The-Chair
Shot at the site of on old (1880's) church building. Canon 5D MkIII
Shot at the site of on old (1880's) church building. Canon 5D MkIII
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May, 2015Views
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Awards
Top Shot Award 21
Legendary Award
2020 Choice Award
Superb Composition
Peer Award
Absolute Masterpiece
Outstanding Creativity
Top Choice
All Star
Genius
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Behind The Lens
Location
“The Chair” was captured at Historic Shiloh Church in Troy NC, a beautiful old church built in 1883 and located 1 mile north of the town of Troy. It was closed as an active part of the North Carolina Methodist Conference in 1928 and is currently owned by The Shiloh Memorial Association Trustees. I spent most of the morning shooting general shots of the building and accompanying cemetery then began looking for detail images when I noticed this chair in the window.Time
It was about mid-morning when my buddy and I arrived at the church. It was a overcast day the second week of February, 2015, not extremely cold, but not shirt-sleeve weather either.Lighting
The building itself has beautiful weathered wood, which I love, and the light was very soft, considering the cloudy conditions, which allowed me to take advantage of the textures and tones that I think make this print so nice.Equipment
I shot this image with a Canon 5D MkIII and a Canon 24-70 2.8L lens mounted on a Bogan aluminum tripod with a ball head. it was shot at 1/125 sec @ f 2.8, and a 35mm focal length. I typically use my Bogan for all of my images, because sharpness in the image is most critical.Inspiration
I was intrigued by the contrasts represented in the image. Light chair back against the dark wood, the smoothness of the chair against the weathering of the siding, as well as the lonesomeness I saw in the chair sitting in a mostly unused building. As an aside, I shot 44 images that day. Of those, I picked 20 to work on. Of the 20, I actually worked on 9, but this image is the only one that made it to print. It was selected to be exhibited at the 2015 ArtFields show in Lake City SC.Editing
I always start off by making global adjustments in Lightroom. In this case, cropping and exposure adjustments were the main concerns. From there, I moved to Photoshop. Using Nik's software, I converted to B&W, used luminosity masks to tone down the certain highlights and bring out tones that needed to be emphasized. Some dodging and burning as well as a slight vignette completed my work.In my camera bag
Camera, 24-70 2.8L lens, 80-200 2.8L lens, remote shutter release, 100mm macro lens, loupe, ND filter and cir. pol. filter, extra batteries.Feedback
Always be on the lookout for places to explore. My shooting partner and I had seen some info on this church on the internet. It was 2 hours from the house and the weather was cold, but we decided to check it out. Sure am glad we did. Sometimes the best images are in the details. Spend time looking carefully at portions of your subject. There are gems hidden there. When you get home, remember, as Ansel Adams said, the negative is the score, but the print is the performance. I used to spend 2-3 hours in the darkroom before a print made me happy. It is no different with the digital darkroom. Take your time and create the image you saw when you pushed the shutter.
