Category Archives: Landscape

Working Late

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This old Dodge has been part of a local fall roadside stand for several years and this year I finally set aside a night to photograph it. The truck bed is full of mums and a wide variety of colorful mums fill the foreground for customers to pick from. Let me explain how the shoot went.I arrived an hour before sunset so I could set up the tripod,fill in any empty holes with flowers if needed and start my laptop to fire the camera. First the laptop took 5 minutes to let me log on,then my camera control software would not recognize that my camera was attached. After no less than 6 restarts,the sun was now below the horizon and I was now ready to drive over my laptop.

Next the sky lit up in an area Not included in my frame,so I recomposed and shot the image. Now I was ready to give up on light painting the scene because of the laptop snafu,but I gave it one last try and unbelievably the thing works. So for the next hour I used my spotlight and a flash to light the truck, flowers,and scene and this was my result. Lighting a black truck is a real challenge but thanks to the generosity of the owners in allowing me to work the shot,I had enough time to pull it off.

 

 

 

 

Vermont Stonewall

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This is one of a few images I got while spending two days traversing Vermont on my way home from Lake Placid.Fall color was late this year,so I was coming through at least a week before any real color appeared. I spotted this place on a back road and asked to roam around the property,which the owner gladly obliged.The property had about 6 red barns on it plus this rustic rock wall. A classic Vermont scene

The Adirondacks

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This peaceful little scene was at our motel in Lake Placid and was worthy of a shot. We stayed at the motel three days and it was only on the last day that I walked out back and saw this view.Sometimes the shot is right under your nose,but you need to look. The cabin runs around 500 bucks for two nights but being able to look out your bedroom window at this scene might be worth every penny.There was only one Adirondack chair out front,so I shot one frame with it on the right side and then moved it to the left for a second shot.I then layered the two images together to end up with the final image,which was possible thanks to the tripod.

The Flume Falls

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This falls called the flume is located along a scenic stretch of road about ten miles outside of Lake Placid. As I get older I seem to be getting a little less brave or perhaps wiser,but on this morning I decided to navigate my way onto a hard to reach rock outcropping to get this shot. To get this shot,I left my camera bag in the woods,carried only my camera and tripod and clung to several trees as I descended a hill.Next I crawled on hands and knees along a two foot wide rock ledge that included low hanging roots brushing my back.I took my sweet time getting there because any mistake would put me into the raging water,which included more nasty falls just downstream. Getting there right after sunrise insured I would hopefully be there alone,which I was.The water was flowing pretty strongly,so extreme caution was in order.Fall color on the mountain provided a nice backdrop.

Dawn on Lake Placid

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This is the view from our motel backyard on our Lake Placid trip. I only knew it was there on our last day,so I set the chairs up, tied the canoes fast and set the oars in position the night before. I came out at dawn in the dark,set up my laptop,tripod and camera and started lighting the scene in the dark,and then recorded the lake and sky as the sun rose. I could easily get used to sitting in those chairs and the home out on the lake with the light on is a dream location to live.

A Place to Relax

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This peaceful scene was one of a few shots I captured while visiting Lake Placid last week. It was located a few miles outside town and looked like a great place to spend time enjoying nature. A canoe ride,a hike, or just an evening around the camp fire munching on smores are all possibilities in a place like this.I took this photo from my truck roof because the extra elevation allowed for a better view of the lake and woods.

Enter Fall Foliage

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I just returned from a five-day trek to the Lake Placid region in New York, which was more challenging than I had anticipated. Foliage was decent,but the area is known as the high peaks region,which meant you are often in between mountains with not a lot of valleys to see farms etc. I am sure if I had researched the area more before visiting, I would have been better prepared to shoot in that setting. Foliage was slightly past peak,but still lovely as evidenced by this private lane with a rustic log gate with brilliant foliage surrounding it that I shot on the way in to Lake Placid. I will share more images in the days ahead as I get to them.

The Blacksmith Shop

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This is a wall mural on the side of a small shop in a local town. I have no idea why this subject was painted but the artist is Wayne Fettro,who seems to do a lot of this type of work. I decided some light painting was in order to showcase the work.It took about 10 different flash pops to do everything.

A Rainbow of Scooters

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I noticed these scooters parked at a one room school the other day, and contemplated shooting them.As I drove up the road to turn around,I noticed a youngster about a quarter-mile up the road heading toward the school on yet another scooter. I imagined the possibility of him passing by the scooters and me getting a shot,but lo and behold he actually stopped right at them and I quickly snapped the shot.

Coming in Hot

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Coming in hot means coming in at a reckless speed, which was what this balloon was doing as winds picked up near touchdown. It scraped a tobacco field,took out a rope fence and finally drug to a halt. The horses took off running in every direction as the balloon descended.This very same balloon somehow got caught on a high power line the next day and actually was starting to smoke before the wire snapped and fell to the ground. Amazingly no one got zapped.

