Tag: landscape photography

Shot of the Week – vol 4

Getting down with the noble grasses…

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Morning Frost

The shot of the week came about on Thursday morning during my commute; yes, there may be a pattern here, as you may have noticed that I’m often inspired during morning travel.

The quality of the light was that beautiful warm tone, that occurs on chilly days when the air is nice and clear.  As I traversed into Westborough, Massachusetts, I decided to stop near a pond that I had frequented before and check out what caught my attention.

In all honesty, I had first thought to do something with the way the sun’s light was playing across the trees, but the sun was still too low in the sky for the desired effect.  As I walked along a path, my eye caught the tall grasses with still quite a bit of frost on them; I thought they looked pretty interesting in this color light.

Now, all I had to solve was how to make it pop in the image with just my iPhone as a tool. You can see what I did: put the sun behind a fence post, get low enough and ensure that the focus is on the front grasses to create some extra depth in the image.

Hope you like the result!

A Sign of Hope

Spring will come, but let’s have fun with Winter!

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Spring Thaw

Things have gotten a little chilly in New England, as Winter has made her entrance with customary aplomb blasting arctic winds into the area.

Of course, people’s reactions to the influx of frigid air are rather predictable: When does it end? When does Spring start?  Personally, I embrace Winter with all its stark beauty and snow-drifted landscapes, so I look forward to the month of February, which usually can be counted on to deliver.

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Ice Anyone?

Last year, I went on a short tour of the Northern Massachusetts and New Hampshire coast with John Slonina Nature Photography ( Slonina Nature Photography Blog ) at the end of January.  The weather was bitter cold with quite a bit of wind and bright sun; in other words, it made for fantastic photography and even a couple of amusing little snaps, such as ‘Ice Anyone?’.

I’ll be sure to share some of the images from that day in upcoming posts, and, hopefully, some from this year; after all, I invested in a heated fleece that will keep me warm for 6 hours…  It will be used!

For those souls, who are asking about the onset of Spring, I offer the main image with this post as a sign of hope.  Taken a little less than five years ago at a point when the ice was almost all gone and the first notes of green started returning to the trees.  Yes, it shall return, but for now let’s really enjoy Winter!

Just for one day

Perseverance is in order as we move forward each day

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Persistence

It’s time to start bringing the mood up again from yesterday’s level of somber.

After a day of reflection, I decided to learn to play ‘Heroes’ on guitar; as always, playing guitar was a great way to unwind, and, while I may still be a novice, each imperfect rendition of a song feels like an accomplishment.

Learning to play the guitar is all about persistence, learning a bit at a time and slowly improving until even you, the student, can no longer deny that you have learned something.  It is about building up calluses, muscle memory, dexterity, strength and will power.  One item that you will not see in that list is something that is sizable part of my day job in high-tech: stress!  

For me, stress doesn’t come from unrealistically short timetables, or work load, but, rather, it comes from the inflexibility within organizations to recognize that new technology requires well-conceived, novel approaches that are founded in the laws of physics.  Challenge is great and welcome; rusty, stumbling blocks should be removed.

Today’s image is one that I captured just over five years ago, not far from my home.

My approach tends to be to allow myself to be guided by a sense of connection to the universe and its every component that surrounds me by staying in the moment; combining this sense with a healthy dose of observation helps me find things of interest.  Walking into the field, the first thing that caught my attention were the lines that presented themselves: horizontals, verticals and the slight diagonals in the sky.

Add the color palette with the warm tones of autumn and the cooler sky tones, and I felt drawn set up for a shot that has had me coming back to it over the years.

The tree’s exemplary stance against the elements brought the concept of ‘Persistence’ to mind, which I felt would be an appropriate title for this image.

Monday’s Somber Mood

Random thoughts about David Bowie

Morning Mood over Wachusett Reservoir
Morning Mood over Wachusett Reservoir

This is one of those days that no words can adequately describe what just happened; a man, who I never met, passed away this weekend, and left a gap…

David Bowie reached many people around the world not just through his music, but, more importantly, through his plethora of personas.  Whether you liked the music of Ziggy Stardust or preferred the sounds of the Thin White Duke, does not define his legacy.   The doors he opened for a generation to be in touch with their weirdness, that is a key piece of his legacy.  He took the blinders off our eyes and allowed us to see how cool being different from everyone else can be: yes, he let all of us know that it’s cool to be yourself, no matter who that is.

