115mm - ISO 200 - 1/320 - f/5.6

How fitting that the final image would represent a path into the unknown. The final stop took us just outside of Wrightwood, California. The journey was long, had its ups and downs, a few surprises, but was still a great adventure. We thank you so much for following along with us on this journey and we look forward to taking you with us on our next adventure.

Chris Diset & Kerry Garrison

24mm - ISO 200 - 1/320 - f/8

If you are 40+ years old and grew up in Southern California you may remember commercials from the 70′s for Lake Delores with their trademark stand-up water slides. Lake Delores was really the first actual water park in the country.  Over the decades it would go out of business, be bought by someone else and reopened. This cycle happened multiple times with the last closure happening in 2004. Since then vandals and nature have been taking their toll on the structures and buildings there.

Chris pulled out a 24mm lens to get a good wide angle and used a fast shutter to knock down some of the ambient light. The result captures the water town in all of its fading glory.

Additional Information

Lake Delores (Wikipedia): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Dolores_Waterpark

Rock-A-Hoola Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uuj6_SxlHZI

35mm - ISO 400 - 1/200 - f/8

As the Sun continued to climb in the early morning sky we pull into Baker, Ca to try to find our next image. In the parking lot where this rotting Jeep was sitting. The Sun may have only been up for 30 minutes but it was very bright outside and the background was really distracting. Directly behind the Jeep is a busy street and gas stations as well as the I-15 freeway. To the right is a hotel with lots of distracting elements.

Unlike earlier shots where we used long exposures to bring out the sky, in this car we used a fast shutter speed and smaller aperture to kill the ambient light making the scene darker, then lit the Jeep with a single speedlite. This gave the impression that the shot was taken right before sunrise (or after sunset depending on your story).  Using this technique you can make your environment suite your needs instead of letting it determine your shot.

Additional Information

Jeep History (Wikipedia): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeep

Jeep-History.com: http://www.jeep-history.com/

Baker, Ca: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baker,_California

46mm - ISO 800 - 1/15 - f/4.5

4:20am and we roll into Vegas and head over to the iconic Las Vegas sign and decide that this would be a great time for a self-portrait of Team 24. From left to right is Chris Diset, Frank Hernandez, and Kerry Garrison.

With a single flash to camera right with a shoot through umbrella we creates a basic broad lighting setup.

Lighting Setup

Additional Information

Las Vegas Sign: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_to_Fabulous_Las_Vegas_sign

Las Vegas, Nv: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Las_Vegas,_Nevada

Paradise, Nv: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise,_Nevada

200mm - ISO 400 - 30 sec - f/4

As the clock showed 3am it was yet again time to find a shot and at the next off-ramp we got off the freeway and started looking. Just a short drive down the road we catch a great outline of the distant mountains with just a barely visible sliver of light coming from the distance.  Even though we were still close to 70 miles away from Las Vegas, you could already see light coming from the distance.

In order to really make it stand out, a long exposure would make the light much more prominent. A 70-200mm lens at 200mm would provide a nice section of the hillside and a 30 second exposure made it look like the sun was coming up over the horizon.

Additional Information

Bunkerville, Nv: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunkerville,_Nevada

Valley of Fire: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_of_Fire_State_Park

17mm - ISO 400 - 1.3 Sec - f/4

The clock ticked off another hour and again we  pulled off on the next offramp we found. A sign said a city was two miles down the road. Four miles later we turn around having found nothing. We finally pulled up next to this overpass and tried to do something creative.

We tried numerous different things but could never get all six speedlites to fire. On site we couldn’t determine what the issue was but we suspected either mismatched firmware between the PocketWizard FlexTT5′s or possibly battery issues. When working in the cold, batteries can end up lasting only a fraction of the time they do when the temperatures are warmer.

We finally decided to go with the shot above because it was more abstract than the original shots but the initial tests just needed something extra. With the headlights from the Nissan Monstrosity lighting up the ground behind the pillars, Chris dialed down the shutter to 1.3 seconds in order to put up the light from the headlights. Three speedlites were aimed straight up the front of the columns. The result was a pretty cool abstract image that we both were quite happy with.

Additional Information

Interstate Highway Standards: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_Highway_standards

Freeway Information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeway

24mm - ISO 500 - 1/40 - f/3.5

Just past 1:00am and we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are someone around 250 miles from Las Vegas and the freeway is just an endless stretch of asphalt. Just as we thought there may never be another off-ramp one comes up and we get off the freeway. Not more than a mile off the I-15 we come across this old building. At first glance it may seem like a pretty bland structure so it was just screaming for some creative lighting.

Lighting Setup

To start off with we needed to light the outside of the building Chris setup two speedlites on the front and one on the left side. Inside the building, Kerry was testing out some ideas of how to light the interior. All of the lights were fired with PocketWizard FlexTT5′s. After a few test shots the best interior lighting came from Kerry standing in the corner and aiming the light along the walls. On the outside the light on the left of the building wasn’t used in order to add a little more of a dramatic feel.

Additional Information

Utah Ghost Towns (Legends of America): http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/ut/ut.html

Utah Ghost Towns (Wikipedia): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ghost_towns_in_Utah

32mm - ISO 400 - 1/40 - f/4

As the US89 winds up and down through Arizona and Utah we are on the last leg through Utah when the clock told us it was time for another photo. We haven’t seen another car on the road for an hour, the temperature outside is hovering around 10 degrees and we find a place to pull over. In looking around we find an old fence sitting all by itself.

We have to walk across 20 yards of solid ice while carrying our gear. We wanted to find an interesting way to light this fence so we put two speedlites behind a shoot-thru umbrella to create the largest light source we could with minimal gear. With both lights set on 1/4 power which is quite a bit of power considering the conditions.

Since it was as close to complete darkness as you can get (no moon out) there was virtually zero ambient light so the shutter speed was irrelevant. To prove this point we shot handheld at 1/30th of a second which is normally way too slow to hand hold a camera. Since the only light was the flash, and the flash duration on 1/4 power is about 1/30,000th of a second, we get a perfectly sharp image even at a slow shutter speed.

Rather than trying to adjust the flash power with gloves on, Chris adjusted the camera using ISO and Aperture settings to get the exposure he wanted.

Additional Info

Barbed Wire: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbed_wire

24mm - ISO 400 - 1/13 - f/3.2

We had just noticed that the TomTom was rerouting us as we had missed a turn so we pulled a U-ey and pulled into a closed gas station somewhere along the Utah/Arizona border. To our surprise this little western town setup was right behind us but we didn’t see it before because it was still pitch black outside.

This is not some miniature, this is three full sized stores with absolutely no light hitting them. While we probably could have just setup a couple of umbrellas and just blasted the scene with light we would have lost shadows and lit the foreground as well. The trick here was going to be how to light it but only light the areas we wanted lit. This ended up being the most complex lighting setup of the entire trip.

Lighting Diagram

There were five speedlites used on this setup with a mix of 580 EX, 580 EX II, and YN560′s all fired with Pocketwizard FlexTT5′s. To get the signs on the top light with minimal spill, they left and center one were fitted with Harbor Digital Quick Spots and the one on the right was fitted with a large Rouge Flashbender if a half roll to act as part snoot but also to spill some light on the side of the building. Two more speedlights were on the ground pointed inwards to light the area under roof area.

While we tried to use a longer exposure to try to pull in the stars, the problem was that too much shutter and we were getting light contamination from nearby street lights. All of the flashes were set to 1/4 power and the three pointing at the signs were also zoomed to 105mm while the ground lights were zoomed to 24mm.

Additional Information

Grand Canyon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canyon
Utah: http://www.utah.com/