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travel photography

Up to the Gunnels – Schooner Sylvina W. Beal

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Schooner Sylvina W. Beal
The schooner Sylvina W. Beal sits with the gunnels awash next the Burnham Shipyard in Essex, MA. 16mm/24mm

Harold Burnham is going to rehab this old schooner the Sylvina W. Beal over the next two years but for the moment she has been tied up next to his shipyard in Essex, MA. This gave me a great opportunity to check out my most versatile lens the 16-80 mm or in 35mm full frame terms 24-120mm. This is a great range and which these images will give you an idea of. The morning was very still and the water was barely moving when I arrived in Essex. The reflections were outstanding and gave me some very nice images of this vessel at high tide.

Schooner Sylvina W. Beal
The schooner Sylvina W. Beal sits with the gunnels awash next the Burnham Shipyard in Essex, MA. 80mm/120mm

The reflections, peeling paint, and old hull made for some intriguing compositional elements. In black and white this became even more apparent.

Schooner Sylvina W. Beal
The schooner Sylvina W. Beal sits with the gunnels awash next the Burnham Shipyard in Essex, MA.

Walking around for different vantage points gave me some even more exciting images using this great all-purpose lens! I shoot mostly at the wide and long end with very little at the 35mm/50mm mark so this latitude was a true god send for this particular project.

Schooner Maine
The schooner Maine sits abandoned next the Burnham Shipyard in Essex, MA. 80mm/120mm

The old abandoned hull of the schooner Maine sits sunk in the mud near the Burnham Shipyard in Essex. The long throw of the 16-80 gives some nice perspective on this rotting relic.

Schooner Sylvina W. Beal
The schooner Sylvina W. Beal sits with the gunnels awash next the Burnham Shipyard in Essex, MA.

Another shot using the 16-80 at 16/24mm also gives some nice perspective. I really enjoyed the outing with this lens as I find myself using it more and more as my go to lens. Below is the video on my experience photographing the Beal.

Planning your Moon shots

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supermoon-1

I try to not miss an opportunity to photograph a “Super Moon” near a local lighthouse when the sunset and moonrise times line up. Back in March, when the “Buck Moon” came up right at sunset, it was the perfect time to get the shot. I used an app called “Photo Pills” to see which lighthouse on Cape Ann it lined up with. I also use a newer app called “TPE” which has less features to it. As it turned out the Straightsmouth Island light in Rockport, MA lined up perfectly with the rising moon. I used the Fujifilm XF 100-400 as it is a long reach from the Headlands in Rockport to Straightsmouth Island. Using this app I was able to figure out very closely where I needed to stand. If I had gone any lower near the water the lighthouse would have broken the horizon and it would not have looked as nice. It’s still a little close for me but I could not get any higher to lower the top of the lighthouse below the horizon. If I had been at water level the moon would have come up right behind the lighthouse which would have been pretty cool but the haze would have made it less visible.

supermoon-2

This particular day in March was quite warm (around 70 degrees F) which heated the land up quite a bit and as the sun went down an atmospheric shimmer appeared as the warmed land let off it’s heat. Using such a long lens compressed this heat and gave the images a slightly off sharp look. I was worried all day about the haze that was building on the horizon but the moon came through quite well. The top image is just as it broke through the haze. As the moon got higher in the sky it became clearer to see.

supermoon-3

I only managed to get the lighthouse light in a few shots just not in the ones I wanted. It was a good thing a sea gull flew through to make this last image more interesting. I also made a YouTube video of this photo shoot which I have embedded below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pynzXhJVemM&w=560&h=315]

Working the composition

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One of the things that I teach in my workshops is to work the composition. What this means is to not just make one image. When you see something that catches your eye, make the shot that initially pulled you in then look for other angles moving the camera position around and trying new shots. This morning I found some great looking window boxes out in front of the Rockport Art Association. I was pulled in by this initial scene below.

fall window box
Fall window box at the Rockport Art Association

It’s not bad, but in post I did nothing to make it better, like cropping in from the left a little more. Instead I worked the scene a little more with the following images.

These images are ok, but as I looked around I noticed that the window box next to it had what I was looking for. I placed the cabbage in the lower right corner leading up to the bright orange mini pumpkins in the left corner. I decided to have the cabbage (or whatever you call it) in sharp focus and the pumpkins a little out which helps your eye start out right in the middle of the cabbage. At this close distance f8 will still render the background out of focus which is what I was aiming for.

I love the way the flower here is in sharp focus and the veins of the leaf pull you up to the pumpkins and then the red berries pull you back around to the plant in the foreground again. So the viewers eye keeps moving around the image. Then as I was about to leave another composition pulled me in from the same window box but to the right of this.

The vine with the red berries pulls you up to the pumpkin then out to the left of the frame and then circles back in again. I love it when things come together.