The Maine Thing – Day 6

Day 6 in Maine was fairly overcast, perfect for hiking in wooded areas. The image below was made on a trail starting at Jordan Pond. The trails are mostly for hiking, but also horse-riding and offer wonderful views of rather pristine woodland. What really amazed me was how interwoven  the Plant-life is with the geology. Trees were growing out of stone and even in the nooks of other trees! For example, I saw several fir trees growing out of  bifurcations in birch trees.

For this hike I selected to use a light weight Micro-Four-thirds system again. In this case it was the Panasonic GH2 with an Olympus 9-18mm lens (equivalent to an 18-36mm in 35mm format). Compositionally, I am using the trees to frame the distant view. From a color standpoint, this is a monochromatic piece, so I am emphasizing the different tonalities of green (as I would with grays were this a black-and-white image).

View from trail near Jordan Pond

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The Maine Thing – Day 4

Day 4 in Maine was a washout, I mean it poured! Perfect for some outdoor photography with saturated colors! I had my sights on Sieur de Monts Nature Center to work the birch woods. For this kind of really wet conditions, I rely on my Olympus E-5 DSLR and Olympus SW 50-200mm lens which are both weather proof. Even in Gore-Tex though, I felt wet from this rain, and water finds ways to get inside your jacket and shoes.

The wet leaves and boardwalk added color and reflection to the image and pretty much guaranteed I would be alone. It was really quite fun to work in conditions about as wet as I’ve ever experienced.

 

Boardwalk in Birch Forest

 

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Spring Fine Arts and Crafts Show – March 26-27

This Saturday and Sunday I will be selling my work at the Reading-Berks Chapter of the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen spring show. With a combination of fine art and the finest crafts, this will be the place to be on what looks like it will be a cold weekend. What’s really cool about this show is that you can spend the whole day shopping, eating and listening to some top notch local musicians.

For more information check out this website for the Spring Show .

I will have a new print of the image “Spring Embrace” shown below at the show.

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Back in the Field

It had been 8 weeks since I have been able to get out of the studio and work in the field. Friday I decided that I just had to go to a local park and do some work. Yesterday (Saturday) was a dreary, rainy day, the kind of day where either nothing happens or I feel inspired. It didn’t matter though because I just felt good being out.

When the rain was too heavy in which to work, I ducked into a bird blind and worked the low light at ISO 1600 on my Canon EOS 1D Mark III. It’s those kind of conditions that I bought this camera for in the first place and I feel the image quality is quite good even that high up on the ISO scale.

I spent about 6 hours working favorite spots, studying the light and foliage, and getting a sense for where the birds were. A Cooper’s Hawk harassed birds in several spots, humming birds sped around (and occasionally sat under cover during some heavier rains), and a variety of usual residents (birds that is) partook of the various summer berries.

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