Emily's Communion

It's always a pleasure to photograph your friends and their families. Knowing someone always makes it easier to put everyone at ease (including myself), and I enjoy meeting other family members and seeing the dynamics of the members. Getting a group together for a family photo is always an event. While most people are indifferent or uncomfortable in these situations, there is always someone who instinctively knows what to do in front of the camera. I don't know if it's just intuition or an internal confidence in themselves, but connecting with these people is always a pleasure. Emily's Holy Communion day was a special event and I could sense the excitement and pride she had in achieving this milestone. It was fun to be part of her special day. She obviously, conencted witht he camera.

     

Imagination Squared

I just spent the afternoon at the studio of Dolf James, artist, designer, craftsman, and tinkerer extraordinaire, and one of the masterminds of the Imagination Squared project along with Christina Foard. Dolf was busy working on his "squares" for distribution to fellow artists. Find out more about this fascinating "creative response experiment" on their Facebook Page and website. There are over 600 5x5inch wood boxes/squares in the hands of artists throughout the area who are in the process of embellishing it with their own marks. More are being made and distributed, with no planned limit. "I'll keep making them as long as artists are asking for them!" These will be collected and integrated into a single installation - a grid of creativity. If you would like to participate, contact Dolf or Christina through their Fan Page or email at squares@imaginationsquared.com. This is a perfect example of one of the many roles artists must play in the community. To engage, excite, create, and have fun with others. I think the outcome will be more significant that anyone could have imagined. It is probably one of the first projects that is unifying all creatives in our area, bringing together many people for the sole purpose of creation. That's pretty cool!

 The process of making squares...

    

    

    

Exploring the Okefenokee - Part 2

 

I made it out to the East entrance of the Okefenokee soon after my exploration of the West (see my previous post on March 12). A much shorter drive from Jacksonville, from I-295 and off the New Kings Road Exit (US-1). This takes you through some depressed areas in Georgia, lots of abandoned gas stations and hotels from the pre-interstate days when US-1 was the main corridor from the north. One day I will dedicate some time to just these abandoned structures. When I arrived the park was virtually empty. Early spring is great for the weather, lack of people, and lack of mosquitoes. I was told that the gators were beginning to come out of hibernation and beginning to look for mates, hence a lot of grunting noises in the swamps.

 

The East side of the park contains a nature drive and concessions area with lots of opportunities to pull off the road for photography. The main road leads you past pine forests and several burn areas. From the Visitor's Center, Swamp Island Drive takes you to some boardwalks where you can get deeper into the swamp. It started to drizzle and rain, so I was the only crazy person out walking around. At the end of the main boardwalk there is an observation tower that gives a great view of the area. I did not opt for the boat tour this time, as the sun decided to come out. I did hike the short Canal Diggers trail.

 

I love overcast, windless days for tree photography. Look for the special light that illuminates the branches and new spring growth. It's soft and allows the details to really show. Getting out to the wilderness by yourself is great therapy. Even if the images are not there, you can recharge and renew yourself in nature.

For my Okefenokee gallery click here.

Welcome to the Hunger

Today I found this bit of wisdom on one of my favorite blogs, Hugh McLeod's Gaping Void. It's part of a new book Hugh is authoring on success called "Evil Plans." I found it particularly meaningful at this point in my life/career and thought I would share it with you.

The Hunger to do something creative. The Hunger to do something amazing. The Hunger to change the world. The Hunger to make a difference. The Hunger to enjoy one’s work. The Hunger to be able to look back and say, Yeah, cool, I did that. The Hunger to make the most of this utterly brief  blip of time Creation has given us. The Hunger to dream the good dreams. The Hunger to have amazing people in our lives. The Hunger to have the synapses continually fired up on overdrive. The Hunger to experience beauty. The Hunger to tell the truth. The Hunger to be part of something bigger than yourself. The Hunger to have good stories to tell. The Hunger to stay the course, despite of the odds. The Hunger to feel passion. The Hunger to know and express Love. The Hunger to know and express Joy. The Hunger to channel The Divine. The Hunger to actually feel alive.

The Hunger will give you everything. And it will take from you, everything. It will cost you your life, and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.

But knowing this, of course, is what ultimately sets you free.

Thanks Hugh!

Exploring the Okefenokee

I've been looking for a chance to get out to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Georgia. The drizzling rain in Jacksonville and forecast for more rain looked promising for some overcast conditions so I took a chance and headed towards the West Entrance to the park near Fargo GA. It was a good 2+ hour drive out I-10 and then north on 441, connecting with 177. My last visit to the swamp was back in the early 80's and can't say I remember much except that we couldn't restart our outboard engine on the boat rental (a story for another day), so I really had no expectations about the trip.

