Crossing the line — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/30
When shooting wide angle have some fun working angles in tight spaces. It’s here where these rectilinear lenses really shine. Photowalking Batsto Village yesterday, I poked my nose inside this weird barn-esque pseudo covered bridge type building sided in evenly spaced, repetitive wood slats. I only call it weird because I’ve never seen anything like it and surely have no idea what it’s called. Anyway, leaning inside there was about two feet of space at the base, gradually widening as it moved upward. Here’s the shot I quickly framed up with the afternoon sun pouring in and shadows filing in perfect order.
Wow that really tells a story. I don’t know what story, but yeah.
Some friends and I made our way to Batsto Village this afternoon. Founded in the late 1700s, this preserved iron town is one of the pearls of Wharton State Forest. We, and about four dozen other photographers, made the best of the rich afternoon light, and I made the best of one of my favorite porches on the site. A simple wooden porch that creaks off the page of a Mark Twain novel. I spent a good ten minutes photographing this bench, the floor and the angles, trying to get the movement and shadows just so. All the while this composition hung in the back of my mind as one of my black and white possibilities for day two of the challenge.
As soon as I applied a low key black and white look with a dose of grain I knew this was a winner. Almost immediately my buddy Jon looked over and uttered the words above. While utterly simplistic and overtly amorphous—almost Yogi Berra like—it actually hits the mark. This photo tells its own story, and certainly one far better than I’ll ever tell. Enjoy.
Aside: two days in and I am really enjoying the 5 day black and white challenge.
Last night I was tagged on Google+ to participate in the #fivedayblackandwhitechallenge that’s been running strong for the past couple of weeks. If nothing else it’s coincidental that yesterday was the first day it popped in my mind if I’d somehow get tagged for this. I was on my way to work. Sure enough that thought was manifest by day’s end. For anyone unfamiliar with Google+ it’s a wonderful place for photographers. It’s where this hobby started for me, and for that alone it will forever be remembered fondly by this guy, ghost towns be damned.
Onto the challenge: I love me some black and white. I really do. Back in my Studio Art days in high school it was my wheelhouse. Colors were scary. Black and white might as well have been the blanket of one Linus Van Pelt. 15 years later and suddenly into photography, color has, perhaps ironically, taken me by storm. Past inhibitions are strangely gone and color has become a strength. Life is nothing if not odd.
All that setup being said, black and white remains a passion of mine. As much as I’ve learned to harness the power of color in all its vibrant glory, nothing takes me away (sorry, Calgon) like a stunning black and white. That’s where my envy rears. In that vein I am very excited about this challenge. My inner critic, though, is concerned that it will be hard to make great black and whites on purpose and on demand.
I guess we’ll see what the next five days have in store.
On matters of motion — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/13
Sometimes you just have to press your shutter and hope. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. With wave action coming in fast I had to be quick on my feet and steady with my hands so as to avoid any kind of camera tragedy of the saltwater kind. All the while operating blind. Let me explain:
With my lens hyperfocal distance set just left of infinity I knew any objects a hair over a foot away from the back of my camera ALL the way to the horizon would be tack sharp and in focus. What I didn’t know was my composition. Left to aim in a general direction of jetty rock and lapping ocean, I kept firing off exposures while retreating from the wave action. Wash, rinse, repeat for a good 15 minutes—I’m certain the fine family and surf fishermen nearby thought me nuts. Under ideal circumstances I would have laid in the sand and eyed up the shot in my viewfinder like any proper photographer would. But that position would have put my equipment in too much peril; I wouldn’t have been able to pop up and escape the waves quick enough. That was not a risk I was willing to take.
So I was stuck hoping for the best. And while I do like this shot, the prior Next time?
I made it up to the ocean tonight. I’m glad I did. Between the meh clouds and a tide chart noting a low tide coinciding with sunset the decision was pretty easy.
I probably don’t photograph the ocean as often as I should—I imagine this has something to do with my not a morning person status. Sunrise is the time to go, I’m just too lazy.
But tonight it did not matter. The light was great. The tide was out. The jetty exposed and the day glow stellar. The only thing that was going to impede my shooting tonight was the wave action under my tripod. For this reason I had to go handheld.
