Laurie Excell

How beautiful it is to excel, and the goodness of giving from your heart.

-Robert Mondavi-

Story behind the image…

Sometimes the highlight of a trip is not at all what you expect it to be.  I rented a beach house on the coast and three fellow photographers joined me for a long weekend.  We were all excited about hanging out together at the coast and anticipated some great seascapes.  Upon arriving at the beach house we were pleasantly surprised to find a waterfall in our backyard.  While we all had a great time photographing the coast, we all agreed that our own little waterfall was the highlight!  In order to get a slow enough shutter speed to blur the water during the day, I added my Singh Ray Vari-ND and dialed it down shooting to see what shutter speed best captured the blur effect I was after.  Image captured with Nikon D4, AF-S 28-300mm 3.5-5.6 VR @ 185mm.  ISO 100 f16 @ 1/4 sec

If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 MPG.

-Bill Gates-

Story behind the image…

I discovered this wonderful old car in Seligman, AZ along Route 66.  It’s condition and the fact that we were on Route 66 gave me inspiration for this image.  I began with a five frame bracket with a base exposure of ISO 200 f10 @ 1/15 sec.  I processed the HDR using Photomatix Pro and then added the “grunge” effect using NIK filters including a double dose of Tonal Contrast, some Brilliance and Warmth to liven it up even more, a bit of Classical Soft Focus to take the extreme edge off and then I took the image to NIK Silver Efex Pro 2 and then lowered the opacity of the B&W layer by about 50% to reduce the intense colors and enhance the age and wear.  Nikon D4, AF-S 28-300mm 3.5-5.6 VR @ 35mm.

The greatest things ever done on Earth have been done little by little.

-William Jennings Bryan

Story behind the image…

From Wikipedia…The Grand Canyon is 277 miles (446 km) long, up to 18 miles (29 km) wide and attains a depth of over a mile (6,000 feet or 1,800 metres).^[2] Nearly two billion years of the Earth‘s geological history has been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while theColorado Plateau was uplifted.^[3] While the specific geologic processes and timing that formed the Grand Canyon are the subject of debate by geologists,^[4]recent evidence suggests the Colorado River established its course through the canyon at least 17 million years ago.^[5][6] Since that time, the Colorado River continued to erode and form the canyon to its present-day configuration.^[7]

Late afternoon on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.  I positioned myself so that I was shootingin down one canyon which lead to another off in the distance.  The trail winding it’s way through the image adds scale.  Tilting the camera downwards a bit to include foreground gives the sense of space/distance.  While the image could have been created with a single exposure, I wanted the HDR look with greater tonal range so I dialed in a five frame bracket with a base exposure of ISO 100 f8 @ 1/60 sec and processed the HDR image using Photomatix Pro and then added the finishing touches in Photoshop CS6 using NIK creative filters.    Nikon D4, AF-S 28-300mm 3.5-5.6 VR

While in Page, AZ recently we decided to take the tour of Glen Canyon Dam.  I hadn’t toured it in years and thought it would be fun to make some photos.  I attached a 16mm fisheye lens to my D4, set the ISO to Auto (we would be in and outdoors and I didn’t have a tripod), dialed in a 5 frame bracket and was ready to go.  We began the tour going down a couple of levels and then walking along the Dam itself as our guide regaled us with facts and stories…

Once indoors we travelled down some long corridors.  I waited until the last and then turned to make a couple of photos when the guard told me I could take photos.  I apologized and put my camera down.  We continued the tour and as we were returning down the corridor, he caught my attention and told me I could shoot the corridor now because he wasn’t in it.  I thanked him and fired of a couple of sequences.  So, I could photograph the Dam but not the guard.  Works for me.  Go figure…

After photographing one direction, I turned the camera and shot in the other direction…

We finished the tour in the depths of the Dam looking at the heart of the entire operation…

All images were handheld, 5 frame brackets.  Being on a tour doesn’t allow for time to set up a tripod and take long exposures.  This is where digital comes into it’s own…the ability to make an image, handheld, on the fly, at high ISO settings and realize your vision using the tools available to us in the digital darkroom.  Ya gotta love the freedom and fun digital photography provides us!