Dutch Country Corn Harvest

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The Amish farmers have been busy in the last month harvesting thousands of acres of corn. Wet weather has delayed the work slightly,but it doesn’t take them long once they get going. I usually like to find a nice farm in the background,so the viewer can see the whole setting,instead of just the wagons.

Big Red

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I was bored the other night,so I grabbed the gear for a light painting attempt. I am still not that good at this,but I have fun trying. This is the result of about 30 different exposures with flash. Looked on the net and the cost is around $350,000 for this machine if anyone wants one.

Chasing the Pig

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I rarely post photos that are not on the visually appealing side, but since I have viewers from all over the world,I thought I might share one of the more interesting activities that takes place at the local fair each year. What you see here is known as the pig chase,where contestants compete to catch a greased pig. Some times the pig takes a good hit as he is tackled,but in twenty years I have never seen a pig or person get hurt. Pigs seem to be pretty tough from what I have seen,and the addition of lard on their bodies make them hard to hold. From children to adults,there is a size of pig that matches each division,and believe it or not,I have seen pigs actually run with an adult hanging on their back. For children under five,there is a rooster chase,which really gets interesting,and by the way,the guy in yellow did not catch the pig. Being the fastest at this event often times means you are the one that will be feeling ten other guys landing on your back in short order.

 

Your Dream Ride Awaits

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Fall is the time when the annual street fair comes to town and this carousel was calling to me to do a little light painting. Both myself and my good friend headed out before sunrise to do some shooting at the empty fair and I settled on this particular horse with its cool color scheme as my subject. The first glitch I ran into was the street lights were pretty bright,so my longest exposure was around 8 seconds,which limited my flashlights ability to be the strongest light source. I went to plan b,which utilized flash with a snoot attached and that puts the light beam in a very narrow area across the subject. The flash was attached to an extendable pole to allow positioning it wherever I needed without standing on the carousel and having it move . This shot is the result of maybe 30 flashes throughout the scene,including the ice cream stand on the left. Carousels seems to have a magical quality that captivates the imagination and transports you to another world.

Theodore Burr Arch Truss

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This is the interior of a local covered bridge that has been closed for over a year due to damage from tropical storm Lee last year. Not sure exactly what the problem is,but if you look at the exterior,the bridge has a slight bow to it. This bridge sits approximately eighteen feet above the creek,but last years flood was an extreme one that hopefully wont be seen for another hundred years.I used flash to light the interior in an attempt to show the intricate construction that goes into these beautiful structures. This bridge was built in 1867 at a whopping cost of $4,500 dollars. The arch design is credited to inventor Theodore burr,who lived around the early 1800s and was a cousin to Vice President Aaron Burr.

Changing Seasons

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As the sun rises on an autumn morning,this leafless tree stands as a reminder that winter is not far away. This is one of my favorite times of the year, when leaves fall all around you and a chill is in the early morning air. A time when frost coats the landscape and the rising sun brings welcome warmth to those seeking out the changing of the seasons.

 

 

Hot Air Express

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I was chasing this balloon the other day and when it finally landed I drove up a dirt lane to watch it deflate.This Amish lady and her children pulled right into the field beside me,and initially the kids got out to run over to the balloon but the boy started crying, so they loaded back up on the wagon and I had enough time to get a photo.The girl had a basket of homemade treats that she was holding,and I was in my truck about 15 feet away hungry for a snack.

Cart before the Horse?

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I have heard the saying, don’t put the cart before the horse,but never saw it in the real world till now. The horse and buggy on the right was leading the lone horse somewhere,but who knows.Not sure what the guy on the left was doing either,as he was just there on the backroad.This was a split second shot taken on the back roads.

Calm Waters

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This is a photo I took after putting on the hip waders and going out to about mid stream. The creek is a little lower than normal right now,so I was not worried about getting knocked over by the current,and it provided a nice vantage point during a slightly foggy day. Depth was anywhere from 8 inches to about 2 feet,which allowed me to navigate anywhere on the stream I needed. I carried only one camera with lens on my tripod and brought a polarizer,which helped with the reflection.

The Rolling Behemoth

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Ever feel tiny and insignificant? Well that’s probably how the driver of this compact car felt as he hugged the curb and kept a little distance between himself and this rolling monstrosity. This huge Combine was on the move through several local towns recently as it made it way to the next cornfield for more harvesting, and it raised eyebrows more than once as it dominated the road. I shot this through my car window after I was lucky enough to get directly behind it. The only thing better than this would have been a smart car beside it,which would really look ridiculous.