The rain started coming down hard as I headed west as I had a sinking feeling that this was going to be a bust. Once I passed Macclenny FL the rain let up. Driving in rural FL on the back roads is an experience. I was literally in the middle of nowhere. I regrettably passed an old abandoned gas station that would have made a great shot. What is it that keeps you from stopping? There were 2 other great photo ops that I passed. Maybe we are too self-conscious of stopping the car, getting set up, and taking the shot. Or maybe we don't value our instincts. On some occasions I create excuses about how the shot would be lousy only to avoid that guilt of not stopping.  I don't know what it is but it's the courage to get the shot is something I need to work on. Stopping to shoot or being in a situation which is potentially uncomfortable to shoot makes the successful capture sweeter.

 

My first stop was at the boat launch off Suwanee River Sill. There is a nice stand of cypress trees on the far side a a canal, complete with sleeping gators. I was there for quite sometime before I saw another photographer. I then proceeded to the end of 177 where the concession facilities and boat rentals are. From the size of the parking lots I could see that this is a busy place in height of the season. Lots of campsites too. I took a guided boat tour which took us along Billy's Lake. I can see renting a small boat next time to do some exploring and to get some peace and quiet. There is something about the guided tours that completely distracts from the ambiance of the place.

What I find disheartening about visiting some National Parks is learning about the history of the areas. Our entire history seems to be fraught with stories about the displacement of Native Americans and exploitation of natural resources. The Okefenokee is no different...in 1899 the Hebard Cypress Company purchased the land from the state of GA and systematically removed 431 million board feet of cypress timber, harvesting giant magnificent trees that were hundreds of years old. It's not that they removed some trees but they literally raped the land, building a railroad to haul the trees out and leaving the area to waste after they were done. It's good that we have at least some of these lands under responsible supervision. In the name of progress, in the name of jobs, in the name of the public "good" we did (and continue to do) some terrible things.

 

After the boat tour that lasts about an hour I walked along the Trembling Earth Nature Trail which includes a 2100 ft boardwalk into a cypress grove. Then I headed out and stopped a few times on the road as the sun was setting. The mosquitoes come out as soon as the sun went down. I'm eager to visit the east side of the park. I have a feeling it is more geared to hiking and nature observation than recreation. Perhaps on the next overcast day.

Click here for my Okefenokee gallery.

Snow day in Prospect Park

On Feb 25 it snowed in NYC. I mean we got 20 inches. In nearby Brooklyn things were pretty socked-in. Cars were covered, schools closed, and no one was going anywhere. We ventured out from the apartment in Park Slope to Prospect Park where winter was in full swing. People were having a blast, sledding and skiing and just enjoying the day. It was a great time to commiserate with the trees and I took advantage of it. There are over 150 species of trees in the park so it was a big treat for me to be there in such unique conditions. My tour started at the north entrance and proceeded along West Drive, then across Long Meadow and at that point I started wandering south. The snow was very deep in places (over a foot) and I followed whatever trail I could find. The sun was peeking in and out and I just kept walking knowing that at a certain point I should hit a roadway. Well, the parks in NY are rather large and I probably didn't realize that walking a few miles in the deep snow would be quite the workout. I was carrying two camera bodies, one with my 24-70 and the other with a 70-200. Needless to say the camera bag strap (a Think Tank Urban Disguise 50) began to dig into my shoulder...ouch! Luckily I did not have my tripod to lug around. I think I ended up walking about 6 miles that day. When it started to get dark I had a little bit of panic. The snow started coming down hard and there were less and less people around. Could I actually get lost in an urban park? I saw some buildings in the distance and headed towards the lights. I popped out at 9th Street and Prospect Park West, about 15 blocks away from the apartment. At least I knew where I was now. And did I say it was getting cold? 

The trees covered in wet snow were magical to me. As the sky darkened and snow began to fall I experienced a calm peacefulness enveloping the entire area. In the middle of Brooklyn I found a sanctuary. Now I have to find my way home.

A snowy tree gallery is in the works...stay tuned.

My Fogle Artist Lecture on "The Art of Seeing"

Yesterday I presented my first "official" public lecture as an artist as part of the Fogle Artist Lecture Series at the Jacksonville River Club. I was nervous about this event and questioned whether I had anything significant to say. I wanted to give attendees some insight into what photographers look for, and to provide some inspiration for aspiring photographers to look at things differently. I started off by showing some examples of my work along with a narrative about different subjects and feelings. Then I handed out a "Great Image Checklist" inspired by George Barr's post on Luminous Landscape. We used this list to review several of my images from downtown Jacksonville. Great Image Checklist 1.   Eye catching 2.   Strong composition 3.   Relatively few picture elements 4.   No elements beyond what is required 5.   Uses light and or surface reflections effectively 6.   Contains a limited color palette which contrasts or complements 7.   Has a message 8.   Leaves you wondering, while at the same time satisfying you that the image is complete 9.   Shows the unusual, the unnoticed or interesting juxtapositions 10. Tells a story or triggers memories 11. Gives you reasons to come back to the image 12. Captures a unique moment in time 13. Has something extra magical about them

I received many compliments on the lecture from friends and fellow photographers. I think I was able to provide a good introduction to myself and provide food for thought to people wanting to improve their photography. It was fun, despite the butterflies and nervousness of public speaking. I love to talk to people about my work and hopefully help others hone their interests in photography. So many people have helped me.

