Sunday, October 11, 2009

Photo Shoot: Abandoned house and gas station

Today, I went on a photo shoot with two of my friends; one of my friends is an amateur photographer, and she took two of us newbies out on a workshop shoot. The assignment: find something beautiful in the ugly. We went to an abandoned, fire-damage house and nearby run-down gas station. They were within fifty feet of each other.

I always imagine the story behind all of my shots, and I hope that the story comes through in some small way. Today, as I was walking around the site before taking the first photo, I imagined the human beings who lived in this house. Were they the same family who owned the nearby gas station? Was the gas station dilapidated because of the fire in the house? How did the fire start? What did they take with them? Did they escape with their lives at the very least? (This final question haunted me, and I hope beyond hope that this family is still alive and thriving.)

I took 175 photos during our hour-long shoot, a general average for me. My camera isn't set for exposure bracketing, which makes it more difficult to take multiple pictures at one time. 30 of the 175 made it to post-processing. During post-processing, most of the photos received an increase in their black points, a higher contrast, and a slightly improved vibrancy. Lighting was diffused this morning because of the cloud cover, and the colors genuinely popped on their own--I was merely interested in bringing them out by about a degree and a half or so. These are my favorite five of the entire batch.

I'll let the stories behind them speak for themselves.









No comments: