Photo Friday - Alaska Beach Riders

Alaska Beach Riders - ISO 320 - f13 - 1/500th - 300mm

This is one of my top 5 favorite images I took in Alaska. For this particular image, I converted to black & white, increased contrast, added some grain and experimented with a hand painted burnt border. While many won't like the photo treatment, this image really reflects the mood of this specific day and location. This image is burned into my memory. I hope I never forget it. 

In other news it is Friday and I'm looking forward to a nice weekend. We've got a wedding to attend too and I'm looking forward to getting dressed up and going out with my wife. It's been too long.

That's all I've got today. Hope your weekend goes well. I know mine will.

Ride your bike! Take some pictures!

Comments

[Martin Budd]

I think it looks great Gnat. Obviously I wasn't there so I don't know your feelings at the time, but.... to me your photo captures a huge sense of atmosphere, a sense of vastness, grittyness, grandeur, togetherness yet opportunity for self-reflection, direction, mission and expedition, purpose.... and for me the satisfaction of riding a bike and the way a bike can take you through extraordinary places.

I like my photos to evoke emotions in the viewer, whether that's someone else or me. Your photo and your treatment of it here is doing that for me. (Your photos pretty much always do this for me. Thanks Gnat!)

I used to have mixed feelings about editing photos much, but I've since completely turned that stance around. I realised that darkrooms are all about that! What the photographer/artist does to make the photo capture more of the feelings of the time, make sense to me. This is what you've done. (Not to mention, the image straight from a digital camera often "lacks" something.) The other thing I've realised is, the original image can be considered to be the primary ingredient of an opportunity to evoke emotion - as a creative expression, the photographer should do whatever they feel to do with the image from there.

[Martin Budd]

Another thing Gnat: how do you take these photos? Are you constantly riding ahead, being passed by everyone, then catching up?

And which camera are you using here with a 300mm lens on it?

Cheers,
The Old Man.

[Gnat]

Martin, good day and thanks for the comment. I too try to evoke emotions with pictures. Whenever I return from a trip, I try to find the single image that tells the story without words. If I can't tell the story of a trip or a place with a single image, I didn't capture the right image. I'm still learning to capture that image. The one here is close. I love it but it isn't the single image.

Anyway, what camera - I hope to do a post here on my kit but the short answer is that I shot a Nikon D7000 on this trip and I was using a Nikon 28-300mm VR in that shot. I had ridden out ahead and when I saw the shot I wanted I waited for the group. I often fall off the back but this trip was a bit different and I was not worried as we were shooting a lot and we were bound by the high and low tide.

Thanks again.