There’s An ‘Ap For That: Night Photo of Chumash Traditional Village Along The Pacific

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In Malibu, California, there is a living Chumash village perched along cliffs overlooking the Pacific. This village is the vision of Mati Waiya, who wanted to create a living Chumash cultural village, one in which people stay, eat, live, and people come to learn about native plants, sustainability, ecology, and more through the lens of traditional Chumash cultural values and practices. The village is on land that is the historic home of the Chumash, with eight Chumash prehistoric sites existing within a half mile of the present village, existing as early as 4000-6000 BC. Everything came together during this magical night: the beauty of the location, the kindness of the people in the village, the clean ocean air, the magic and cultural significance of the Chumash village, and the act of “light painting” photography, something I love to do.

I illuminated the ‘ap, the name for the round, traditional Chumash thatched home, with a ProtoMachine LED2 flashlight, a flashlight that can change different colors with the press of a button and is designed for “light painting” such as this. The home was illuminated during the exposure, and is not a Photoshop creation. I illuminated the interior with a red light to make it look as if people were keeping warm by the flames.

Mati Waiya believes that with the new technology of cellphones and social media, we are losing the connectivity between people. But he of course understands that we do need to use this to attempt to bring people together. This cultural village attempts to do that, teaching about the earth through activities and ceremony and more. I entitled this photo “There’s An ‘Ap For That” because I was mindful of his words while taking this photo, a photo of the first home on this land that Mati Waiya built about eight years ago.

Title: There’s An ‘Ap For That (6021)
Photo: Ken Lee Photography
Info: Nikon D610, AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED lens at 14mm, 216 second exposure, f/8, ISO 200 3850K. 2015-04-04 22:14. Light painting with a Protomachine LED2.
Location: Malibu, CA USA
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Un ‘ap, una casa tradicional nativo americano de Chumash. La foto fue tomada durante una luna llena. PIntura de luz con un Protomachine LED2. Todo el trabajo de color se hizo durante la exposición, y no es una creación de Photoshop. Tengo derecho esta foto “There’s An ‘Ap For That” (“Hay un ‘Ap para eso”) porque yo era consciente de sus palabras mientras tomo esta foto, una foto de la primera casa en esta tierra que Mati Waiya construido hace ocho años antes.

Título: There’s An ‘Ap For That (“Hay un ‘ap para eso”) (6021)
Foto: Ken Lee Photography
Info: Nikon D610, AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED lente a 14 mm, 216 segundos de exposición, f/8, ISO 200 3850K. 2015-04-04 22:14. PIntura de luz con un Protomachine LED2.
Lugar: Malibu, CA, EE.UU.

Equipment:  Nikon D610, Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 lens, Feisol tripod.

VISIT ME, VISIT ME!
You can see more of these photos here  on my Ken Lee Photography Facebook Page (poke your head in, say hi, and “like” the page if you would, uh, like), on 500px, or my Ken Lee Google+ Page. We discuss long exposure, night sky, star trails, and coastal long exposure photography, as well as lots of other things, so I hope you can join us!

And you can go to the Ken Lee Photography website, which has more photos from Ken Lee.  Thank you very much for visiting!

 

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Rainbow Village of the Pacific – Chumash Traditional Village with Light Painting and Star Trails

Please click on the photo to view it larger and more clearly!  Thanks!

 April 4 was a full moon, the perfect natural light for some “light painting” photography. And I wanted to light paint something with the Chumash, a Native American people living in Southern California. Thankfully, Mati Waiya and Luhui Isha Waiya of Wishtoyo Foundation answered the call, letting me photograph their beautiful village in Malibu on some bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean throughout the evening.  But this isn’t just a re-creation; it’s a living Chumash cultural village. This cultural village is the only one of its kind in Southern California. They teach about native plants, sustainability, and more through the lens of traditional Chumash cultural values and practices. The village is on land that is the historic home of the Chumash, with eight Chumash prehistoric sites existing within a half mile of the present village, existing as early as 4000-6000 BC. Everything came together during this magical night: the beauty of the location, the kindness of the people in the village, the clean ocean air, the magic and cultural significance of the Chumash village, and the act of “light painting” photography, something I love to do.

I illuminated the ‘ap, the name for the round, traditional Chumash thatched home, with a ProtoMachine LED2 flashlight, a flashlight that can change different colors with the press of a button and is designed for “light painting” such as this. The home was illuminated during the exposure, and is not a Photoshop creation. I illuminated the interior with a red light to make it look as if people were keeping warm by the flames. You can see stars trailing in the sky, a result of the 402 second long exposure. The camera is facing more or less west.

Title: Rainbow Village of the Pacific (6014)
Photo: Ken Lee Photography
Info: Nikon D610, AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED lens at 14mm, 402 second exposure, f/8, ISO 200 3850K. 2015-04-04 21:21. Light painting with a Protomachine LED2.
Location: Malibu, CA USA
~~
Una casa tradicional nativo americano de Chumash. La foto fue tomada durante una luna llena. PIntura de luz con un Protomachine LED2. Todo el trabajo de color se hizo durante la exposición, y no es una creación de Photoshop.

