the famous amboy

It’s been a while since my last post. Since then, I’ve constantly had a thinking that my photos are not matching my expectation. I don’t know if it’s because whenever I go out to take a photo, I always think about making photos for my blog post or just because I’m not improving my skills. Either way, I’ve chosen to slow down and think about the photos only, not about the purpose of the photos later. So here you are, some photos from my few hours in the famous Amboy town. I was there around 1pm so the sunlight was not very pleasing (compared to golden hour) but since it’s winter time, 1pm was not that harsh and strong. I got some photos that I’m happy with.

These photos were taken with Portra 800. I didn’t plan to shoot Portra 800 at midday but I was having the roll in my camera from the last trip so I have to finish the roll. It’s the famous Roy’s sign so I had to take a good amount of photos to make sure I got one that I can proudly share with people on the Internet :). The second (2) photo is a initial composition that I like when I look at the Roy’s sign while standing in front of the restroom :). Then I move to the right to take the third one. I like the composition and elements in the #3 photo but wish that I have the man in a nicer post (he was doing his job and I think he’s a good element to the photo but I was worried that he may blend into some objects so I take the photo when he just separated himself from the gas pump. I also wish that I moved away a bit to not cut the bottom of the “Cafe” sign and I also want to include the “no vacancy” in the photo :(. In the photo #4, I also want to include the light pole at the foreground because my photography goal is to create photos with complex layers, not sure if I tried so hard and ruin my composition in this case. Anyway, here’s the 2 photos that I think look best.

The #6 photo is just simple and straight forward about the environment and how vast the place is. When I look at the photo I can feel how lonely the sign is, there’s no other like this in miles. The #7 photo tells more about other structures around the sign and I like the affect of the wide angle lens here.

After taking photos of the sign, I cross the street to take photo of the church across Roy’s because who can reject a lonely white church in the middle of desert?

This is also the last shot from my roll of Portra, so I loaded Fuji 400H and continue shooting. I love abandoned things because they carry so many stories, they are unique and broken :).

I like the #9 photo but I heard feedbacks said it not pleasing, I guess because of the ugly house on the right side, but I still like it because it’s life, beautiful and ugly, light and shadow, high and low, they just come hand in hand, nothing is 100% beautiful. I had high hope for the photo #10 but sadly it doesn’t come out the way I want. Subframe and multiple layers in a photo is something I thrive for but I guess still not success this time. The photo #11 is not that great but I like the fact that you can see the house over the window, and it also pair nicely with the last photo below (because of the heater?).

Finally, the last 3 photos are the best ones. I suppose to like the last one the most because, again, so many layers and elements to look for, but I still think it’s missing something to be one of the best of my work. The photo of the hallway and doors is fascinated to me because it’s mystery and make me wonder what’s inside those room, there’s so much possibilities inside those broken doors. It looks just like a scene in a movies. Last but not least, the whole church and abandoned houses around remind me of the TV series Preacher from AMC.