Tag Archives: delapidated

Death Valley: Rhylolite Merchantile

131203_DV_Rhyolite Mercantile by Karl Graf. Canon 7D, EF 24-70mm f2.8L @ 70mm, f/11, 1/640 sec, ISO 400

Rhylolite is a old ghost town just west of Beaty, Nevada.  See the following site for a brief history of the settlement:  http://www.rhyolitenevada.com/rhyolite_history_settlement.html.  There is a lot of history behind this little settlement.  We were here a very short time for a quick shoot.  It will be a place that I go back to.

This image was taken in the bright early afternoon sun.  The color image looked very blah.  Black and White gave it a little punch.

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Death Valley: Blurred Past

131202_DV_Car by Karl G. Graf.

Canon 7D, EF 70-200mm f2.8L IS @ 100mm, f/11, 1/90 sec, ISO 200

Throughout Death Valley, there are artifacts of the blurred history of people trying to work the land.  This photo was taken at an abandoned copper mine and home site.  What is the story behind this site?  How hard life must have been?  What kind of people lived here in the extreme heat of the summer and the extreme cold in the winter?  What did they get from all their toil?  What was the event or series of events that triggered them to leave?  I am sure the history behind this site is a whole story by itself.

To help the image of a blurred history, I added a vignette blur on the edges.

 

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Working a Subject #1

130430_EurekaMines_Outhouse_Stoop by Karl Graf. Now that my curiosity was triggered, I moved in for a closer look at the outhouse shown in my last blog.  I like to work an image from different perspectives.  My eye is attracted to details.  They naturally went to these weather and wear beaten boards which made up the stoop leading inside.

I used selective treatments of brightness/contrast layers in Photoshop to highlight and darken the boards and background to provide the contrast that I recall when I took the image.  Thanks to Chuck Kimmerle for the tips.

 

 

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