I also realized the importance of getting out and meeting people, especially for artists. People want to know what you have to say, and the more they know you the better chance that they may want your art to be part of their lives. I'm thankful to Fogle Fine Art for letting me kick off the series and look forward to many more presentations in the future!

A wedding lesson in the Real World School of Photography

On Saturday Dorian and I shot our first solo wedding. Yes you heard that correctly, and no, I'm not heading down this path. It was for some good friends, Steve and Lisa, and believe me Steve twisted my arm pretty hard for me to accept this project. I think "fear of weddings" ranks up there with public speaking, cold calling, and interviews with the IRS, at least for photographers. I must say that after I got over my general incompetence and equipment failures, time passed rather quickly and I had a good time. The service was wonderful and I never saw a happier bride and groom. To know that I contributed to the memories of a lovely day made it all worthwhile. So, how was the experience? Overall the feelings of being rushed were overwhelming. Weddings go according to a schedule and things just happen whether you're ready or not. And people don't wait for the photographer to fiddle and fuss with things, they want you to just do your thing while they do theirs. We arrived late (not going to get into that) about 1.5 hours before the service. The wedding was being held at a reception hall, which was more like a dark cave, with heavy drapes closing out 70% of the natural light and a "stage" about 4 ft high that the ceremony was to take place. We had scoped out the site a few weeks ago so we knew what we were dealing with. I set up 2 bounce umbrellas with speedlights at both ends of the stage and I had my on-camera speedlight. This I knew was going to be my biggest challenge, getting enough light to the stage and shooting up at a 30 degree angle.

I wanted to get some initial shots of the bride getting dressed so I was able to set up quickly, test the lights, and get over to the dressing room. There always seems to be an element of chance when using my Pocket Wizards and the speedlights. Things just happen...or don't. But my strategy was to take enough images in RAW so that I could come up with30-50 decent shots. That's all I needed. The other thing to realize is that a camera setup for indoor flash is very different from natural light shooting. With 2 bodies it's a bit mind-boggling for me to reset everything correctly when you go between the two.

For indoors I was able to toggle between a single on-camera flash and the umbrellas using the 2 Pocket Wizard channels.  Another thing to remember, and you know where my memory is going these days. It looked like everything was set up ok in the main hall, so we took some shots in the dressing area. People were arriving, so I knew this was it. The clock had started. As we finished the dressing shots the bridal party was ready to walk. I entered first to position myself for the walk in shots...ok mount the PW and speedlight, switch to C2 on the PW, turn on speedlight, switch ISO, switch to Manual, set f5.6, set 1/60, oh and don't forget the white balance, test fire PW, and here they come! First shot was dark, no firing of my on camera flash, second shot dark, so what the f* was going on? As they approached the stage I switched over to C1 to activate the umbrellas, fired the test shot, second shot...yes I had light! So I was happy until about the 4th shot things started to go dark again. It seemed like my on-camera flash was highly intermittent. All I could do was to keep shooting and hope that things fired.

   

During a slow spot in the ceremony I switched over to my body with my 70-200. I moved the PW and speedlight over and started shooting again, with about 50% of the images getting any light. The end of the ceremony was coming and I knew there were 4 money shots I had to get, the ring exchange, the kissing of the bride, the introduction of Mr. and Mrs., and the descent into the crowd. I was sweating now. The place was so dark that any attempt to do this w/o a flash was out of the question. Time to say some prayers. I switched back over to my wider lens and hoped for the best. I lucked out until the end, when the bride and groom descended down the steps, followed by the best man and the bridesmaids. Nice silhouette shots. I was upset. There is NO excuse for equipment failure or user error during an event. You must be prepared and your stuff has got to work. Shame, shame!

I wanted to do the formals inside where I knew I had control of the lighting. We reset the umbrellas near the stair and the speedlight on #1 decided not to fire. Was it the flash, the PW on the flash, the transmitter, wrong channel, interference, one or more of the above, who knows? In frustration we headed outside. It was windy, cold, and bright sun. Ok, so I had to reset the camera for outdoor, get out the diffusers and reflectors. We did a few poses with the family and then people started getting cold, so we headed back inside. I think I could have been much better prepared to shoot outdoors if this was part of the plan.

