Walking the streets of New York City is a photographer's Disney World. Everywhere you look, there is a great shot, whether it be people or buildings. I especially love taking shots of the buildings when they get that warm glow from a fading sun. It's hard not to walk the streets and be constantly looking up for "the shot". Of course, doing that can be very dangerous when walking crowded sidewalks or crossing streets. On this particular day, I was heading to St Patrick's Cathedral to take some shots inside the church. As I approached the cathedral, I noticed the golden glow in the building beside it. As I looked at the spires that were mostly in the shade, I thought that the contrast between the two structures made a wonderful image.
Floating City
Today, we revisit Niagara Falls. I had just taken this shot that I had posted earlier this year and wanted to get a different view of the water. I walked along the path alongside the Niagara River so I could get a view of the water before it plummeted over the edge on its way from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. As I looked back toward the falls, the city of Niagara Falls, Ontario actually looked like it was floating in the river. From my vantage point, the huge gorge between the American side and the Canadian side had "disappeared" giving the appearance that the city was on an island. The only indication that there might be a gorge is the mist from the American Falls (on the right) coming up from the bottom.
The High One
I have to admit it, I love mountains. I can't get enough of them. They are my favorites subjects and I always try to visit them whenever I travel. The one that I have always wanted to visit is Mt McKinley in Denali National Park, Alaska. Mt McKinley is the highest peak in North America. The mountain was originally named Denali or "High One" by the Koyukon Athabaskan people who inhabit the area around the mountain. A gold prospector later named it "McKinley" to provide political support for then-president William McKinley. I was fortunate enough to visit it this past summer. When planning the visit, I found out that Mt McKinley was visible only 30% of the year. I read about visitors who stayed a week and never saw it. We would only be there for three days and were hoping to get a view of it. When we checked into the lodge, it wasn't visible and I was worried that this was a bad omen. A few hours later, as we were about to board a bus to Talkeetna, I wandered around to the back of the lodge and saw this scene. The clouds at the top of the mountain had cleared out and it's majesty was revealed. Just to give you a size of McKinley, this image was taken from about 90 miles away.
Mosaic Reflections
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend. One of my favorite drives in the United States is the magnificent Pacific Coast Highway in California. I've done that drive, or at least part of the drive, at least a dozen times. One of my must see stops on the road is the Hearst Castle in San Simeon. Built in between 1919 and 1947 by newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, the "castle" contains 56 bedrooms, 61 bathrooms, 19 sitting rooms, 127 acres of gardens, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, tennis courts, a movie theater, an airfield, and the world's largest private zoo.
This image is of the a diving "board" of the indoor pool that is ensconced with mosaic tiles. Definitely a place to visit.
Sunlit Treetops
I would like to wish a Happy Thanksgiving to all of you as you visit family and give thanks for all that we have been blessed with. I have been writing this blog for about 6 months and would like to thank each of you for your visits and kind words. In the process of starting my blog, I have discovered a wonderful group of photographers that are truly a community that gives and shares. Thank you all. Sequoia National Park is located in the southern Sierra Nevada mountains in California. It is about a 4 hour drive from Yosemite National Park. The park is famous for its giant sequoia trees, including the General Sherman tree, the largest tree on Earth.
Sequoia is not nearly as visited as it's more famous cousin to the north, but it is a beautiful place to visit and an unspoiled treasure. The lack of crowds, even during the summer months, allows you to roam freely amid these majestic trees. I headed to visit a grove near our hotel and spent a good two hours walking the grove taking in my surroundings and the serenity. I didn't once see another person despite the beauty of the sunrise streaming through the trees allowing me to be one with nature.
Bubble Net Feeding
This past summer, I was fortunate to revisit Alaska. For those of you who have never been there, add it to your bucket list and place it pretty high. Of all of the great memories I had there, our whale watch cruise was something I will always remember. The weather that day was quite miserable. The tour that we had signed up for started with a hike to Mendenhall Glacier and finished with the whale watch cruise. I was pretty excited as it was led by a local photographer and the boat we took was designed for photographers. The boat had windows that went outward and up, so that you could lean out of the window and have your camera stay dry. I've been on whale watches before, but not like this one. Shortly after we left, we found 13 humpback whales (at least that is what we counted) that were participating in a bubble net feeding. This feeding is unique to humpback whales but is only practiced by certain humpbacks in limited locations in the world. Bubble net feeding is a foraging behavior used to capture small schooling fish. Humpbacks have an elaborate way they use the bubbles to manipulate prey. The bubble blowing whale seems to know where the fish are because it changes depth of bubble deployment depending upon how deep the prey is positioned in the water. The process begins with the whales at the surface, diving as a group. Once the group is under water, one whale within the group initiates a series of vocalizations known as feeding calls. As the prey come close to the bubble wall, the bubble blowing whale encloses the wall of bubbles around them, creating a cylinder with the fish trapped inside. For more information click this link where you find an expanded description of the feeding.
This image shows four humpbacks starting their dive. The spray from other humpbacks can be seen in the background. I will further expand on the challenges of photographing this type of feeding in a later post. Suffice to say, it was quite an experience.
