Our weeklong stay in Sanibel last month was a well-deserved and relaxing escape from the New England winter. One of the coolest things that we did was to take a boat trip on the Sanibel Thriller. We probably would have missed this adventure if it were not for TripAdvisor, who had it as the number one attraction on Sanibel Island. The boat itself is a fifty-five foot super-catamaran, and two 440 horsepower engines power it. If memory serves me right, it reaches a speed of 40 miles per hour, which allows the boat to fully circle Sanibel and Captiva Islands. The most exciting part of the trip is when the captain spots dolphins, slows down, and maneuvers the boat in a way that has lots of them following alongside the boat. It was quite difficult photographing these beautiful mammals, as you don’t know when and where they would surface. It happens so quickly that I started to manually focus on a spot where I thought they would jump out of the water, and pray that, when they did, they would be in focus. As you can see from this shot, I got this guy near the top of his jump.
Last Dollar Road Vista - Telluride, Colorado
It always amazes me how the same subjects can look so different from changing one’s viewpoint. After spending a few days shooting around Wilson Peak from down on the mesa, we headed up Last Dollar Trail to get a view of the peak and the surrounding area. It was quite cold and windy, but the view was amazing. The early morning sun lit up this beautiful vista, creating terrific light and shadow play on all of the undulations of the geology of the area. While most of the foliage of the mesa was not near peak, the road up to our viewing spot was lined with some already peak aspen color.
Lightkeeper's Home - Pemaquid Point Lighthouse, Bristol, Maine
We are back to my favorite lighthouse on the Maine Coast on the blog today. The Pemaquid Point Lighthouse is one of those lighthouses that give you a lot of different looks, depending on what angle that you shoot it from. From the rocks, you can get some amazing shots depending on which side of the lighthouse you are. From above, you get all kind of different angles of the light and the Atlantic Ocean beyond. For this image, the lighthouse takes a backseat, and I wanted to make the lightkeeper's home the main subject. I haven't seen many shots taken from this angle and I was trying to convey more than just the light. Hopefully, I succeeded.
Abandoned - Guilford, Connecticut
I spend a lot of time looking at other photographer's work for inspiration and to discover new locations. Sometimes you see a photo that jogs your memory and you say to yourself, I shot there a long time ago. This is where Lightroom comes in handy. Within minutes, I had this photo on my screen and found that I shot it in 2008. As the story goes, this was a summer cottage that once burned down, was rebuilt, and then moved to higher ground. The owners ultimately donated it, along with the land, to the town of Guilford. I think it is still there, but I don't know what shape it is in. Maybe I will hop in the car and drive the 75 minutes one day to check it out.
The Road to the Tetons - Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
I had just finished up my first Grand Teton tour with Jeff Clow (if you are looking for a great tour there, check his tour out - he literally wrote the book on photographing the Tetons) and was headed to Yellowstone National Park for a few days on my own. I got up before dawn and headed north via Teton Park Road. As most serious photographers do, I was constantly looking around for compositions and noticed this scene in my rear view mirror. Before Jeff's tour I might not have noticed this scene, but he is a master of road shots and I was extra aware of them. Time to find somewhere to pull over. Fortunately, the Potholes Turnout was just ahead and I was able to snag this shot.
Eyeball to Eyeball - Sanibel, Florida
For those of you who have shot with me or have followed me for a while, you rarely see me shooting wildlife, especially birds. Don't get me wrong, if it is there, I will take a couple of shots. Since I don't carry those long heavy lenses that you need to get a proper bird shot, it has been hit or miss (mostly miss) for me. Last month, while I was in Sanibel, we headed out to the fishing pier. As I walked down the pier, I noticed this snowy egret simply staring at me, eyeball to eyeball. I figured that I would give it a try, but I wasn't close enough and moved closer. The bird didn't budge at all. Pressing my luck, I inched closer and got this shot. Even after I was done shooting, it stayed there just looking at me. I decided that he would win the stare down and walked away. Not too bad for a landscape photographer.
