Rush Ranch Truck

Rush Ranch (http://www.rushranch.org) is a 2,000 acre ranch in Solano County, California which borders some the last remaining un-managed marshland in California.

The land is under preservation protection, and the grounds are open to the public during the day.

A group out of San Francisco run by Tim Baskerville - The Nocturnes (http://www.thenocturnes.net) - brought 15 people to the ranch for an evening of semi-guided night photography, with an emphasis on "light painting".

Light Painting is a technique where, during a minutes-long exposure, one "paints" the subject with gel-covered flashlights, strobes, or anything else that illuminates the scene in a controlled manner.

This was my first attempt at light painting, and the result is pretty interesting. This image is a composite of 3 separate 2-minute exposures. Two of the exposures are of painting with light - combined with a "difference filter", which makes for nice tree outlines. The third is a "dark frame" - taken with with the lens cap on. Dark frames are used to "subtract out" (in photoshop) the noise inherent in digital cameras.

For this sort of work, the Nikon Coolpix 995 is crap. The dudes with the $3000 Canons ruled the night.

The REST of the pictures I took that night are old-school 4x5 (yeah, i dug out the Speed Graphic) color 64 ISO slide film - each of which required a 20 minute exposure, or 35mm with 160 ISO slide film. Depending how they turn out, another side gallery may be warranted.