The Skinny Kid by Gavin Seim. Joshua Tree NP, Feb 2012
The family and I camped down on the flatland’s and took a nice drive into Joshua Tree that day. It was warm, but got cooler in the highlands and the choice to wear shorts turned out less than ideal. So the family was back in the car warming up after hiking and I ventured out near Skull Rock, finding this skinny little Joshua Tree standing alone, everyone ignoring it’s simplicity.
The Skinny Kid grew on me and soon I was experimenting with angles and ideas for how to best showcase what he had to offer. In the end this simple black and white scene struck me. A starkness of line. A cast shadow showing that his reach extends beyond his size. This tree has a perfect vantage. He gets to watch over this rocky landscape without distraction and reign as King of it’s trees.
There’s nothing like miles of open road and your beautiful wife riding shotgun. Like giggling kids in the back seat with camera bags and cracker crumbs. Like the warm wind that whips in the window and tosses your hair. There’s nothing like the feeling of adventure and uncertainly. Of going somewhere you’ve never been before, tasting nature on the air, and doing something that, just maybe, no one else has ever done before…
A photographer and family road tripping across the USA? No easy task, but it teaches you a lot. About versatility, family, and of course, photography. In fact, many of my most advanced techniques and studies come from the zero deadline environment of road tripping.
In 2011, we spent around 3 months on the road. In 2012, we’re spending nearly that just for our Winter tour and probably 4-5 months in total. To be clear, we’re not just heading to snowbird hideaways and hunkering down. We travel, thousands upon thousands of miles, exploring the US and all it has to offer an American Pictorialist seeking the very best views in the world.
How It Works:
The long trips start months in advance: planning the direction of travel, lining up workshops or events to help pay the hefty gas bill. We’ll be up around three thousand dollars just for fuel for our Winter tour. That part can be a real burden, and it really makes you think about what’s happened to costs and the economy in this country. But let’s not get into that just now; I’m having fun here.
Next, I work like crazy around the studio in preparation. That also involves making sure sessions are scheduled for our return or out the door before we leave. I run a low volume studio that focuses on high end wall portraits, so I can be flexible regarding when and how I organize sessions, but it still takes planning. I don’t want to lose too much business. I make sure the house is sewn up, too, and try to leave things tidy. We make sure the maintenance and latest upgrades are done on the Super Camper. Back at the studio, I tie up all the loose ends, put out a sign that says, back in three months, turn ON the print spotlights, and lock the doors.
Here’s an inside look at The Super Camper. Our micro 4/3′ish home on wheels.
Snapshot of the the crew hiking in White Sands New Mexico, March 2012.
Time To Roll:
The wife and I load up everything we can fit, including the our three kids, and off we go To The Wild. The main thing that gets us out there is the Super Camper. It’s a 2011 Forest River 21SS that’s been tricked out as a boondocking machine. It’s pulled with our 2001 GMC 2500 Crew Cab 4×4 running a Duramax diesel. For those interested, this little trailer and all the upgrades we’ve installed run up to about $25k. No chump change, but not so much considering what we can do with it. Continue reading →
It was night. Obviously… But it was more than that. There were a few stars, but more than that, there was this orange glow hitting the sky from the city as we camped in the hills, enjoying the warm weather and the desert views.
Just above camp there were these neat looking Sugaro’s that seemed to be watching us from the horizon. We came home late one night and frankly, I just wanted to go to bed. But I kept looking up at the stoic cactus, filled up with character and history.
I broke down. I had to. I pulled out the gear thinking I would just do it quick. But in truth I spent at least the next hour setting up, planning and exposing. The final result after some detailed artwork was Midnight Orange Sugaro. It’s a bit more painterly and textured than many of my pieces. But there’s something about it’s color and the subtle details that keeps me coming back.
Churning Beauty, Jan 2012 by Gavin Seim. HWY 101, Oregon Coast.
One thing I love about the sea is the way it displays natural art with such simplicity. We traveled the 101 for a few hundred miles early on in our winter tour. With that came some bad weather and some moments of sweeping coastal beauty.
The line of beauty is something most experienced artists are familiar with. If not in name, then in practice. It’s that sort of sweeping S curve that comes from nature itself and is nearly always pleasing to the eye. That’s what really stuck me here. The entire coast with it’s waves rolling, is a series of sweeping curving lines. One has to wounder if Hogarth, the man recognized with making the line of beauty a known artistic element, looked out over these very shores.
The result of this days work is a square that showcases details of the ocean. Leaving much to imagination, but leading me thru the scene, reminding me how beautiful and powerful the water is. The passage of man means nothing to the sea. It simply moves on, rolling over the footprints and awaiting another day.
Evening Passage. Upper Tipsoo Lake, Mount Rainier National Park, Fall 2011, by Gavin Seim.
We made a trip this fall into the forests above Yakima, below the rear entrance of Mount Rainier national park. It’s a breathtaking view up here if the weather favors you. And while it was pretty grey on this evening around sunset, the sky had it’s moments and beauty. There was indeed a gentle subtlety singing in those peaks, hidden away within the folds of light and shadow,
The result is Evening passage, a silent reflection in the upper lake, made calmer my the gentle passing of clouds and ripples in this long sunset exposure.
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