Morning Glow - Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
This scene has been attracting visitors and photographers to the Grand Tetons forever. The Tetons are beautiful from almost any view, but Oxbow Bend is my favorite. The oxbow shape is formed by the Snake River as it meanders from Jackson Lake past Rockchuck Peak, Mount Woodring and Mount Moran. You can find people there all day and it is especially crowded at sunrise with photographers. I have shot this scene many times and you might wonder why. The quick answer is that you never know what you might see with respect to light and clouds. For example, I almost didn't get out of bed to shoot here, as it was raining when the alarm went off. But I was only 5 minutes away and thought that maybe I would be lucky. By the time I set up, the rain had stopped and I had great clouds. I didn't think that I would see any sunrise light, but I was thankfully wrong, as you can see.
Light at the End of the Pier - Venice, Florida
A #WE35 Photo shot as part of the Photo Frontier's 2015 exploration of the 35mm field of view.
The first morning of our trip to Florida to escape the winter found me in Venice, Florida. Wasn't planned that way, but the first of many major snow storms was scheduled to hit on the day we were flying from Connecticut. A three-hour long wait time on the phone (seems like everyone in the northeast was doing the same thing as me) proved to be worth it, as I was able to get out of town a day early. Where to stay was the only thing up in the air. I picked Venice, as a friend of mine had told me it was a nice place. Just before I headed out of town, I did an image search and saw that there was a fishing pier that might be worth a pre-dawn visit.
Anxious to start a field report for the WE35, I was equipped with my Fuji 23mm (35mm equivalent) and my XT-1. After setting up and taking a few test shots, I realized that I had to zoom with my feet instead of with a zoom lens. I wasn't sure if the light would even appear under the pier, but I figured it was worth a try. A little patience paid off as the light began to shine through the top of the pier. I decided to shoot long exposures, as I didn't want the waves distracting from the light at the end of the pier.
The Balcony - Newport, Rhode Island
This is an image that I shot quite a few years ago when I visited Newport. It is the balcony of the Breakers, which is the biggest of the mansions along Cliff Walk. The mansion boasts 125,000 square feet of space ("only" 62,500 square feet of living area), and was used by the Vanderbilt family as a summer cottage. Unfortunately, photography of any kind is prohibited and is strictly enforced (I dared to shoot a photo looking out a window and was told politely to stop (I did). The only place where photography is allowed is outside on this balcony.
This has always been one of my favorites, but I thought it needed a facelift as my editing and software programs have improved quite a bit since I first edited it. So here is the "new and improved" (at least I hope) version.
Iconic Barn - Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
Is this the most photographed barn in the world? Do a search on the internet and you will see that many believe it is. I suspect that this barn has been shot from every angle possible and that there are not any new compositions left. If that is what I believe, why shoot it? The answer is simple. It is a gorgeous scene when the sunrise light hits the front of the barn for about five minutes. To me that glow is worth shooting. There is another reason to shoot it and that has to do with weather, clouds and light. No one day is identical to another. When you get up before dawn, you almost never know what conditions you will experience once on location (I wish I could get paid for being wrong as many times as weather forecasters are). Great clouds? Low hanging fog? Will the sunrise reach the barn? Who knows for sure, but you will find me shooting this iconic barn later this year.
Ride on the Open Air Elevated - Lake Buena Vista, Florida
I am sure some of you might recognize where I shot this subject. No, it is not a nighttime exposure from a dark street. It is, in fact, taken from a moving movie ride in Disney World's Hollywood Studios. The folks at Disney pay great attention to details that really make you feel that you are somewhere else. This is the case almost anywhere you go in the parks, and is even more so in the various different countries in Epcot. Maybe that is one of the reasons that travelers flock to Disney year round. In any case, they have designed terrific subjects for photographers to shoot.
