I grew up in New Jersey, and it is always great to visit and spend some time around some favorite places. I can't believe that we have been living in Connecticut for almost 23 years now. We were invited to a surprise birthday party that was held in New Hope, Pennsylvania, a couple of years ago. New Hope is a quaint town in Pennsylvania and is a cool place to visit. It sits on the Delaware River across from Lambertville, New Jersey. After the party the night before, we got caught in a thunderstorm as we were walking across the bridge. I have never been so wet. I took this photo the next morning and there was no sign of the previous night's drenching rain. It is always great to go back and visit with friends and family.
Evening at Johnson Lake - Banff National Park, Alberta
I am just back from a week in New England scouting for my friend Jeff Clow's Maine Lighthouse Tour that is scheduled for October. It is always great to shoot with friends, especially with Jeff and Jaki Goode Miller. I haven't had a chance to look at my photos, so I decided to post this one from last year when Jeff and I shot in Banff.
Johnson Lake is one of the lesser known bodies of water in Banff National Park. Most people visit Two Jack Lake, which is nearby, but I remember taking some good shots here in 2006, so I convinced Jeff to stop here one night. As you can see, the light was great and the water was glass-like, allowing for some terrific reflections. This is just one of many reasons that Banff is a destination not to be missed.
Craters of the Moon - Craters of the Moon National Monument, Idaho
One of my bucket list items is to visit all of the National Parks that I can. That also includes National Monuments, as some of them are quite amazing too. On my cross country trip with my son from Oregon to Connecticut, we were heading out of Boise on our way to Grand Teton National Park. Doing a bit of research on Google Maps, I saw that Craters of the Moon National Monument was a short half-hour side trip along the route, so off we went. I wasn't sure what we would find, as I hadn't heard of it before. Turns out that it was a pretty cool place.
The Monument consists of three major lava fields on 400 square miles. All three lava fields are part of the Great Rift of Idaho. I had never heard of this before, but what this means is that there are deep, open, cracks in the ground, some of which are as deep as 800 feet. We didn't have time to go into any of them, but we did manage to walk around and take photos of the area, including this one.
Nemesis - Heublein Tower, Simsbury, Connecticut
I have a secret. There is a subject that is just miles from my house that has been my nemesis for years. I have tried to photograph this tower so many times, and I just can't seem to get what I want. This tower sits on the top of Avon Mountain and I can see it in the distance from my street. There are lots of views of it from the surrounding area and I have plenty of good shots of it from down below. The photo that eludes me is a close up shot. Despite being visible on one side, every other angle has something in the way, usually trees. To get there, it is a modestly decent hike, and you don't get a view until you are almost right on top of it. On the backside, the forest is quite thick with no view (on the right side of this photo). This is the best I have come up with, and I do think it is the best one that I have captured, but I am still not 100% satisfied. All that means is that I will keep shooting until I get the one I want. That is why it is my nemesis.
I am sure that other photographers have that one shot that they can't seem to capture to their liking. If you have one, I'd like to hear about it.
Early Morning Reflection - Banff National Park, Alberta
The first lake that you come to when you leave Lake Louise and start driving on the amazing Icefields Parkway is Herbert Lake. This small lake is mere footsteps from the parkway and has some amazing views of the mountains. In my mind, there are two views that are classic Herbert Lake. The most popular one is looking southwest where the Canadian Rockies are in full force, especially at sunrise. It is a terrific view, and I shot way too many photos of it. I pride myself in exploring and getting different shots, and, when you look northwest, you can see this view, which I really love too. It's subject is more about the trees, the lake and the reflection, with just a hint of the mountain. Regardless of which view, Herbert Lake is a great spot and a great beginning to one of the greatest drives in the world.
Flower, Two Ways - Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania
When I attended Denise Ippolito's Flower Workshop last month, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to be a true macro shooter or more of a close-up shooter. The main difference between a macro and a close-up is that a macro is life size (i.e. 1:1) while a closeup is more of a fill the frame concept. So I played around with both during the workshop (after all, digital is free). Another experimentation was to shoot the same flower at different apertures to see how the depth of field affected the macro shots. The photo above was shot at f/2.4; the photo below was shot at f/22. As you can see, the depth of field has a huge impact on this type of photography.
As I looked through all of my images (I tried this experimentation on most of my images), I immediately knew which ones I liked better, except for this one. I like them both so I thought I would throw it out to you. Which one do you prefer?
Rugged Beauty - Badlands National Park, South Dakota
This is a sunrise view (looking west) of the most easternmost section of "The Wall" in Badlands National Park. If I turned around, there would be nothing to block the sun as it peeks above the horizon. I had scouted out the location online, but this was my first visit, so I didn't know what to expect. I knew it was at the end of the Door Trail, and everything I read said it wasn't an overly long or strenuous hike. The first surprise when I got there was that there were no cars in the big parking lot. The second surprise was that the trail was actually a wooden boardwalk that was located just behind the formations in this image (the trail ended just to the right of this formation). The last and best surprise was that there was only one other person there the whole time I was shooting. I couldn't think of a better way to start my visit to Badlands.
