Sunrise in Florida

For many years I've gone to Florida in the late winter for recreation--OK, the 24 hour auto race at Daytona International Speedway.  But that never dampened my enthusiasm for snagging a few photographs of the surrounding area while I was there.  Here's a favorite, of the pre-dawn coloring the sky through dense clouds over the beach at Daytona.  I think it has a lot of drama to it.

I've got more photos in my web store that would make nice gifts this Christmas.

Sand in My Toes

I must confess that there's something about being at the beach that's especially inviting in the summertime.  This photo, taken just before dawn in Delaware on the Atlantic coast of the U.S., shows the peacefulness of the hours before sun worshipers begin to arrive for the day.  It's the time of day I love the best.

Delaware beach in the pre-dawn

What about you?  Do you love the seashore?  If so, what do you love about it the most?

You can see more of my photos at my web site.

Another Lighthouse

I don't get to locations that have lighthouses very often, but when I do, I always try to make a photograph or two.  Here's another, the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse on the rocky coast of Maine.

Bass Harbor Head Light

I'll share more photos of lighthouses in the future.  And for more photos, visit my web site.

Portland Head Light

Lighthouses are a favorite subject for many photographers, and I am no exception.  This one--taken in the dwindling light after sunset--is of Portland Head Light, outside of Portland, Maine. 

I was fortunate to capture not only the color of the dying day but also a bright moon centered over the lighthouse. 

Here's another view of the same lighthouse, this time taken from the opposite direction and during daylight hours.

I especially like the curving shoreline as it leads the eye into the central focus of the picture, the lighthouse itself.

To see other photos of mine--and perhaps to purchase copies that are ready for framing--visit my website.

Is There Only Darkness, or Will Light Prevail?

In the wake of the tragic Paris massacre, this photograph seems to sum up my feelings, and perhaps those of many others.  Its dramatic contrast of darkness penetrated by sunshine suggests that although the times are dark, perhaps oppressively so, light is struggling to shine through. 

We cannot now know the outcome of the struggle.  We can only have hope that brighter days lie ahead.  Until then, courage--and compassion for those who are most affected--must prevail.

Sunrise at the Seashore

They say that when composing a photograph you should never put the subject in the center of the photo.  Instead, it should be positioned to one side, with lines leading into it.  Ideally, it is said, the principal object should be at the one-third point, which conforms closely to the Greek principle of the Golden Ratio.  But many photographers argue that this is a rule that is meant to be broken, especially when the subject matter is strong enough to carry the viewer's interest.

Here's a photo with the center of interest--the sun--pretty close to the middle of the photo.  It does have leading lines in from the sides with the silhouettes of the sand dune and the fence.  So does it work?  See what you think.

Sunrise on the Delaware Seashore

Some of my other photos can be seen at www.positives.biz.

Making My Book Cover

As I mentioned, I am in the final stages of publishing a book on the use of handplanes in woodworking.  Titled Choosing and Using Handplanes, it describes handplanes of many types and helps the newer handplane user to set up, sharpen and use a handplane.  It will be for sale on Amazon.com in a paperback edition later in November and in a Kindle version soon after that.

Yesterday I built the cover for the book.  That in itself was an interesting photographic project.  I began by making the pile of shavings that form the background photo.  Because this is a close-up photo, I needed good depth of focus in the photo.  I used the photo stacking technique in which I took nine photos, each focused successively deeper into the field of view.  Then I stacked these photos using the Helicon Focus software.  This produced a single file that combined the best focus from the nine original shots.  I then took that photo into Photoshop and did a little light editing.  That photo became the background layer for my composite image.  To that I added the photo of the handplane on the walnut board, the titles and the box for the back cover.  I will flatten this image and save it as a high resolution pdf file for publication by Amazon's CreateSpace publishing-on-demand system.

This project took me several hours of experimentation and adjustments to the colors of the titles and the sizes of the various elements.  I went through at least a dozen different versions before I arrived at this nearly final copy.  I'm glad to have this part of the process behind me.  What remains is to finish the final text edit and then to produce the final copy for publication.  I may be able to finish it yet this week.

A Pile of Shavings

Not all my photography is related to nature or beautiful things.  As the photo of a pile of handplane shavings shows, sometimes I take pictures for other reasons.  In this case, it's for the cover of my forthcoming book called Choosing and Using Handplanes.  You see, in part of my life I'm a writer and woodworker and I use my photography in support of those activities.

It's not very exciting, I know, but I'll use this as the background for a wrap-around cover for the book, which I expect will be published on Amazon.com by the end of November. 

Old Time Steam Engine

I made this photograph in Hill City, South Dakota, in the heart of the famous Black Hills and only a few miles from Sturges, where the annual Harley Davidson rally is held.  The locomotive, no. 104, is one of the workhorses on the Black Hills Central Railroad, which carries daily loads of tourists along a 20-mile round trip from Hill City to Keystone.

To give the photo an old-time look, which seemed to fit the subject nicely, I sepia toned the original color image using OnOne software.  I'm pleased with the outcome and hope you like it too.  This and other train photos are available for purchase on my web site.

Durango & Silverton No. 482

Awhile back, I took the day-long ride from Durango to Silverton, Colorado, tracing the rocky cliffs high above the Animas River.  It was an exciting ride, not the less for the sounds and smells of the steam locomotive chugging its way up the steep grades.  The following photo is one of my treasures from that journey.  It's available as a print for hanging from my web site.

