About The Photograph-A Nightmare In Gardiner.
August 1, 2007. Elk heads on the walls of a motel in Gardiner, Montana.
During a conversation about composition in a recent Introduction To Photography Workshop, a participant mentioned that she saw this photograph on my website and she found it frightening.
As I mentioned during our class, I was happy to learn that she “connected” with the emotional reaction that I felt when I saw this scene.
It’s unrealistic to expect that everyone will connect emotionally with the photograph the same way I did, but when I learn that someone does, it reaffirms that I’m using the elements of photographic composition effectively to visually communicate my emotional reaction to whatever I’m photographing.
Thank you Heather.
ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPH
TECHNICAL
COMPOSITIONAL
The driving feeling behind this photograph was fright.
As we made our way to the second floor of a hotel in Gardiner Montana the elk heads on the wall didn’t phase me. As I left the building however, the elk heads took on a nightmarish quality.
It almost seemed like something out of a Stephen King movie. The elk head on the right seemed as if it was turning its head to look at me while trying to keep me from exiting, while the other two, on the left, were bleating in unison with their disembodied relative.
As usual I tried to keep the elements of the composition to a minimum. The elk heads and exit sign were all that I felt were needed. The overexposed window lends to the dreamlike quality.
I spot metered off of the darker areas of the elk head to the right, and left the meter reading as my camera suggested. By letting the elk head reproduce as a mid-tonal value, I knew the contrasty scene would lose details in the brighter areas while holding details in the areas that I felt were of importance.
The long exposure of 10 seconds at f-8 required that I steadied the camera. I attached my camera to a “Pedco Ultra-Clamp” then attached the ultra-clamp to a nearby railing.
Once my camera was steadied, my exposure set, and photograph framed to include only the elements needed, I only needed to press the shutter when no one was in the frame.
Although a few people stopped to talk with me about what I was photographing, I’m glad that no one asked me why.
Related Workshops:
Effective Color Photography
Elements Of Photographic Composition
Intermediate Photography
Introduction To Photography-Starts Monthly
Metering And Exposure
Personal Photographic Expression
Using Exposure Creatively
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