Merry Christmas

Every year the Worcester Wreath Company delivers about 10,000 wreaths to Arlington National Cemetery as part of their Wreaths Across America project.   I always try to make it a point to visit Arlington at this special time of the year.   Taking time to photograph this remarkable place is my small way of trying to honor the sacrifice of our fallen heroes. 

The Golden Triangle

This past October while shooting Elakala Falls at Blackwater Falls State Park I noticed this great reflection in the waterfall each morning. It was just this one spot that reflected the color of the leaves above. My friend Greg Daily and I spent the better part of two mornings shooting this incredible reflection. The water flow from the falls would vary slightly and the shape of the triangle would change as a result. I think I have at least 50 pictures of this one subject, but at the same time I would love to go back and shoot it again because I’m still thinking that a better shot eluded me.

Lunch Time

This past weekend Bill Gercken and I rode up to Baltimore to meet Karen Messick.  We started the day at Second Chance.  More on Second Chance in the future.   After shooting a couple of hours we headed over to Fells Point, did a little shooting, and had a great lunch in one of the local bars.  We stumbled on the lunch counter above on our way back to the car.  It is also the first picture I have processed with NIK HDR Effects. 

Snow Geese Migration

For the last 3 years I have traveled to Bombay Hook NWR with my friend Greg Daily. The shot above was from my first year and it was also the best year. For some reason there hasn’t been as many snow geese the last 2 years. We see some, but that first year was something special. This year we arrived and much to our disappointment did not see any. Sure there were other birds, but unless you borrow the zoom lens from the Hubble Space Telescope, they are just too far away to get good photos. The thing that makes snow geese special is the mass migration. With a reasonable lens you can usually get some great pictures.

This year I asked around and soon found out there were perhaps a thousand or so birds at Prime Hook NWR. So we hopped back in the vehicle and drove an hour south. We waited for 2 hours, the light was great but they were just sitting there on the water and out of reach. Finally they all took off in mass and looped around the pond and then landed. The show was over. We got a few shots, but not the show we were hoping for.

A New Favorite

Yesterday I joined a couple of friends to shoot Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond.  I had never been in downtown Richmond before and at first glance found it an interesting place to shoot.  My favorite for the day is a shot that I got on my Droid and further processed on the iPad.