Lussier Photography

When Skies are Boring

2013-05-21T06:06:36-07:00

The sky was boring at Delicate Arch when we were there last month. I knew the arch would glow red at sunset and our main reason for being there was for light painting after dark, so I wasn’t fretting the lack of clouds. To pass the time until the Magic began, I kept shooting knowing I would process in Black and White.

Stone

2013-05-20T06:20:47-07:00

Steven Perlmutter and I conducted our second Historic Mills Photography workshop this past weekend and from all indications it was a huge success.

I can’t tell you how much fun we had sharing these magnificent buildings with people. As well as sharing our love for photography.

Between playing tour guide, photographer instructor and grabbing some candid shots of attendees in action, I did manage get a couple of shots for myself. This is one of them. A shot from the North side of the Everett Mill overlooking the Stone Mill.

Here are a few shots of attendees in action:

Book Cliffs

2013-05-17T06:33:09-07:00

When I took this shot I was operating on about 6 hours of sleep over the previous 48 hours. And those 42 hours I was awake were among the most fun I’ve ever had shooting.

This was the last day of our whirlwind North by Northwest Photo Blogger weekend. While Chris Nitz, Rick Louie and Mark Garbowski headed back to Denver (their shooting day wasn’t over either!), Dave Wilson, Justin Balog, Michael Criswell and I stayed in Grand Junction before heading to our respective homes the next day.

We made the most of the time. We hit up Colorado National Monument for a sunset/blue hour shoot, in spite of our complet, delusional levels of sleep depravation. We found this area with a gorgeous view of the Book Cliffs on the other side of the city of Fruita and camped out, waiting for the magic to happen. The four of us chatted and reminisced a bit about the previous 48 hours of frantic fun.

And were in awe of the clouds that, until this night, had alluded us.

Road Kill

2013-05-16T06:16:24-07:00

While waiting at the Grand Junction, CO airport for Dave Wilson, the rest of us were chatting and — like grade school kids in the school yard — plotting to ditch Dave. We were also looking for things to shoot. Mostly to kill time.

I saw one of the guys shooting a detail on a parked vehicle and thought it was a good idea. I found this Dodge Ram Truck with a few unfortunate creatures plastered to the grille work.

Compression

2013-05-15T05:29:21-07:00

Here is another shot from Arches National Park.

We shot a lot of really cool, iconic places like Mesa Arch and Delicate Arch, but I also enjoyed shooting random scenes like this one.

Cisco Trailer

2013-05-14T06:08:07-07:00

This is one of the many abandoned trailers and RVs at Cisco. A cool feature which gives this place a definite “Breaking Bad” vibe.

I have a couple of shots of it from a couple of angles. This is my favorite.

Cisco

2013-05-13T06:23:39-07:00

The first official stop on the Utah NXNW trip was the the Ghost Town of Cisco, Utah.

It was an interesting visit. Justin Balog, who helped orchestrate this trip, assured us that in all the times he’s shot Cisco, he has never seen any other photographers there. Yet when we pulled up to the town, there were about a dozen cars and about twenty photographers roaming about the ruins — We had walked right in to a photography workshop.

We did our thing, they did theirs. Their shoot finished about a half hour after we arrived, so we had some time to work the town without worrying about random people walking into our frame. That is, until the police arrived. More on that later.

Processing note: I was planning to go B&W on this but, after seeing Justin’s take on Cisco, I went I opted for a cross-processing technique in Lightroom.

On the Eastern Edge

2013-05-10T04:30:48-07:00

It is hard to pick a favorite image from Dead Horse Point State Park, so I won’t say this is it. But I will say it is up there.

Traveling Photographer

2013-05-09T06:19:45-07:00

I have to confess, I didn’t notice the plane in the frame when I took this shot. I was focussed on the gentleman from Newfoundland standing on the rocks on the right. He was perfectly silhouetted against the sky as he was setting up to shoot sunset at Turret Arch.

After I took the shot he yelled back, “There is plenty of room up here!” So I made my way up. Eventually, so did the rest of the NXNW crew.

The gentleman from Newfoundland was, like us, traveling to feed his photography. For us, it was a short, frantic trip we shoe-horned into our busy lives. For him, a long, slow, deliberate journey through the Southwest to shoot the National Parks and other landmarks. We were all a little envious of his itinerary and pace.

He was eager to share advice, warning us to get to Mesa Arch (our next morning’s destination) for sunrise early. “Get there by 5:15 or you won’t get a spot,” he warned. Valuable advice, as it turned out. Some of the NXNW crew had been to places he was heading to and offered advice in kind.

Anyway, I thought the plane in the frame was as appropriate as it was lucky!

Crow’s Nest

2013-05-07T20:17:16-07:00

I’m taking a break from Moab images today to bring you something I shot a couple of months ago. With a story.

Back in March I was visiting my friend, Fran, who lives on the South Coast of Massachusetts. Fran and I go back to High School and share a lot of common interests: running; brewing beer; classic rock; the blues; and photography (I shoot, he follows).

Anyway, the primary purpose of my visit was to run the New Bedford Half Marathon with him, but Fran was keen on indulging my love of photography, so he arranged a shoot for me.

You are looking at the crows’ nests of the Mayflower II, a replica of the famed ship that carried the Pilgrims to the New World. It was in dry dock for repairs over the winter at a ship yard local to Fran. Through Connections (Thank you, Artie!), we got a few minutes of access.

Since it was in dry dock, I could only shoot from the ground. I had no access to the deck at all (but would love to!). And with the support structure built around it, it wasn’t incredibly photogenic. But it was still very cool.

To get here, the ship was sailed from Plymoth, MA through the Cape Cod Canal, down to Fairhaven, MA — a journey of (I’m guessing) many, many hours. Upon its arrival, the Mayflower II was deemed “unseaworthy.” Long overdue for maintenance.