Step Right Up - Sarasota, Florida

Ringling Museum, Sarasota, Florida

One of the places we had targeted to visit on our trip to Sarasota was the Ringling Museum. While none of us were big circus fans, the museum tops the list of places to visit in Sarasota. After spending the better part of a day there, I can wholeheartedly recommend the museum. One of my favorite (and most popular) displays was the miniature replica of the Ringling Circus circa 1920s. I know what you are thinking, what is so great about a miniature circus? The answer is with the size and breadth of it. It was created by Howard Tibbals, who started work on it in 1956. It took him 18 years to complete it (and a year to set it up at the museum). It consists of over 42,000 items with a ¾-inch-to-the-foot scale. Strangely enough, Ringling did not give Tibbals permission to use the Ringling name, so he called it the Howard Brothers Circus.

Shooting this was quite the challenge. The model is encased in glass, so reflections became a big problem. Not only that, visitors can walk the length (and it is long) on either side, so getting a composition without people on the other side of the replica was difficult. Finally, I was continuing my shooting with a 23mm lens (35mm equivalent) for the PhotoFrontier's WE35 project. I was expecting none of my shots to come out, but a few did, and this one really caught my eye. 

First Morning in Warm Weather - Venice, Florida

Venice Fishing Pier, Venice, Florida

I am back from my three weeks in sunny Florida, and I wish I had stayed there a couple of more weeks! I haven't posted any of my Florida photos yet, so I will be posting a few over the next two weeks. This was a photo that I hadn't planned on taking, as I had no plans to stay in Venice on my trip. I can thank the winter storm that threatened to cancel our flight. We were scheduled to land in Tampa and then head on to Sarasota. We decided to get out of town a day early and it was impossible to get to Tampa, so we ended up flying into Fort Myers. I decided to stay overnight in Venice, as a friend of mine had mentioned that it was a nice place. A quick scouting of the area indicated that shooting the fishing pier was a prime choice, so off I went the next day before dawn.

Being on the west coast of Florida, I didn't know what time the light would hit the pier and at what angle. I also chose to only bring my Fuji 23mm lens (35mm equivalent) as part of my Field Report for the PhotoFrontier's WE35 project. In other words, a lot of uncertainty before I headed out. My worries proved to be unfounded, as the light hit the pier perfectly, and, after doing a lot of zooming with my feet, I shot from a lot of angles. It was a windy day, and I decided to shoot some long exposures to smooth the water and have the flag blurred by the wind. A great start to the trip.

Waves - York, Maine

A quick post and run today. When the NxNW crew headed to Maine to shoot Nubble Light, the weather and rain made shooting the lighthouse quite the challenge, being that I have shot the light many times, I focused on shooting long exposure shots of the ocean flowing onto the rocks along the coastline.

Street Art - Union Square, San Francisco

Union Square, San Francisco

Nothing beats walking around the city by the bay and looking for photo opportunities. Even on early mornings when the weather doesn't cooperate, subjects seem to attract my attention. We had visited Union Square the night before, and the place was packed with people taking in a free concert. The light was great and the mood was festive. I figured I would head out before dawn and shoot the area. There was no sunrise due to the overcast skies and drizzle. Union Square was deserted, especially when compared to the night before. I spotted this cool piece of art and shot a few shots of it.

Three Sisters - Canmore, Alberta

Canmore, Alberta

If shooting all week in Banff National Park and the Icefields Parkway wasn't enough, we headed down south of Banff Townsite to Canmore. Looking to find a decent view of the Three Sisters, no roads were spared in our search. Roads that looked promising turned out to be dead ends as far as views. The we turned onto a road that didn't look promising, and we ended up not only in a trailer park, but also with this view. Proves that exploring, no matter what the prospects start out to be, might end up with a treasure.

I Want This House - Newport, Rhode Island

Cliff Walk, Newport, Rhode Island

Headed home to Connecticut today after three weeks in the warm Florida sun. Weather forecast for when we land is 11 degrees, about 65 degrees colder than when we board our flight. I know those we left behind in New England have been suffering through one of the worst winters in a long time. While I am wishing that winter would be over once we land, I figured I might as well go for it and wish that this home located on Newport's Cliff Walk was mine.

President's Day - Mount Rushmore National Memorial, South Dakota

Mount Rushmore National Memorial, South Dakota

Today is Presidents Day and I can think of no better photo to post than this one of Mount Rushmore. Compare the achievements of these great presidents to the ones we have had to endure over the recent past. None of them will be featured in any monuments.

