Kirk, Author at Cape Ann Photo Tours

Lupine & Waterfall Workshop Wrapup

July 8, 2019 by Kirk

The second week of June is a great time to be in the north country. The weather is unpredictable so the clouds and mountains work in harmony to create incredible vistas. Then to add to all of this beauty add in the flowering of the lupines. The blues, whites, pinks and purples are an inspiring palette for the landscape photographer. The spring run-off waterfalls create wonderful flowing lines when taken with a slow shutter speed thus our workshop focused on all of these elements which made for some great images made by our participants.

lupines & Tree — Lupines surround an old tree in Sugar Hill NH.

Lupines and clouds — Young lupines wait for the next cloud burst.

We had participants from all over New England and what a great group it was! This year the lupines were slow in coming up but by the time we left they were really starting to come up. We stayed at the Inn at Sunset Hill and were overwhelmed by the location and the Inn itself. It is an Inn in the Old New England style and it was a pleasure to stay there. The vistas that greeted us every morning it was not raining were unmatched and we could not have found a better place to stay for our workshop.

Cannon Mt. sunset — The sunset billows over onto Cannon Mt. in Franconia Notch.

We had plenty of rain on day one which kept us away from the lupines until sunset. The image above was made from Sunset Hill in Sugar Hill, NH. as the blazing sunset behind us spilled over onto Cannon Mt. and the clouds above it. The first day gave us the opportunity to photograph some waterfalls down Rt. 93 at the Basin. The light was subdued and it really added to the wet experience.

Waterfall at the Basin — This waterfall is near the Basin in Franconia Notch.

The Pemigewasset River running by the Basin in NH.

On our last day we experienced a huge field of mature lupines that took our breath away. Everyone was busy finding compositions among the huge selection by Pearl Lake in Sugar Hill.

Lupines Sugar Hill — Lupines across from Pearl Lake in Sugar Hill, NH

Overall we had a great time even though it was like photo boot camp at times. Below is a video with Dave and I talking about the weekend.

Patience – never give up on a sunset!

May 30, 2019 by Kirk

Lanes Cove sunset — Memorial Day sunset at Lanes Cove Gloucester

We knew it would be close! The sun was going down and my wife and I could see the color popping up under the rather large cloud layer that had moved in. So driving along 127 in Gloucester towards Lanes Cove kept bringing the question, are we going to miss it? As it turned out we were just in time. Shooting at water level made a huge difference.

I made this image handheld with the lens OIS on. The exposure was 1/50s at f 5.6 with the ISO at 400. This image is sharp as a tack. The OIS is outstanding on the Fuji 18-55. As you can tell by the flag it was blowing pretty good. A slower shutter speed at a lower ISO with a tripod would have meant the flag would have shown more movement.

I really like this shot of the glow on the horizon as the sun dipped below it.

Then I switched to my Fuji 10-24 to see if there were any good wide shots available. I tried a few different compositions but nothing really felt good so I headed back to the car. Just as I was about to climb into the car my wife said; turn around you’re going to miss it. So I turned around and this is what I saw. My first thoughts were wide and the crop will be 16:9 and that is what I ended up with.

The exposure was tricky but Lightroom was able to pull the shadows and calm down the sunset so it all worked. The exposure on this wide shot as the light level started to go down was 1/25s f4.5 @ ISO 640. I would have rather had the tripod for this shot so I could have shot at a lower shutter speed. ISO 640 might be a little high. When I print this I will see what the shadows print like.

Porch Rocker

May 29, 2019May 29, 2019 by Kirk

One of my favorite things to do in the spring and fall is to take early morning walks with just my Leica and the 35mm Summicron. The “35” is such a versatile lens and can do everything except take telephoto type shots. For me it has such a comfortable feel to it and when I want to just grab a camera and go, this is the setup I go for.

In the image above the light was just incredible early in the morning and the sky was a lovely blue color and with the yellow of the rocking chairs it just pulled me right in. I knew this was going to be a beautiful B&W right away. When I converted it I used the Adobe 7 B&W profile and changed some of the colors in the mixer to give it the 3D feeling I wanted. I darkened the blue channel and lightened the yellow channel which enhanced the image.

I encourage you all to go out and use one lens not a zoom lens. Move your feet to zoom, you will find you start to understand how your subject needs to be photographed. Something that the zoom can sometimes miss.

In story telling terms what does this image say. To me it says summer is beginning and the summer rockers are out and waiting to be used. But questions come to mind as well. Who uses these rockers? How many folks have used these rockers over the years and are no longer with us? The best thing about this image is that it gives us pause to ask these questions.