Lost Buoy | New Bern, NC
Recently, on a nice warm morning, I decided to take a hike through a local park. Neat clouds blowing across the sky beckoned me to walk along the river bank and shoot some big wide waterscapes. As I turned back away from the water and into the woods, a hint of red caught my eye. Walking further, I found this big, beached buoy laying in the weeds. At about six feet tall and made of steel, this sucker was heavy! I assume that it was drug up there temporarily as it seemed to be in ok condition. But, it was up a hill and quite a ways away from the water, so who knows?
I spent some time shooting around it with various set ups and settled on the 8mm Rokinon lens because of the way it made the sunflare really pop!
The shot: Nikon D90, 8mm Rokinon lens, f/22, ISO-100. 2 exposures, manually masked together in Photoshop.
Outside the Box
Facebook | Twitter | Flickr | 500px | Google+
This is a different take on the subject of yesterday’s Weathering Storms. As I find new locations and add to my Abandoned NC project, I have an increasingly difficult time deciding between processing and posting the completed image in color (as originally intended) or in black and white. Each image that I’ve completed resides on my hard drive in both color and black and white, by the way. I have decided to share this old boathouse, from a little different an angle, in black and white today. It’s a step in a different direction as I don’t share much black and white photography, but I feel that sometimes the lack of color can speak wonders of a scene. I’m interested to hear the feedback on this one.
The shot: Nikon D90, 18-105mm VR lens @ 40mm. Single exposure- f/16, 1/200 sec., ISO200. Edited in Photoshop CS4 with some Nik Color Efex tweaks, finished in Nik Silver Efex Pro for black & white conversion.
Cogs of Yesterday | New Bern, North Carolina
Note of scale: The gear lying to the rear right is at least 12 feet tall and I could put my arm through the links on that chain. Heavy, heavy stuff indeed!
Along the river is a large park complete with a boat ramp, dog run, elaborate play sets and a disc golf course. What many people don’t realize is that this park has quite a history, dating back to the 1920’s when it was local retreat featuring a dancehall and ferry to cross the wide Neuse River. Even more surprising is that during World War II, it was used as a camp to house Nazi prisoners of war- many of whom were captured after a U-boat was sunk by the Coast Guard near Cape Lookout.
When I first came upon these massive gears and chain, I really didn’t know what it was. They certainly seemed far too big to have been dumped there by someone just looking to get rid of the garbage. Upon learning of the German POW camp that was set up here and a mill that is said to have been operation at the time, I quickly thought it to be a fascinating relic of that time period. I was finally able to get in touch with a local historian, Jim White, who said that in his research he learned that it was part of the ferry that ran at the site at one point. He wasn’t sure of the exact dates, but his answer put to rest some of the questions I had about the hulking pile!
The shot: 3 bracketed exposures, tripod mounted, remote fired. Merged in Nik HDR Efex Pro, tweaked with Color Efex and Viveza. Finished with a slight Glamour Glow in Color Efex to add a little ‘dreamy’ look to the scene.
—Join me on my other social networks:
This is the old drawbridge crossing onto Chincoteague Island, Va. It has recently been replaced by a 3/4 mile bridge/drawbridge just down the shore. My family and I crossed over this bridge every summer since I was a new born on our way to vacation and I am sad to see it go. I just returned from this summer’s visit to the island and am pretty sure this is my last time seeing its rusting steel mass. It is scheduled to be dismantled, lowered onto a barge and taken away soon.
(Prints of this photo are available now! Click the Order Prints button to the right to be redirected to me order page.)
©2010 Zach Frailey
