December already?

This is a mirror image made using a technique learned in an Andre Gallant seminar. There isn't much to shoot around here outside until we get a little snow:  the trees are bare and drab in December.  Will have to go down to coast some evening.
The image above was taken using the Canon 100mm macro lens on  Canon 5DII.

Andre Gallant seminar

                            These two images are the result of attending a seminar by Andre Gallant. His creative techniques are liberating to me as a photographer...because of his dreamscape, panning, and moonlight dreamscape techniques, my work has suddenly become more fun and exciting. Viewing his creative images changes my whole point of view about photography...now it is fun for me to combine images using textures with amazing results and some failures...but the challenge of pushing my creative envelope is never dull...I highly recommend anyone with the ability to attend one of his presentations to not hesitate;  it will open doors in your mind.

November beginnings

Here are two images taken the other day...the left one is a pattern shot; the right is about light and shadow...I used a softening filter on the grasses to blur them a little and give it a more abstract feel...these were taken on my morning walks with Ralph; although, now that it is shotgun season for deer, I have to be cautious and walk a little later in the day...

Coastal Oregon

Here is an image from Bandon Beach taken at sunset...there were some great opportunities on that beach, but also a lot of people...it was hard to find a composition that didn't involve someone in the shot.  The Oregon coast was not what I expected;  it is very congested along the coast highway:  the only place that was really beautiful was Ecola state park..rainforest and pristine views...but photography is what you make of it and sometimes it involves a lot of work to find a composition...used the Singh-ray blue/gold polarizer at times with varied results. The blue image was taken with the polarizer.

off to Oregon

It seems like yesterday that I signed up for a tour in Oregon, but now it is only a couple of days away.  Already packed my camera equipment but the new lens from Canon, the 70-300mmL, is very heavy..I'm almost tempted to bring my trusty old 70-200mmn lens, because it is approximately a pound lighter; however,  the 70-300mm gives me just that extra reach...forget the 100-400, that's a real killer to tote around unless you have to photograph wildlife in the distance.  Also, I haven't been using the new lens at all so this will give me a chance to really field test it...
will be visiting Ecola State Park, Bandon Beach, Cannon Beach..hoping for good cloud cover since that makes every image more dramatic...loaded all my filters..can't function without my polarizer, ND filters, and graduated ND filters..should be a lot of fun.

tenuous life

This is a tomato hornworm, the larva of the Hawkmoth;  it was on one of my pepper plants.  The white objects are the eggs of a wasp which were laid on the hornworm in order for the larvae of the wasp to feed on it. I can't imagine how it must feel to be eaten alive by parasites clinging to your body:  it may only be a worm but it is still a dreadful idea...after taking this image,  I removed all the eggs from the body of the hornworm and moved it out of the garden into the woods...it just needed a chance...sometimes everything needs just a chance to survive...

Hazy hot mornings

These images were taken just after sunrise,  when there was a heavy mist in the air.  It almost appears like fog, and perhaps on some level it is, but the moisture is almost palpable.  Mornings like this in summer,  when the sun starts to penetrate the trees,   are magical.
The rays of sunlight are incredibly lovely; and as in the upper image,  they can have wonderful dimension and color.  I also photographed some trees that were backlit but didn't get the result I was expecting...The lower image is given depth because of the mist in the background.

Infrared conversion camera

These images are the first few I've shot with a CanonG7 converted to infrared...which simply means that the infrared filter has been removed from the camera sensor professionally...I have long been fascinated with this spectrum of photography so this is a real treat for me...there is something bizarre and unique about shooting infrared and since there is no better time than summer, it should be a lot of fun...the image with the blue sky is the result of swapping the red/blue channels in the channel mixer of Photoshop..

the ferns of June

The bracken fern are beautiful in early June..especially after a night with rain or moisture.  I love the sinuous curves and enigmatic shapes they create.  When shooting this type of plant, it is important to underexpose the images since the background is sometimes cluttered with brush and other plants. By shooting a little dark, with only a touch of sun on the edges of ferns, as in this image, it is easy to use levels or curves to darken the background and keep the image simple.

