The time was now 9pm.

The day got away from me and I was staring at my computer screen looking for a topic for today’s photo story…searching my Lightroom catalogue from top to bottom for something, anything to talk about.

I found several different photos I thought I could talk about. I got about 25% the way through 4 different stories, which I will finish someday – but tonight was not the night. It was forced, I was just writing to get a post out and call it a day.

I had put the camera down for the past few days, to rekindle the creative fire.

I have been to Triple X many times and each time, I tell myself I am going to make that idea that night or the next day.

Tonight though, I decided I wasn’t going to pull from the past in my Lightroom catalogue.

I was going to go bring to life an idea that had been turning over in my head repeatedly (like a bad sleep) for over a year.

I grabbed my camera, tripod, and cable release and headed for the hill.

I used bulb mode to capture specific types of cars and specific lighting patterns going by.

I made it a priority to capture only the darker shades of paint zipping by (grey/black/navy/etc).

After getting a few of each kind:

• headlights going to the left (near and far lanes)
• tail lights going to the right (near and far lanes)
• cars turning left and going north on Salisbury and Littleton St

the photo was complete. A quick lighten blend together of each of the exposures and the idea came to life, just as I had planned it in my head:

hi-res/prints: photos.tmahlmann.com

I also liked these two black and white edits below.

slightly warm in the shadows:

hi-res/prints: photos.tmahlmann.com

straight black and white:

hi-res/prints: photos.tmahlmann.com

Which is your favorite? Let me know!

I think I am going to get this one printed and put on my wall to remind me to just do it. Go out and do it because usually no one is stopping you from doing the things you want to do but you.

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Have an idea/suggestion for a photo? Drop me a line! I’d love to hear it.

I am always exploring new ideas… Follow me on social media for more of these throughout the month!

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See you tomorrow for another daily photo story!