sunrise Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Cape Ann Photo Tours

Finding the Photo Nuggets

August 14, 2018 by Kirk

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 — 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!

lobsterman_gussy — 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.

refections_shadows — 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!

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.

foggy_fishing — 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!

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_shack — 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 — 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_skiff — 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.

Cambridge_Beach_sunset — 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!

A Unique Opportunity

October 19, 2017October 11, 2017 by Kirk

Recently we had a great opportunity to make some great images. The sun and the moon rose right behind the Twin Lights on Thacher Island in Rockport. Of course at different times of day. I was fortunate to have some very nice people from Pennsylvania along on a full day tour. We got up early and were greeted with a fabulous sunrise that was a wowser.

I love the layers of color in this image. Then as the sun got higher the colors begin to go more yellow.

Then to make this such a great opportunity we came back around sunset. Of course the sun was going down on the other side of the island but we were looking for the Harvest Moon to come up right next to the North Tower.

I love it when the geese cooperate.

In my opinion this lighthouse is so cool. I love the little house and the granite bricks the tower is made of. The best thing is that anyone can find this out when these great opportunities happen. I use TPE on my phone. The app shows where the sun and the moon are going to come up and go down and where it lines up. Great stuff.

Slowing down the ocean

September 29, 2017September 29, 2017 by Kirk

As we move into autumn and the colors start to change I wanted to test out my ND filters which I don’t use that much. I hope to make it up to New Hampshire in October for some water falls and colored leaves. I’ll be scouting locations for workshops next year. So I headed over to my favorite place for water Halibut Point State Park. My filter system is not that varied. I use B+W three stop and 10 stop filters for my Leica lenses. For my Canon lenses I use a variable Tiffen ND filter. So off I went at zero dark thirty for the rocky shoreline at Halibut Pt. The tide was almost all the way in and coming up the flat rocks and I wanted to try out the 10 stop filter on the Leica 21mm Super Elmar.

This image was made at the Leica M-P 240’s exposure limit of one minute. Besides the huge wait time of about 45 sec. after the exposure for noise reduction processing, I found using the Leica very easy. Using the EVF was a huge benefit. I love the foggy look of the water but if I had brought my three stop filter I would have used it instead. If the ocean had been a bit more wild I think the water would have been more interesting.

The exposure here was much shorter at 20sec. and the water is still very misty looking but at 40 sec. less time the water does not show as much. Then I switched over to my Canon 5Dmk3 with the 24-70 f4 L. As much as I like this lens the bowing of the horizon is horrible. I used my Tiffen variable ND filter which I had set at the third to highest density level. At the highest and second to highest density level there is some x-ing going on. I converted the Canon shots to B&W as they looked better. The B&W images below were made using the Alpine Labs Pulse. This is a nifty little unit that is small and pretty easy to use. I need to use it more so I get used to it. At one point it stopped working and I needed to shut the camera off and then on again and also restart the unit. It controls the camera in many ways. I am disappointed that you can’t make the shot and control the camera on the same screen in the smart phone app. You have to swipe back and forth to do this. It’s a pain. The other issues had to do with it stopping to work. Not a big deal when shooting waves but imagine if it was important.