Wildflowers

Yesterday I came across a few wildflowers starting to bloom in the yard and on the path to the woods...here are a couple of images taken with the G9...the colors of these fragile plants are just amazing this month; unfortunately, rain is predicted for the next few days so I can't bring out the macro lens and Canon5D if that happens. But if it's a light rain or drizzle, it may be ideal for shooting these flowers.

Time

This month my birthday arrives again; I often think about being a teenager who couldn't wait to grow up. Now, it seems my youth was evanescent and perhaps not really appreciated at the time. It takes aging to realize the gift of living on this planet, the incredible journey that life holds for each of us. To some extent, we control our destiny and in many ways, it is determined by circumstance...

For me, photography has become my life record; images are moments that can never be repeated in time or place. I have photographed the Canadian Rockies in all seasons, have felt the power of this planet in those mountains; every time is different. The light is always different, my choice of locations may change, but mostly it is my feeling that changes..the myriad emotions surging in my mind on the day I am photographing determine the way I will capture an image.

Down to the sea with cameras

These three images were taken two nights ago along the coast of Newport, RI..on the left is the Castle Hill Light and on right, below, Castle Hill Inn...the sky looked amazing as sunset approached with turbulent clouds and even rain showers in the distance..you can see a rain shower behind and to the left of the Inn. However, as time went on and dusk drew near, the clouds seemed to just disappear over the ocean; the earlier images, when the light just wasn't quite what I was seeking, seemed to have more fascinating clouds in the sky.. images were taken with the Canon 5d Mark II, the 17-40mm wide angle lens, a 3 stop soft grad ND filter and polarizer...I always use Singh-ray filters in a Cokin holder..the Cokin filters give a strong magenta tone, which some people seem to love, but I just don't like that particular tone. The Singh-ray filters, also the Tiffen filters, are always truly neutral...the top right image was taken after the sun dropped below the horizon, leaving just a little color in the sky..it was a long exposure; it's my favorite.

Misty mornings

Some mornings are just magical; the light on visible moisture can be lovely. Last night a cold front came through, making this an incredibly picturesque dawn...the sunlight on the mist was absolutely amazing. Although I was walking Ralph and didn't go back for the 5D, these shots from the G9 are still interesting...it is hard while walking a dog to stop to compose an image.

The lichens are really fascinating this year, too..the first image shows the variety of colors on one rock.

Canon G9 at the beach

Finally have a chance to write; the weather here today is in the 70s: that is a very good thing.

After the vicious winter we had, it is a welcome sight to see the skunk cabbage coming up...I will try to get some shots near the brook this week..

All of these images were shot with the Canon G9 at Second Beach in Newport a week or so ago; at the far right of the shore, there are some fascinating rock formations...the advantage of a good quality point and shoot is portability and fun. I stress the fun part because the camera is relatively small and light, and on the whole takes excellent images without hauling around a tripod. It is my scouting camera, used to take shots when I don't have the slr with me or just to practice composition. It will shoot in Raw but that is seldom used: if there is something truly remarkable, the 5D and tripod will come out...

David Middleton Workshop

David Middleton, the well-known nature photographer based in Vermont, came to Rhode Island to conduct a workshop for PSRI...I was fortunate to have attended with other enthusiastic photographers from our Photographic Society...it was an intense three day workshop, one in which David was able to take us from our comfort zones and challenge our creativity. His patience and humor in the review sessions never wavered.

Since I am primarily a landscape photographer, it was a challenge for me to shoot the docks at Galilee; we were not allowed to use our comfort lenses (for me it is the Canon f4 17-40mm wide angle); this lens and the 70-200mm are my favorites...I shot a lot of the images for the workshop, and all of the ones here in blog, with my f2.8 24-70mm street zoom...and they were all hand-held with higher ISO's then I usually would use..for these it was 400..for most landscapes on tripod, my ISO is usually 50 or 100...