 

Back inside people were getting ready for dinner. Ah, a break for the first time. My brain was fried. And it doesn't help when your assistant (who happens to be your wife) keeps asking you why your stuff doesn't work..."well dear if I knew I would just fix it." In some stoke of genius I decided to change the batteries out of the speedlights. I had the smarts to grab a box of AAs on the way out. Residing in the speedlights were rechargeable Radio Shack AAs, you know those green batteries that take 4 hours to charge. Some of them were probably 3-4 years old. Hummm, things started to work again after the battery change.  Now why didn't I think of that before? I really worked these flash units. I mean hundreds of times in 1-2 hours. So with fresh batteries we proceeded to do the table shots with the bride and groom. Dorian held the small softbox with a speedlight, I had another speedlight on camera. 8 tables, flawless. Then we did the bride and groom doing a toast...perfect. Then time for the first dance, and the family dance. So far so good. Then the garter, the bouquet, and cake cutting. No more failures. My guess it was the batteries....arrgh! I was cheap, I didn't want to get some decent batteries or a high capacity power pack. I spend all this money on equipment and workshops and I was brought down by $10 worth of batteries. Now I know better. It will never happen again. Hard lessons in the Real World School of Photography!

    

 

I took 619 images and discarded 255. I tagged 108 as images I will provide to the bride and groom as selections. Thank goodness for RAW and the Lighroom Brightness and Fill sliders. These enabled me to literally rescue 50% of my keepers. It was a lot of work, and one day I will be able to minimize the use of these corrections but for now, I'm so happy they exist.

My best goes out to Steve and Lisa. Thanks for having faith in me to document your special day.

Savannah and Tybee Island

This weekend we took a small roadtrip to Savannah to see my daughter Diana present at the Telfair Museum Jepson Center.  She was part of the Pulse Art and Technology Festival, and she provided a workshop followed by a lecture on Fashion and Technology. The Jepson Center for the Arts is an incredible building by architect Moshe Safdie. It was a perfect venue for the event which hosted special exhibits, presentations, and events throughout the week.   

I love Savannah and the Southern charm it exhibits. The architecture of the historic district is genuine. The brick paved streets and landscaped squares provide an elegant setting for the many historic buildings. The city is best "digested" by foot, and this was not the trip to do anything extensive. I did drive out to the Bonaventure Cemetery hoping to find some interesting sights. It was around 10:30 in the morning and the light was just not right. I've been to large cemeteries in Montréal and NYC, and Bonaventure was a bit of a disappointment. Perhaps a foggy or overcast day would have improved conditions. I did manage to visit the gallery and studio of Bryan Stovall on Whittaker Street near the river. This is one of the few photography galleries in Savannah and has some nice work by many local artists.

 After some good family time of shopping and eating, I had one Saturday to exercise the camera. When we woke up it was raining. Given the choice of drizzle or a cloudless sky, I'll take the drizzle.  We drove downtown to put our name on the waiting list for Paula Deen's restaurant Lady and Sons for dinner. Then we headed out to the area around Chatham Square for Dorian to do some shopping. Between raindrops it was easy to find some nice architectural details.

From here we headed out on Hiway 80 to Ft. Pulaski NM and then out to Tybee Island. The rain was letting up so we thought the worst was over. Ft. Pulask is an impressive fortification. There are some nice hiking trails taking you to the surrounding marshes. After walking through the fort and watching the musket firing demo we headed out to Tybee. We followed Hiway 80 to the end then made a left to the last cul-de-sac with access to the beach. The rain started coming down hard and it was time to put the camera away. We then made our way to the Tybee Lighthouse, which charged $7 to enter. We passed on that. Across from the lighthouse are some old fortifications which also charged admission to enter. It seemed that everywhere on Tybee there was a machine for charging you to park. I guess that's how these guys stay in business. Overall the island is way too commercialized for me, lots of cheap (but expensive) hotels, condos, and houses crammed along the dunes. It was a good thing that the weather was crummy and no one was on the beach. We returned to the place where we started so that I could try to get some images of the jettys and the shore at low tide. After about 20 minutes the rain started up again and it was time to go. Right now I'm working on some minimalist landscapes so here is the result...

 

[nggallery id=14]

Dinner at Paula Deen's that night was memorable...fried chicken, catfish, pot roast, limas, black eye peas, creamed corn, collards, mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, and the BEST blue cheese dressing you can imagine (looks like cottage cheese!). And I had to drive home to Jacksonville after that.

Man's mark on the earth

Today while out shooting on Hecksher Drive it occurred to me that it's hard to avoid evidence of man's presence on the earth. I drove out to a fairly remote area north of town, where I can remember my dad taking my brother and I fishing. It was always a quiet and peaceful area where there were few cars and even fewer permanent man made structures. As I was watching the sunrise, my view was obstructed by a  huge container ship bringing its load to port. On the right on a piece of land stretching out into the water were a group of houses (just waiting to be demolished by our next hurricane). In front of me were chunks of concrete, covered by barnacles, and at low tide, the assorted collection of plastic bottles, beer cans, cigarette butts, and fishing line could be seen strewn about. But this did not detract from the grandeur of the sunrise and the majesty of nature's presence, as you can see.

