My Sunday Photo Adventure With Rad Drew

May 14, 2023 By Kevin Raber

Every now and then, photographers like myself need to seek therapy, and I’m not one for doing traditional therapy, so I grab my camera gear and head out for a day of photography. This kind of therapy is even better when you find a friend in need of the same therapy. Then it’s kind of like group therapy. That’s exactly what I found with Rad Drew, a great friend, and local well know photographer as well as a contributor of articles to this site.

Rad and I have different styles, but we share a lot of likes. We love old buildings, abandoned places, and interesting landscapes. We made plans to leave at 9 AM on Saturday a few weeks ago. We planned to cap off our trip and a well-known Indiana eating establishment, the Beef House in Covington, IN. Doesn’t every photographer deserve a big steak dinner after shooting all day?

We met up and loaded my Jeep Gladiator with drones, cameras, tripods, and other things. The funny thing is, quite unintentionally, we didn’t use any camera gear other than our iPhone Pro Max 14 cameras. Don’t ask me why but it just turned out that way, and I have no regrets. I felt liberated from the larger camera gear, and it was just what I needed to make for a perfect day of photography.

As with most of my trips and workshops, I decided to track this trip using Gaia GPS app. This is a great app for tracking your route and providing all sorts of statistics about where you have been.

As you can see from the Gaia map above, we covered a lot of back roads. Sometimes we would set an initial destination into our car GPS like The Bridgeton Mill and then no matter which way we went or what side road we took, the GPS would always get us where we wanted to go, even though it threw a hissy fit every now and then when we didn’t follow directions.

One of the nice things about a trip like this is you have time to catch up with an old friend. We had so many things to talk about. It was a lot of fun to discuss photography, life, love, and our general pursuit of happiness and, need I say, a dose of politics too.

Our first stop was this crazy automated Ice Vending Machine. I like the two Penguins. Shot as a RAW file and processed. The modified in SNapseed, and texture and birds were added in Distress+

I used the Hipstmatic app for this image and then enhanced it a bit in Snapseed. — I used the Hipstamatic app for this image and then enhanced it a bit in Snapseed.

Some of these photos were edited in my favorite editing app on the iPhone and iPad called Snapseed. If you have never used this app, then download it now. It should be on every photographer’s mobile device.

Our first stop was Crawfordsville, IN, and I wanted to stop there because last year, I was here with Jeff Schewe, and we met a really cool shop owner. He had an antique shop with so many cool oddities. Sorry to say though the shop was gone and had to close due to the owner becoming ill. Nevertheless, we made good use of our time there.

Using the Hipstamatic app with the ultra-wide angle lens, I made this image. I'm always trying to see the ordinary a bit differenltly — Using the Hipstamatic app with the ultra-wide angle lens, I made this image. I’m always trying to see the ordinary a bit differenltly

This was a bit more straight forward, but I like the way the perspective worked here. — This was a bit more straightforward, but I like the way the perspective worked here.

Shot using Hppstamatic, then converted to BW in Snapseed. From there, I took the image into Distressed+ for the texture. — Shot using Hipstamatic, then converted to BW in Snapseed. From there, I took the image into Distressed+ for the texture.

Along the way, we found a canoe rental place that looked like it had been closed for quite a while. It allowed me a chance to shoot numerous abstracts and close-ups of peeling paint. While I was doing this, Rad was off doing some infrared photography that he mentions in his article, A Sunday Photography Expedition With Rad Drew and Kevin Raber – Part 1 . This was a lot of fun, and I shot using iPhone RAW and the Hipstamatic App, where I had dialed in my own look using the Jane Lens and Rasputin Film combo. This look gives a warm colorized look with a bit higher contrast and a black border. I use this setup a lot. I love the Hipstamatic app and will see about doing a story on it sometime.

Stacked canoes gave me a chance to play with different compositions

As you’ll see in the following photos, I have a thing for decay, rust, and abstract. I loved isolating a subject and looking for the abstract in it. If it has rust, peeling paint, or odd textures, all the better. I used a combination here of Hipstamatic and iPhone RAW. The iPhone RAW files were transferred to my desktop computer and edited in Lightroom.

Texture and color. This is the latch for a bus engine hood

Texture and color gave me an interesting image.

Peeling paint is beginning to show the bus's true color — Peeling paint is beginning to show the bus’s true color

I don't think they prepped the surface well prior to painting. — I don’t think they prepped the surface well prior to painting.

The 3800 T 444E one of the most popular school buses ever

So much good color, I couldn't help myself — So much good color, I couldn’t help myself

The inside of above bridge done with an iPhone using vertical pano. It took a couple of tries to get it right. Then finished off in Snapped and Distressed+.

Bridgeton Mill

From there, we decided to take all the back roads we could find to get to Bridgeton Mill. Bridgeton is a large covered bridge and still functioning mill. I have photographed this lovely location many times, and the owner and miller is a friend who has allowed me to use him as a model many times. I brought along some photos from a previous visit and signed them for him. He rewarded me with two big bags of freshly milled pancake mix and some honey.

We made a few stops along the way, and you’ll see those in the photos below.

I love these old gems out in the middle of nowhere. If the walls could only tell a story.

Look what we found. Literally in the middle of nowhere

n the way to Bridgeton we found another mill. This was done on Hipstamatic

This is the same mill as above but with a long exposure, and then the perspective corrected using NIK Perspective — This is the same mill as above but with a long exposure, and then the perspective is corrected using NIK Perspective

For more information on NIK Perspective click HERE.

I was having a lot of fun so I tried a bit of Intentional Camera Movement (ICM)

I am always looking for a shot. Thought this window and sagging shutters looked pretty cool

A nowhere sink. Not sure how it works with no drain and faucets but someone thought it was a good idea to put it on this wall just in case a photographer came along.

The Bridgeton Mill classic truck. NOte: There were all sorts of telephone and powerlines in the photo. I took this image into Skylum’s Neo and used the remove powerlines option. It did a great job.

Rad had so much fun he was telling us how big he was going to be making his prints.

Closing

I was a fun day (12 hours) of being on the road with Rad. I came home tired but refreshed. We had all sorts of weather thrown at us, but that just made it more fun to take photos. Rad and I will probably do a few more trips like this during the summer heading off in different directions.

I encourage you to find a friend or just yourself, load up the car with some snacks and beverages, and head out in a direction and see where it takes you. You might be surprised at the adventures you find and the people you meet. More than anything else, you will feel great at the end of the day. I don’t know a photographer alive that doesn’t feel a tinge of excitement and a feeling of relief every time they push the shutter.

Isn’t it fun to think all the images above were made in just a one-day outing? Think about what you could do. Get out there and do it!

Kevin Raber
May 2023

Kevin Raber
Indianapolis, IN

Photography is my passion and has been for 50 plus years. My career in photography has allowed me to travel the world, meet some of the most interesting people on the planet and see things I could never have dreamed of. My goal is to share the passion of picture taking through photographs and teaching with as many people as I can, hoping it brings them as much joy and happiness as it has me. I do this through photoPXL.com, this site, as well as Rockhopper Workshops, and other projects, as well as teaching as Artist In Residence at the Indianapolis Art Center.

Tagged With: iPhone raw, hipstamatic, iPhone apps, mobile photography, iPhone 14 pro max, gaia GPS

Article Type: Columns, MISC

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