Author Archives: Bri Duncan

Big Crosses

Posted on July 23rd, 2012 by

Jesus

While visiting Bentonville, Arkansas and one of the cooler American History Museums in the country Crystal Bridges we went down to eat pizza at this crazy place that had a mirrored ’70’s VW bug rotating on the ceiling like a disco ball (yes full sized). On the way we spotted this church with these CRAZY big crosses. They are much taller than the church. This was a photo meant to be taken. I am much more inclined to photograph Gothic and very old Roman Catholic Cathedrals, simply because I find them beautiful. I usually pay less attention to the things we build in the states, but they too are an interesting statement about the faith of people. Enjoy.

Technicals

This is a one shot photo edited entirely in Lightroom 4.

Photography
Big Crosses by W. Brian Duncan

The Seine at Night

Posted on July 19th, 2012 by

Night Night

I really enjoy photographing at night. There is just something magical about a city when the sun goes down; the whole place lights up with a certain glow. We spent quite a bit of time in the are of Paris around Notre Dame and I took several other photos I am proud of down here in the evening. I was ultimately unhappy with the first Seine photo I released which I call lovingly Big Yellow Bus, Down By the River. Why oh why did I not Photoshop that thing out…I will never know. Perhaps one day I will revisit that photo, but for now it serves, as many of my older photos do, as a teaching tool. I really feel like I caught the passion of the Seine in this version.

Technicals

This is a three shot bracket (-2, 0, +2) shot on with the camera on a Joby Gorillapod. The brackets were combined in photomatix and exported to Photoshop for editing. You have to be careful with city skies at night as they can turn a really unnatural color when photographed. I remembered the sky being Midnight Blue and color corrected in Photoshop to memory. Final work was done in Lightroom.

HDR Photography
The Seine at Night by W. Brian Duncan

Chapel in the Woods

Posted on July 16th, 2012 by

A Funny Place for a Church

On our last road trip to Arkansas, we returned home a different than we usually drive. The purpose of the diversion was to visit the Mildred B Cooper Memorial Chapel in Bella Vista Arkansas. This site was designed by E Fay Jones, an architect from Arkansas who was an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright. The chapel is open to visitors when there isn’t an official function happening and as luck would have it, there wasn’t a ceremony that afternoon. In fact the place was deserted! Upon arrival there was a small group of Asian tourists leaving as we entered the chapel. I set up my tripod and snapped a few shots.

Peaceful

The chapel is glass…lots and lots of glass. The woods of oak and pine surrounding the chapel envelope you when you are inside and out. You feel like the chapel is part of the Ozark woods and the woods is part of the church, the separation is perhaps an illusion. If you happen to need a beautiful place for a small ceremony and are close to Northwest Arkansas…this is a beautiful location.

Technicals

This is a three shot bracket (-2, 0, +2) combined in Photomatix, edited in Photoshop and Lightroom.

HDR Photography
Chapel in the Woods by W. Brian Duncan

D.C.F.D. Engine No3

Posted on July 12th, 2012 by

FIRE

On my last trip to Washington D.C., I stayed at a nice hotel about two blocks from the U.S. Capitol building’s south entrance. The first thing I noticed when I walked up was that there was a D.C. Fire Station right next door…WHOOPEE! I like fire station’s as much as the next guy, but not sirens at 3am which sort of concerned me. I need my sleep! Fortunately I always pack ear plugs on trips (light sleeper) and I didn’t notice any late night emergencies so my fears ended up being for not.

Rain

It started raining on me that night as I walked to the Washington monument just after shooting the World War II Memorial. When I say rain, perhaps I should really call it what it was…a very sudden severe thunderstorm that lead me in a dead run for the nearest Metro stop back by Smithsonian Castle. I took the metro (happy to be underground) back to Union Station and by the time I got off, the rain was down to a drizzle. I walked by the fire station…all the doors were open, the trucks lights were on getting ready to go to work. It was a picture made for the taking…I wasn’t ready. The last thing I wanted to do was stand in the middle of everything and delay the D.C.F.D. from saving the day! I stepped aside and watched the trucks roll out, getting my camera set for the shot I wanted. I think it ended up decent, but it would have been much more dramatic if I would have been about 10 minutes earlier. Thus is life.

Technicals

This photo is a three shot bracket (-2, 0, +2) on a tripod combined in Photomatix, edited in Photoshop, Nik and finished in Lightroom.

HDR Photography
D.C.F.D. Engine No3 by W. Brian Duncan

Under the Arc de Triomphe

Posted on July 9th, 2012 by

Ceilings

Pamela pointed out something recently without really meaning to…”You really like ceilings don’t you?” Well…yes I do, some people completely forget to look up when they visit stunning places. There is SO much to look at and so many people to navigate around, often we forget to look up (or behind us) for a different view. Next time you happen to be somewhere cool stop and take a look at the ceiling. Many times if there was a serious craftsman involved, you will be amazed at what you see.

Resting

This shot was actually done on the exit when we visited the top of the Arc de Triomphe. I sat down on a bench and looked up to find the most wonderful carvings of flowers on the bottom side of the Arc. I took a picture from where I sat.