 

On my way home, I stopped to photograph one of my landmarks, the St Johns River Power Park cooling towers and boiler stack. The plant was working hard, and the man-made clouds were in stark contrast to the clouds I witnessed earlier in the day.

County Dock Road

  There is a public dock and boat launch at the end of County Dock Road in Mandarin. This is a great place to catch clouds and the sunset over the St Johns River, and is one of the few public accesses to the river along Mandarin Road (the other is Mandarin Park further south).  The weather was exceptional today, with rain, thunder, and then a strange fog rolling into downtown. The "River Guardian" Bill Yates has a commanding view of the river from his condo in Riverside. He called with a heads up on the clearing to the south (where I am) and the potential for some clouds. "But it's raining outside Bill!" So against my better senses I grabbed my raincoat, the camera and tripod and drove the 2 miles to the dock. Guess everyone else had the common sense to stay indoors because there wasn't a soul in sight. Sometimes you just have to get out the door if you're going to find anything interesting. When we go out to shoot personal projects, there's always this debate in our heads about where to go, when to go, if I should go, etc. I've learned, but only sometimes apply it, that you just need to GO!

I love it when I arrive on site and there's no one there. It puts me in a great mental state. I walked up to the boat launch area and took my first image of the dock. I could tell that the river was calm and that there was a great mess of clouds overhead. I was going to have a good time. I usually start out with a wide angle lens, partially because this is how I do my initial assessment of a site, with an open mind. I like to walk around and scan, always checking on the light, looking for interesting forms, colors, anything that catches the eye. Most of the time you know when an area has potential, but sometimes you have to be patient and wait.

It looked like the gray clouds were going to obscure the sunset, but they were moving quickly. This means things could change. As I walked out to the end of the doc, I made a few exposures and kept watching the clouds above. I arrived at 5:00 and left at 6:20. I probably made around 100 images, of which I kept 40. Maybe 20 are worthy of even showing to others, and perhaps 1 or 2 I may add to my portfolio. I would consider this a successful shoot and was happy with the result. My intent was to capture the calm and peacefulness of the river and the emptiness of the dock. I also wanted to portray the drama of the cloud cover, and the ominous weather that was bearing down on us.  I converted the images to B&W to remove the element of color from the compositions. It just felt like the right thing to do. The forms were so strong that color did not add anything significant, in fact it became distracting. I'm looking forward to printing some of these 20x30 or larger if I get around to it.

[nggallery id=12]How do you like my new in-line gallery? Click on a thumbnail to enlarge. Finally figured out how to do this. It's easier to post additional images this way. Enjoy!

Epson 9900 is up and running!

With some help from a friend, I finally got the inks loaded, the paper holder assembled, firmware updated, and everything hooked up. Last night my first 8.5 x 11 print came off the printer. Of course I forgot to set the color profile and paper type correctly and it looked like crap. Panic! By paying attention to what you are doing some things work themselves out. The print was awesome. Which goes to show the importance of monitor calibration and proper printer profiles in your workflow. There are lots of articles and workshops on these topics. In fact books are written on this. There IS a way to get your screen and print to match. But remember, you are viewing on screen images through a backlit monitor, you are viewing prints through front lit lighting, big difference. So in some respects, you will never get things to look "exact".

If you need some good test prints to run through your printer, go to Bill Atkinson's Download page and grab the Profile Test Image. This covers both color and B&W situations and will give you a good idea of how your printer is doing. If your monitor is properly calibrated, the image should look good right out of the box. A print with the proper paper settings and profile should give you an idea of what is off. You can also run the Grays Test Image which is a B&W gradient at different settings in the Epson Advanced B&W Mode. This will give you a good preview at various tonal ranges.

 

A cold morning at Big Talbot

I wanted to bring my visiting friend, Cliff Mair to my favorite place at the end of Blackrock Trail on Big Talbot Island. Problem was that record cold temperatures were predicted, and I am not fond of freezing my butt off at sunrise. However, a low tide at sunrise was too much to pass up so we headed out. Please remember that I lured Cliff here to Florida because of our warm winters and great clouds. The day he arrived a cold front blew in and took all the clouds away. 4 days of record cold, freezing nights, and cloudless skies. For an outdoor landscape photographer this is not fun.

After about an hour after sunrise Cliff was ready to go. I was too. It's tough to find compositions when the light isn't cooperating. Not that I didn't try. I was looking for shadows, patterns, and details, but the light was just too strong. We decided to head up to New Berlin Road to shoot the cooling towers at the JEA power plant. I've been out there before but usually on weekends. Today the security guard decided to show up. He was not happy with us pointing our long lenses on tripods at the towers. We were going for some long exposures to capture the smoke trails using a Vari-ND filter from Singh-Ray. Great technique if you can get a 10-15 second exposure. The guard asked for ID, and now I'm in the database as a suspect. If anything happens to those towers I guess I can expect a call.