Today, I listened to ‘Blackstar’, described as his parting gift to all of us.  It struck me how this album is both dark and strangely uplifting.

The image at the top of this post reflects my mood rather well; fare thee well, David!

Shot of the Week – vol. 1

A weekly feature that highlights a photo taken during the past week.

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Yoga Tree Admires Winter’s Sunrise

The first ‘Shot of the Week‘ features a subject that is no stranger to followers, as I photograph the Yoga Tree quite often.

During my daily commute this Friday morning, I noticed that the sky had an interesting cloud cover, which might produce a good backdrop for the Yoga Tree, so I went for a little detour.  When I got there, the sky did definitely not disappoint, as the sunlight’s reflection off the underside of some of the clouds provided beautiful structure.

A quick look at the tableau helped me make up my mind on composition and relative positioning of the key elements in this image.  My decision was to play a little bit loose with the rule of thirds, so that the rising sun would end up more as a pleasant surprise rather than a key element. The Yoga Tree will always be a main subject in this image, but with the amount of light in the upper left quadrant, I knew that the eye would go there and cause tension, if allowed to compete with the rising sun.

When examining the radiance of the sunrise, I did realize that it could have been the main subject, all by itself.  However, my love of trees would never allow me to ignore the Yoga Tree; also, I didn’t have a lens with me to frame the right shot of the sunrise, which helps with decision making!

All in all, I am pleased with capturing this moment during the past week, and I am curious to hear your thoughts about this image, as well as what images you may have captured.

P.S. this is the first post in a series that I plan to feature on Sundays this year.  I love to get your feedback on it, as it progresses during the year.

Creating a bit of magic

Technology and mood combine into photography

The combination of technology and photography have allowed for some rather interesting advances in what we can capture and the ease, with which images can be created.  As a result, we have created a generation of ‘mad snappers’, who, at times, appear to be more intent on photographing or recording an event than experiencing it.

As a photographic dinosaur, I tend to be somewhat careful in my shooting, as if there is still film involved.  Mind you, that doesn’t mean that I won’t make use of the immediate feedback that the LCD panel provides on the back of my camera; it’s nice to get some fast feedback on image composition and to use the histogram for exposure details.  However, I tend not to photograph everything that I see.

Standing against the approaching weather, Nubble Light provides a beacon of hope and safety.

Nubble Light on Cape Neddick, Maine, is one of the subjects that I had avoided photographing for a long time; I have seen so many photographs of this lighthouse, many of which are very good, that I found it hard to imagine that I could do something to contribute to the Nubble Light oeuvre.  Maybe it’s a little pretentious, but I like for my images to have an impact and emotion to them.

Until this fine June afternoon, when my mother and sister were visiting from the Netherlands.  Something clicked in my mind, when I saw the interplay of sea, clouds and light, which urged me to take several series of varying exposures from this lower angle.

About six weeks later, when my mood was dark enough, I created this image from those exposures, infused with sufficient drama and dark emotion to make me happy with the end product.

Hopefully, you find something that strikes a chord in you within this image!

What lies at our feet

The Pond

BY AMY LOWELL

Cold, wet leaves
Floating on moss-coloured water
And the croaking of frogs—
Cracked bell-notes in the twilight.
—-
During those moments when we look for the grand landscape to capture, it may lie at our feet.
During those moments when we look for the grand landscape to capture, it may lie at our feet.

—-

Photography is a funny thing: All too often, we wander around with our fancy cameras with this preconceived notion of what great landscape we are going to capture, only to come up wanting.

This image was captured at such a time during a photo trip to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.

Our group was looking for the  perfect spot to do some sunset photography; most were looking for landscape features that would complement the light of the sun, as it descended toward the horizon.

As I trailed the group, I took a moment to look at the pond in front of me.  A bit of experimentation with the composition of what I saw resulted in ‘Pondscape’.

Oh, and that sunset never panned out for us.