Technicals

This is a three shot handheld bracket (-2, 0, +2) combined in Photomatix, edited in photoshop, Nik software and finished in Lightroom. The photo was desaturated to begin with and I removed a good deal of the saturation as I found it distracting, leaving about half as I think it added depth and character, balancing the color to how I remember it in my head.

HDR Photography
Under the Arc de Triomphe by W. Brian Duncan

The Jeweled Ceiling of Union Station

Posted on July 5th, 2012 by

Jewels

Ok…so maybe jeweled is a bit of a stretch, but it is really impressive looking. Perhaps not in the European Palatial sense, but I found it quite stunning. I shot from my tabletop tripod and kept expecting someone to tell me to get lost. The great thing about that little booger is that people don’t see it as a hazard like they do my larger tripod. I incur the wrath of many a security guard when trying to open my Really Right Stuff legs, but my tabletop…NOTHING! It’s like a tripod in stealth mode! I cant recommend one of these little guys enough.

Technicals

This was a 3 exposure bracket (-2, 0 +2), processed in Photomatix, exported to Photoshop to repair some burned out light bulbs, Tonal Contrast was added out the wazoo in Nik Color Efex Pro 4 as well as sharpening done in Sharpener Pro, final touch-up work was done in Lightroom 4.

HDR Photography
The Jeweled Ceiling of Union Station by W. Brian Duncan

The Washington Monument

Posted on July 2nd, 2012 by

Washington

The Washington Monument is the worlds tallest obelisk at 555 feet 5 1/8 inches. I am certain Dan Brown can tell you the significant of that height in one or more of his books, but I have nothing but speculation to offer. I took this shot in the early afternoon on a very warm day in D.C. I was honestly very happy to be standing in the shadow of the memorial as it was much cooler and I was sweating through my clothes. This is also the ill fated trip where I got tons of great photos, but utterly destroyed my feet with blisters in the process of obtaining said photos. I enjoyed putting the sun in my shots while I was in D.C. and taking 9 stops worth of brackets. In this particular instance, I only felt like I needed 3…which in the end saves quite a bit of hard drive space.

Techincals

This was a three shot bracket (-2, 0, +2) processed in photomatix, extensive work was done to remove tourists in Photoshop, Nik software was used for tonal contrast, sharping, finish work was done in Lightroom 4.

HDR Photography
The Washington Monument by W. Brian Duncan

Abraham Lincoln

Posted on June 28th, 2012 by

Four Score

The South wall of the Lincoln Memorial is inscribed with the Gettysburg Address. This is where I hung out waiting for my chance to open up my tripod in the main part of the memorial. I took the chance to watch people and became somewhat fascinated by the numbers of people stopping to read the speach. I guess I found it odd because I memorized the first few lines for some grade school project and have thus read the speech a number of times. PRO TIP: when staring up to read an important historical speech from one of our nations greatest, please close your mouth.

Throngs of People

The Lincoln Memorial is busy…REALLY busy. I stood around for what seemed an eternity, frankly surprised that the park officials didn’t run me off on account of my tripod. I stood over to the side for probably half an hour waiting for the people to dissipate to get this shot. Given the traffic that goes through the memorial I am pretty pleased with that I ended up with. What do you think?

HDR Photography
Abraham Lincoln by W. Brian Duncan

The Natural History Museum of Paris

Posted on June 25th, 2012 by

Crazy Cool Style

If you happen to get to Paris (which I highly recommend) give the Muséum National D’Histoire Naturelle some time on your schedule. In particular visit the Grande Galerie de l’Evloution. It is perhaps one of the craziest and coolest places in Paris. It sort of has this built in steampunk appeal that sort of goes with the theme of the museum somehow. I don’t know how the aesthetic even works in this setting, but it really does.

Stuffed Animals

The museum is host to a very large taxidermy collection (which I find weird in and of itself) as well as what I am sure is a lengthy description of Darwin’s theory. One of the most prominent displays is of a Noah’s Arc like procession, which is interesting considering the American religious discord with respect to Darwinism. Perhaps it’s a statement how the French don’t seem to find that much conflict between science and religion (France is largely Catholic). Some English reading materials are available, but that seemed to be an exception rather than a rule.

HDR Photography
The Natural History Museum of Paris by W. Brian Duncan

The Kauffman Center By Day

Posted on June 18th, 2012 by

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts

I just can’t get over how cool looking the Kauffman Center is. It seems like a cross between the Sydney Opera House, the Guggenheim Museum and something with lots of glass. The last two times I have been in downtown Kansas City, I couldn’t help but be drawn to this place and takes its picture. This time I went more wide angle using the 16-35mm lens. Last time I used the 50 and shot at night. I would love to shoot the inside of this place as I am sure the hall is magnificent as well.

Technicals

This shot is an HDR three exposure bracket (-2, 0, +2) processed in Photomatix, exported to Photoshop and modified with the Nik Complete Collection (noise reduction, tonal contrast and sharping). Final adjustments were done in Adobe Lightroom 4.

HDR Photography
The Kauffman Center By Day by W. Brian Duncan