Martha’s Vineyard: A Photographic Watershed

Indeed, the obvious fact is that the last post was four months ago. I will not bore you with the details but it was a busy four months with spring yard work, planning and completing two two-weeks vacations in the Baltic and Martha’s Vineyard, as well as simply doing the daily routines.

I had visited Martha’s Vineyard several times before and was inspired by both land and sea scapes, with some good photos forthcoming from these visits. However, this past July I had the opportunity to actually rent a seaside cottage among the sand dunes on the north shore of Aquinnah, providing such easy access to the beach and shore that I felt that I was a denizen of this idyllic place.

Wild life was abundant and everywhere, particularly all sorts of shore birds, deer, rabbits, and while I did not catch fish, there were signs of their presence due to multiple fishing boats of all sizes as well as people surf fishing. The surrounding air and sea breezes in conjunction with the special light of this island punctuated the fact that you were in a special place full of wonder.

Energized by this atmosphere I was constantly out and about shooting photos. So much so that I made four night and early morning excursions to catch the Milky Way, moon, and the early morning golden hour. I will speak of these in forthcoming posts.

The currently posted photo is of Gay Head Lighthouse captured after midnight. I had scouted this out earlier in day visits using Photopills, so was confidant that the resultant shot was possible. My wife insisted on accompanying me, which I accepted simply to have company and some assistance in setting up in the dark. My wife’s company serendipitously helped create this shot, for she had unwittingly provided some light painting of the lighthouse with a red light flashlight. The shot was taken with a Canon 5 DS using an EF16-35mm f/2.8L USM lens at 31.0 mm, set at f/2.8, 25″, ISO 3200, with post processing using DxO Photo Labs II, ACR, Photoshop CC 2019 with a gradient map, enhanced by Nik Viveza & Color Efex Pro.

Photopills: Absolutely Great

I have had the Photopills App for at least two years, and I have used various features of it (by the way, it is an app that is jammed packed with features and information; it really is the only app you need if you are a photographer, hands down). But I was somewhat intimidated on the more involved and powerful aspects of it, namely locating the Milky Way, Moon, and Sun based on certain geographical locations and times. So, I never used these more powerful features.

I finally relented and figured out how to use them by viewing the creative videos that Photopills has on its website. I was blown away at what I could accomplish with this tool (especially how I underutilized it).

My scouting schedule for trying to set up different photo shots for foreground and astronomical events ( e.g., moon, milky way) was accurately filled in for the next year, and gave me a definite schedule for shooting potentially great shots.

The currently posted photo is a serendipitous shot of part of St. Francis Basilica in Assisi, Italy at sunset time. The colors of this part of Italy are unique, and I had wished that I could have captured more of them. But I will have to wait for more magical moments in the future, especially if St. Francis grants this prayer. The photo was taken with a Canon 5DS, EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM @ 105mm, f/10, 1/320″, post processed with ACR, DxO PhotoLab2, Color Efex Pro, and using a Gradient Map.

Calm Within Chaos

The visions of my visit to Venice in the fall of 2018 still haunt me. There are so many moments which live in my visual memory that I was unable to give substance to as far as a concrete photograph. Maybe this is the intentionality that was spoken of in philosophy of previous decades. That is, my mind intending and capturing the world (or object thereof) and trying to give meaning or form or some kind of representation to it. In other words, to capture this reality in some concrete form that the mind perceives in so-called immaterial ideas.

The above tries to describe the process of me trying to take a photo of a unique experience and then translating this into a printed form, viz. photograph. The great photographers have successfully accomplished this process from what their mind’s eye has seen to what exists in their photographs. Every other aspiring great photographer is trying to imitate this process.

Venice was so unique and visually stimulating that it leaves one overwhelmed.

When in Venice I attempted to accommodate myself to its challenges, namely time of day, crowds, time pressure, unfamiliarity of surroundings. In other words, hit or miss “tourist photography.”

The posted photo provides somewhat of a counterpoint to the maddening crowd of Venice. That is, the quiet and calm of one of the finest hotels in Venice, Hotel Danieli. The hotel exists in the heart of the most intense tourist activity of Venice, i.e. right off the Riva degli Schiavoni.

