More thoughts on this week’s photo assignment

Mental note: take tri-pod on cloudy days.

I was looking for light. Any light. What I found was the contrast of reflections against gray. Look harder. Surely there are dark places that would welcome any color. Dark places are not hard to find.

I went to the river today. There are great puddles of water underneath the bridge, puddles large and deep enough to swallow a truck. (I should know, having drowned my F250 in this very spot a couple years ago.) I thought I might be able to capture some reflected light off of the water and up onto the bridge’s pilings. Something along those lines is what I sought, but only found reflections on the water’s surface. Concrete is uninteresting and unworthy as the light falls flat.

Back in the rig.

For the past year or so, the small railroad company that operates in this area has been clearing forested areas away from their tracks to reduce the number of fallen trees that would otherwise inhibit passage. They are also installing sizable galvanized culvert pipes in the hillier grades to facilitate better drainage and minimize washouts. Never mind that the tree removal will cause more erosion; the culverts will take care of the excess run-off. At least they’re thinking ahead.

The staging area for this work is at the head of our road, about 1.5 miles from home. Trees that are fit for lumber (meaning fir trees) are taken down the tracks directly to the mill. The rest, stumps and all, are hauled back up to the staging area. A rather sizable mound has been gathered, perhaps 100 feet long and twenty-five feet high, which means the width is necessarily equal to the height, if not more.

I have photographed this work area before, specifically the tangle of trees, but was unsatisfied with the results. Yet, now with an assignment to “look for light” and already on this reflected light kick, I thought there might be potential in the galvanized pipes that laid about. And indeed there might had I brought a subject to stand alongside a stack of four.

As I walked toward the pipes, I noticed a small amount of rainwater had settled in them. Hmmm, reflective surfaces on the inside and outside, the interior ones in relative darkness and those on the exterior in the light of a waning day… Another mental note, but for now I would take the more direct route and try to do something with the interior surfaces.

My ISO, set at 1600, was way too high. I dislike the graininess of the images, especially of the first one. Still, I was shooting at anywhere from 1/60 to 1/125 at f8, hence the need for a tripod. Yet, all is not lost. I will return to try some different exposures. It also occurred to me that the interior of these pipes might provide a certain privacy for someone who, say, is not wearing clothes.