Washington Oaks State Park

Washington Oaks State Park has an interesting outcropping of coquina rock along the shore which is exposed at low tide. This is one of the few places where Florida can claim a rocky coastline. I took Cliff out mid-afternoon just for some sightseeing. Another cloudless day and very cold. So what do you do when conditions aren't ideal? You can leave your camera at home. Or you can just fool around with no expectations. I decided to try out my variable neutral density filter on the waves. I'm really fond of the effect. Usually what gets created is just a mush of softness, nice but not what I would call anything significant. Which goes to say you can't just point your camera and shoot. But it's worthwhile to practice your technique, see what exposures work and what wave patterns work for you.

First shoot of 2010 - downtown Jacksonville

2010 has come quickly along with some frigid weather. As I am typically looking for excuses not to get out the door, the cold weather was not helping. On Sunday my good friend from Scotland, Clifton Mair arrived and he was excited to head downtown for some urban landscapes. I met Cliff last year at John Paul Caponigro's Next Step Workshop. I would give you a link to Cliff's exceptional work but he does not have a site...yet (did you read this Cliff?). We headed downtown to the Southbank Riverwalk and the river was calm. As the sun set we headed back across the Main Street Bridge. I was struggling with my tripod on the bridge and didn't realize that at 5:30 there is a continuous stream of traffic crossing the span vibrating everything. I saw Cliff handholding and wondered what he was doing. I should have taken his lead and tried some long exposures with the lights. Next time. That's why it is always a benefit to get out with a friend so that you can share techniques and ideas. We tend to work alone on personal stuff and that keeps you doing the same things over and over. Resolutions: hang out with your friends, learn from others, try something new.

Help-portrait, giving not taking pictures

Yesterday Dorian and I took part in a global project called Help-Portrait. We made our small contribution to the work of over 3000 other photographers providing portraits to those in need. It was a humbling and joyful experience. This story was covered on CBS Nightly News and CNN.

Special thanks to Mark Landschoot, Executive Director, Family Promise of Jacksonville for all he has done to make Jacksonville a better place for all to live: http://www.familypromisejax.org/

For more about the project Help Portrait, please visit http://help-portrait.com

Thank you Christine, Bruce, Rachel, Michael, Daronya, Samera, Brandon, Darius, Booker, James, Mike, Amanda, Michael, Michael’s Grandma, Mike, Rebecca, Mathew, Lea, Hannah, Stacey, Saul, Sasha, Trinity, Makenna, for sharing your smiles with us yesterday. It was a great pleasure meeting all of you and we wish you peace and happiness throughout the holiday and beyond. Your courage and spirit is inspiring to all.

Looking up at live oaks

Another "no fog" day out here on Hecksher Drive. I think someone needs to send our local weatherman back to school. He went on for 3 minutes about being socked in with dense fog and having to wait until mid-morning before it will clear. This morning there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Go figure. I made the best of the morning and headed back to Ft. George Island to walk one of the trails near the Kingsley Plantation. Since it was still early morning the sun wasn't bad for some tree canopy shooting. This is where you shoot straight up from the trail, using an "L" finder to save your neck. The last time I tried this it was drizzling and I didn't realize water droplets were covering my lens. Usually you can silhouette the branches and try to catch some color in the leaves. I was also trying to capture the Spanish moss hanging from the branches.

I find it fascinating to view tress like this. Maybe it's because we are not used to this angle, and everything looks different. Notice how each branch of leaves seems to give each other "space", and how the branches keep subdividing. The clear sky takes out all the distracting background.

Live oaks are one of the most charismatic trees around. I find the gestures of the trunks and branches to be very human-like, and the visual complexity of their forms are mind boggling. One of my favorite subjects for sure.

Blue Ridge Parkway road trip

We just returned from a quick get away to one of my favorite places in the southeast, Asheville NC. There is something about this area that always makes you glad that you visited. Certainly the good rates at the Best Western didn't hurt! We made the drive up in a day and stayed in Asheville 4 nights, then one night in Cherokee and the last in Pigeon Forge. Checking the weather forecasts, we knew that the weather would be fantastic for "normal" people - clear sunny skies, no clouds, with temps in the 60s and 70s. The previous week had rain and clouds which was just passing through. As we stopped at the NC state line we witnessed the best light of the whole trip as the setting sun broke through the dark clouds and lit up the trees. It was unbelievable! That was the last we were to see of anything close to a cloud the whole week.  

