Cosmic Fireplace - 4x5 Crop
by Mike Lee
Title
Cosmic Fireplace - 4x5 Crop
Artist
Mike Lee
Medium
Photograph - Digital Photography
Description
NOTE:
This image has been quite popular and several folks have opted to purchase it as an 8x10 or 16x20 from the original image I uploaded. While this works, FAA/Pixels doesn't seem to offer the buyer a chance to customize the crop and the default crop could be better. Therefore, I made this version. The image is still available in the original 2:3 (4x6, 8x12, etc) format elsewhere in my gallery.
This image captures a fireplace and chimney that stands alongside California State Highway 36 in Lassen County, California, USA, beneath the galactic core of our wonderful little Milky Way Galaxy. This chimney is all that remains of a building with a very storied past. In the 1930’s this was the location of a bar/restaurant/gas station run by, Bill and Jeanette Tunison, long time residents of nearby Westwood California. The Tunisons ran the operation until the early 1940’s when Bill’s brother-in-law was tragically murdered in the establishment. After the tragic event, the Tunisons lost their desire to continue with the business and sold it to Phil Schuldies, who operated it as “Phil’s Place” for several years until moving his business to a new location. This location then had several different names and operators until it became the Little Red Barn Café and ultimately burned down in a fire in 1961, leaving only this fireplace/chimney behind.
This site has since inspired a local group of philanthropic individuals to form a foundation known as the Chimney Fund. The group decorates the chimney on various holidays throughout the year and collects donations to help the less fortunate.
(Source: Tim Purdy, Lassen County Historian (tipurdy.org))
This image, like most of my nightscapes, was created by taking multiple exposures of the night sky and “stacking” them in post production to reduce digital “noise” thus creating a cleaner image. The sky image was then blended to several exposures of the chimney that were “light painted” with a handheld flashlight to produce the final image.
Uploaded
August 12th, 2023
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Comments (53)
Gary F Richards
Spectacular Cosmic Fireplace… composition, lighting, shading, excellent colors and artwork! F/L voted
Luther Fine Art
Congratulations! Your wonderful art has been featured in ABC Group from our "G is for GOOD NIGHT " themed week, OCTOBER 30 2023 - NOVEMBER 6, 2023
Roe Swartz
Exquisite capture! Congratulations on your features and sales for this star-struck image, Mike. L/F
Gary F Richards
Outstanding Cosmic Fireplace composition, lighting, shading, color and artwork! Congratulations on your very deserving features! F/L
Gary F Richards
Outstanding Cosmic Fireplace composition, lighting, shading, color and artwork! Congratulations on your very deserving features! F/L
Morris Finkelstein
Stunning nightscape photograph, Mike! Congratulations on your feature in Barbie's The 200 Club! F/L
Barbie Corbett-Newmin
CONGRATULATIONS! It is my pleasure to feature your sensational rising star photography on the homepage of The 200 Club, a unique and highly ranked group. You are invited to archive it in the Club's Features/Thanks discussion thread and other appropriate threads for posterity or promotion.
Lyric Lucas
Congratulations, your beautiful artistic work is Featured on the home page of the "Bedroom Art Gallery" group. l/f 11/6/23
Jenny Revitz Soper
CONGRATULATIONS! It is my great pleasure to FEATURE your artwork on the homepage of the group No Place Like Home, 11/05/2023. You are invited to post it in the Group's Features Discussion thread for posterity or any other thread that fits!
Alex Lapidus
Congratulations, your image has been featured in the Experimental Photography group -- thanks for sharing it with us! Please feel free to add it to the Oct - Dec 2023 Feature Archive in the Discussion section (using the "embed" link on your image page).
Nancy Carol Photography
WELL DONE!! Thank you for sharing with us your wonderful work of art that has been proudly presented on the Home Page of the group, 'ART FOR PASSION - PASSION FOR ART'. If you wish, you may archive it permanently or promote it further in the Discussions Tabs titled, "NOVEMBER 2023 Features."
CAROLE SPANDAU
Your artwork has been featured on the homepage of FAA Gallery Home For All Artists Who Create. Please post your amazing artwork in our` Archive your October Features` discussion.
Sabina Pamfili
Mike, thank you for letting me know how you performed this fabulous feat. This is exceptionally captivating and you really did a great job presenting a piece of art.
Sabina Pamfili
I still love it. I guess what I love is the unusual way you took the picture but also the subject being unusual. I love 'different', and long for it.
Sharon W
This is very amazing Mike, magical in fact with excellent lighting! Truly an excellent capture and image! Wonderful photographic art!!
Sabina Pamfili
Mike, I am in awe besides being captivated. What a fabulous idea to create this piece which turned into a great piece of art. It sounds like you spent a lot of time/work on it but it was worth it. It is mystical and a huge change from just snapping a picture of a statue or ornament. Love it, love the soft rosy streak going up and the actual hollow in the fireplace ? is it lit up or did you create a light in there? And yes, I love this. It's different, interesting, and worth hanging on the wall.
Mike Lee replied:
Thank you very much, Sabina! The lighting is all from my LED flashlight with a 1/2 CTO gel taped over the lens to warm the light some. By doing multiple exposures, lighting from both sides (and, yes up the chimney from the inside) I can make sure everything is lit, blend it all together and, where necessary, remove myself from the layers.
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