There was a lone piece of jetty rock set about 6 feet away from the main jetty. Between waves I was running up to the rock, dangling my camera about 3 inches from the sand, and trying to time the shutter with water spray firing off said rock. Since I was shooting a mere 15 inches from the jetty rock, the big risk was getting myself and my camera out of there before the spray got to me. All went well, and I got a sweet shot.
By myself but not alone — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/20
I’m always shooting Dock Road. Always. Unscientifically I’d say it’s where near half of my landscape shooting goes down. The reasons are plenty: it’s close, it’s lightly travelled, and it’s marsh vistas are as sprawling as they are perfect. As a sunset guy it’s pretty much all I can ask for in a go-to photo spot.
The picture posted above is usually at my back. It’s from my regular roadside spot only this time I’m shooting northward. I’ve always enjoyed the bending estuary on that side of the road coupled with the serenity of the marsh. Especially so during low tide on a windless day where the water turns mirror to the world. Last night all of this came together, and before I locked into my tripod for last night’s sunset shot, I took a quick handheld photograph of the north marsh. Now that I can compare the two shots together this is easily the one I prefer.
It doesn’t always have to be a show — 14mm | f/8 | ISO 100 | 7 Bracketed Exposures
Tonight, like other nights before it, was all about the ultimate sunset. No matter how many times I get out and shoot a sunset I’m always hoping my next one will be the one; explosive colors, textbook composition, interesting foreground, leading lines, unicorns. Come 120 minutes before sundown and there’s some interesting cloud play marking the sky, and this is exactly where my mind is going. Sunset mecca. It’s this drive that has kept me from falling bored with sunset photography. At least up until now.
Tonight though, it became readily clear that it wasn’t going to be one of those nights. One where I’m tweeting like a maniac and standing roadside doing a shimmy. No, tonight was not one of those nights. But you know what? It’s all good. I rather enjoyed the simplicity and softness of an understated blue hour. Tranquil and serene it put me in the right place.
Tomorrow the quest for the Ultimate Sunset™ continues.
Go East, my friend — 40mm | f/8 | ISO 400 | 3 Bracketed Exposures
Here’s the last of the three shots from Sunday’s photo mission. After our time messing around in the cold, steam rising bog we decided to do a little four-wheelin’. The Pinelands are littered with trails, some maintained better than others, and it’s a great way to spend time with friends. Over the years they’ve mostly been midnight excursions, but now that we’ve turned photographer there’s more reason to get out there in daylight.
As our two truck convoy was humming along deeper and deeper into the pines, the low sun angle was creating wondrous light play atop the tree line. At this one particular bend we stopped our vehicular exploration to get out and shoot on foot. Off the main trail was this little eastward spur illuminated by a lovely little sunbeam. Upon composing my shot I held my breathe and fired off three bracketed exposures handheld. Normally I’d say go for the tripod, but every now and then, particularly with my 40mm, I like to challenge myself and test my stillness.
While I’m hesitant to say for sure, I think I prefer this shot to the first offering, even though the light in that one was pure magic. Yesterday’s post, however, represents a distant third. But that’s not for me to decide. That is up to you.
Casual aside: As a long time Legend of Zelda fanatic I can’t help but think of the open-ended exploration of the Lost Woods. Ah, memories.
A pine for every season — 40mm | f/2.8 | ISO 100 | EXP 1/100
Yesterday morning was cold, and yet you wouldn’t know it from this photograph. It never ceases to amaze me, the indiscernible nature of pines. Without their pine cones as a guide or air temperature as an indicator, it’s virtually impossible to distinguish a season on looks alone. While their deciduous cousins are annually betrayed by fallen leaves the interminable pine stands above, immovable. Timeless.
As I was skulking around the Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area scoping out yesterday’s steamy ray shot, I made an about face and saw some wonderful golden light breathing life into a once innocuous pine branch no more than two feet from my face. As I was already loaded up with my 40mm pancake lens, I set the aperture wide open and went for some close range shallow depth of field goodness.
