Go See Do Explore

Travel by Any Means Necessary

Author: Ashleigh Page 83 of 94

Storm Rolling In

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On April 25, 2016

In Photo Tips, Project: State Parks

Sand Dune Panorama

Over Spring Break, one of the places I wanted to visit was the Silver Lake Sand Dunes. It was supposed to start raining and turn into snow on the day we had chosen and I was skeptical about whether or not we should still go. Well, Chris talked me into and I’m glad I decided to brave it! It was a great photographer’s sky! Those rays in the sky are not Photoshopped in! That is the rain coming in off the lake! Tip for photographers: Don’t let “bad” weather stop you from exploring and shooting! Be brave! Clear sky days are the time to stay home and do housework!

About this Photo:
I knew going to the dunes that I was going to want the widest lens I have and that wasn’t even really wide enough, so I decided to go the panorama route. This was 5 shots stitched together in Lightroom. Once Lightroom did its thing, I did my basic edits and voila!

Camera Gear:
Nikon D3100 with 18.0-55.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens, handheld. Tip: If you’re planning a visit to the dunes, bring your camera bag with you. It is quite a climb up there and you don’t want to get any sand in anything!

Date Taken:
April 1, 2016

Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr!

Wordless Wednesday: Lighthouse Vista

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On April 20, 2016

In Project: State Parks, Wordless Wednesday

View from the lighthouse

Road Trippin’

By

On April 18, 2016

In Michigan, Project: State Parks, Road Trip, Travel Tips

Dunes & Clouds
Since Spring Break is over, I have been busy planning our summer road trip. I was looking for an app or website that would help me with this planning; something that could help me choose an order for stops and let me know if the distance between stops was unrealistic. Well, after a quick Google search, I found exactly what I was looking for. Furkot.com does all that and more (and no one is paying me to say this). Furkot can help you find lodging in your chosen destinations or at certain intervals throughout your trip that you can customize. It will also help you plan your meals and activities once you’ve finalized your stops. If you are planning a road trip, you’ve got to check out Furkot!

About this Photo:
This photo was taken near the Little Sable Lighthouse at Silver Lake State Park near Mears, Michigan. This shot was taken right as a snow storm was blowing in off of Lake Michigan. It was a single RAW exposure with basic edits done in Lightroom.

Camera Gear:
Nikon D3100 with 18.0-55.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 handheld

Date Taken:
April 1, 2016

Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr!

#igtravelchallenge April (Snow) Showers

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On April 15, 2016

In Michigan

April (Snow) Showers Towards the end of the #igtravelchallenge for March I was given the prompt “Its still winter here”. I was very happy to announce that it was spring in the lower peninsula. Well, just a few days after that post, I was celebrating spring break in West Michigan. One morning, towards the end of the week I woke up to this. It was beautiful so I had to go out and take some shots, but it was also freezing and I was not happy about that. Especially because The Weather Channel recently announced that March, April, and May were supposed to be unseasonably warm. Does this look unseasonably warm to you? I am happy to announce, that Mother Nature has realized her mistake and we are back to the beautiful spring weather I was expecting!

About the Photo:
This was a single RAW exposure with basic edits done in Lightroom.

Camera Gear:
Nikon D3100 with 18.0-55.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens, handheld.

Date Taken:
April 2, 2016

Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr!

Wordless Wednesday: Bobcat Behind Bars

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On April 13, 2016

In Michigan, Wordless Wednesday

Bobcat behind bars

Butterflies & Sculptures

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On April 11, 2016

In Michigan

Butterfly on Leaf

Every spring, butterflies abound at the Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids! I’ve always wanted to visit during Butterflies are Blooming! In the caterpillar room, you can see caterpillars crawling and forming their chrysalides. Then, walk into the tropical greenhouse where 50 different species of butterflies soar high and stop on the flowers for a quick drink. You could see Monarchs, Golden Birdwings, and Common Morpho who is tan on the outside and bright blue on the inside. In the gardens, the flowers weren’t yet blooming, but it was a good time to explore the sculptures without the heat and the crowds.

About the Photo:
Shooting butterflies is a great learning experience for photographers. If you want to learn to shoot in manual, small, fast moving subjects are a great way to learn! A zoom lens with fast shutter speeds and high ISO are needed to freeze the motion and capture the tiniest details. This was a single RAW exposure, with basic edits done in Lightroom. This was shot at ISO 3200, which with my entry-level DSLR is quite noisy, so I did a lot of noise reduction as well.

Camera Gear:
Nikon D3100 with 55-200mm f/4-5.6 lens handheld.

Date Taken:
March 28, 2016

Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr!

Wordless Wednesday: Bluffs in Color

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On April 6, 2016

In Michigan, Wordless Wednesday

Empire Bluffs in Color

Empire Bluffs

By

On April 4, 2016

In Hiking, Michigan, National Parks & Places

Empire Bluffs B&W

The Empire Bluffs Trail at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is considered a moderate trail and after our hike, I totally see why. The trail has several steep ups and downs that definitely got my heart pounding. We saw a couple of families hiking it and the kids had a lot of fun running up and down them! But, the view at the end made all of that worth it! It was a kind of dreary day, luckily the clouds were interesting enough, but the water was a beautiful teal-blue that I have never seen outside of the Caribbean! Don’t worry, I’ll post a color shot later!

They say cloudy days are good for photography, and overcast does lend itself to more even lighting than you would normally get going out and shooting in the early afternoon. The bad thing about a cloudy day is that dreary skies don’t usually make for good landscapes. A solution? Turn it black and white. It deemphasizes the drab sky and puts the focus on your subject matter.

About this photo:
This was a single RAW exposure with basic edits and B&W conversion done in Lightroom.

Camera Gear:
Nikon D3100 with 18.0-55.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens handheld

Date Taken:
March 30, 2016

Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! I have to give a shout-out to Instagram user @wanderingz for the inspiration to check out this trail! To plan your trip to Sleeping Bear, visit the National Park Service website!

Wordless Wednesday: Hawk

By

On March 30, 2016

In Michigan, Wordless Wednesday

Hawk

Long Walks on the Beach

By

On March 28, 2016

In Hiking, Travel

Long Walks on the beach

Recently in my Instagram Travel Challenge, I was given the prompt “Your first…”. Yes, it was a very vague prompt and I wracked my brain to think of a first ever travel memory that I have documented in pictures. I am very blessed in that I got started traveling before I was the one taking pictures so I don’t have a lot of pretty pictures of my firsts.

One of my first photo adventures was also my first backpacking trip, hiking North Carolina’s Mountains to Sea Trail. We hiked the Sea part of the trail, walking from Nags Head to Ocracoke, over 60 miles in 6 days. It was a lot of work, but a good part of the trail is undeveloped seashore with absolutely breathtaking views. I want to go back some day, but this time, bring a car.

About the Photo:
This trip was before I had my DSLR, so all of the photos were taken with a compact Samsung point & shoot. To be honest, that is kind of a blessing, because now I would want to add 20 lbs of camera gear to all the other stuff you have to carry when you go backpacking and my bag was heavy enough as it was! So, this isn’t the highest quality photo, but I love the trail of boot prints in the sand! I did basic edits to this shot using Google’s free editing software, Picassa.

Date Taken:
May 2009

Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To plan your trip to the Outer Banks, visit OuterBanks.org. For more information about the Mountains to Sea Trail, check out ncmst.org.

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