• Silver Waves of Grain. | Near Moses Coulee in Central WA | 5.5 min exposure, F22, ISO 100

Making landscapes comes with the privilege being able to focus on one subject. Unlike with a wedding, where we need capture a multitude of stunning images, the goal with fine art is often a single frame. Still, I often get distracted with the commercial mindset of making many photos. Yet lately I’ve been focusing more on the idea of all effort going towards the single frame. As long as it comes out stunning, I don’t much care how much planning it took. In fact the more work, the more pride I feel. I am satisfied with this frame and it will likely appear in my Signature Collection as a 30-40 inch piece. That does not happen every time I go out, so I am content. It’s a simple landscape, yet it embodies wheat farming without clutter or distraction and it does so in a way that is not everyday, the sea of blurred grain surrounding the lone family of grain bins which will soon have their bellies filled with the very ocean that surrounds them. For Photographers. How it was made: The long exposure has long fascinated me. When I went to make this frame I did it with intent. I knew that my goal was to capture the wheat in some form and to use my B&W 110 ND filter to achieve a long exposure. I just didn’t know exactly the approach I would take. I had my family with me and we drove up to the area where I grew up. I know the fields pretty well around here. Sunset was drawing in and I was at that stage where I felt I needed to pick my spot right now. I recalled this old windmill that sat in a field down a nearby gravel road. As we were driving there however I saw these grain bins that I had seen hundreds of times over the years, and ignored. I was reminded that I often fall into the trap of looking for something great, only to miss the ordinary this that is equally beautiful. Everyone photographs windmills, but everyone ignores these stubby little grain bins. I backed up the road watching how the bins edges crossed over one another, finally deciding on this spot. For better or worse, this was to be my final setup of the evening. The summer air was warm and there was a gentle breeze. This is what I needed because I wanted to blur the surface of the wheat. I setup my tripod few yards into the field and started carefully playing with compositions and a few test shots, then looking at exposure readings and using an iPhone app called Perfect Shot to determine exposure with my 1000x darkening filter (the camera won’t meter this far down). The sun was just down and I had time for about one more. I did my calculations and fired off for a 5min 30sec exposure. I was getting a little noise in previous frames so I turned on long exposure noise reduction in which the camera captures a matching black frame to find and remove noise. It also doubles the time. It took over ten minute for the frame to be ready. I was done for the evening. On arriving home I had a few prior frames to look at, but I knew this final was where my hopes resided. It looked good. I started processing in LR and playing with my presets as I nearly always do to start off an edit. Using Monochrotaix presets I settled on a monochrome process that fitted the scene (better in my opinion than color would have). After finding a look I liked I went deeper working the channels. Over the next few days I went to PS for additional detail work and cleanup, taking breaks in between for other projects and to gain perspective. I actually used two channel mixes. I wanted what would be the blue in the sky  to be dark, but the tops of the bins to retain their texture and lightness. I made one primary edit with the blues dark and another copy I made the blues light, causing the bin tops glow a little more. In PS I carefully masked the primary frame out to the light frame, adding to the light on the bins. I also removed some power lines right along the barely visible road. I debated leaving them in, stretching silently and giving a modern feel to a western scene, but in the end simplicity won the battle and decided against it. That’s it. Gosh I talk a lot, but there it is and I’m satisfied with the result. Even simple things can be beautiful… Gav

I do a limited amount of seniors every year and I work to make each of them to be as perfect as possible. It seems I get a favorite photo from every one and I remember the details of all of them. Here’s a favorite from Kyle’s senior portraits in Wenatchee called fountain light. This one was a very close runner up by just a few votes so I wanted to post it as well…. Gav

A few weeks ago I had a great wedding for Mike and Jessica at Cave B Estate (near Ellensburg WA). I was joined by my buddy Matt... Continue Reading.

Candid moments are still king. Those that know my style know I love bold cinematic scenes, but while the candid may not end as a large canvas on the wall, it’s no less valuable. This moment from Kristen and Neil’s wedding was probably one of my most priceless candid’s of 2009, but it needs a story. This is. Stephanie (who also happens to be Kristin’s daughter). What you’re seeing behind her... Continue Reading.