, getting used to the sights, chasing light and hoping to meet up with the Zisers. Success!
Dusk approached...
She-nanigans
More She-nanigans. Photographers are insanely funny. Seriously. We are.
And then we drove on to chase the dusk...
These were some of the most delicate dusk shots I've ever recorded. The colors are subtle and amazing.
And then it was night and we wanted to hit a campsite so Zoo could cook an INSANELY delicious meal via the headlights of the minivan.
... to be continued.
Infrared at dusk in Nevada's Valley of Fire
So I converted my Canon G9 to infrared last year, and then remembered that I had a Sony IR Emitter from an old SD Video camera almost 10 years ago in the closet. Hmmm. Yes. Yesterday I was out shooting with friends old and new at the Valley of Fire and we stopped at dusk to do some portraits. Results are mystical. Love it.
Sylvester
Nancy
Me
Effect: Ambrotype in Nik Silver Efex Pro - works reallllly well on grainy 400 ISO RAW captures from the IR-converted G9.