Abandoned Car

I wasn't sure I was going out this morning. I didn't feel well yesterday. And the notion of another mind-splitting rise at 4am....not very appealing to say the least. And then...serendipity.

Earlier in the week I watched another of Brian Matiash's Perfect Inspiration episodes, which featured an abandoned police car. Last night, skimming through Trey Ratcliff's awesome Stuck On Earth app, I stumbled across an image of an abandoned car in the Black Mountain area. A quick check of the satellite maps for the area suggests it's still there. And not far from home, I could sleep in a wee bit more. Decided I'd go for it.

4:30am: Wake up (still mind-splitting), gather the gear and out the door.

4:50am: Car parked, start walking toward a bridge where I should be able to see the car. It's still there! There's no trail leading into the valley, but there's a concrete water runoff channel - that'll do. As I maneuver may way down the hillside, I'm wondering...How did this thing get here? The closest road isn't all that close.

5:00am: Start setting up. A wave of paranoia sets in about animals in the car. No critters, wave passes. I get to work, start making exposures. An owl takes a keen interest in me for a few moments, makes several passes overhead.

5:45am: My time with this beauty is up. And as the light increases, I see all of the holes in the ground. Paranoia returns, but this time for rattlesnakes. Sure enough, I see on on my way out of the canyon. Thankfully, it was content just to watch me.

8:00am: Finishing this post. I've only got time to process one of the compositions this morning. Another I have that includes a bridge in the background is promising as well - tells more of a story of the car, a hint at how it may have arrived here. Watch for that on my Google+ stream.

Abandoned Car, Black Mountain Area

Processing notes: 6 long exposures (from ~30s to ~105s) on manual, tone mapped in Photomatix, remaining post-processing in Aperture.