"Murmur of a Sigh" newest release from Bodhi Smith

Entitled, "Murmur of a Sigh," this is my newest release from my Easter Island (La Isla de Pascua or Rapa Nui) series of compositions. 

I captured this composition during my recent trip to the island a few months ago at the end of December and beginning of January. As it turns out, this was my last picture taken in the calendar year of 2014. Looking back, this is really a mighty nice image to cap off what was truly a very, very good year for me. 

For this image, I again traveled from the town of Hanga Roa where we were staying across the island to the Tongariki Ahu (ceremonial platform) to try to capture these magnificent moai (statues) under the stars, and then stick around to be hopeful of a stellar sunrise. I got the former, but not the latter on this morning. But the things I got to see, memories to behold which no camera could bring justice to, emblazoned images found only in the recesses of my brain, sights to behold for my eyes only on that morning...this all just left me longing for the moment in this picture with a big sigh (and hence the image's title). 

This composition is really a segue image between a full blow starry sky and a morning sky with a glowing sun. In this image you see the longest rays of the sun starting to awaken the sky and wispy clouds, but you still can catch a fleeting glimpse of the brilliant stars of the southern hemisphere before they go to sleep for the day. It is a departure from my ultra long exposures into the world of just a few seconds of exposure, but is still retains my dreamy style...the impression I am trying to give is of elegance that routinely wakes up every morning like clockwork; its excruciating exquisiteness repeated, over and over, day after day, year after year, and all the same while being unbeknownst to itself; the beauty goes to sleep at the end of the day to rise and shine and repeat it all over again, never knowing how discerningly lovely it really is...<sigh>

I can only hope that you enjoy this image a fraction of the amount I enjoyed being there to witness and capture this image...

Camera Settings: ISO-1250, 24mm at f/1.4 for 4 seconds at 5:30am this past New Year's Eve at about one hour before sunrise. 

I hope this message and image find you well.

peace,
D. "Bodhi"

‪#‎LeeFilters‬ ‪#‎Dolica‬ #Tripods ‪#‎Nikon‬ ‪#‎D800‬ ‪#‎Nikkor‬ #24mm ‪#‎BodhiSmith‬ ‪#‎LongExposure‬ ‪#‎expressionist‬ ‪#‎Impressionist‬ ‪#‎Surreal‬ ‪#‎EasterIsland‬ ‪#‎SouthPacific‬ ‪#‎Ocean‬ ‪#‎Nightscape‬ ‪#‎Stars #Moai #Tongariki #‬RapaNui #Isla #Pascua 

"I'orana Tongariki" new image release by D. "Bodhi" Smith

Entitled, "I'orana Tongariki" this is my first released in my new series of Easter Island (a.k.a. Rapa Nui or La Isla de Pascua) compositions taken with my Nikon D800. Warning: there is going to be quite a few of these over the next couple of weeks.

The name of this image is derived from the Rapa Nui native language with the word "I'orana" which means hello-goodbye (similar to the word Aloha in Hawaiian) combined with the collective name of these moai (statues) which is "Ahu Tongariki." I chose I'orana because these statues greeted me each morning with stellar sunrises while I was on Easter Island, which made it hard for me to say goodbye to this place...

Btw, this is one of the most magical and transcendent places on the entire earth to enjoy a sunrise. The glory of Ahu Tongariki more than wakes you up-- it brings every essence of existence to life physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I am now one week removed from my last hours spent at this spot, and I miss it dearly.

Some background info here...The Ahu Tongariki is a ceremonial platform with fifteen moai on it, all of various sizes and shapes, and all in a perfect North-to-South formation facing west with their backs to the Pacific Ocean and the rising sun every day. I am sure the alignment and placement of this ahu is not a coincidence. I was lucky enough to be at this location on the east side of the Island every morning (but two) that I was on Easter Island, and I was treated to beautiful sunrises each time.

An interesting note, one of the moai has a pukao (tophat) because when the archeologists raised these fallen statues, they chose not to use a pukao for any of them...but, the locals believed each of the moai here should have a pukao, and made a statement by managing to place one pukao atop of one of the moai (second from the right) with their own efforts. Not sure if there is any sort of a movement to get a pukao placed on top of each of the other fourteen moai on the Ahu Tongariki or not.

Camera settings: ISO-800, 80mm at f/16 for 260 seconds (4 mins, 20 secs). One Lee Proglass 3.0ND Filter (10 stops) was used to achieve for the long exposure, and one Lee .75ND Grad Filter (2.5 stops) was used to balance the brighter sky with the darker foreground. Image was captured at 7:03am about 20 mins before sunrise.

Some of you might be wondering why did I select an ISO-800? Honestly, I was shooting the dimming stars as the sun was rising the whole hour previous to this shot, and I simply forgot to drop my ISO back down to 100 when the light started getting brighter...I have done this about three times now when I have been out in the field, and I kick myself for being stupid and absent-minded sometimes when a I am caught up in the beauty of the scenery.

Luckily, my Nikon D800 handled the extra noise from the higher ISO extremely well, as it always does, which is big reason why I own it since I shoot such long exposures and a by-product of that fact is always dealing with extra noise. However, the extra grain in the image from the higher ISO did alter my perception of how I needed to process this image, so what you see here is something a bit different in color tones and texture than my all of my other compositions...

I hope you enjoy this image and that its message finds you well

Peace,
D. " Bodhi "