The Rialto Bridge is probably the most visited and most photographed bridge in Venice. The bridge connects the districts of San Polo and San Marco across the Grand Canal. The present iteration of the bridge was completed in 1591 and is a favorite destination of tourists. Getting a view from the top of the bridge takes patience as the rails are lined with people taking photos. Once you get the desired spot, it's easy to see why the bridge is so crowded. As you can see, the view is pretty awesome and it is easy to get mesmerized with all of the boats and gondolas maneuvering the Grand Canal. Scenes like this one make Venice one of my most favorite places in the world.
Contemplation
Okay, it seems that I received an unexpected late Christmas gift this weekend. I was looking for something and came across some backup DVDs that contained some of my images from 2003 - 2006. You may ask why I am looking at this as a gift. The easy answer is that I took some memorable trips during that period and, at that time, really didn't know anything about RAW files and processing (other than that, everything was fine). I processed the JPG files in Photoshop Elements with my very poor skills and DELETED the original files. That's right, all gone. I have rued the day I deleted them ever since. Now for the good news, the DVDs that I found contained the original JPGs. I now have a lot of my favorite images that I can now reprocess. This is the first image that I have reprocessed and it is significant in that it is the photo that started my photography hobby in earnest. I always had an interest in photography and in the early 1980′s even took a high school course in developing black and white film (boy, did they lose money on me). Career, family and finances got in the way of photography and I didn’t pursue it again until the early 2000′s. Then in 2005, I decided to see if I was serious about it.
My son Greg and I headed to Utah for two weeks for the sole purpose of hiking and photography. One of the places that I had longed to visit was Monument Valley. Located on a Navajo Indian Reservation on the Utah/Arizona border, it was the location of many famous westerns (Stagecoach and The Searchers to name a couple). I had seen a photo of Tear Drop Arch on the cover of a tour guide and always wanted to shoot it. The park has a 17-mile dirt road, but in order to photograph the more iconic places such as Tear Drop Arch, you must hire a Navajo guide. Our guide took us all over the park for four hours and saved Tear Drop Arch for our last stop at sunset. The biggest surprise was that Tear Drop Arch is actually about 3 miles outside the park. While Greg and the Navajo guide talked about his culture, I shot the arch until well past sunset.
This was one of the most magical experiences I’ve ever had and it lit the passion that I still have for photography.
Dreary Day at Beckley Furnace
This is an image of Blackberry Falls in East Canaan, Connecticut. It is located at the Beckley Furnace Industrial Monument and is Connecticut's only official Industrial Monument. Built in 1847, the Beckley blast furnace produced iron primarily for the manufacture of railroad car wheels that were known for their excellence and durability. The furnace closed in 1919 and stands today as the best preserved example of a technology that has long since vanished. This particular day, the weather was quite dreary with harsh overhead light. This exposure was made with a neutral density 10-stop filter for 32 seconds. While the result was pretty good for the falls, the surrounding sky and trees were a challenge. As a result, I created a HDR from the image and was able to bring back details into the surrounding areas.
White Mountain Crossing
Today we re-visit the the Albany Covered Bridge located off of New Hampshire's famed Kancamagus Highway. Some of you may remember a past post of the of the bridge with a view from the inside (which can be seen here). 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. There were quite a number of photographers and visitors there and I had to be careful to keep them out of the scene. It helped that we visited the bridge right after Columbus Day otherwise I would have been editing this forever.
Rustic
Once again, we visit 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. We were given the run of the place for three hours and this image was taken in one of the barns on the property. The rustic look of the barrels and the walls contrasted very nicely with the red building and green leaves seen through the window. The light from the side window gave the barrels a very nice glow. The Inn at Mountain View Farm is a wonderful place to stay as well as a photographer's paradise.
Iconic Pemaquid
Okay, I admit it. I am fascinated by the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse. I visited and shot the lighthouse four different times in 2011 in all types of weather except snow. This is amazing to me as I had absolutely no plans to visit Maine in 2011. I have posted four very different images of the lighthouse from the inside to the great view from the rocks below. To date, I haven't posted the iconic view of the lighthouse until today. Why? I wanted this perspective of the lighthouse to have a great reflection with very little wind in terrific light. I had given up hope that I would catch the right conditions but I convinced my wife and friends to take a detour to the lighthouse on the way from Camden to Newcastle. The ride turned out to take much longer that I thought. They probably would have made me turn back, but when driving down the northern side of the Pemaquid Penisula, there are very few choices to cut across to the other side. When we finally arrived at the lighthouse, it was late afternoon when the light is really good from this vantage point. I knew my time was limited given the looks I was getting and I quickly scrambled down the rocks, hoping that the wind was still. As you can see, it was.
I know many of you are as crazy as me to "get the shot". If it wasn't for the support (and patience) of our spouses and friends, we wouldn't be successful in pursuing it.
