Fall Foliage, Green Mountains National Forest, Vermont

Hey everybody,

I figure I’ll share an additional photo as I’m processing my shots from this trip. The fall foliage was really amazing during the first week of October up in the Green Mountains. There were plenty of reds, oranges, yellows, and not a whole lot of green.

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Sunrise, Cadillac Mountain, Acadia National Park, Maine

Hey everybody,

I’m working hard to catch up on my processing, and am beginning to go through images from Maine in June. The summit of Cadillac Mountain, the highest point in Acadia National Park, is a fantastic place to photograph at sunrise. It was completely socked in with fog down at sea level, but I figured there was still a chance of having good conditions up there. I’m glad I made that choice!

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Elk on Dream Lake reprocessed, Dream Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Hey everybody,

This image is from last July at Dream Lake, in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. This morning was one of the most memorable experiences I have ever had as a nature photographer. Having a gigantic bull Elk wander into this scene was just incredible! I’ve been slowly (very slowly) improving my skills at processing, and thought I’d give this one another go.

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One more from WV!

Hey everybody,

I’ve finished working through my shots from WV and I have to say that this one is my favorite! I’ll have some new stuff up here soon, I promise! I’ve got dozens of shorebirds I could share from Conneaut, and I’ll be shooting along the coast and at Great Falls this week!

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Lindy Point after dark, Monongahela National Forest/Blackwater Falls State Park, West Virginia

Aaaaannnnndddddddd one more from my day in West Virginia!

This image was made the same day as all of the previous WV images, but this was taken about 15 minutes after sunset as a layer of clouds blew in from the South. I used my Singh Ray Vari-ND filter to obtain an eight minute shutter speed for the sky. I’ve also received some criticism for leaving the foreground so dark, but I like it that way and hope you do too.

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Morning Light, Canaan Mountain, Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia

Hi everybody,

Here are two more images I made from Canaan Mountain.

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Peaceful Summer Sunrise #2, Canaan Mountain, Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia

Hi everybody,

Continuing on with the theme of posting images from my recent West Virginia/Ohio trip, here’s another image from sunrise at that favorite overlook of mine! You know, although the graduated ND filters will never leave my bag, I am really beginning to get comfortable with digitally blending my images.

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Peaceful Summer Sunrise, Canaan Mountain, Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia

Hi,

Chris Kayler and I just got back from a 5 day trip spent photographing landscapes in Davis/Canaan Valley, West Virginia, and migrating shorebirds in Conneaut, Ohio. Overall the trip was a great success, with great light in West Virginia, and great birds in Ohio! Here’s the first of a few images I’ll be sharing with you all from this most recent trip. I made this photograph atop a favorite rocky overlook in the Monongahela National Forest. Chris and I hiked up in the evening and camped out at the overlook in order to be there at sunrise.

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Cadillac Mountain Sunset, Acadia National Park, Maine

Hey everybody,

I just got home yesterday, and the processing begins! Here’s a shot I just worked up. I had been out birding all day, and the clouds looked pretty bad. I went out to shoot sunset anyways, just in case, and I’d say it was pretty nice. I’m gonna keep this one brief, since I’ll be assisting on my man Joe’s one-day Great Falls workshop in about four hours.

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Maine Day 2: Sunrise from Cadillac Mountain, Acadia National Park, Maine

Well, today was a heck of a day! I got up and left at 4:00AM to catch a lovely 4:45 sunrise. I then spent the rest of the day chasing warblers, which was mostly a bust besides one good American Redstart. I also did a good amount of scouting during the day, and found some nice cooperative birds to try and go back to in better light.

Anyhow, I shot this scene with a GND filter, but I also bracketed exposures to blend when I get home. Regardless, this isn’t my final version of the shot, but here’s what I worked up on my craptop!

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Maine Day 1: Sunset Layers, Cadillac Mountain, Acadia National Park, Maine

Hey everybody,

I’ve just completed my first full day of shooting in Maine. It went pretty well, by my standards at least. I went out looking for birds this morning and during a brief cloudy stint this afternoon. The highlight was certainly an extremely cooperative Black-throated Green Warbler. I found tons of spots with tons of different birds for me to go back to. I’m really making an effort to get some songbirds out here, especially with all of the cloudy skies the Maine coast so graciously has to offer.

Anyway, I got caught up with the birds, and lost track of time. I had been planning a hike for sunset. I hurried from where I was birding to the summit of Cadillac Mountain, and caught the last 15 minutes of a pretty nice light show. I have some wide angle shots as well, but they require a blend, which I’m not equipped to do on my laptop. So, here’s a telephoto shot. Once again, please excuse the laptop processing.