Turret Arch - Arches National Park, Utah

Arches National Park, Moab, Utah

The sandstone formations in the American Southwest are second to none. There are so many unusual rocks that each of them have their own special names. Nowhere is this more true than in Arches National Park. There are over 2,000 natural sandstone arches within the park. While there are some memorable ones, Turret Arch is one of the more unusually shaped ones. The arch got its name as its right "tower" resembles a castle's turret. I particularly like the great color contrast between the orange sandstone and the deep blue sky that is typical of the southwest.

Guard Tower - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

I have posted quite a number of interior urbex photos of Eastern State Penitentiary, but there are some terrific subjects from the outside too. I wish that I could tell you that I found this guard tower on purpose, but the fact is that I stumbled upon it by pure luck. I was setting up for a bracket for a long cell block photo and my camera wouldn't fire. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out what was wrong, and I was getting an error message blinking. I took the camera and tripod outside so I could see better what was going on. It turned out that the lens wasn't communicating with the camera. After taking the lens off and putting it back on, all was well. I looked up, and this was the scene that was in front of me. Better lucky than good.

Last Dollar Ranch - Ridgeway, Colorado

Ridgeway, Colorado

One of the stops that Rick Louie took us to on his Colorado Fall Photo Tour was the entrance gate to the legendary Last Dollar Ranch. The ranch, which is privately owned, has appeared on numerous television shows. It has also been the setting for commercials for Marlboro and Budweiser. After a long history, the ranch was donated to the American Farmland Trust in 1994. The ranch includes nine fully restored buildings and is set near the Sneffels Mountain Range. 

When we got to the gate, the skies were getting ominous looking. As we were shooting, a woman drove up, got out of her truck, and gave us a dirty look that said, "You should leave here." Without a further word, she got back in her car and sped away. We continued to shoot the area in hopes of getting some decent sunset shots.

Office Spiral - Manhattan, New York

After a long day of walking  and shooting on the streets of Manhattan, we headed toward the Path station near the Freedom Tower. It was a foggy day, and I got some great photos of the tower. While the others continued shooting, I walked around and spotted this building across the plaza. I thought that the way the building was lit, along with the spiral staircase, was very cool looking. I wanted to get someone walking down the stairs and after a few minutes, I got my wish.

Mirror - Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Sprague Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

What a difference a day makes. My first morning in Rocky Mountain National Park, I headed out to Sprague Lake to shoot at sunrise. The weather was overcast and rainy and the results showed it. I ended up with maybe a couple of good shots, but nothing to write home about. This was the second time that I have been to the lake and was shut out (the first time was in 2008). I was determined to get some nice shots at the lake and figured that the third time would be the charm. The next morning I headed back, and this is what greeted me. The light was great, the lake smooth as glass, and the only thing missing were some clouds in the sky. After the previous morning, I could live with that. 

Redwood - Sequoia National Park, California

Sequoia National Park, California

One of the hardest subjects for me to shoot are the towering redwoods found in California. There are many challenges in shooting these beautiful trees. The first challenge is dealing with a high dynamic range (the difference in light from the darkest part of the photo to the brightest part). Often the sun doesn't reach the ground, causing the bottom of the tree to be in darkness. That contrasts greatly with the bright sky and sunlight on the leaves at the top of the tree. Until they make cameras that have the dynamic range of our eyes, this will always be a challenge.

Another challenge is getting the whole tree in the photo without it looking like it is leaning back. Usually, the forest is pretty dense, and there is no room to back up to get it in the frame. Using a wide-angle lens can get the tree into the frame, but it often looks like it is leaning backwards. Of course, if I had a very specialized lens (tilt-shift), I could stop that from happening, but I don't have one in my arsenal. 

In any case, I do the best that I can with what I have, and hope that some creative editing will minimize these challenges. I think this redwood from Sequoia National Park came out pretty good.

What About the Blue Nozzle? - Brooklyn, New York

Brooklyn, New York

A quick post for today. I took this photo on a scouting trip with my son for his New York Film Academy short film. I had to chuckle when I saw these brightly covered nozzles on a building in Brooklyn. There were hard to miss placards for the green and pink nozzles and I wondered what the blue nozzle was for and why it didn't have a placard.

