Archive for the ‘waterscape’ Tag
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I was thinking about running an ad: “For Sale: Nikon D600 with 24-70 f/2.8 lens. Cheap. Used once in a marine environment.”
Despite the proximity to the crashing waves, the camera is fine. I kept it covered whenever the spray got too close.
Thunder Hole is a popular destination along the Park Loop Road in Acadia National Park, and is usually loaded with tourists. More often than not, people don’t get to see much action at this spot. But when offshore storms kick up larger waves, the place really lights off. Indeed, in the past some visitors have been flossed off the rocks by rogue waves.
At this cleft in the rocks, incoming waves rush in, trapping air in a small cave or hole. Something has to give, and the competing forces of incoming water and escaping air create a thunderous explosion of sound and spray. On a good day, you can hear the “Whump!” from a fair distance, even from the cliffs overlooking the area.
I wasn’t sure how best to convey the action of the place, eventually deciding to create a tetraptych of just one wave as it came in and broke against the rock.
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In the relatively small area that is Acadia National Park, beautiful scenes are everywhere. It’s also one of the nation’s most heavily visited parks, so people are everywhere, and most of them have cameras to capture their share of the scenery. And like most parks, there are certain areas where people are ‘funneled’ into one small section that reveals a highlight.
Such is the case with Jordan Pond and “The Bubbles”, those two small peaks across the water. What you don’t see in this picture are the hundreds of other visitors strolling along the carriageways and paths leading along the pond.
The views in this place are archetypal, and have been photographed probably millions of times. As such, it’s difficult to envision a new approach, a new angle or lighting that would present the subject in a unique way. Sometimes I wonder if that’s even possible without creating an abstract rendition.
We take the shot anyway, hoping to capture this particular scene, on this particular day, with those particular clouds. Perhaps get down low to see it from a worm’s eye view. Maybe add on a neutral-density filter to smooth out the water.
In the end, whether or not we come up with an image that is utterly unique or one that’s fairly commonplace, we can appreciate having been there that day, experiencing nature’s beauty as the light changes with the passing clouds, knowing that each of these moments IS a completely new and unique experience.
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There’s no place for photography quite like Maine, particularly Mt. Desert Island and Acadia National Park. There are quite a few people in the area — tourists mostly — and any number of areas that might be considered a bit bland, but around almost every bend, you might be greeted with a scene such as this one.
Typical. Typical, and incredibly beautiful.
If only there was a way to capture the sense of salt air; the sound of seagulls squabbling over a found mollusk; the hearty, clean scent of low tide.
Just a bit north of Bass Harbor, we drove past this area before turning around for the shot. For me, it seems to capture the essence of Maine, with the expansive skies, the scenic beauty, and those wonderful boats that conspire to bring me yet another lobster at the end of the day.
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“Missed them by that much.”
Susan and I had a lovely autumn vacation in 2014, graced by some of the best, driest weather we’ve ever experienced in New England. When you’re living in a tent for a month, rain is not usually welcomed. The only disadvantage to all that dryness is that on most mornings, there weren’t any clouds that would provide photographic interest.
Still, we’ll take it. After sunrises, we got a lot of hiking and biking in on the trails of Acadia.
We spent a total of 16 nights on the island — surely a record for us. Despite the long stay, our circumstances dictated that we leave for New Hampshire to meet up with my college buddy JUST before the NxNW crew arrived at Acadia — Bob Lussier, Mike Criswell, Mark Garbowski, Chris Nitz, Len Saltier, and a number of other photographers that I would have loved to meet in person. Perhaps next year would work out.
Enjoy the scenery — A delightful sunrise on the rocks near Otter Point, remarkably devoid of other people, which can be a rare event on the island.
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While paddling kayaks along the Silver River near Ocala, Florida, one can see a wide range of wildlife, often in interesting combinations. Here, a Great Blue Heron, taking a break from wading, shares a bit of dry space with a turtle.
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Now back home from Germany, we decided to take a week to see the foliage in western North Carolina. Normally, we travel to New England at this time of year, camping out of the truck, so we needed a leaf-fix.
Go figure… The U.S. government shut down before we got there, so our usual campgrounds were closed. And it was raining. Pretty much constantly. After a week of this, we headed for home. Yep, you got it: The very day we left the sun came out and the shutdown was over.
Never to be daunted, we found this spot off the Blue Ridge Parkway at a place called Graveyard Fields. It has a beautiful heath meadow that lights up in autumn, and it’s one of the more popular places to pull the car over and peep. If, however, you drop down from the parking lot, there’s a loop trail that takes you to both “Upper Falls” and “Lower Falls.” Pretty imaginative naming convention, eh?
What you don’t see in this picture is Susan (a.k.a. “Lovely Assistant”) perched on the rocks behind me, holding an umbrella over the camera and tripod.
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Just another sunset from our campsite in Maine, autumn of 2012.
I understand that we should ‘shoot where we live’ – and there are plenty of opportunities to do so – but the Great State of Maine, with its natural beauty, presents a target-rich environment for beautiful shots. Sometimes, you don’t even have to wander out of your campsite, as was the case here. We were just sittin’ around chilling as the sun went down, and the sky lit up as you see here. While snapping the shutter furiously, I had to remind myself to soak it in.
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Merged in Photomatix Pro to 32-bit TIFF, pre-processed without tonemapping in ACR, finished in Photoshop CS6 with Nik Color Efex Pro filters.
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Ahhhhh… This was the view from our campsite while we were at Acadia National Park/Mt. Desert Island. Placid water, cool temperatures, and mysterious fog rolling through Somes Sound made for one of those delightfully perfect mornings. No coffee was necessary to be fully alert in a place like this.
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In a departure from my usual workflow, I took a new tack by merging three frames in Photomatix to create an .HDR file, but instead of tonemapping in Photomatix, edited the resulting file in 32-bit, then 16-bit mode directly in Photoshop. Since I’ve tended to post-process in a more ‘realistic’ style lately, the steps were perfect for the look I wanted to achieve.
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After experiencing the demise of more than a few fresh Maine lobsters one evening, we decided to celebrate by catching the sunset at a nearby wharf. There was some sort of seminar or class going on in the area – there were a number of paint artists in the area set up at different viewpoints, and some were being videotaped as they worked.
It was quiet and serene as I went about catching different scenes, with Susan recording some video segments. I asked this woman if I could take a few frames; she graciously said Yes. I’m delighted that she did.
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HDR from three exposures, 26mm, f/11, ISO100, merged in Nik’s HDR Efex Pro 2, modified with several filters in Photoshop with masking via Topaz Remask 3
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…Annnnd, we’re back!
About a month ago, I posted the previous image Into The Dark, mentioning how we unplug from all the conveniences and trappings of modern culture. When we do this, we like to travel around the less visited spots in New England, sleeping in a tent, soaking in the scenery from some of our favorite places.
About the second week in, we traveled up to far northern Maine, just short of the Canadian border, to Flagstaff Lake, near the Bigelow mountain range. This is the view from our campsite. If it looks a bit familiar, it’s the same location where I shot Flagstaff Lake Sunrise in 2009.
When you have a great scene in front of you, it’s tempting to try to recreate a previous success. I fought the urge to do just that, trying my best to come up with new compositions and angles. Besides, the conditions never seem to cooperate for a repeat performance, so I cleared any previously held notions and just regarded the new view, the clouds draping the mountains, and yet another spectacular sunrise event.
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