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Misty Spring sunrise on Bear Rocks, Dolly Sods, West Virginia

Wow, it has been a whole week since I updated this. Geez. I’ve been super busy. This past weekend, I assisted on one of Joe Rossbach’s photo workshops. It was a great time, and great learning experience for me. I drove from there straight to Maine, where I’ll be photographing for the next week and a half. I’m going to have to wait another week or so for the lupines to be at their best here, so until then I’m focusing on sunrise/sunsets on the rocky coast, and breeding songbirds! I’m trying to get the most out of this spring, if that wasn’t obvious 🙂

Here’s one from the morning after the workshop. Myself, Joe, and a workshop participant, Reza, camped up on Dolly Sods overnight to catch sunrise at Bear Rocks. It was some nice light! Please excuse any errors that may be present in the processing, because this was done on my uncalibrated laptop monitor.

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Thoroughfare Dawn

Here’s an old favorite from Shenandoah National Park last spring. I have yet to see any natural light show top this.

The Thoroughfare Gap overlook is a favorite spot of mine to photograph sunrise from in Shenandoah National Park. I had gone to the park that day to photograph White-tailed Deer fawns in Big Meadows, but when I saw this cloud formation with the clear patch of horizon on the east, I had to change my plan!

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Clearing Piedmont

I took this photograph a few days ago, on the seventh. Chris Kayler and I took a morning trip to Shenandoah National Park hoping to photograph a waterfall or two. Much to our dismay, the clouds began to break up hours before they were forecasted to. We decided to roll with the punches, something every nature photographer knows all to0 well. Instead of hiking Overall Run, we drove Skyline Drive looking for interesting things to photograph along the way. We came across these foothills just as the clouds were clearing out of the Piedmont. Seeing gently lit foothills in contrast with fairly thick ground-level clouds, we had no choice but to stop for a while!

Here’s my best take from that morning.

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Whew!

It’s been a whole week since I last posted on here. Wow. I’ve been ridiculously busy photographing springtime scenes throughout Virginia over the past seven days. I photographed many different things in Shenandoah National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway, some waterfalls down by Covington and Blacksburg, VA, and lots more. Over the next few days I’ll be sharing some recent shots from all over Virginia’s mountains.

I’ll start with yesterday morning. I photographed sunrise atop Shenandoah National Park’s Blackrock Summit. There were two main layers of clouds; very thick, puffy, rain clouds at approximately my elevation, and a lighter, thinner cloud base a few thousand feet above. I figured my odds were pretty slim on getting a good sunrise, but I stuck with it anyways. I hit the trail in the pouring rain, with the full expectation of returning to my car with nothing more than waterlogged shoes. Just as I had hoped, the lower level of rain clouds broke for about ten minutes right at sunrise! It’s hard to say this when you have 20 duds in a row, but sometimes it’s really worth it to brave harsh or uncomfortable conditions on the off chance of some amazing light!

Here are two images I made within a few minutes of each other. Not long after the second was taken the clouds came back and drenched me yet again, so as to say “you had your chance, now get the hell out of here!” I complied.

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Colorado National Monument sunset

Hi folks,

Yet another one from my lengthy trip. I’m almost done catching up with the processing! Here’s one I shot from the Colorado National Monument, near Grand Junction, CO. I got up there just as a snowstorm was moving out, and was treated to this wonderful view at sunset.

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Back home from FL

Well,

I’ve been back home now for a few days, and I have a couple thousand more images to go through now! I’m going to be doing it in a loosely chronological order. For that reason, I’m still working through this past December!

Here are two more from the amazing Death Valley.

This one was from Zabriskie Point, and was taken about twenty minutes before sunrise. I just loved the thousands of compositional options with using a longer lens here.

This second one is from Zabriskie as well, but on my last day in the park. I thought the clouds were interesting that afternoon, so I shot from a few overlooks. I’m not very proficient with black and white, and I have no problem admitting it. If you have any feedback regarding this one I’d love it.
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Sunset from Dante’s View, Death Valley National Park, California

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Paria Badlands at sunset

This is an image from November, in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument of Utah. I’ve had a hell of a time processing this, and have to admit I still don’t feel great about it. You may recognize that I posted it a few months ago in this post. I think this version is quite a bit stronger, but I’m still uncertain in general.

Sunset over the Plott Balsams, Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina

…and the processing continues! Here’s a shot I made during late October in North Carolina. I shot the sunset somewhere else, and it was pretty uneventful. I was driving back to my campsite when I realized there were some clouds blowing in, and that there was still a good bit of color in the sky. I set up my gear and this 60-second exposure was one of a dozen I pulled off before the light was too low.