Private Photo Tours of Cape Ann – (978) 309-5554
Every year a friend and I try to make it up to New Hampshire, Vermont, or Maine for foliage season. Hitting the color just right can be a hit or miss proposition as wind storms and rainy weather tend to knock the color out of the trees. This year we were pretty lucky as we were able to make it up there when the color was not totally gone. Here are a few images from our trip. At the end of the post there is a link to one of the videos I made about the experience.
A couple of weeks ago I gave two women a morning tour in Rockport and Gloucester. We were able to come up with some outstanding images and at least two I’m really proud of. I can also say that both participants also made some outstanding images. Truly a great tour. All that being said – I am very frustrated at an image we waited 30 minutes for. The tide was on it’s way in and was not quite filling the tidal pools like we wanted. So we waited! I had my composition set but ready to move if the water did not pan out like I thought it would. No worries we were ready! Then it happened – a couple of rogue waves came in and almost got us but did just what we were looking for. I was very excited for everyone as the water finally did what we wanted it to do. I did not see the glaring error until I got home and processed the images from the day.
Everything was on target, the soft swirls in the bubbles, water flowing nicely over the rocks, everything is pin sharp – just beautiful! And then I saw it, the Twin Lights of Thacher’s Island are not centered in between the two rocks at the top of the frame. Yikes how could I miss that! Well – by not paying attention to detail is how. I was concentrating so much on the foreground I ignored where the two lighthouses were. I remember thinking about it but they were so small on the LCD I did not see where they were. Uggggh! Lesson learned, make sure all your elements are in the right place. I should have been a couple of feet to my right and both lighthouses would have been totally visible.
Once a year we head out to Oregon to visit our sons in Portland. So I always try to schedule in some landscape photography if I can. This year we decided on The Painted Hills . It was a long three hour drive down to Prineville (our Hotel) from Portland. We met up with some friends there and we headed out around 5pm (it’s an hour drive) to get there an hour before sunset even though it was very cloudy. When we arrived the lighting was very flat and was not a very good situation for interesting light on the hills. Plus it was dark as a thunder storm was moving in. But we soldiered on and made images anyway.
The situation steadily got worse as the thunder storms kept getting closer so the photography was a bit hurried. At the same time I was trying to shoot video as well. Really it was kind of a nightmare. The images are ok but nothing that really gets me excited.
The next morning we decided to try and get there a bit after sunrise. This time of day is not optimal for the Painted Hills as the light is coming from the wrong direction. Most of the iconic hills are facing west toward sunset. We did find some that looked fairly decent.
On the way out I decided to make a shot of the iconic hill that everyone takes around sunset to just give some contrast to what we were given in the morning light wise. I tried to old patience and persistence that I mention in this blog post but it just did not workout this time.
Overall the trip was worth it, even with the lousy light on the first day. Landscape photography is always weather dependent so we were lucky to be able to go back twice. Take a look at the video below to get a feel for the experience.