Yesterday was an incredible day! I was up early to go out and make some shots for boat tours I will be offering in 2019 and the light and tide were incredible. I boarded my friends boat the “Sea Chase” a wonderful 38 ft former fishing charter boat that will provide a super platform for photo touring by water. the first thing that we ran into was the incredible light shining through the waves breaking at the head of Straightsmouth Island. Besides the really cool color and light, the breaking waves also lined up with Thacher’s Island.
Waves break off Straightsmouth Island in Rockport with the Twin Lights of Thacher’s Island in the distance.
After shooting this incredible scene we headed off shore about 5-6 miles where the whales were feeding. After some pretty boring photos of their backs our patience paid off and they started to sound which means they are headed down. This gave me an opportunity to photograph some flukes. Then they started to lie on their side and flap their fins in the water which is quite a site.
The whales were sounding and showed us their flukes.
Unless whales are breaching (coming out of the water) then the photos are pretty boring, so it’s imperative to show some scale of these giant creatures. I used the whale watch boat Miss Cape Ann to give some perspective.
Whales lying on their side slapping their fins.
It’s a good idea to always have a long lens with you when photographing whales. Since you will most likely be some distance from them it’s important to have a long focal length lens handy. Shoot at a high shutter speed like 1/1000 sec to stop the action and not get blurry photos. This may require rising your ISO up to 400 or more depending on the light. Good luck with your next whale shoot.
A couple of weeks ago a student of mine from New Jersey discovered something she did not know she had. A talent for capturing personality. The student, Lisa Olsen, was up in Gloucester for a three day Cape Ann Photo Tours experience. On our first day after a beautiful sunrise we headed over to Rockport for the morning ritual of lobstermen leaving the harbor. As it happens quite often when traveling we stopped to talk with one of them, “Gussy”. He is quite a character and talked with us for a few minutes about his bait and what the herring gulls dislike. As I talked with Gussy, Lisa was busy making shots of his many animated expressions.
As you can see the name of Gussy’s boat is “Gussy’s Girls”. The light was beautiful in the early morning and Lisa came up with some great shots. What she did not know was that she was telling a story with each image.
As Gussy got ready to climb down the ladder to his dinghy he motioned to the gulls as they flew by saying “not today, I have salted herring” because you see herring gulls hate anything salted.
Gussy was still talking and laughing with us as he sculled out to his boat using an oar that was held together with duck tape. You have to love his self made work dinghy, no oar locks and only a notch in the back to scull with.
The perfect shot to end this little story as he heads out for a day on Sandy Bay. Travel story telling photography does not have to be extensive it just needs to have the small pieces that pull it together. A beginning, (character intro), a middle (anchor images that pull your story together), and an end (an image that pulls it all together). Lisa has done that with five images. Short stories like this are perfect for adding to your travel book at the end of a photography trip.
Traveling to a new location can be exciting and overwhelming at the same time. Recently I had a client in from New Jersey and she was very excited for her photographic adventure. Cape Ann is not new to her but she was still a bit overwhelmed by the beauty this location offers. This was a three day excursion but she had some things in mind that she wanted to capture.
This was a key to making her tour work as well as it did. I wanted to start off with something fun and easy so sunrise was a great choice and Good Harbor Beach came through like it usually does with a beautiful sunrise. A photographic nugget if there ever was one.
Sunrise Good Harbor Beach
The rest of the morning on our first day came easily as we moved over to Rockport and ran into Gussy the lobsterman. A great character who explained his bait and how the lobstering would go for the day. My client did a great job of photographing him and telling a little story (another post on story telling while traveling will feature her photos). Gussy was an incredible nugget!
Gussy heads out to his lobster boat.
I felt it was important to look for different things so we started trying out different compositions of interesting subjects. Shooting through this window while shading the camera made for an interesting image.
Long early morning shadows play on a floor shot through a window.
Looking at things differently can be fun! You just need to think differently when looking for interesting subjects. Another nugget!
This lobster shack has an interesting window.
I love this lobster shack as it has a great sign in it along with buoy’s on the outside and traps next to it. The entrance is even more interesting but we have shot it before. A nugget for sure!
One of the things my client was hoping for was some fog. On the second day we found some and I made this photo while I was waiting for her.
A fisherman watches the fog clearing off Atlantic Rd. in Gloucester.
An unexpected nugget.
The next day we headed over to Rocky Neck to see what we could find and came across this old rusty bike against a green background. Wow, what a find!
Old rusty bike up against an outside wall at Sailor Stan’s on Rocky Neck.
Photographic nuggets seem to jump out at you when you slow down and walk about! We shot every angle of this bike – close, far way, you name it every angle.
Day three was rainy with thunder storms here and there.
We headed over to the Essex Shipbuilding Museum and looking for more nuggets! The rain had stopped and the sun was peaking through here and there so the contrast with everything wet was awesome! Nuggets everywhere!
Oars lean up against a shack at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum in Essex, MA.
These dories all lined up created an interesting composition with the Burnham shipyard in the background!
Rowing dories wait to be used at the Essex Shipbuilding Museum.
On the last day in the afternoon we dodged some rain drops again and looked for some great compositions at Granite Pier in Rockport. I knew that traps, buoy’s and other assorted fishing gear is in abundance there so we headed over for more nuggets.
Lobster buoy’s and a skiff wait to be used at Granite Pier in Rockport.
The use of a ultra wide 15mm was the key to making this shot work. Very cool!
Then we ended our three day adventure with an appropriate sunset at Cambridge Beach in Annisquam. It was a little disappointing but certainly not bad and still a nugget.
Sun sets as a fishing boat slides into Ipswich Bay.
Finding the photographic nuggets is what makes any photographic trip worthwhile. Make time to explore and they will show themselves to you. Don’t rush about trying to fit everything in. Concentrate on a few areas and really work them in the best light possible. Nuggets don’t appear at 12 noon!