The Lone Cypress
I hope everyone had a great holiday season and a wonderful New Year. I know it is a sacrilege, but I spent the time off to spend with family and decided that I wouldn't even pick up a camera during the holidays. I took more photos in 2011 that I have ever had in one year and just decided too take a short break. Now that we are entering a new year, I feel recharged and ready to go. Today's photo is the famed Lone Cypress on the Monterey Peninsula's Seventeen Mile Dive. The Lone Cypress, also known as the Monterey Cypress, has sat on its rocky perch for over 250 years with supporting cable around it to keep it from falling. It is one of the most famous trees in the world and has become the official symbol of Pebble Beach.
Seventeen Mile Drive is one of my favorite drives and I always look forward to it. I remember how excited I was the first time I was to visit the Monterey Peninsula in 1982. Little did I realize that the week I was supposed to visit, the U.S Open was held there and the drive would be closed. I was crushed but have more than made up for it since then as I visit whenever I travel to San Francisco.
The Chapel on the Hill
This will be my last post before the Christmas holidays. I will try to post a couple of images next week while visiting family, but if I don't, I would like to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season and a fantastic new year. I would be remiss if I didn't thank everyone who has visited my site or left a comment of encouragement. I have made many new photography friends this past year and am deeply grateful to the on-line photography community that share my passion for photography. In this image, I bring you an interior shot of The Chapel of the Holy Family. The chapel is located on Darling Hill Road in Lyndonville, Vermont. It is situated at the edge of a beautiful wooded area on a knoll that overlooks the beautiful Vermont countryside.
Majesty
When cruising the inside passage of Alaska, Hubbard Glacier is normally on the route as a "stop". To reach Hubbard Glacier, ships must sail through the Gulf of Alaska and enter the Yakutat Bay. Yakutat Bay was formed over centuries by the eroding forces of glacier advance and retreat. This image was taken as our ship began to leave the gulf and enter the bay. It wasn't the best time of day to shoot images, but when on a cruise, there is little control over the timing of visiting a destination. This is one of the challenges of shooting on a cruise vacation. Another challenge includes shooting from a moving boat that may be rocking. This can especially true when shooting a HDR bracket (thank God for the sophisticated alignment functions of Photoshop).
Despite the light and movement, I was lucky to have a layer of clouds against the mountains and some dissipating fog at ground level.
Guarding the Palace
The Doge's Palace was the seat of the Republic of Venice for centuries before it became part of Italy in 1866. The current palace was constructed between 1309 and 1424. Two facades of the palace border St. Mark's Square and a third facade looks towards the Venetian Lagoon. The last facade is connected to Venice's infamous prison by the even more infamous Bridge of Sighs. Each column of the palace is unique from the others. Between the ninth and tenth columns, death sentences and executions were carried out. Today, the palace serves as a museum. In addition to being able to view the Doge's apartments, government chambers and the prison cells, the palace also contains a magnificent art collection. Climbing the enormous staircase, the Scala die Giganti, you come to the second floor and look out on the courtyard and the massive statues of Neptune and Mars. It is here that I composed this image of the backs of the statues looking out to the courtyard and the ornate other side of the palace.
The Old Book
Just a quick post and run today. This image is from an antique store somewhere in New Hampshire. The store owner was nice enough to allow us in to photograph whatever we wanted. While there were so many possible subjects, I was attracted to this old book. I could just imagine seeing this scene a long time ago with the old-time typewriter in the background and the old pewter cup in the foreground. Have a great weekend everyone.
O, Canada
Canada Place, with its iconic white sails, is located in the heart of Vancouver's downtown harbor front. It was opened during Expo ’86 and includes the Pan Pacific Hotel, World Trade Centre, Convention Centre and serves as the main cruise ship terminal for the region, where most of the cruises to Alaska originate or terminate. On this morning, we were coming to the end of our Alaskan cruise that we took this past summer. We had a wonderful time in Alaska and the subsequent cruise down the inside passage. Vancouver is a fantastic place to visit and we were really looking forward to our 3-day stay in Vancouver. As the cruise ship began to position to dock, I fired off a 5-bracket burst and this is the result.
Otter Beach Glow
Acadia National Park in Maine is the only national park located in the northeastern US. It is a beautiful park where mountains, islands and ocean all come together to form a unique experience. Located on Mount Desert Island, Acadia's origins were actually started by a group of summer residents that formed a public land trust to protect the island from development. The trust slowly acquired parts of the island and John D Rockefeller donated over 10,000 acres of land to the trust. Rockefeller also built 45 miles of stone carriage roads that traverse the park. Acadia now covers 47,000 acres of property. This image was taken on one of Acadia's famous beaches namely, Otter Beach. The beach can be somewhat treacherous as I found out by stepping on a rock and taking a fall. Lesson learned - even though there are other people on a rock, make sure that you step on a dry part of the rock like they did.