One of the things I am going to try in 2015 is to play around with presets. For those of you who don't know what presets are, they are pre-arranged editing settings that come with different editing software. Presets can also be purchased (some can be found for free). Some people think that they simply apply a preset and you are done, but in my experience, they are just a starting point that needs to be tailored to the specific photo. In this case, I started with OnOne Perfect Effects preset named "Tarnished Bronze" and fine-tuned it to this end result.
Causeway to Sarasota - Bird Key Point, Sarasota, Florida
Our stay in Florida this winter included a few days in Sarasota. I had never been there and I thoroughly enjoyed it. As usual, as my wife and friends were sleeping, I would sneak out before dawn to capture the sunrise before meeting them for breakfast. One morning, I headed onto the causeway toward Bird Key. After parking on one side of the John Ringling Causeway Bridge, I went out exploring and found this cool little park on the other side of the bridge. I was intrigued by the palm tree shadows on the bridge with the city of Sarasota off in the background.
Lost Hat - Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
If you look closely at the bottom of this photo, you might notice a strange looking lily pad. The reason that it looks strange is because it is not a lily pad, but rather my hat. I was on a hike up to shoot Nymph Lake, Dream Lake and Emerald Lake. About halfway to Dream Lake, the weather turned south with rain and winds. By the time I got to Dream Lake, it was a downpour. It had been a bad day anyway as my tripod head got damaged, so I decided to take my losses and head back to the car. On the way back down, the weather cleared up a b,it so I stopped at Nymph Lake to take a couple of shots. A gust of wind came and there went my hat in the lake. Of course it was out of reach. I waited about an hour for it to move, but the wind had totally died. I headed back to my car and reported the lost hat (it was an expensive Tilley hat) knowing that I would never see it again. Heading back into town, I found a store and purchased the identical hat for the rest of my trip.
I thought that it would be a funny story along with this photo of my hat floating in the lake. I was wrong. I was home about a month and I got a text from someone in Arizona. He had found my hat (it had my phone number inside it) and he was willing to mail it back to me as long as I paid the postage. Now I have a backup hat (just like a backup camera) in case I lose the new one.
Maligne Lake Beauty - Jasper National Park, Alberta
One of the most scenic spots in Jasper National Park is a visit to Spirit Island on Maligne Lake. The easiest way to get to the island is by a 90-minute round trip boat ride that allows for about a 20-minute stay near the island. Unfortunately, these boat tours don't run during the best time of day--to get the golden hour light, you must rent a boat. They do have photographer tours that unfortunately weren't running when I visited the lake. Regardless of the time of day you go, the surrounding scenery is amazing. This is one of the many shots I took on the way to the island.
Flower Textures - Glen Mills, Pennsylvania
You would think that being a photographer as long as I have and being fairly decent at editing photographs, I would have used textures before in my editing. The reality is that this is the first photograph that I have ever used one on. I always thought of doing it and knew that it was quite easy to do, but never got around to it. While attending Denise Ippolito's flower workshop a couple of weeks ago, I saw the terrific results that she got applying textures, so I decided to try it now instead of the future. I really like the result and hope that you do too.
Red Sky Over Gold Beach - Oregon
The Oregon Coast is one of my favorite coastlines to photograph. It stretches 363 miles from the Columbia River to the California state line. The coast has many spectacular scenes that feature long beaches, rugged sea stacks and formations, lighthouses and great clouds. If I had to pick one spot along the coast to photograph, the beach near Myers Creek in Gold Beach would be the one. Not only does Gold Beach host one of my favorite inns (Tu Tu Tin Lodge), it also is the terminus of the 215-mile long Rogue River. This, along with scenes like this one, make the long drive from Portland so worth the trip. This shot was taken near sunset which, in my opinion, is the best time to photograph there. If you visit the Oregon Coast, try to fit in a visit here.
Aspen Sunset - Telluride, Colorado
I will close the week out here on the blog with a short trip to Colorado during foliage season. This was my first day in the Telluride area, and I got this first-hand look at what I would be experiencing over the next few days. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, but, looking at this great sunset light on the aspens, who cared? Typically, I love to have a great deal of clouds to add interest to a blue sky. Instead, I composed this photo to minimize the sky and give the viewer all of this glorious landscape to feast their eyes on. After spending over twenty years in New England, it was great to see foliage in a different part of the country.
Backside - Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania
On Monday, I posted a photo of a Himalayan Blue Poppy from Longwood Gardens as part of my participation in Denise Ippolito's workshop. For those of you who haven't seen her amazing work, check her out at her website, A Creative Adventure. I have been on quite a few of her workshops and I always learn something new. She is one of the most creative photographers that I know and has become a good friend.
In any case, I thought I would post the backside (see Denise, I was paying attention) of a Himalayan Blue Poppy for something a bit different.
