Sale on canvas prints! Use code ABCXYZ at checkout for a special discount!

Why making this photograph cost me hundred thousand dollars

Blogs: #20 of 20

Previous Next View All
Why making this photograph cost me hundred thousand dollars

Just two hours drive from San Diego is Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. The park occupies over 600,000 acres making it the largest state park in the lower 48 states. The desert comes alive in late February to early April when the wildflowers bloom, but it wasn’t just the wildflowers that brought me to the desert.

Located next to the state park is private land, called Galleta Meadows, which is free and open to the public. Here you will find 130 fully-sized outdoor metal sculptures by artist Ricardo Breceda. They vary from dinosaurs to elephants to a 350 foot-long serpent.

I really wanted to make a great night photograph of this serpent’s head so I had a Hollywood production company truck down an enormous mobile lighting system normally used for making major motion pictures. The light was so powerful I had them tone it down a bit (you can still see the shadow it cast on the ground). I then had my buddies from the Academy Award-winning motion picture visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic add in some awesome fire breathing special effects. Not bad for a $100,000 dollar budget.

In reality, I didn’t need an artificial lighting system since the entire scene was nicely lit by the full moon behind me. “Special effects” consisted of a 30-second exposure, two Maglite flashlights and your intrepid photographer running around like a little kid. After setting off the shutter button I used my baton size Maglite to briefly light paint the serpent’s head and then ran into the frame and used a mini-Maglite to add in the squiggly fire breathing effects. After doing that for a couple of seconds I ran back behind the camera and used my big Maglite to finish light painting the sculpture. I did this a number of times to get the exposure right and at the same time got in a great crossfit workout!

Instead of spending $100,000 dollars, I expended 100,000 calories in getting this shot!

Happy Travels!


All Rights Reserved. Photos and Text ©Sam Antonio Photography 2016