[As an aside to my above post, I must note that in viewing one of Kelbyone.com videos, I was struck by the fact that it was filmed at the Hotel Danieli. Be that as it may, it is nice to know that my membership fee in KelbyOne pays for this type of corporate benefit.]

In any event, I am pleased to a degree that I was able to capture Calm within Chaos in Venice.

The posted photo was taken with a Canon 5Ds, with a EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens @ 24mm, f/6.3, Exposure Compensation -1.33, 1/50″, 6400 ISO, post processed with DxO Photolab 2, ACR, DxO Nik2018 Viveza 2, and a Gradient Map.

Failed Photo Shoot

I mustarded all the energy and creative drive within me to go out on a mid-winter’s night to an island in the middle of Narragansett Bay to try to photograph a panorama of the Newport Bridge under the arch of the Milky Way. I had used the app PhotoPills to determine that the Milky would indeed be in this position as it had been. The trouble was that I was shooting to the northeast from Jamestown, RI Center which naturally had the background of Newport and the U.S. Naval Base which was brightly light affording a ton of light pollution to my ill-planned shoot (since I thought this would not be that much of an issue). It was!

The other fact of my failed photo shoot was that I was shooting at c.2:30 AM with a 15º temperature. I thought I was well dressed for the elements, except I underestimated that my hands (not gloved) would be exposed for over an 1 1/2 hour time period. Needless to say, I panicked (to a degree) at that time (at the end of 1 1/2 hrs.) since I did not have any strength in my hands. Luckily by that time I had retreated to my car but still had trouble retrieving the car keys from my jean pocket.

Lesson learned. Do not underestimate the elements, as well as, pay attention to the shooting environment of your target figure (in my case, the light pollution of the city).

This posted panorama was taken with a Canon 5DS, using a Canon EF16-35mm f/2.8L USM @ 25mm with an f/2.8, 20″, ISO 160. These settings are a bit out of the ordinary for shooting the Milky Way but I was trying to adapt to the light pollution. So much so, that I even used a graduated 3-stop neutral density filter to deal with the light pollution. Post processing was done with DxO Photolab 2, Adobe CR, and Color Efex Pro 4.

Addendum: The photo above does not show the Milky Way simply because of my camera settings. At the very least the ISO should have been 3200, and a shutter speed of 20-30″ to capture the stars. I somewhat captured the bridge but at too great a cost of a successfully planned photo. In other words, details matter.

Patriots: The Legacy Continues

How does one photograph an airplane to make it interesting? It has to be in the context that the plane finds itself in. For example, a misty morning with trail streamers following the airplane’s wings as it ascends or descends. Or, it may be a lightening burst near the plane or around the plane with other ominous clouds and rain.

But on a clear day an ordinary plane landing or takeoff is uninspiring as far as a photographic moment.

The current photo was taken on a beautiful day in the first week of February at Green State Airport in Warwick, RI (officially listed as in Providence), with actually balmy weather. So, while the atmospheric conditions were perfect for a photograph at 2 PM that day, there was no visual drama to capture the human eye.

Except, if one searches out the human story behind this plane landing. Which just happens to be a most historic moment in the history of sports. Namely, the capturing of a 6th Lombardi Trophy by the New England Patriots in the LIII Super Bowl of 2019.

The photo of the Patriots plane landing at Green State Airport was the homecoming of the 2018-19 Patriots Team landing after capturing the Lombardi Trophy after overcoming all odds in doing so. I will let History tally the greatness of this accomplishment.

All I wanted to accomplish in taking this photograph was capturing that moment of arrival. The use of multiple planes was style imposition to elicit the anticipation of welcoming home a Champion.

The photo was taken with a Canon 5DS for the six planes in the current posting. Each plane photo had manual settings of f/11.0, 1/640″, with ISOs of 200 or 250, using a Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ multiple settings of 400mm, 312mm, post processing with DxO Photolab 2, Adobe Camera Raw 2019, Viveza 2, DxO Nik Color Efex Pro 4.