“Running Around the Corner”
December 6th, 2020
Tagged: long exposure
Here’s 2 strategies to capturing light trails: the pre-COVID way; I find a cool spot, setup up my tripod (first few images), and capture cars as they pass by; or, mount my tripod in my car and then took a series of 15-30 second images from the passenger seat (second set of images).
Things I learned from this photo adventure:
1. Windshields are dirty, even after you’ve cleaned them.
2. Programming my camera’s wired remote was much easier than I expected; I should have tried it long ago.
3. Roads, even the ones we think are smooth, are actually VERY BUMPY.
4. If you can’t do it the old way, try doing it backwards.
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< a little closer up >
For the second full week of Black & White February, I decided to follow up on an idea that I’d had for a few months – to shoot light trails in Elgin. I enjoy capturing long exposures, but the added challenge of capturing light trails in downtown Elgin instead of Chicago (where there’s more traffic) seemed challenging.
While we were out in the bitter cold for the January Lunar Eclipse, I realized that Elgin’s parking garages would make a great vantage point for some light trail images. I’d taken images from the top of the Spring Street garage, in fact, I’ve led photo walks in downtown Elgin and used the Spring Street garage as a vantage point.
However, I decided to add one more aspect to the week’s photos: I would attempt to shoot 7 images and capture 7 photos that I was proud of…I didn’t quite make it. Capturing light trails of traffic when there’s very little traffic turned out to be a bit more challenging than I expected. But I took 14 images, from 6 vantage points, and captured 7 images that I’m proud of.
In October, I led a workshop on “Night photography & Light Painting” at Elgin Area Camera Club. The only problem was the weeks leading up to my workshop; they were rainy, overcast, and generally not friendly to those kinds of photography. Instead, Sarah and I purchased several different kinds of glow sticks and LED lights, and over the next week, we tried all sorts of photo experiments with the new toys.
We enjoyed this so much that even after the workshop night, Sarah and I continued playing with the lights and having fun.
For those that are intesterested, we used regular white Christmas lights, Super Z Outlet Upgraded Light up Foam Sticks (link), Lumistick 12” Jumbo Glow Light Sticks (link), and SurLight 4 Piece Car 72 LED Strip Lights (Amazon no longer lists the items that we bought, but here’s a very similar link).
Cynthia, my oldest daughter, and I took a day trip down to Matthiessen State Park for our October birthdays. The weather was perfect, and the colors were just starting to turn, so we enjoyed some yellow and just the hints of red that were just beginning. In the fall it’s very unusual for there to be much water flowing, but when we walked north, toward Matthiessen Lake, there was some water flowing near the Giant’s Bathtub and then a small amount off of the Lake Falls.