There were about 50 photographers lined up to catch the sunrise. The sunrise turned out to be a very short one as the clouds were quickly moving east. I was able to catch the little light there was giving a warm glow to the cliffs as a wave began to crest toward the beach.
Fall Countryside
Today we revisit Cathedral Ledge in North Conway, New Hampshire. The setting for this image is the White Mountains. This particular group of mountains are known as the Presidential Range whose peaks are named after American Presidents and other historic figures. Cathedral Ledge is easily accessable with a short walk from the parking area. On this particular night, the setting sun gave a beautiful glow to the New England countryside with all of it's fall colors and splendor. This image contrasted significantly from the same composition that I took the next morning which can be seen in this post. As you can see, weather can dramitically change a subject's appearance.
When in Rome
When traveling to a new city, it is always worth doing pre-trip planning to get an idea of what attractions and photo locations there might be. Doing research on the internet, looking at post cards and calendars, perusing photo books, and looking at photos on sites like 500px and Flickr are what I usually do. There is a new tool in my arsenal that may end up being the best. That tool is Trey Ratcliff's new iPad app, Stuck on Earth. Quite simply, pick any location on earth and you will be able to see photos that were taken there by Trey or a myriad of other photographers. The interface is slick and beautifully designed. Best of all, it is free. I highly recommend the app for those who have iPads.
For this image taken in Rome, I didn't need to do any research to know that the iconic Colosseum was one of Rome's most famous tourist attractions. There are probably millions of images taken of this ancient structure but when in Rome...
Flying the Misty Fjords
Misty Fjords National Monument is located 40 miles east of Ketchikan, Alaska, along the Inside Passage coast in extreme southeastern Alaska. The area is nicknamed "The Yosemite of the North" for its similar geology. Formed by glaciers, the glacial valleys are filled with sea water. The walls of these valleys are near-vertical and range from 2,000 to 3,000 feet above sea level and drop 1,000 feet below it. The scenery ranges from tidewater estuaries to mountains often shrouded in mists, sky-blue lakes, waterfalls and the seemingly endless evergreen forest. Misty Fjords' road-less location is only accessible by floatplane or boat from Ketchikan. We took a tour boat out of Ketchikan for a 6-hour boat tour. The weather was pretty raw with periodic rain. Along the way, we saw it all, rugged mountains, eagles, the very cool New Eddystone Rock and waterfalls. Perhaps the most unexpected sight was the large number of floatplanes that were taking off and landing. Misty Fjords might be considered nature's busiest airport. I can only imagine what the number of planes would have been if the weather was nice. This is one of the floatplanes taking off with the mists and mountains in the background.
Sunlit Cupola
In this earlier post, I introduced the Inn at Mountain View Farm in East Burke, VT. The size of the Inn's property is huge and I wandered from building to building. I ultimately found this building that was dark, empty and deserted. Even though it was quite dark, there was some light coming from above through the cupola on the roof. As I looked for subjects to shoot, it occurred to me to shoot the great wooden cupola from below. I shot 9 brackets as the dynamic range was pretty extreme and I think the texture and tones of the wood came through.
Golden Morning
One of the of the goals we had on our photo workshop was to try to shoot the sunrise of the New England countryside with fog on the ground. As we gathered in the dark parking lot, we were praying that the crispness in the air would deliver the fog. The plan was to drive about 20 minutes from the hotel to Pudding Hill Road in Lyndonville Vermont. Usually when planning for a specific weather condition, it rarely works out as planned. On this morning, we were blessed. As we set up for the shoot, the fog was there and it was looking good. As the sun began to peak over the mountain, it became apparent the photography gods were delivering a great morning. I usually shoot a 7 bracketed series of images when shooting directly into the sun to capture a decent exposure without blowing out too many highlights. I am pretty happy with the results.
Spiral Staircase
As many of you who follow my blog know, my favorite lighthouse in Maine is the Pemaquid Point Lighthouse. Today, I have decided to take you inside of the lighthouse. The lighthouse was commissioned in 1827 by John Quincy Adams and built that year. While the lighthouse appears to be tall as it sits high on a huge rocky promontory, it only measures 30 feet. To enter the lighthouse, you go through the keeper's house which is now the Fishermen’s Museum at Pemaquid. The museum contains displays and artifacts of the lighthouse and local maritime history.
This image is looking up the spiral staircase to the light itself.
No Private Boats
Echo Lake is a state park located mear Conway, New Hampshire and is the scene of this fall foliage image. In 1943, the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests joined with the state to raise funds to buy Echo Lake, protecting it from commercial development. Echo Lake is open to the public for swimming, canoeing, kayaking and picnicking. There was no one to be seen when we got there before dawn. As the 20+ photographers in our group quickly set up their tripods and cameras, I am sure that there was no part of the lake that wasn't captured that morning. The water was still and the fall foliage was reaching its peak. I wanted to capture the reflections in the lake and was intrigued by the small dock with it's sign "No Private Boats". I started to wonder what a public boat was in contrast to a private boat.