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.

Style: Coming Softly

The last couple of weeks have seen a resurgence in disparate elements of my photographic skills coming together. Why this is so is anyone’s guess, but my recent Canon Professional Services Destination Workshop in Rockport, MA was certainly  a catalyst.


Arriving at a style is a curious process since so much of what I have been doing with photographs is unconscious and intuitive, but this has been occurring with a certitude I did not have before.  Also it is a subtle process in developing this so-called individual styling preference.

While I am not totally happy with the photo in this post, I am offering it as an example in what I am trying to do. The subject matter of the shot was difficult to craft. It was taken on a very foggy morning around 6 AM at Eastern Point Lighthouse, Gloucester, MA. It was a long exposure of sorts using a polarizing filter to stop down. There is a vagueness to the photo but I tried to capture the unsettledness yet order of the sea and coast. Certainly the sepia toning added to the mood.

It was shot with a Canon 5 DS, EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM @ 58mm, f/22, 4″, ISO 100.

 

Photo Boot Camp

In my ongoing endeavor to increase my nascent photo skills I decided to take a pEastern Point Lighthouse, Glouchester, MAhoto workshop offered by Canon Professional Services. Not many of these workshops are offered on the east coast so it made sense to immerse myself within some serious training and critiquing while I had the chance.

The workshop took place in Rockport, MA and the surrounding Gloucester area. However, the weather for mid September did not cooperate, and it was more like mid August with high temperatures and humidity to go with it. Rain was always a threat, and the night sky was not clear for star shooting.

Nonetheless, the workshop made the most of the circumstances with intense in-class training. The whole group of us was up at 5 AM each day, and out again to shoot at sunset. At times I felt we were in basic training maneuvers jumping in and out of SUVs to find optimal photo areas based on the conditions, which were always in flux.

Happy to say this type of exposure to learning was what I needed to continue my journey to creating finer photos. Luckily the class members were congenial and quite talented, each taking some wonderful photographs themselves.

The photograph on the upper right was taken around 6 AM at Eastern Point Lighthouse, Glouchester, MA. The shifting fog made it difficult to find perspectives on the lighthouse itself and other items of interest on the shore. I tried to incorporate what was stressed in class in this particular shot. It was shot with a Canon 5 DS, EF24-105mm f/4 IS USM lens @ 47mm, f/18, 0.4″, ISO 100, with a Gitzo tripod, and RRS ballhead.

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.