A Different Kind of Light

Vermont has been an area that I have visited and photographed for a long time. Admittedly, I may not have been as disciplined and focused in my shooting then as I am now, but I had a great difficulty in adapting to the lighting conditions on my just completed visit. The scenery was in full brilliant color, it being the height of the foliage season, but getting to a spot or angle to shoot what were on the face of it spectacular vistas or compositions, was challenging, if not impossible due to how the lighting conditions were.

The many hills, mountains, ravines, and valleys created sharp contrasts and haze. Positioning or re-positioning oneself to overcome these obstacles was difficult at best due to the terrain (streams, hill, private property). It seems that one would have to develop a log of sorts to work out when to shoot and where to shoot precisely in order to get a good composition.

Living on the coast of the eastern USA makes photography immensely easier as compared to Vermont. Sunsets and sunrises are completely different in the Green Mountain State. Consequently, for the time being I have not posted any panoramas or long shots of Vermont on this blog.

The photo to the right was taken in the heart of Gaysville, which has to be one of the more unique and diminutive villages in the state. The lantern sat on the side of an old unique Vermont barn next to an historic inn by Cobble Hill. The sun had just risen and morning mist was burning off.The photograph was taken with a Canon 5 DS, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens @ 55mm, f/16, 1/25, ISO 800, post-processed with DxO Optics Pro 11, Camera Raw, and Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

 

 

The Missing Element

This is a shot of Pigeon Cove, Gloucester, MA, taken around 8 AM on a very foggy mid-September day. This shot would never have occurred if I were not “forced” to be at this location. I say this in jest for I was not forced literally but I was forced since I signed up to take this Canon Destination Workshop.

The point of all of this is that I had to be “there” to have this shot, even though it is a photo of no consequence. It does serve to illustrate a point that I have recently become very sensitive to, and that is, I have to put myself out there for the likelihood of capturing that special moment in a photograph that leads to the “Ahh” experience. If I do not do this, it will not matter. The subject matter of my photography will simply be ordinary. This is the insight that has come upon me. It may appear quite elementary but the demands of this insight are quite “demanding.”

The photo was taken with a Canon 5 DS, EF70-200mm f/4L IS USM @ 176mm, f/11, 1/400, ISO 1000, post-processed with DxO Optics Pro 11, Nik Color Efex Pro 4, Skylight Filter.

Haunting Memories

077a1124dxopps9gradmapnikThe year was 1974 and both my good friend and I were totally enchanted by Martha’s Vineyard, and for good measure, Chappaquiddick Island. Remember, the movie Jaws was recently released, so images of adventure and the sea ran rampant with our generation.

We had the good fortune to be able to take a short trip to the Vineyard in early fall. We disembarked in Vineyard Haven and proceeded to rent bikes to see the Island. As luck would have it we rode along the sea bike trail between Vineyard Haven and Edgartown. Both of us were overcome with the land and sea scapes. When we arrived in Edgartown we decided to take the Chappy Ferry across the channel. As memory would have it, we rode to the very end of the rode on Chappy until we hit a dirt rode and then we walked our bikes. Then the vista of the sea and beach met our eyes. The vision was seared into my memory and I always wanted to relive it. A desolate and sun drenched stretch of land and sea.

Fast forward to 2015 when my wife and I decide to visit Chappy. This is a photo I took along the “road” where our cottage stood. The location was hauntingly familiar, for, I believe, it was the same vision that came before me 41 years earlier.

The photo was taken on a Canon 5 DS, 70-200mm f/4 lens, @ 70 mm, f/4.5, 1/640, ISO 1000. Post processing occurred with DxO Optic Pro, Adobe Camera Raw, Perfect PhotoSuite 9, a gradient map, and Nik Color Efex Pro 2.

Transition or Transformation

img_5709_dxo11silvfxThe year has been productive as far as changes within my style and understanding in what I am doing with photographs. It’s been an interesting display, for me, at least, between the right and left sides of my brain. The right side seeking form and creativity, and the left side begging for order and direction. Luckily there has been an amicable compromise between the two and my shooting and processing has taken on more of a creative direction, which was aimless in the recent past.

I have revisited several of my photos of years past and have tried to look at them afresh and see what I would do with them in my current state of creative flux. The current post is of Sanary-sur-Mer, France  where I was dining at the time a few years ago. Of course I had on my de rigueur  Panama hat which I bought in Sorrento, Italy, so I felt quite International (although I doubt this is how I actually appeared).

The south coast of France on a sunny late Spring Day. This is what I imagined I wanted to capture in my photo. I had tried to do this in the past and had failed, but with my last attempt I believe I came close to the mark, if, nothing more than with nostalgic, halcyon type of overtones.

The photo was taken on a Canon 30D, 24-105mm, f/4L IS lens @ 24mm, f/22, 1/400, ISO 1600. It was an unusually noisy and dirt prone camera which I have since parted company. However, I always wanted to capture that special sense of place there in France at the sea port. This I believe I approximated using DxO Optics Pro 11 and Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 (Antique Plate preset) in post processing.

Was it Endórë or Iceland?

This is an image of Kirkjufell Mountain, west of Grundarfjordur, in Snaefellsnes, Iceland. But it easily could have been from J.R.R.Tokien’s mythological land of Middle Earth or using his language from the myth, Endórë, because it presented as quite alien and unusual as compared to the work a day world in which we all live.

My recent adventure to Iceland in July was productive albeit challenging due to the weather. Because of the many water falls, volcanic activity or remnants of it, and the utter ruggedness of the countryside, there were multiple opportunities to capture winning photos, of which I did. Since that time I have spent time learning new post-processing technique to let my original raw photographs come to life.

This present posted photo is obviously a panorama, shot with a Canon 5 DS, a 24-105mm L lens, at 24mm, f/16, 1/640, and ISO 800. Post-Processing was accomplished with DxO Optics Pro, Adobe Camera Raw, and Photoshop.