4000 Miles in 6 Days. Racing with the Light
by Sebastian Blandino
Dear Steve and fellow Stevehuffphoto.com readers,
I’m glad to have the opportunity to share my new set titled “Racing against the light”.
I shot it during a long roadtrip from Vegas up to Bonneville and then back to LA via Death Valley ( and many other places in between).
Almost 4000 miles in 6 days with as little time on highways as possible… We visited some wonderful places ( Bryce, Zion, Arches, White Mountains, …) but what struck me is that the most spectacular destinations did not yield the most interesting shots… I found these places great to see but uninspiring to photograph…
The main reason is that I feel that my practice of photography is evolving from a “let’s find a spectacular subject” approach into a more “let’s capture a mood, individual subject does not matter” approach… I’m trying with this set to convey a “feel” of a long US roadtrip, of hours and hours spent listening to the sound of a big V8, and ultimately of the pleasure to discover and enjoy some random places from the side of a road.
Light is probably the main ingredient required to create something (I hope) interesting out of what could appear really unexceptional at first… And that’s why I ultimately preferred to shoot these random spots: spending between 5 to 8h a day in the car allowed me to experience a broad variety of lights. I had my camera always ready and was able to capture my favorite instants whenever they happened… Which is a luxury you don’t get when spending only a couple hours in a specific location…
I hope you’ll enjoy the set, any comment is more than welcome. You can find more on my Instagram www.instagram.com/sebastien_bey_haut or my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/lumiere.exterieure
Best regards
Sebastien Bey-Haut
Very nice shots, all of them! Thank you for sharing!
Interesting how “dark” is your vision. You got a strong atmosfere to your pictures.
There is some serious vignetting in your photographs that you use to your advantage. I had my computer screen tilted a little when i saw the rainbow shot, which made it darker, and it made it even more dramatic. I, like everyone else, is curious about your camera and lens choices, which you have chosen to keep to yourself. We really want to know, we are all gear-heads here.
Nikon DF
Thanks. Now that you mention it, it has that look. Big fan of that camera and the look it gives, which is unlike ant other Nikon in my opinion
Oh boy, what a lovely set of photographs. They hang together really well and convey a consistent mood. Hints of Alec Soth/Joel Sternfeld/Stephen Shore but with your own twist. Hats off to you. And thanks for not cluttering the post up with details of the gear you used (!)
Thanks a lot for the kind words! The 3 masters you mentioned are indeed some of my favorite artists, glad if you saw a hint at their work in my images!
I know that not mentioning gear on this site can be a bit frustrating 🙂 I volontarily omitted it because it does not really matter for want I wanted to achieve here… For those who really want to know I’d just say that the camera I used will very soon celebrate the 4th birthday of its announcement ( no X1D for me unfortunately 🙂
superb seeing!
Looking for the special in the ordinary is my way too!
Your framing, exposure all perfect.
The rainbow a singular find and a spectacular shot..
Equipment?
Some really great photos.
I don’t understand the mileage, though. Five to eight hours a day, averaging 50 MPH, (on back roads), would be 250-400 miles per day, times six days would be 1,500-2,400 miles.
I’ve done three road trips around the US, and the numbers just seemed a little off. I drove six hours per day and generally averaged about 250 miles.
Did you mean kilometres?
Your turn away from the spectacular to focus on mood has resulted in an engaging series of photographs. Good idea and execution. I think eventually many of us come to the point where we are not interesred in producing “picture postcard” shots any more. Mood, emotional impact, and story are worthy alternatives.
Fantastic series of photographs. Couldn’t agree more about inspiring subjects and pics: I think being in serious photographic country inspires, but not necessarily for the common images, but it is hard to pull yourself away. Congratulations on seeing these great images and not fitting the crowds.
super photographs amazing , have you a hasselblad x1d ? or zeiss lens ? something about the mood in shoots wonderful for sure !!!!