During our summer road trip, we spent a day at the tip of the Keewenaw Peninsula, in Copper Harbor. One notable site in Copper Harbor is historic Fort Wilkins. I’ve visited a few forts in my travels from Fort Michilmackinac in Mackinac City and Fort Zachary Taylor in Key West to Castillo de San Marcus in St. Augustine and there was something about For Wilkins that felt different. There are no stone barricades meant to keep enemies from invading. The buildings of Fort Wilkins look like small houses. This is because this fort was not built for war, but instead to assist the law enforcement in the Keewenaw. When copper was discovered in the upper peninsula, it was anticipated to bring lawlessness and chaos like the gold rush in California, but the miners that came were well behaved. When The Mexican American War broke out, the soldiers moved down to Texas and the fort was abandoned. After the Civil War, it was reoccupied to serve as a place for soldiers to serve out the rest of their enlistment. In 1923, the fort and nearby lighthouse became a Michigan State Park.
About the Photo:
With this photo, I was trying to go for an old-timey postcard feel. This is a single RAW exposure, edited in Lightroom. I tried a bunch of different presets and none of them really did was I was trying to do, so I converted it to black and white and then did color and contrast adjustments until I got the photo you see above.
Camera Gear:
Nikon D3100 with 18-55mm kit lens, handheld
Date Taken:
June 28, 2016
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I’m back on the blog!
In most of my previous posts, I would write a bit about the photo- where I took it, or how I took it or processed it. I would then follow with the technical details of the shot.
I’m going to change this format up and now simply talk about the photo- why I took it, or why I like it, or what it is supposed to say. I will bring up technical details if they are relevant, but I’ve spent the past few months trying to think less technically and more artistically, so my posts will reflect that.
The image above was taken at a park in Lexington, Kentucky called McConnell Springs. It’s in kind of an industrial area but once you walk back into the park you wouldn’t know it. This is the start of the Town Branch, a small river that runs through Lexington. It actually goes underground a few times between here and the main part of the river.
I really like the shape of this image. If you look from bottom to top, you see a series of ascending triangles, or maybe chevrons (^) going up to the top. The light lifts your eyes down the creek and up to the sky. The shapes in the creek help with this as well. You can also see one V shape from the top corners coming down to about the middle of the frame. This causes an X shape in light that draws your eyes to the middle of the frame. Finally, we have this filtering of red light on the left side of the frame that hits green in the middle and right of the frame. Red and green are a highly satisfying combination of colors.
I hope you’ll continue to join me on Fridays as I share my art with you. Also, please comment on this post or on social media so that we can discuss this and other works together.
How to see my work:
I am focusing on Instagram right now, you can see my work here, and please follow me!
Its that time of year, Christmas music is playing on the radio, the temperature is dropping, and snow is beginning to fall. This past weekend, we got our first big snow of the year in Michigan. I love photographing the freshly fallen snow, when it sticks to the trees and transforms the whole landscape into a world of white.
About the Photo:
One of the toughest things about photographing the snow is how cold it can get. Cold air is not good for cameras (or any electronics, really), so I had to make this shoot quick. The camera doesn’t understand all the white in snowscapes, so that can make photographing snow scenes tricky. It is important to shoot in RAW so you can make nondestructive edits in Lightroom.
Camera Gear:
Nikon D3100 with 19-55mm kit lens, handheld
Date Taken:
November 21, 2015
Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page.
During my summer road trip series, I shared about our day of chasing waterfalls between Munising and Sault Ste. Marie. What I don’t think I mentioned was how, when we got to Tahquamenon Falls, clouds had rolled in. We climbed all the steps to the Upper Falls and it began to sprinkle. People started heading out in droves. We headed to the Lower Falls and that is when the clouds opened up. We’re not the type to be afraid of a little rain, but I was getting concerned about our gear, so we headed into the gift shop and hoped it would pass soon. Cell signal is not great up there, so I wasn’t able to view the radar. After hiding out for about 15 minutes it seemed to let off a little, so we staked out a spot by the falls and as quickly as we could, got a couple of shots then ran to the car to dry off.
About the Photo:
To be honest, this was such a quick, don’t let the rain ruin my gear, kind of shot that I didn’t put much thought to the settings. Because of the rain, the colors were very muted and not very interesting, so I converted it to black and white in Lightroom.
Camera Gear:
Nikon D3100 with 55-200 kit lens, leaned on the railing
Date Taken
June 30, 2016
Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page. To plan your visit to Tahquamenon Falls (hopefully without the downpour), visit the Michigan DNR.
I don’t know about you, but this time of year, I always lose motivation. The trees are bare and the temperatures are cold. I’ve been making a point to take my camera with me when I go out and I don’t even pick it up. I have been using this lack of inspiration as an excuse to organize my lightroom catalog. I’ve been going through my old photos and making sure everything has a star rating and proper keywords. One good thing about doing this is I stumbled upon some good shots I didn’t know I had. This shot of a tiger is one of those I discovered. How have I not posted this before? Hopefully, soon I will be snapping pics of the Christmas tree and holiday festivities, but for now, rediscovered old photos is keeping me occupied.
About the Photo:
As this shot was from 2 summers ago, I really can’t tell you much about my thought process when I took it. It was a single RAW exposure with basic edits done in Lightroom.
Camera Gear:
Nikon D3100 with 55-200 kit lens handheld
Date Taken:
July 22, 2015
Thanks for stopping by! If you like my photos be sure to “like” my Facebook Page, follow me on Instagram, and Flickr! To see inside my camera bag, check out my Gear Page.
