Hotel Meade Grand Staircase
Feb, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
Hotel Meade, Bannack, Montana.Time
Late morning, sunny day.Lighting
No flash, just natural light from the windows nearby.Equipment
Camera: Canon EOS 60D, Sigma 10-20mm lens. Hand-held, no flash or graded/colored filters. (I may actually still have had the polarizing filter on,)Inspiration
The thought of descending those stairs in elegant dress while the hotel was in her prime. Of course, I probably would have been a Lady of the Night, so that wouldn't have worked out so well for me. I like the mystery of the possibilities of the time, that I know nothing about.Editing
Photomatix, one of my first forays into that software. Started with the default setting, then modified the details until I liked what I saw. It's a little less realistic than what I saw, but if fits my imagination. The detailed dirt and grime adds to the mystery. Finished in Lightroom by playing with the luminance of the remaining color.In my camera bag
Canon 60D, 70D (primary body); Canon 70-200mm IS, Canon 24-70mm II, Sigma 10-20mm, Sigma 150-500mm; flash; polarizing, UV, 16x ND, some colored filters; sun shield for the short lens (fits into the shoe), heavy aluminum Manfrotto tripod (stays in the car when I walk away from the car), baby CF tripod for everything smaller than the 70-200 lens, gimbal head on heavy/ball head on the light tripod. Hand warmers, gloves, packable rain jacket, camera rain sleeve. Extra batteries, cards, power cell for the phone. It all fits in the ThinkTank Airporter, plus a laptop, if I'm traveling (it doesn't hike with me).Feedback
Use a tripod, go early to avoid the crowds. Think (and stand) outside the normal traffic areas and take higher and lower angles than you're comfortable with. Focus on the unsightly aspects, like the dirt and how it might have been deposited, or the bulge in the wall - how did that get there? That may inspire some unconventional shooting perspectives. If possible, change the natural light by blocking a window or opening a door or filtering it out. Scenes like this beg for experimentation.
