side exit (2023) (Patreon)

This was an incredibly fun shot to compose and pose for. This shot, like Friday's, was also taken at Bannack State Park, and since it is so, so remote, it's not busy, especially on a hot Thursday afternoon. As a result, I could use basically as much of the ghost town for shot composition as I wanted. It allowed me to get this incredibly full scene that feels much more like a real image of the past than just a staged vignette, because the depth is all real and it is actually an entire town that I got to move my camera around freely until the composition felt just right. 

It felt a little like getting my own little private movie set for photos, which was a dream come true. I don't know how to find more places that let me shoot like this, but I need to. Complete scene control is absolutely intoxicating and it lets me indulge my inner movie director (and actress, let's not lie - I absolutely love getting to pose for my own shots, because I know exactly what kind of look I'm going for), and I think the work is good enough it's worth it. I've emailed a few places to see if they'd let me run around doing stuff like this; we'll see what happens, I guess.

Anywho, since today's image is a little late, here's a bonus (and why it was late)—went out with a friend with a Subaru glamping setup to watch the Perseids last night. Absolutely incredible skies; I genuinely don't think I've ever seen conditions that clear and dark in my entire life, and I specifically seek out the darkest places in the country constantly. Stunning meteor showers, probably over 1/minute at around 3 AM, and just insane conditions. I still don't generally like Foresters because they're the generic crossover, but I will admit, it served its purpose well to get us here.