Sean Duggan Blog

Lighthouse & Trees

Bass Harbor Head Light  [Canon 5D]
Acadia National Park, Maine
October 2, 2007
(click in the image for a larger version)

Another photo of the lighthouse from the previous post. This was the view from the parking lot after I had hiked back up from the rocks at the waterline. The tripod was already all put away and the camera stowed in the bag, but of course, this scene prompted everything to be taken out and set up once again to make this 4 second exposure.

I played around with a black and white version, but this is just one of those images that needs to be in color. No special enhancements here...apart from the square crop, this is pretty much exactly as the camera recorded it.

Lighthouse & Fog

Bass Harbor Head Light  [Canon 5D]
Acadia National Park, Maine
October 2, 2007
(click in the image for a larger version)

This is a blend of two horizontal exposures to expand  the number of pixels used to capture the scene. The Photomerge feature in Photoshop CS3 was used to stitch the two shots together. I wanted to go for a real long exposure for this to cause the ocean to be a silky smooth blur so I used a 5-stop solid Neutral Density filter and an aperture of f/20 to come up with a 30-second exposure time.

This was taken shortly after the creeping tendrils of evening fog had reached my location. I also have some sunset shots of this lighthouse and while they came out great and it looks lovely, I feel that the shots in the thick fog have much more atmosphere and interest.

Reading at the Cafe

Reading at the Cafe  [Diana Camera]
July 23, 2007 -- San Francisco
(click in the image for a larger version)

Radiator Books

Radiator Books  [Diana Camera]
Early August, 2007 -- New Mexico
(Click in the image for a larger version)

Family Portrait

Family Portrait  [Diana Camera]
August 4, 2007 -- New Mexico
(click in the image for a larger version)

Workshop News: I've added two new workshops to the Featured Workshops column on the left side of this page. These are coming up in January and February of 2008. If you live in a colder part of the nation and want to escape to somewhere warmer to concentrate on your photography and digital darkroom skills, both workshops are being held in areas that are very pleasant that time of year...South Florida and the central California coast near San Luis Obispo.

Calendar News: I will also be offering at least one new calendar for 2008 coming up in the next couple of weeks. It may be another Holgavision calendar and there may also be a Days with Diana version, too. I also have ideas about doing a pinhole calendar but am not sure if I'll get that off the ground in time. We'll see.

Waiting for the Tram

Waiting for the Tram  [Diana Camera]
Sandia Peak, Albuquerque, New Mexico
August 6, 2007
(click in the image to see a larger version)

One of the qualities that I find so exciting and intriguing about photography is the unexpected convergence of people, places and lighting that can result in a good image. Seeing and acting upon these ephemeral apparitions of photographic serendipity is one of the things I love most about being a photographer. And the more you are aware of these instances, the more you will look for them, the more attuned you will become to the possibility that such a convergence may occur. The more you look for these transitory events as you pass through the world, the more likely you are to see them and be ready with your camera to record them.

This photo is evidence of just such an occurrence. I could not have imagined this scene in this exact configuration (well, perhaps I could have imagined something like it, but I didn't). But when I saw it coalescing on the tram platform overlooking Albuquerque, I was prepared, camera in hand. And it doesn't require the latest hi-tech camera to etch such a scene onto something more lasting than memory. This image was taken with a plastic Diana camera, circa 1964.

In addition to being open to the possibilities of such ephemeral convergences, it goes without saying, of course, that you do need to have a camera with you and easily accessible so you can act fast if the situation requires it. I am not one of those people who take the camera with me everywhere I go, but I do have it with me a good deal of the time. And if I know that I may be in photographically fertile territory, then is almost always with me, especially when I am traveling, as I was when I made this photograph.

I have pages and pages of Diana, Holga and pinhole negatives that were taken this summer (and even earlier) that I have not yet had time to scan. With two major projects entering their final stages, I am hoping to be able to spend some quality time with my scanner in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned!

The Forgotten House, II

The Forgotten House of Hope, II  [Canon 5D]
Hope, Maine
September 29, 2007
(click in the image for a larger version)

Another view of the forgotten house. This one really shows the extent to which the left side was being taken over by the vines and bushes.

Although this is not an HDR composite, it is a composite of three tripod-mounted exposures of the scene. This was done to hold detail in the sky as well as in the dark foliage. I decided to do it manually and not use HDR because there wasn't as much of a need for HDR as in the other shot and I felt it would be easier to paint in the lighter tones where I needed them. In addition to the basic composite of the three source exposures,  I've also done quite a bit of other processing to this image in the way of dodging and burning and selective color toning. You can see an unaltered version of one of the source exposures below.

The Forgotten House

The Forgotten House  [Canon 5D]
Hope, Maine
September 29, 2007
(click in the image for a larger version)

I drove past this abandoned house in Maine a few weeks ago and was compelled to stop and explore a bit. There is something incredibly wistful and melancholy about an abandoned house. Perhaps because the image of a house is so symbolic of the concept of home, which is arguably of the the most powerful themes that we carry with us through our lives. Adding to the sad irony of the overgrown, abandoned house is the fact that the little town where it is located is called Hope. More from this location in the days ahead.

This is an HDR (high dynamic range) composite of four exposures.It was late in the day and the light was fading away and HDR was the only way to capture the shadowy details in the vines as well as hold detail in the sky. I generally favor a more realistic approach to HDR over the hyper illuminated and intensely saturated illustrative approach that is often associated with the HDR technique.

Note: This is one of those high frequency detail images that does not survive the translation to web size that well. The larger version is better, but the fine, intricate details of the full-size image don't come through very well in this venue.

In the Cabinet of a Closer Look

Junior Microscope Kit [Canon 5D]
September 29, 2007
Coopers Mills, Maine
(click in the image for a more highly magnified view)

Another curiosity photographed at Elmer's Barn.