Título: Rainbow Village of the Pacific (6014)
Foto: Ken Lee Photography
Info: Nikon D610, AF-S Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED lente a 14 mm, 402 segundos de exposición, f/8, ISO 200 3850K. 2015-04-04 21:21. PIntura de luz con un Protomachine LED2.
Lugar: Malibu, CA, EE.UU.

Equipment:  Nikon D610, Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 lens, Feisol tripod.

VISIT ME, VISIT ME!
You can see more of these photos here  on my Ken Lee Photography Facebook Page (poke your head in, say hi, and “like” the page if you would, uh, like), on 500px, or my Ken Lee Google+ Page. We discuss long exposure, night sky, star trails, and coastal long exposure photography, as well as lots of other things, so I hope you can join us!

And you can go to the Ken Lee Photography website, which has more photos from Ken Lee.  Thank you very much for visiting!

 

Featured Photo – The Dreamy Pacific (Long Exposure Photo)

I’ve gotten a few questions about how I shot the main featured photo on the top, so it’s this week’s Featured Photo!

I took this photo in the Lost Coast, the most isolated stretch of coastline on the West Coast of the United States. I love the rugged coastline here, and feel like I have the entire beach to myself.

This is probably one of the most difficult photos I’ve taken.  It was cold and windy, whipping the ocean spray onshore.  I had some issues with condensation and salt water spray, but managed okay by covering the camera with a plastic bag until it was time to shoot. Adding to the difficulty was that the beach was not sandy, but instead filled with rocks, so because of the strong wind, I jammed the Feisol Travel Tripod hard into the rocks to try and secure it, and then hung my camera bag on the hook provided in the middle.

I took this photo before sunrise using a 30-second exposure to achieve the ethereal, misty look from the movement of the ocean water. I think this look is beautiful. To try and minimize camera shake, I fired the camera using the Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Release Cord. I still managed to get a few spots of saltwater on the lens despite my best efforts, so I cloned them out as best I could.

I used a couple of Tiffen 72mm Neutral Density 0.9 Filters, a colorless filter that reduces the light entering the lens.  I did this to enable me to keep the shutter open longer to achieve the ethereal effect from the moving water.  And related to this, some of you may notice that I’m using a really small aperture.  Why?  Two reasons. One is that, once again, it lets in less light, which allows me to keep the shutter open longer, creating a more ethereal feel.  The other is that I have a larger depth of field, the range of distance in which things are in focus.  Or, to put it another way, more of the photo is sharper than if I had used a wide aperture.

Ken

Equipment:  Nikon D90, Nikon 18-200mm VR II Nikkor Telephoto Zoom Lens, Feisol Travel CT-3441S Rapid 4-Section Carbon Traveler Tripod (I’m actually using the CT-3441T, which is extra tall), Tiffen 72mm Neutral Density 0.9 Filter

 

Featured Photo: Sonoma Coast – Fun With Long Exposure Photography

Sonoma Coast – Fun With Long Exposure Photography

I just came back from a trip to Sonoma to welcome in Year 2012.  On New Year’s Eve, I took a few of the photos on my trip with a technique called long exposure, keeping the shutter open for long durations.  This technique keeps stationary objects sharp while blurring, smearing, or even obscuring elements that are moving.  In these photos, the moving waves of the Pacific  appear ethereal and otherworldly.

The above photo is a long exposure shot of the rocks at Goat Rock Beach during the setting sun, captured by leaving the shutter open for five seconds to create the otherworldly misty look of the waves pounding the rocks. This is a technique that I used last year at Black Sand Beach near Shelter Cove in the Lost Coast region of Northern California.

Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-200mm VR lens, two Tiffen 0.9 neutral density filters, F/36, 5-second exposure, ISO 200.

This is great fun!  Here, Adam and his son sat still for ten seconds in this unusual photo. The photo is a long exposure in which the shutter is held open for ten seconds, creating the otherworldly ethereal look with the surf in the rocks below.  You can see where Adam’s son checked up on me to see whether we were finished or not, blurring his photo.  Anything that moves will blur, appear as a ghostly image, or in some cases, actually disappear.  If I have my shutter open for several minutes or more, as I do with my night shots in Joshua Tree, I can wander through the frame without it appearing in the finished photo.

Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-200mm VR lens, two Tiffen 0.9 neutral density filters, F/32, 10-second exposure, ISO 200.

And in this ten-second long exposure photo, the Pacific is turned into a glowing ethereal expanse, with Adam and his son watching the sun set for the last time in 2011.

Nikon D90, Nikkor 18-200mm VR lens, two Tiffen 0.9 neutral density filters, F/32, 10-second exposure, ISO 200.

I set my camera to have a very small aperture (opening).  This creates a larger depth of field, keeping more elements in the photo in focus.  And also, because the day was still bright, a small aperture allows less light to enter the camera, enabling me to keep the shutter open for longer periods of time without overexposing the shot.

But to allow the shutter to stay open for even longer, I also used two Tiffen neutral density filters.  Neutral density filters are colorless filters that reduce all the colors of light equally, allowing for greater exposure time and additional flexibility.  Two of these stacked together allowed me to keep the shutter open for five to ten seconds, even in relatively bright light.

Equipment:  Nikon D90, 18-200mm VR Nikkor lens, two Tiffen neutral density 0.9 filters, Feisol tripod, Nikon MC-DC2 Remote Trigger Cable.