Back to photostream

Rustic Motel

I think everyone has spots like this, a place you've seen and always wanted to photograph but just haven't done it. I've driven past this sign probably 100 times. I've seen it in good light, bad light, at night, during the day, rain, sun, clouds, just about every condition imaginable. The difference between all those times and this one, was I finally decided to stop.

 

I really like old signs, I tend to like them even more when they're neon, but there's something about this one I especially like. Maybe because it's called "rustic", but more likely because of the "just right" amount of tilt that helps show the age of the sign.

 

As I started processing this I couldn't help but think about the return of Breaking Bad. This feels like it could be a location from the show, a desolate motel in the middle of the desert. As I processed it, that's the look I tried to achieve. I did almost all of the processing for this in Lightroom. Starting with the HDRsoft 32-bit HDR plug-in, then just sliders in Lightroom to adjust color, contrast, detail, etc

18,439 views
56 faves
11 comments
Uploaded on August 13, 2013
Taken on August 11, 2013