Fall in the Rockies - Aspen, Colorado
There are iconic places that are just magnets for photographers. Some of them are year round challenges such as Mesa Arch in Arches National Park, where maybe 15 people can fit to get "the" shot. Maroon Bells, pictured here, is another, especially during foliage season. The number of people that can shoot there at one time is much greater than Mesa Arch, but to secure a spot, you have to get there really early. For this shot, we left the hotel at 3:30am, and that got us to Maroon Bells about two hours before sunrise. Even with this early start, there were still plenty of people there already set up. The good news was that we still had some really good spots to shoot from. As the time passed, the lakeshore was lined up with photographers, probably numbering in excess of 200. It is quite the scene. Tripod legs are positioned in such a way that if you try to move, you might knock over someone else's camera into the water.
I normally work the scene, shooting from different locations by scurrying from place to place to get different angles. After all, the great light in most cases only last about 10-15 minutes. That wasn't going to happen on this shoot. Instead, I played around with different focal lengths, aperture settings, camera heights and orientation. Even shooting with a wide-angle lens was challenging, as all of the photographers on either side of me would be in the photo. On this portrait orientation, I wanted to get the rock in the foreground to anchor the scene. Do I wish that I was the only one there along with my friends? Sure, but I am sure that everyone else there was thinking the same thing. The subject, light and fall foliage was still worth the experience.
Desert Beauty - Moab, Utah
Just north of Moab, there is a turnoff that takes you along the Colorado River for 44 miles. The road is known as River Road, Route 128, or the Colorado River Scenic Byway. Regardless of its name, the scenery along it is simply outstanding. Passing such iconic places such as Fisher Towers, Castle Valley and Professor Valley, it is truly the American Southwest. There are wonderful ranches also along the way as well as a few great places to stay. Sunrises and sunsets give very unique looks to the landscapes. Being a north to south route, one side has spectacular light in the mornings with an equal amount of light bathing the other side in the evenings.
This particular panorama was taken one morning on a cloudless day. My shooting companion, Michael Louthan, and I left the group and began to hike up the trail you see to the left. As we got a bit higher, I knew it was time to shoot a panorama to show the ruggedness and colors of the landscape.
Glass Planets - St. Petersburg, FL
On my recent three-week trip to Florida, one of the stops we made was in St Petersburg. I had never been there and I really enjoyed the city. One of the days, we had rain (can't complain too much given the terrible winter we were missing), so we decided to visit the local art museum that was featuring Chihuly glass. I had never heard of Chihuly or seen his work, but my friend who taught the arts in high school knew his work. I wasn't sure what to expect, but was blown away by the shapes and colors of the glass. Better yet, photographs were permitted of the art.
I shot quite a few of these works of art and was quite pleased with the results. This one was my favorite. It features wonderfully colored glass globes that are to represent planets. I am not sure how the boat plays into the artist's mind, but I thought it was cool. In any case, I highly recommend this exhibit, especially on a rainy day.
Thunder Hole Sunrise - Acadia National Park, Maine
This past fall, I spent a little over two weeks living and breathing photography. My travels took me from my home in Connecticut to Colorado to New York City to Maine before I headed home. Almost every day, I was up well before dawn and shot though sunset. Lots of shooting time and not lots of sleep. I met many long-time online friends in person for the first time and we had a blast. But, of course, all good things must come to an end, and this photo was taken on the last day of our trip. We were treated to a great goodbye by Mother Nature with some great light before the clouds overtook the sun. By the afternoon, everyone was either on the road or on a plane to all parts of the country. Can't wait until we do this again in the future.
La Sal View - Moab, Utah
I have visited Moab quite the number of times over the years. I am attracted by the colors of the American Southwest and the diversity of its rock formations. Moab is a great home base for viewing numerous attractions, from Arches National Park (one of my favorites) to the Colorado River Scenic Byway, to Dead Horse State Park (one of the most iconic views of the southwest) and the vastness of Canyonlands National Park. You would think that I have seen it all, but, when I took a photo tour with my buddy Jeff Clow, he showed me another side of Moab.