Grand Canyon Once Again

When I was at the Grand Canyon recently, I made a number of photos.  Here's another, which you can also see on my web site.  Like the previous Grand Canyon posting, this one was made on a "bad weather" day, which turned out to be wonderful for the drama it gave to the resulting image.  I hope you like it.

A Winding Stream

I was recently fortunate to travel throughout the American west.  Part of my trip took me to the state of Utah, which is filled with fabulous scenery protected in a number of national parks.  One that I passed through--but where I did not spend enough time--was Capitol Reef National Park.  However, I did see this winding stream passing through the countryside and thought it worthy of a photograph.  See if you agree.  This photo, along with a number of others, is available for sale in my web store.

Grand Canyon Sweet

To make a small pun on Ferde Grofé 's Grand Canyon Suite, I thought this view from the south rim of the Grand Canyon made a sweet image. It was taken on a heavily overcast day, lousy weather, really, and I thought the photos I made that day would be as lousy as the weather.  But despite the cold, windy and rain-threatening weather (it actually hailed later on!), with some judicious post-processing some real drama emerged from the scene.

I used Nik software to edit the photo, along with basic adjustment's in Adobe Lightroom.  I hope you like the result as much as I do.  Like many of my photos, this print is available for purchase on my web site.  It would make a nice gift for anyone who likes beautiful landscapes.

A Walk in Nature

As I was walking (with camera and tripod, of course) down a lonely dirt road near Moosehead Lake, Maine, I spotted this grouping of ferns.  What caught my eye was the yellow fern at the center of the grouping, which created a good point of interest for a photo.  I don't recall the details of this particular shot, but I'm pleased with the richness of the colors in the final print.  Like many of my other photos, this one is available for framing from my web store.

Like many of you, I love to make discoveries such as this while I'm out walking and for that reason, I always have a camera with me.  Who knows what exciting image you'll find?

An Experiment with Infrared Photography

I've recently gotten interested in infrared photography and purchased a used Nikon D300 that had been converted to infrared.  For those who may not know, infrared cameras record the low wavelength light, rather than the mid-range waves we see with our eyes.  As a result, colors come out looking different when photographed using infrared technology.  The effects can be interesting.  While I've only just begun to explore this subject, I've created a few photos that I like. 

These three photos are from the first set I created.  All were taken in the horse country region of Fauquier County, Virginia.  I am offering them for sale on my web site.

Moon Shot

On a recent trip to Moosehead Lake, near Greenville, Maine, I was able to make the following shot during the early morning hours.  The sun was not yet up, the water was still, and the moon was high over Burnt Jacket Mountain as it prepared to set.  The photo illustrates the peacefulness of the morning as the sky above the mountain began to gain color.

The first photo in the Moosehead Lake Collection

I decided to publish a collection of these photos from Moosehead Lake and make them available for sale on the web.  This is the first of those photos.  They'll be available as 8 1/2 X 11 inch prints on archival quality paper, ready to frame and hang.  The whole collection can be seen on my website, http://www.positives.biz.

To these first photos, I will be adding other collections as time permits:

• Landscapes
• Rural scenes
• Wildlife
• Infrared photos
• Art prints

If you find these images as interesting and beautiful as I do, I hope you'll let me know.  Leave a comment here, or write me at cobblermtnpress@gmail.com.

Norm

My Conditions for Creativity

I’ve been an active and semi-professional photographer for several decades now.  But despite all that experience, I still struggle—as I’m sure most photographers do—with being creative and making images that are fresh and that reflect my own vision.  Recently, I read a book—The Photographer’s Coach (Kindle)—by Robin Whalley that outlines a series of exercises to help define the sources of one’s inspiration and vision.

An early exercise helped me identify times when I was most creative photographically, as well as those times when I’ve struggled to find my creative vision.  This resulted in a list of conditions when I’m most likely to be creative.

I’m more creative when I have a defined and adequate amount of time to devote to my photography.  I do poorly when I’m feeling rushed.  I need the time to see a particular scene from a variety of perspectives, perhaps using different lenses, because I find that although I may know at once when a scene attracts me, it may take a while to identify the exact perspective that best expresses what I saw in the scene in the first place.

I do best when my photographic goals are clear.  When my thinking is muddled, when I don’t have a firm concept of what I want to achieve, my confusion will be reflected in my images.  If I find myself straining to make good images, I rarely succeed.

I work best when I’m alone.  I find that when I’m with others, I’m overly conscious that they don’t share my photographic agenda and I tend to hold back from expressing myself creatively.  In those situations, I’m apt to produce snapshots, not creative photos.

It’s also important that I feel confident that what I’m doing is meaningful and appropriate.  When I feel out of place, when my self-assurance is lacking, I shrink from making good photos.  In those times, I tend to rush my work and do poorly. 

These conditions are mutually supportive.  In the end, having clear goals strengthens my assurance that I ought to be doing what I am in that moment.  This is easiest when I’ve allotted adequate time—be it an hour or a week—for the project at hand and have freed myself from distractions, either mental or interpersonal.

With greater clarity about the conditions under which I do my most creative work, I’m better prepared to create those conditions for myself when I go out shooting.  I’m eager to get out and put these ideas to the test.  If only I weren’t snowed in!