Day 2 we were up early and drove north on the Blue Ridge Parkway from the Tunnel Road entrance east of Asheville. The hotel is situated right on Tunnel Road which made everything super convenient. There was still some early morning fog and low clouds due to the moisture in the ground from the rain. This was the last fog we saw. The Parkway is great for stopping as there are numerous overview points and small pullouts along the way. Having no traffic to speak of also helped. It was clear that most of the leaves were gone. The Parkway runs along the ridge of the mountains (hence Blue Ridge) at the highest elevations. The foliage had peaked about two weeks ago, but there were still pockets of color, and also color in the valleys. As the sun rose rapidly in the blue clear sky, it blasted the landscape which made for tough shooting. It was definitely a challenge to find places on the hillsides or in the shadows to shoot. We stopped at the Craggy Gardens Visitor Center near milepost 370. I purchased a replacement National Parks Passport that I recently lost on my last trip to Acadia (that's another sad story that I'll tell another time). We made our way to Mount Mitchell State Park, which is the highest point east of the Mississippi (Clingman's Dome in the Smokies being the second highest). In some seasons the road up to the peak is shrouded in fog, but it was clear today. At the top the view is magnificent, but the light was awful. So enjoy the view and quit complaining!

A nice picnic lunch and we were on our way back, stopping at each overlook and saying over and over again, "this must have been beautiful when the leaves were peaking." I mean we kept saying it again and again. It was bare trees and brown leaves for most of the trip back. At one overlook a cyclist told us to take a short hike on a train called Rattlesnake Lodge. He mentioned that there may still be some color on the tress there. Hmmm. So we found the trailhead and started the "easy" hike. Carrying what felt like 30 lbs of gear and the tripod was just not what I was looking for. The trail was ok but fairly steep, and the fallen leaves covered all of the roots, rocks, and nice obstacles to trip you up. We found the foundations of an old lodge and just a bit of color after about a half mile in. Was it worth it? My knees said NO. Onwards to a few more overlooks and this fortunate after sunset shot at the Cowee Mountain overlook...classic Blue Ridge.

Day 3 we wanted to head south east towards  Mt. Pisgah but found that the Parkway was closed due to the chance of a rockslide. They had already closed I-40 at the NC border with TN due to all the rain they were getting. The detour took us south, then west, then up the famous SR 276 though the Pisgah National Forest near Looking Glass Falls and Sliding Rock. I think everyone who has visited up here goes to these sights, I know we took our kids here 15 years ago. The drive through Pisgah was very nice, again little traffic and plenty of pullouts. 276 connects with the Blue Ridge near milepost 415, and then we drove west and stopped at the Graveyard Fields for a hike. Of course our 1 mile loop around the creek turned into a 3.5 mile climb up to the ridge and back. Holy crap I am out of shape! Having your heart beat at 170 bpm is not conducive to contemplative photography. We finally made our way back to the car and a bite to eat. It was clear that we would be getting back after dark. The drive back through Pisgah was great and the light became manageable once it set behind the mountains.

 Day 4 was shopping for Dorian and a return to Pisgah for me. I was hoping to catch some early morning fog in the valley but no luck for me. At 27 degrees and no humidity, the fog was staying away. I did catch some excellent light and some clouds made a brief appearance until 9:30 when the sun returned in full force. I decided to just drive around and scout out some different locations for a return trip. From 276 I proceeded to the State Fish Hatchery and a gravel road, 475B which ran up the mountain looping back to 276. It was primarily a one lane deal, very steep but manageable. I ran into a few rock climbers who had set up a campsite. A more "intimate" view of the forest is experienced from this road as I was right on the edge of the mountain closed in by the trees. It was a great new perspective. I joined back with 276 and then at the Pink Beds picnic area made a right onto another gravel road, 1206 which I followed for about 11 miles.

 

I made it back to civilization and pavement. My "off-road" experience was great but I was somewhat disappointed that I did not have the chance to use the 4 wheel drive...maybe just as well. That night Dorian and I attended a showing of artist's handmade books at Bookworks in downtown Asheville. Saw some amazing stuff.

Day 5 was a sleep-in day, packing and moving on the Cherokee NC at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We first returned to downtown Asheville where we visited several studios in the River Arts District. I'll have another post on that experience. One more drive up 276 onto the Blue Ridge Parkway and then towards Cherokee. We pulled off at several overlooks but the light was dismal, bright sun and haze, so we pushed on. For some reason we didn't realize how far we still had to go until after sunset when we saw the sign: Cherokee 36 miles. Now that doesn't seem like a long way but driving in the mountains in the dark on a twisty road it can be a challenge. Dorian got us through and we settled into our Best Western. Even had dinner at the local Asian buffet.