I have never had so much fun being creative, looking at lobster boats and trawlers; things I would have dismissed in the past as not worth photographing. It was an eye opener, to say the least; there were some images that surprised me with their graphic beauty. I recommend him highly as a workshop leader; this is the first time I have been challenged to exit my comfort zone and just have fun creating images.

Fisheye lenses and me

Here are a couple of images taken yesterday at a brook...it was not an ideal day to shoot water because of the sunny conditions: I prefer overcast when shooting water to control the reflections, because it is nearly impossible in sunny conditions even with a polarizer...the black and white image was hand held, taken with a fisheye; I really liked the reflection of the trees on the rock ...looked like a petroglyph...found that I'm becoming a real fan of the fisheye 15mm...it always makes me smile when looking at my fisheye results..sometimes they are fascinating, sometimes just plain funny.

Ides of March

These images were taken in the last few days; at last, Spring is more apparent in every walk I take in the woods. I can detect the feel of life coming back to the earth; and after the bitter winter we had, it is most welcome.

Canadian Rockies in Feb retrospective

Here are a few more images taken while in Alberta, Canada last month. I have reviewed mentally this tour taken during one of the coldest recorded weeks in the area...it seems to me

that you lose all creativity and desire when you are slowly freezing...these images are not what I would have wanted, but they are the result of my viewpoint at the time which was: get warm..get the damn shoot over with and get in a car with heater blasting...there was one day when the temps were about 20F so that is when these two images were shot..the bottom one is with the Canon Fisheye 15mm..the top is with my favorite lens the Canon 17-40mm F4L..it is the lens that best defines my personal vision..I have just purchased the new Canon 70-300mm F4-5.6 L lens..will try to get some images to post later this week taken with it..I am hoping it will replace the two lenses usually taken on photo trips: Canon's 70-200mm F4L and the Canon 100-400mm...if it works well, it will be nice to have one less lens in my backpack..

February in the Canadian Rockies

Well, being in the Canadian Rockies, near Nordegg, in February was very very cold. It was beyond my cold tolerance photographing in that area. What I have learned is that it's necessary to have the best equipment because quite a few of the eight people on the Darwin Wiggett Winter Magic tour suffered from equipment failure, also there were frostbite issues because at times we had to expose fingers to change lenses or make adjustments; my Really Right Stuff ballhead never failed me, even at -35C...my Canon 5D also never failed to operate..many of the others had issues with other brands of ballhead; Arca swiss heads did freeze up. I feel that my images are not as good as they could have been because all I could focus on was keeping warm or getting somewhere warm: a half hour was about it for me tolerating the extreme temperatures...my new 15mm f2.8 fisheye lens from Canon was amazing..took some great shots that are very unusual yet interesting...glad to be back home again and warmer...changing the filters on wide-angle was a real challenge; just using my hands became challenging as the moment they were exposed to weather they were freezing.

My daily blog soon turned into a weekly blog and now it seems that monthly has become the norm...that is going to end right now..going to try to write and post images every week. This winter has been very difficult; one of the hardest we've had here in the Northeast. These images were taken a week or so ago after another heavy snow. The lower image of the brook was taken with the Singh-ray blue/gold polarizer..the result is something that appeals to me; I have had some really ugly images with the filter: you have to know when it works by practicing a lot. Sometimes the result is just too over the top with the gold..the blue can be beautiful, if used subtly in the winter.

These images were taken yesterday after a sixteen inch snowfall...it was really quite beautiful, except for the fact that I'm an adult

and not a kid who can play outside all day...a lot of snow always means quite a bit of work outside...but it is still beautiful and serene, nothing can change that...Ralph has a lot of trouble going outside since his head is below snow level so we have to make a path for him to walk around and go to the bathroom...These images were taken with the Canon G9 instead of the G12 because I was afraid of dropping the G12 in the snow..the night shot was taken last evening with the camera on Tungsten setting to cool the tones...