Impressive from Every Angle - Devils Tower National Monument, Wyoming

Devils Tower National Monument, Wyoming

One of the classic images of Devils Tower seen in famous movies is the one from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I have always wanted to see this with my own eyes, and decided that we would visit Devils Tower on our way back home on our cross country trip. It was a little out of the way for our final destination for the day (Badlands National Park) but I was glad that I did it.

Devils Tower is quite a large formation that sticks out of the landscape and it is surrounded by plains. Despite that, you can't get a good glimpse of it until you are almost there. The wind was blowing so hard that I had to hold onto my tripod to keep it from blowing over. There isn't a bad angle to shoot the tower from, as the flat land that surrounds it makes it stand out. The main difference in the views are the foreground. Looking at it from the east, there are fields of grass. This composition looking south towards the tower shows a more rugged foreground with hills and trees. No matter how you look at it, Devils Tower is well worth a side trip. 

What to Shoot When it Rains - Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

Colton Bay, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

No matter how much time and effort we spend when planning a trip, whether it be a vacation or a photo tour, a major factor in the trip's success is the weather. This can be frustrating as sometimes these trips take lots of travel time and cost lots of money to get to. As a photographer, I know how the weather can impact your shooting. Sometimes it is clouds that block the scene you want to shoot at either sunrise or sunset. Other times it is a rain storm that gets you and your equipment soaked. I used to complain about it, but that doesn't change anything but your attitude. Now when the weather takes a turn for the worse, I simply look for other things to shoot. So when this happened to me in Grand Teton National Park, I headed under the cover of the trees and started to shoot the branches of an evergreen with some cool looking pine cones. No, it is not majestic like the nearby Rocky Mountains, but it sure beats feeling sorry for myself.

Parkway View - Banff National Park, Alberta

Icefields Parkway, Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

I have posted a number of images from the Icefields Parkway and every one is different from the last. That is because the parkway is about 140 miles long, parallels the Canadian Rockies, and passes by some of the most pristine mountain lakes anywhere.. There is no one image that can really convey the full beauty of the road. The parkway consistently appears on most top 10 lists of most spectacular roads in the world, including National Geographic. I wanted to post a photo that truly puts the road into perspective of its surroundings, and I hope this one does. This was taken from an overlook on the parkway looking south toward Banff. The road leads the eye down the middle of the valley and shows how the Rockies tower above it. This is one of the reasons that I keep wanting to go back there. 

Nubble from the Boat - York, Maine

Nubble Light, York, Maine

Nubble Light (aka Cape Neddick Lighthouse) is one of the most  picturesque and photographed lighthouses on the Maine Coast. Located about an hour and a half north of Boston, visitors flock to this lighthouse. The light actually sits on a small island only a hundred yards offshore. There is a nice sized parking lot that accommodates visitors, although in peak season, parking is challenging. Almost everyone who visits walks away with a photo that shows the front of the light and island. I wanted to get a different view, so I took a cruise out of Perkins Cove that headed south to the island before heading back to port. While a boat cannot circle the island fully, I was able to get this shot looking north that cannot be achieved from land.  

Place to Relax - Hilton Head, South Carolina

Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort, Hilton Head, South Carolina

With all of the traveling that I do, sometimes people assume that I have been everywhere. There are plenty of places that I have yet to visit and the saying, "So many places, so little time." definitely applies to me. While most of my bucket list places are out west, I was able to check off Hilton Head a couple of years ago. We stayed at a Disney resort on the island (yes, it was a little weird staying at Disney with no amusement parks around) and we found it to be a great place to relax. Located about an hour north of Savannah and two hours south of Charleston (both were bucket list destinations), Hilton Head is a great place as a center of operations. Coupled with golf, fishing and beach, I can see why it is a prime vacation destination.

Cruising Upper Waterton Lake - Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta

Upper Waterton Lake, Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada

Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park is a World Heritage site that is the union of the American and Canadian national parks. There is a way to visit both parks on the same day without hopping in a car and crossing the border. If you are staying in the Waterton Townsite, you can take a two-hour boat trip on Upper Waterton Lake, and travel south to Goat Lick, Montana. There you can get off the boat and scout around for a half-hour before heading back. Surprisingly, passengers do not have to go through US Customs as long as they get back on the boat. Along the way, you get some terrific views of the Rocky Mountains with their towering cliffs and rugged snow-capped peaks. Waterfalls can also be seen from the boat. The only problem for photographers is that the cruise leaves at 10:00am, so getting the great early morning light is near impossible. The day we took this cruise, the weather wasn't the greatest, but the scenery made up for that.