Tranquility on Two Jack Lake - Banff National Park, Alberta
Persistence is sometimes a requirement in photography. Many times the weather doesn't cooperate when you want a certain subject, and it requires you to revisit the location. That works out well if you live close by, but when you live thousands of miles away, not so much. Last June, I wanted to get a sunrise shot at Two Jack Lake with Mount Rundle reflected in it. I think we visited it every morning, hoping to get "the" shot. On my last morning in Banff, I hopped in my car to head up to Jasper National Park for a few days before flying home. On a whim, I took a detour to Two Jack Lake and this was what was waiting for me. Perseverance and determination does pay off.
Sailboat School - St Petersburg, Florida
When I was in St Petersburg last month, I went out before dawn and walked down the waterfront to shoot the very unusual looking Dali Museum. As I was shooting the museum, I heard a lot of noise off in the distance that was unusual for that time in the morning. As I finished up, I started back up the waterfront and the noise got louder and louder. It sounded like quite a crowd somewhere. As I turned a bend in the road, I discovered what all the racket was about. Turns out that there is a sailing school for youngsters in downtown St Pete. It was pretty amazing to see over a hundred sailboats on the water going in all different directions and crashing into one another. Sort of reminded me of a first year kids soccer game. The kids looked to be young teenagers and they were having a great time. The light was terrific, and I shot quite a few shots while enjoying their antics. Topped off a great morning sunrise.
Himalayan Blue Poppy - Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania
Every year I try to start shooting something a little outside of my comfort zone. Last year it was black and white photography, and this year I decided on macro work. What prettier subject to shoot than flowers. Now I am sure that I could play around and teach myself to do this properly, but I am a believer in learning from the best. When I saw that my friend, Denise Ippolito, was conducting a workshop, I signed up immediately. Denise is a master flower photographer (as well as birds and anything else she shoots), and I was hoping that some of her expertise and creativity would rub off on me.
The first thing I learned was that flower photography isn't as easy as it looks. I had to focus manually for the first time in a while. I also had to contend with movement in the flowers, as even the slightest breeze is magnified when shooting macros. It was also the first time shooting with my Fuji XT-1 with the 60mm (90mm equivalent) macro lens. I must say that the focus peeking on the XT-1 made manual focus a breeze, and I was quite pleased with the performance of the lens.
This photo of the Himalayan Blue Poppy was taken at Longwood Gardens. These flowers are not found much outside of the Himalayans, and the display at Longwood Gardens is a huge attraction for flower lovers. I am quite pleased with the results on this photo, as I had to push the ISO to 800 to compensate for the flower movement caused by people walking by the display.
Camden Harbor Overlook - Camden, Maine
When one thinks of Maine, thoughts of rugged coastlines, lighthouses, shipbuilding and lobsters come to mind. Spend a little more time there and you realize that there is much more than that to enjoy. I am speaking of the little towns that can be found all along the almost 3,500 miles of coastline. You read that right. Maine’s coastline is actually longer than California. Each town has its own personality. My favorite little town is Camden. Located about halfway between Portland and Acadia National Park, it has some great shops, restaurants and art galleries. Its small harbor is a place where you can hop on a boat and explore the local lighthouses or sail along the Maine coast. This photo shows the view from Camden Hills State Park, where you can overlook the town and its harbor.
Painted Horse - Granby, Connecticut
I have posted a number of images that were taken for my involvement with the Photofrontier’s WE35 Project. The project involves 35 photographers (“scientists”) who conduct research shooting at the 35mm field of view. Being limited in the project to one lens and focal length will help me in the future. One result that was unexpected was finding subjects around Connecticut that were previously unknown to me.
Like a lot of photographers, we sometimes think that the only subjects to shoot are far from home. In my case, the mountains of the western United States call out to me, and, since there are no real mountains close by, I don’t shoot as often as I should locally. February’s project forced me to explore my local area and find things to shoot in my everyday life. Knowing that I had a deadline forced me to explore places with my camera that I hadn’t before. For example, I probably passed this painted horse many times, but never noticed it before. As soon as I saw it, I had to grab its photo. That taught me a great lesson to explore more with photography in mind, even if there are no large mountains or landscapes near by.
Yellowstone Reflections - Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Yellowstone is so big (3,472 square miles) that it is almost impossible to see the whole park in just a few days. Unfortunately, that was all of the time that I had to spend there. My plan of attack was to stay at different hotels in the park so I wasn’t in the car driving too much. After spending my first two nights at Yellowstone Lake Lodge on the east side of the park, I headed to my second destination, Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, in the northwest corner. Heading out before dawn, I planned to stop at the Old Faithful Geyser to explore the area. I knew that a storm was heading toward the area, so I was hoping to get to Old Faithful before the rain. Just about halfway, I spotted this scene off to my right, and I knew that I had to stop to catch the great light and reflection. I don’t know the name of this pond, but I am glad I stopped.