Tripping and almost falling while looking for good photographic view points is one of my strong suits! When I stumbled across this scene in Greenfield NH I knew the possibilities were outstanding. The obvious choice is to shoot the wide scene with all the colors surrounding the covered bridge. Last week a friend and I were up in southern New Hampshire and were faced with just such a shot. Make the obvious shot of course and even wait for the light to hit the leaves better and light things up even more. But, the more interesting shots can be abstract images made by thinking differently. Here is the obvious scene below.
Colorful foliage can be seen around the Hancock – Greenfield covered bridge in Geenfield New Hampshire.
Did you notice the little surprise making this the quintessential New England image? In the right hand corner there is red and white fishing bobber that has gotten caught in the branch. How many times as a kid fishing in Maine did I do that? Here is a cropped version of the image above which I really like.
Colorful foliage can be seen around the Hancock – Greenfield covered bridge in Geenfield New Hampshire.
With the obvious images made it was time to look for abstracts! The image below is my absolute favorite.
Colorful foliage can be seen under the Hancock – Greenfield covered bridge in Greenfield New Hampshire.
The framing of the colorful fall leaves by the bottom of the covered bridge and its reflection make this image tops. A part of the scene as an abstract image what a concept. The next image is a little harder to pick up but it’s very interesting.
Colorful foliage can be seen in this reflection at the Hancock – Greenfield covered bridge in Greenfield New Hampshire.
This image is all reflection! If you look hard you can make out the water at the top of the frame. Some great images can be made if you look for parts of the obvious image as an abstract! So next time you are out shooting and faced with the obvious iconic image look for something different with a longer lens.
The other day I knew there was a good chance of a spectacular sunset. The problem was I did not have time to get to a good place to shoot it so I had to make other plans. This got me thinking that if the sunset was strong enough there would be some reflected light of clouds near by to give me something to shoot. It turned out that this was the case as the sunset lit up everything around me.
Clouds show off an insane sunset further off to the west over Ipswich Bay. Fuji X-T3 w/10-24
Upper Granite Pier gave me a wonderful look over Sandy Bay and all I had to do was wait and see if the the clouds would reflect the light from the sunset over Ipswich Bay. I was not disappointed. The sunset was so crazy that it was a 360 degree light show.
Reflected sunset over Sandy Bay and Straightsmouth Island. Fuji X-T3 w/50-140
As soon as the light started to fade I rushed over to Back Beach to catch Blue Hour and the Rockport skyline lit up with lights from the Shalin Liu and Brackets Rest.
The lights along the Rockport waterfront reflect on the water as Old Sloop stands guard. Fuji X-T3 w/50-140
The Blue Hour light was beautiful and the lights from the Shalin Liu and Brackets Rest. lit up the water along the shore line with intense reflections. The newly refurbished First Congregational Church of Rockport shines bright white in the low blue light. So don’t always shoot the sunset look for the reflected light around the horizon it could give you beautiful images! Blue Hour is a wonderful time of day and can also offer some great images.
Lobster boats sitting at their moorings on a chilly windy morning in Rockport, MA.
In my journey switching from Canon to Fuji I have been slowly buying lenses. It’s a long haul selling off gear and purchasing new or used gear. I had been struggling with the fact that I did not have a long lens for the X-T3 yet and it was a struggle at times having to use my Canon 70-200 and 7D Mk ll instead of a Fuji lens.
A friend, John Barclay, who has been using the Fuji system for quite awhile suggested the Fuji 55-200. I was hesitant to even test it out because it is fairly slow and is a variable aperture lens. I’m a part time photojournalist so I was thinking I needed the 50-140 f2.8. Since I am transitioning to teaching workshops and shooting more landscape/travel work this lens was suggested instead of the 50-140. I will still own this lens but not at the moment.
I started looking for the 55-200 used on Fred Miranda’s site. I did find one after missing out on two of them. It was only $445. WHAT! Yes and in mint condition. It sells new for $700. It just so happened that I was on my way to an assignment when I picked it up. So outside the assignment I opened it up and brought it inside with me to shoot some images.
Jim Parks of Wingmasters talks about the Eastern Screech Owl to children at the Plum Cove School Monday morning. KIRK R. WILLIAMSON/ photo. 3/5/19
I was immediately blown away at how sharp this lens at 134mm (202mm equivilent) @f4.4. Incredible performance at ISO 2500 1/125s. So this got me thinking I could pretty much use this lens for more assignments even though it’s kind of slow.
Mike Lattof gives instructions to GHS athletes during the Gloucester High School off-season running and conditioning program Saturday morning. KIRK R. WILLIAMSON/ photo. 3/9/19
I was wondering what it was going to be like inside of a dark gym and I was not disappointed. It performed incredibly well. Now let me say that in the situation above I would probably have used the 50-140 if I had it but I was pleasantly surprised by what this little beauty can do.
Father son hockey game
In this situation I needed to shoot both ends of the rink instead of at ice level which is what I usually do. Again the lens was great. The autofocus was right on the money!
Gloucester High School Senior Robbie Horne hits a forehand during the first day of practice. KIRK R. WILLIAMSON/ photo. 3/18/19
Shooting against the light with my Canon 70-200 is incredible no ghosting no flare perfect. So I had no idea what this lens would do. It matched up really well with the Canon giving me great contrast and shadow detail along with great autofocus performance. This image was made at 1/1250 @ f4.2 so wide open.
Next I needed to see how it would do for landscapes and again I was surprised at the color rendition and sharpness of the lens.
Early morning light can be a challenge. Deep shadows etc.I love the way this file converted to B&W. The original file in color is beautiful and again extremely sharp.
Overall I am really pleased with this lens. The biggest reason I purchased it is because it will be a great lens to travel and hike with when doing my workshops. For a little day hiking etc. and for working with students. My kit will be the Fuji 10-24 f4, 55-200 f3.5-4.8 and possibly the 16 f 1.4 along with the X-T3 and the X-T30 or I may leave the 16 out although it focuses so close it’s almost a macro lens.
