Developing an idea.

Wednesday, 04-Nov-21

Sometimes we have some of the best material to photograph right where we live, within minutes from our homes but we can’t see the forest for the trees. We see the same scenario day in and day out and because it’s so common we never think about photographing it.

I was looking at some night photography photos to get some ideas and inspiration when I came across a gas station pic all lit up at night. The contrast between the bright lights of the gas station and the jet black night was beautiful. I thought “what a great idea”. So I looked for more similar photos and the more I found the more I wanted to photograph a gas station. Then it hit me, I literally live one block from one! My first urge was to grab my gear and run over there and start blasting away but I listened to my inner voice that said “plan, plan, plan”. So I decided to stroll over there, scout out the place and take some pics with my cell phone so that I could study what composition would be the most interesting.

I chose my cell phone because 1) it’s inconspicuous and 2) since it can shoot wide angle I could later, in the computer, zoom in to find interesting angles.

Here are the cell phone photos from which I am now formulating my photo shoot and the ideas I’m getting. Remember, these are scouting photos just to get ideas.

Photo 1:

This is why I think that it’s important to go out and first do your research. In the 16 years I’ve lived on this street I must have walked / driven by this siign and the panels thousasnds of times. But since I was out scouting the place I was looking at it through different eyes, I was looking for a composition. I immediately saw the potential in the geometric shapes. The tall red illuminated sign and the pattern of rectangles to the right of it. This will definitely be one composition. I think that in the dead of night that lamp post in the middle will give off a nice glow. I need to find a good angle to frame it. Straight on? More of an angle to take advantage of the perspective? We’ll see…

Photo 2.

Keeping with the idea of the vertical sign with the name of the gasoline company, I thought of including the name that’s on the roof in the middleground and frame it. This composition doesn’t really do anything for me but I like the blue from the TV set in the apartment window in the background…a frame within a frame within a frame.

Photos 3 and 4:

Here’s the entire gas station. What I don’t like is the apartment building to the left so I think this angle might not work. However, I love the reflections on the ceiling! Something I had never noticed until I studied this photo. Hmmm…

And just behind me is a hill. Maybe the view is better? This is a scouting mission so up I go.

Photos 5 and 6.

Much better! From up here I can get the entire gas station and crop out the apartment building. Once at home and looking at the pics I got another ides, how about a long exposure of the tail lights of a car pulling into the gas station? This is getting better and I’m starting to get excited about this photoshoot.

Photos 7 and 8.

Finally a square on composition resulting in the typical gas station photo, which I really like mainly because of all the geometry and again those reflections on the ceiling!

So, as a result of my scouting “trip” (I live approximately 100 meters from this gas station), I think I can come up with three solid, maybe four, compositions.

Tonight I’d like to go up again and start to do some test shots with different lenses to determine at what angles and focal lengths I need to shoot.

Now if only some fog would roll in.

To be continued…

Sunday, 07-NOV-21

So, last night I was able to go up to the gas station. Of the three shots I wanted to take I decided on two for this evening, starting with the one from the hill. I set up my trusty and very versatile K&F CONCEPT tripod, model SA254T1, overlooking the gas station. Behind me was a big hill in total darkness so from the gas station I couldn’t be seen. For this shot I set up the Nikon D750 with a 50mm f/1.8 lens which perfectly framed the photo. I must have taken about 30 shots. The idea I had of getting the light trails of a car rolling in to get gas didn’t materialize the way I had imagined. I did like however, the one I chose of a car taking a left turn out onto the street. Here it is:

Nikon D750, 50mm prime, f/16, 2s, ISO-50

Next I went down to the street directly in front of the gas station and set up between two parked cars. I changed camera and lens to the D3200 with the Sigma 10mm-20mm. This is the kit I use for my real estate photography business with amazing results. Again, I took about 30 shots. The light trails from the cars didn’t convince me this time since I was shooting low in order to make the gas station appear grandiose, so the cars that drove by in front of the camera, although leaving some good quality light trails, would cut through the middle of the frame taking away from the beauty of the picture. So I chose a clean photo which I feel has more mood and portrays a sense of solitude..

Nikon D3200, 10mm, f/22, ISO-100

Anecdotes from last night.

In today’s day and age, primarily in the west, photographers are looked at suspiciously, especially if you’re out shooting street photography where people abound. In a way street photography forces me to be more inconspicious which of course in the eyes of others makes me look suspicious, it’s a vicious circle. I’ve already had the cops called on me once for taking photos in a plaza in the center of a town! Oh well….. So, back to last night. In the first photo, like I said, I was on a hill overlooking the gas station. There were no lights where I was nor were there any behind me, just blackness. This resulted in, if you looked up at the hill from the gas station you wouldn’t see me but if you drove behind me on the dark road then I would be silhouetted against the bright lights of the gas station. After a while I saw a police car drive by in front of the gas station. I watched where they went and saw them turn right up the hill and they took another right which put them on the dark road behind me. And they drove right by my parked car, which was off the road in complete darkness. They didn’t even slow down to see if there was anything going on in the car. They must have seen my silhouette and the tripod. I was about 20 meters from the road. I guess they figured there was nothing suspisious because they just kept right on driving. Back in the day when I was a City of Homestead and later a City of Miami police officer we would have been all over this situation, after all that’s what police work is about, investigating. So much for the cops in this town.

After I had taken the second photo I was approached by a man who’d seen me taking the photos. He was cool about it and just wanted to know if I was taking pictures of people. I explained what I was doing and showed him the pics on the back of my camera. His suspicions turned to interest when he saw the photos and even said “wow!” a couple of times. I then gave him a business card and told him he could find the photos on my instagram page. I figured if he had my card maybe someday that could generate a photo session job. We shook hands and went our seperate ways. Cops 0 - Citizen 1.

To be continued…