Boathouse Reflections
Today, we return to Lake Louise in the heart of Banff National Park and Lake Louise. The boathouse on the lake is located very close to the hotel (Chateau Lake Louise) so you can roll out of bed, walk out of the room and be set up in minutes (my way of shooting). I almost had the whole lake to myself as there were few photographers to be seen. The morning was very still and the water was like glass. The boathouse is cast in shadows in the early morning and is a subject better suited for the evening sun. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the serenity and the scene.
All Tied Up
Just a quick post today. I took this image on the docks of Bernard, Maine on the way to shoot some images of the Bass Harbor Head Light. Sorry to post and run. Have a great weekend everyone!
Autumn Reflections
Every year, when the leaves change color in the fall, I try to drive from my home in central Connecticut and visit the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts. The drive is a pretty one, passing through the Litchfield Hills before crossing the border into Massachusetts. The first major town in Massachusetts is the city of Pittsfield, which is home to Pontoosuc Lake shown in this image. The lake gets it's name from a Mohican Indian word meaning “a field or haven for winter deer”. I had stopped for lunch and wandered over to the picnic area to eat. After eating, I grabbed my camera and took a walk around the lake. Along the way, this scene fascinated me with the nice color of the trees and this dilapidated building. I am pretty sure that the building is no longer used and was unsure whether the boats were abandoned or not. They looked like they were in pretty bad shape. Regardless, I was happy that I picked there to have lunch.
Island Light
After viewing Steven Perlmutter's wonderful shot of Nubble Light Monday, I took a look at one of the images that I shot there this past August. This image was taken during my tour of New England lighthouses with my son as he searched for a location for his movie short. Since the light was located on an island, he didn't consider it seriously since getting all of the equipment onto the island would be a logistical challenge. We were actually planning to skip visiting it, but he changed his mind and wanted to take a look. Once we got to the light, we fell in love with it. He wanted me to take some photos but I really didn't want to as it was mid-day and the light and glare was terrible. He insisted, so I snapped a few hand-held 5-bracketed series that he could refer to it when we got back home. After editing this particular image, I wasn't happy with it and simply put it out of my mind until Monday. After looking at it a second time, I realized that it wasn't that bad and it actually had a fairy-book story feel to it. I decided to post it today and see what everyone thinks about it.
Storm's Approach
This image is from my trip to Jasper National Park a few years ago. I had looked forward to visiting Jasper and the iconic Spirit Island on Maligne Lake. As all best laid plans, it rained pretty much all of the three days we were there. I was determined to take the boat ride to the island. We got to Maligne Lake during one of the brief moments the rain had stopped. This was the scene as we started walking to get the tickets for the boat ride. I thought that the gray of the mountains and the stormy skies contrasted well with the red roof and boats. It was one of the better shots of the day as we did encounter a significant rain on our ride to Spirit Isalnd.
It Withstands the Cold!
As part of the photography workshop I took in October, we visited the Route 66 Restaurant. The restaurant was decorated with memorabilia on the walls, hanging from the ceiling and everywhere else you looked. The owner was nice enough to allow the 20 or so photographers to have the run of the place as long as we came for dinner later in the evening. After eating dinner, we swarmed everywhere with tripods. It was quite the scene as there were still a few customers left and the waitresses were trying to serve them. I felt pretty bad for them as they dodged photographers wherever they went. Anyway, this is a shot of an old and rusty motor oil can that was on the shelf above our booth. It was a relatively small place and setting up for shots was almost comical. Regardless, it was a fun night of shooting.
Back Alley
This is an image from the archives that I took on vacation in the British Isles in 2007. We took a cruise that stopped in various cities in Ireland, Wales, Scotland and France. This is a back alley in Edinburgh, Scotland. The interesting thing is that I shot this image on one of the days of the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo. The Tattoo is a famous show that features military bands as part of the Edinburgh Festival that is held in August each year. The Festival attracts over 200,000 people and it seemed that there was at least that many on the streets. What amazed me most about this image is that there was no one in this alley, unlike almost every other alley that I passed that day. It's like the photography gods wanted me to shoot this scene.
Early Morning Sentry
Today we are headed back to one of my favorite lighthouses, Pemaquid Point Lighthouse. I wanted to show a different perspective of this lighthouse. There are two classic views that are normally captured. The first one is from the vantage point from the rocks on the southern side, which usually has the lighthouse reflected in the collected water. The other classic view is from the rocks on the other side that show the strata in the rocks that lead toward the lighthouse and the sea.
This perspective is from the ground level and is probably the best angle to capture the early morning sunrise. While it doesn't have the drama that the rocks provide from the classic shots, it is still a pretty sight with the right light. This particular morning, the skies had cleared up significantly from the night before (check out this post for the previous night's weather). The warm glow from the rising sun cast a wonderful light on the scene and promised a great day ahead.