Day 6 started with bright sun and I had a feeling it was just not going to be a good day for photography. We stopped at the Oconoluftee Visitor Center just to see what was going on. I asked the ranger if there were any areas in the park that may be foggy in the morning. He gave me this funny look and said I was the only one who asked for fog. I told him I was a photographer and I'm weird. It was obvious from the parking lot that driving in in the Smokies was not going to be like driving on the Blue Ridge. The stream of cars making their way on 441 was impressive. It was like real traffic! We pulled out and got into the stream. Kinda kills the whole wilderness experience sandwiched between the minivans and SUVs. We decided to visit Clingman's Dome first and then head over to Cade's Cove. The road up to Clingman's was not as busy. From the size of the massive parking lot it was clear that A LOT of people visit this site. The best place for a panoramic shot is at the east end of the lot (where you enter). There are no trees blocking your view. We arrived a bit late in the day for a decent exposure of the hills. Pre-sunrise is the time to be here. Not this time for me.

Next stop was the Sugarlands Visitor Center where we watched the movie and enjoyed the nature museum. The place was packed. I thought kids were still in school! From here we proceeded to Cade's Cove. The traffic here picked up again. It seems that the cars bunch up behind a slower camper, so there were groups of 20 cars, then a gap, then another group. We pulled out several times for photos. Nothing like shooting on the side of the road with your face in the camera and your butt sticking out as groups of 20 cars race by you. Not good. I question just how much can you experience in the park riding in a car? The pullouts were empty, everyone was going somewhere. Well that somewhere was Cade's Cove. This is an 11 mile one way loop that goes through an old settlement and working farm. Very quaint and picturesque, if you can take out the continuous line of cars bumper to bumper for 11 miles! This was like being in Disney.

On the way back we stopped at a stream just to recollect ourslves. It was nice. To complete our experience for the day we drove to Pigeon Forge to find our Best Western. Those of you who have been to Gatlinburg know what I'm talking about. This is the ultimate in tackiness and commercial visual pollution. It's classic Americana, and probably worth some time photographing one day. How can a place so beautiful be adjacent to a place so vulgar? Only in America!

Day 7 and it's time to head home. Back through the park or try to catch I-40? We opted for I-40 even though we knew there may be a detour. Little did we know that the detour would take us 70 miles on a backroad! Lost 2 hours on that detour, but we made it to the interstate and back to Jacksonville safely. Now to go through my 1300 images to find some keepers.

Blue Ridge road trip gallery can be found here.

Big Talbot Island repeat

This is my 14th session for shooting on my Jacksonville project, and I headed back out to Big Talbot Island, one of my favorite spots on an overcast day, hoping to catch some interesting views and details off of Black Rock Trail. The trailhead creeps up on you quickly after you pass Simpson's Creek on Hecksher Drive. It's a 1/2 mile easy hike in. It's October 28 and the temperature was 87 degrees with a massive dose of humidity and gnats flying everywhere. I arrived about 2 hours after low tide at around 11:oo am.

 

It's hard to get situated and in the flow when amongst a bunch of giant trees lying dead on the shore. I was overwhelmed. Sometimes it's best to just sit down and take the site in. As I stood and stared, an armadillo walked out of the woods and down the trail. Funny how things start to happen if you just stay still for a while. There is a ladder leading down to the shore (thank you whoever build this!) and I started walking south. I believe the "black rock" is actually exposed limestone and coquina, which makes for an interesting shoreline. The sun was poking in and out of the clouds, and there were darker stormy clouds to the north.

As it approached 4:00 a fisherman was making his way back and asked if I was familiar with the area. "Oh sure, I've been here many times...why do you ask?" "Well, you know as the tide comes in, the point over there floods early and you cannot walk around to get back to the trail," he casually replied. Note: there is a 12-20 ft bluff running along the shore in this area. "And you know the tide is coming in fast so I'm heading out." "Great idea, and thanks for letting me know!" Now that little piece of information saved me a whole lot of aggravation. Walking on the jagged limestone was tricky enough when you can see where you are going. Not a good idea especially when you are carrying a whole bunch of camera gear, tripod, etc. So what would have happened if that fisherman didn't stop or wasn't there? Gulp.

More Big Talbot images from this day can be found here.

Power plants and wetlands

It's interesting to me to see the coexistence of power plants and industrial facilities in natural places. The contrast of function and the effect that each has on the senses is both similar and dissimilar. Many industrial facilities end up being constructed in remote areas. In most cases the structures are large and the impact on the environment both physically and visually is significant. As I was driving out to the Pumpkin Hill Creek Preserve, I passed our JEA coal plant and the cooling towers. These kinds of structures always strike me emotionally, in a way similar to a giant sequoia or redwood. To see a towering structure of such size and presence is ominous. You can feel the energy contained within. I know I will be returning to these structures for further study. Access is somewhat limited but there is a road that allows you to drive by fairly closely. Avoiding the dumptrucks and other large vehicles is a bit of a challenge...just keep your eyes open.

 

Pumpkin Hill Creek Preserve is a state park which I had never visited before. When I arrived there was one person setting up his kayak. After about 15 minutes of quiet, another group arrived with their coolers, lawn chairs, fishing poles and crab traps. They were wondering what I was doing. I guess everyone has a right to enjoy the park. It was time for me to find another spot.