Hey, it’s been a while since I last talk about my photography. Not because I don’t shoot anymore, but I don’t think it’s worth writing about. Now I want to tell you about my adventure (not really) in the City of Yogyakarta and to be honest, it’s kinda special. This is my photography: Flyover fine art photography.
My Photography: Flyover Fine Art Photography
These photography have received Gold Winner in the category Architecture-Bridges in the 2017 Tokyo International Foto Awards
So some time ago, I was checking some black and white photography contests and I saw a photo series competition. So I said, “Why don’t I try it?” So I did exactly that. The question is what to make?
By the way, I realized that I only have 7 days to finish my series before the deadline.
Before I create a photo series, first I must decide a few things, what to shoot?; where to shoot?; what’s the theme of the shot?; what’s the similarity of each shot?; what’s the point of the shots?; and more. The thinking part always has been the hardest thing for me to do. So I did exactly what I do every time I’m looking for an idea, ride my bicycle and wondering nowhere. Usually, I found an idea later and I did find one.
The idea came when I saw a flyover and I remembered I saw some fine art photos created by a photographer that I admire. The photographer created a series of architecture fine art of bridge. Remembered that, I then decided to create something similar.
The good thing is the place is quite near. The flyover bridge is about 7 km from my house. So it’s easy for me to go there. Because I knew that I need to be there more than once.
Pre-Processing
Gear
As usual, my gears are Sony A58 with Tamron AF 18-200mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di II LD Aspherical [IF] MACRO. Sirui T-2204X tripod, Nisi 15 Stop Super Stopper, and remote shutter. All in my Lowepro Passport Sling III.
It’s always a pain in the neck for me to carry all my stuff. But the good thing is that I recently just bought a bicycle bag, so I just put all my photography gear into the bicycle bag. To be precise, my gears are in the camera bag, then I put the camera bag into the bicycle bag. Quite efficient, right?
Location
Like I said before, the location is not really that far from my house. It’s Jombor Flyover located north of Yogyakarta City. The place is no more than 500m2 (I guess, I’m not sure). So it’s not really that big if you compare it to a flyover you see in the metropolitan city. But this is the biggest in Yogyakarta. Usually, people said that this place has so little to photograph, but I make something out.
Processing
I went there at 05.00 am. Quite a morning and the sun hasn’t risen. And that is actually the plan. The reason is that there already a good light even though it wasn’t sunrise yet. Also, I tried to avoid long exposure from the car’s light and there were fewer vehicles in the morning compared to in the evening.
What I was looking for there is minimalist detail of the flyover with only 3 elements, road bridge, lamp, and sky. So there I went around to look for the best angle to photograph. So when I found the angle I prepare my photography gear and just take the shot. The camera attaches to the tripod, then attaches the filter to the camera. And here are all my RAW photos:
All of the photos were taken from below the flyover for the simplest reason, I’m scared. Do you know that high-speed trucks pass through that flyover every day? It’s pretty scary for me (don’t know about you). Also, there’s a technical reason. The vehicle that passes through the flyover always causes vibration and can also vibrate the tripod if I photograph on the flyover. So there’s no way that I can photograph on the flyover. And so the only reasonable choice is from down below.
Post-Processing
I used Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC, Adobe Photoshop CC, and Google Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 for this photography. I also use Wacom Intuos Pro Small pen tablet.
All the photos editing with the same idea, basic adjustment on Lightroom; remove the unnecessary elements and create a selection to separate foreground and background; create low tone black and white in Silver Efex Pro 2, and back to Lightroom for dodge and burn to create contrast.
So here are the final results:
