Great Falls

I’m digging into the archives for this post. Usually I like the blog to reflect my current efforts, but I have been too busy to get out and shoot lately. The shot above was taken at Great Falls 2 summers ago. While Great Falls has some nice and safe observation decks, to get the really good shots you need to get close to the water. This is not without risk. I try to be careful, balancing my desire to keep my camera and my body out of the water. Make no mistake, falling into the water at Great Falls could very likely be fatal and I know of a pro photographer that lost a Nikon D300 and tripod to this river.

Considering the danger, it is amazing how many people push their luck. The evening that I took the shot there were 3 young men who were standing on the rocks to the left of the waterfall, perhaps 3 feet from the edge, just to have their picture taken. While you can’t tell from this shot, getting to that spot is fairly difficult. If you decide to go to Great Falls, be sure to bring along a little caution and common sense to temper the fun you will have shooting in this unique location.

Another Quick Trip

The original plan was to shoot sunset at Great Falls this past Friday evening. By the time we got ready to head out, the skies had darkened and rain started to fall. A quick check of some satellite imagery showed little chance of a break in the clouds before sunset, so we switched to plan B, get up early and head to Great Falls for sunrise. Upon arrival the clouds were looking promising, but the spectacular sunrise never materialized, as it often does not. There was a brief moment captured in the shot above, but otherwise the light was unremarkable.

It was still good to get out…

Blue Bells

The truth be told, I’m really too busy to grab my camera and go shooting. After putting in an 8 hour day on Saturday doing some home remodeling, I got up on Sunday at 5:00 to meet up with friends Bill Gercken and Karen Rexrode from Manassas Warrenton Camera Club for a Blue Bell shoot. This time of year the bank of Bull Run Creek is covered with Blue Bells. I shot for about an hour and a half then packed it in and headed

back home to resume work on my project.

The Blog picture was shot with the Lensbaby Composer and the Soft Focus Optic. It is quickly becoming one of my favorite lenses for doing close ups of flowers. I also used my Nikon R1C1 handheld to provide a little side light.

Spring Arrives

Last Saturday Greg Daily and I took a quick trip to Arlington Cemetery. I’m almost too busy with other projects to get out and shoot spring flowers this year. Also, my main Gitzo tripod had to be returned to Bogen Imaging for the 3rd time in 3 years to have one of the legs re-glued to the base. The last time it was repaired, they handled it on a professional rush basis and I had it back in a little over a week. We are going on 3 weeks this time and I’m having trouble getting a completion date. I not trying to complain, but my backup tripod will not get closer than 15 inches or so from the ground and that puts me at a disadvantage when trying to shoot flowers.


Back to Arlington Cemetery. This town is full of monuments and memorials but I find Arlington to be the most compelling. The light and the texture of the sky was a bit disappointing, but I can usually find something to shoot.