When you are in the Moab area, you always seem to have the LaSal Mountain range as a backdrop. Until the tour, I had never ventured into the mountains themselves to explore. This shot was taken during our explorations last March and shows that desert is not the only thing within a short driving distance of Moab. I thought I would post this image today, as Jeff is off with two other groups soon that I couldn't make. I will be with them in spirit.
Blue Morning - Glacier National Park, Montana
Sometimes Mother Nature has different plans for photographers that end up being better than they imagined. I had visions of getting up well before dawn to drive from Kalispell to Lake McDonald for a glorious sunrise. That is my most favorite time of day, not only for the great light, but also for the lack of people. On the almost hour drive to the lake, we encountered lots of low clouds and periods of drizzle.
Upon arrival to the lake, our group was looking at this scene that was quite different than the golden light I had hoped for. Instead, we had these low-hanging clouds along with these unbelievable blue tones (yes, this was the color that we saw). This anchored boat was the only one visible on the lake and made a great subject. So instead of an image that had those golden tones that come mostly every clear day, I ended up with one that had these great blue tones that happen only once in a while.
Dali in the Morning - St Petersburg, Florida
The Southwest Florida coastline was uncharted territory for us (I traveled to some places for business but never had time to explore), so when we decided to spend three weeks in Florida, we thought we would experience it for the first time. One of the places we stayed was in the city of St. Petersburg. For some reason, I thought the city bordered on the coast and was surprised that it actually lies on Tampa Bay. We stayed at a bed and breakfast a few blocks from the waterfront, so I had easy access on the first morning I was there. Heading out before dawn, I walked down to the Dali Museum. As you would expect, the building is unusually designed, making it a great subject. The best compositions are from the north side, so that is where I spent the bulk of my time. For this shot, I decided to go behind the museum and shoot out toward Tampa Bay and the palm trees. I really liked how the glass on the museum created some great reflections. I was limited to my 23mm lens (35mm equivalent) as part of my Field Report for the PhotoFrontier's WE35 project.
Venice Fishing Pier - Venice, Florida
Earlier this week, I posted a shot of the Venice Fishing Pier from the beach. I had never been to the pier before and got there before dawn. It was quite easy to get to the beach and I was able to shoot it from both the sides and from under the pier. As I was shooting, there were only a couple of fisherman on the pier, so I decided that, after I was done, I would head onto the pier and take advantage of the lack of people. Easier said then done. It is a bit confusing to get to the pier, as it seems that you have to go through a restaurant (that wasn't open) to get to it. After walking around the place, I spotted a couple of back "door" openings that I took advantage of. Not knowing if I was trespassing or needed to pay a fee (I found out later that both were okay), I came to this sign telling me that I reached my goal. Framing the sign was challenging, as my 23mm lens (35mm equivalent) was just wide enough as I couldn't back up any further. I was happy to include this in my Field Report for the PhotoFrontier's WE35 project.
Southwest Florida Beauty - Siesta Key, Florida
I have always heard that Florida beaches claimed to be some of the best in America. In fact, Siesta Beach on Siesta Key just outside of Sarasota was named the number one beach in America. Of course, with that claim, I had to check it out. I am not a big beach aficionado but I must concur that it is a beautiful beach. We were going to do a little swimming during our three weeks in Florida, but the weather was quite cold for Florida (I was not complaining, as Connecticut was being pounded by snowstorms) and we did not swim at all. We did do a lot of beachcombing though. We started out at the abandoned fishing pier shown in this image and walked the beach for quite a long time. While there were quite a few sailboats out on the Gulf of Mexico, I decided to compose the pier with one sailboat showing the serenity and beauty of the southwest Florida coastline. Shooting with only a 23mm lens (35mm equivalent) as part of my Field Report for the PhotoFrontier's WE35 project made isolating the one sailboat a little challenge, but patience proved to be a virtue.