Branching Out
Of all of the seasons of the year, my favorite one is the fall. Maybe it is the need to escape the heat of a long summer or the promise of hiking through the woods with a sweater on. For most, it is the wonderful colors of the foliage which dominate the landscape. The anticipation for me begins when there is a crispness in the air. New England is a prime destination for the foliage season. Thousands of "leaf peepers" try to guess when the peak of the foliage season will occur and make travel plans. Every year, the timing of the peak is determined by temperatures and moisture, which are very difficult to predict. I've seen the peak as early as the first week of October and as late as Thanksgiving. Maybe part of the attraction of the fall is playing this foliage "lottery", the winner of which gets to experience the peak. For those of us living here in New England, the lottery is pretty much rigged in our favor as we don't have to travel far when it does indeed peak.
This image is of a tree at a church in Sutton, Vermont. The sunlight was falling just right on the leaves which contrasted nicely with the bark of the tree.
Echo Reflections
Wow, what a long strange week it has been. Not sure how much national press was given to it, but here in New England we got hit with a storm 8 days ago. It was a typical northeaster that dropped up to 18 inches of snow. What wasn't typical was that it was October and the foliage had not yet fallen. The unusually heavy snow weighed down on the leaves and caused a massive number of trees to fall. The end result was a massive power failure that affected over a million homes. What made in even more challenging was that huge areas were 100% out which resulted in no available food or gas. We lost power on October 29th and were only restored Saturday night. Seven days of no electricity, limited gas, no heat and no hot water. We are still without internet and TV, but that seems insignificant now as there are thousands still without power.
This event has given me a new perspective on how much we take for granted and rely on power. It also gives me a new perspective on what others have gone through with the recent hurricanes and floods in CT. We only lost power and still have our homes to go back to. Victims of the recent flood and hurricane haven't been as lucky.
This image is from my recent photography workshop and is of Echo Lake in New Hampshire. I hope to have the internet back soon and will be back to posting.
I Found Darth Vader
Okay, I am a Star Wars fan and have always believed that Darth Vader died in the Return of the Jedi. I was walking around Victoria this past July and who do I find? That's right, Darth Vader. Obviously his death was greatly exaggerated and he really survived to live another day. I'm pretty sure that if Darth (can I call him by his first name?) knew that he would end up playing a violin on a Victoria street corner for a few coins, he might have decided to really die during the battle of Endor. By the way, he plays a mean violin.
Barn Light
One of the coolest places that I visited during my recent photo workshop was the Inn at Mountain View Farm in East Burke, VT. The inn is located on a 440-acre historic farm on top of a mountain with picturesque views of the surrounding Vermont countryside. One of our workshop leaders had arranged for the Inn and all of the surrounding farm buildings on the property to be available to be photographed. In one of the old stables, I found what I believe is a storage basket that probably holds hay. The way it was shaped led me to believe that, when full, the horses could reach up and eat the hay. The light coming through the window was wonderful and lit the weathered wood, giving it a golden glow.
All in all, we spent several hours at the Inn shooting images. We could have spent at least a week there. I hope to revisit with my wife sometime in the near future to get the full experience. Click here to find out more about the Inn.
Weathered
Today's image is from Sutton, Vermont. We had arrived in full force to a local farm that was nice enough to let us shoot the Sutton Church steeple in the distance. After shooting the church, we were walking back to the cars and I spotted this barn. I was taken with it's color and weathered look and was hoping to capture the scene in a way that conveyed what I was seeing. I am very pleased with the result but how I got there was a real learning experience. I had taken this photography workshop for many reasons and one of those was to get an assessment of my composition skills. My original image is below and gives a full look at the barn's wall. During the review of this photo, it was pointed out that while it was an excellent image, the real gem was the window with the weathered wall that is featured in this post.
I heard this type of comment numerous times during the week and I realized that I had a "wide angle" tendency when composing my images. I was encouraged to continue to shoot wide angle but also to analyze the scene to see if there were any stronger compositions that could be extracted from it. As the week progressed, I found myself finding strong subjects that might have been missed in the wide view.
Fall Foliage Graffiti
Today we visit New Hampshire's famed Kancamagus Highway. The Kancamagus Highway (also known as the "Kanc") is a 34 mile scenic drive that is known as one of the best fall foliage viewing areas in New England. The Kanc in October is the destination of choice for thousands of "leaf peepers" from all over the country. With the weather being unusually warm (high 70's and low 80's) as well as being Columbus Day week, the crowds were at all-time highs. The Kanc has many attractions but one of the most popular is the Albany Covered Bridge. Being part of a photography workshop, we arrived after our dawn shoot at Cathedral Ledge (see yesterday's post) in hopes that it was still early enough to beat the crowds. As the 20+ photographers in our group arrived in the parking lot, we found it totally deserted. Little did we know that a tour bus was on its way to the bridge.
This is the first time that I have shot with so many photographers, so it can be interesting to see where everyone goes to set up their shots. Trust me, we had this bridge covered from every angle. This shot was taken inside the bridge with a 16-35mm as I wanted to get a wide view of the river, the surrounding foliage and the bridge structure along with it's graffiti. I will say that despite the number of photographers, everyone was conscious of not walking into one another's shots and would remain motionless whenever someone was shooting so as to prevent the bridge from shaking.