Don Rosenberger Photography

Lonaconing Silk Mill

2012-01-30T17:00:00.000-05:00

At first you might think that I’m a little late to the partythat is known as the Lonaconing Silk Mill. Actually I have been shootingthis location since the spring of 2011 thanks to my friends Arthur Ransome andChuck Robinson. But I never got around to processing many of theimages much less sharing them. Here is one from my 2^nd visitearly last summer. This is an amazing location, the mill was shut down in1957 and everything inside is frozen in time. Unfortunately the mill isin pretty bad condition and its future is uncertain. Being able tophotograph a location that is untouched for over 50 years has been a realtreat.

Macro Studio

2012-01-23T17:12:00.000-05:00

While walking through the grocery store this past Saturday Inoticed some small bunches of tulips. It occurred to me that it had beena couple years since I did any “macro studio” work. This issomething I really enjoy doing but for some reason I find that I don’t do itoften. I must admit that I’m feeling a bit out of practice. Idecided to use a couple of textures on top of the original shot. It’s notthat I wanted to go “grunge” but felt the basic shot was a bit boring andordinary.

Guest Photographer

2012-01-18T17:01:00.000-05:00

Acouple months ago I was asked to be a Guest Photographer on a site calledFotopelak. Besides posting to Twitter, Facebook and my Blog, Idon’t spend any time publicizing my work. I would rather spend my time makingpictures than trying to promote my work. In spite of this, over the lastcouple years I have been approached by a number of people in regards to myphotography. With so much photography on the internet it is truly amazingthat my work occasionally stands out.

Aftergetting the request I had to decide what to share. While I considermyself a nature photographer I decided to submit a collection of old cars. Click here for a link to my gallery.

Hereis a link to FotoPelak’s home page.

Steamtown

2012-01-09T17:00:00.000-05:00

Last October I spent a couple days in the Delaware Water Gaparea of PA, but upon my arrival I discovered that peak fall foliage had alreadypassed. I decided to do a quick middle of the day trip to SteamtownNational Historic Site in Scranton, PA. While the restoration shopwas off limits, there was still a lot to shoot. If I’m ever back inthat area I will certainly head back for a 2^nd visit.

The Finale

2011-12-27T17:47:00.001-05:00

It’s time to close out another year of sharing my photography here on the blog. As I have mentioned several times this year, my work with the Nature Visions Expo had an unintended side effect. It reduced the time I had available to get out and shoot but I’m not complaining The Expo is a prestigious event and I’m honored to do my part. The fact remains that I need to find a way to better manage my time so I still have time to pursue my passion, photography.

The shot above was taken at the JW Cooper School in Shenandoah, PA. I spent the day here last August with friends Corey Hilz, Jeff Johnson, and Andy Jezioro. The owner of the building is in the process of trying to stabilize the property and make some improvements. It is very much a work in process and he was very kind in allowing us to shoot here all day. Visiting this area it is quite clear that the local economy is struggling. It turns out that at one time Mahanoy City was a boom town but that was about 100 years ago. While the coal industry is still active, I suspect that the activity is a fraction of what it once was.

Concrete City

2011-12-15T17:00:00.000-05:00

If you follow my blog or know me personally, you know that I have spent much of the past year working on the Nature Visions Photography Expo. Our Expo was held last month and I have a couple months of downtime before the planning for the 2012 Expo begins. We are also heading into the winter months. While there are still lots of photo opportunities during the winter, I also plan to use the time to work on images from the past year as well as do some training.

The shot above was taken in early summer at a place called Concrete City. Wikipedia has a nice article that talks about the place. My friend Greg Daily and I had spent the weekend in Ricketts Glen and we were having a late dinner, somehow we struck up a conversation with our waitress and starting getting some local info of places to shoot. Concrete City was one of the places she told us about and we decided to check it out on the way home.

I don’t think I would make a special trip to shoot there again, but if I was ever in that part of PA, it would be worth a 2^nd look.

High Tide

2011-12-01T17:00:00.000-05:00

Last week Imet up with friends Tony Sweet, Corey Hilz, Andrea Phox, Charles Riter andJames Indelicarto for a couple days of shooting. We had planned this gettogether several months ago, but we should have invited the weatherman. The clouds rolled in prior to our arrival and did not depart until afterwe headed for home. In the end a lot of what we planned to do gotrained out.

In the shotabove we arrived at the pier about an hour before sunrise and did a littlelight painting while we waited for daylight. The shot above is a 30second exposure and I used a 2 million candle power light to paint the remainsof the pier. Originally I thought all my shots would be converted toblack and white, but I really like the blue cast the pre-dawn light rendered onthe scene.

Late to the Party

2011-11-20T09:42:00.001-05:00

I’m falling behind with the Blog this month and I want to extend my apologies to those of you who are kind enough to follow my work. I’m one of the organizers of the Nature Visions Expo that is held annually in Manassas, VA and the Expo is keeping me very busy this past month. I did get away a few weeks ago to shoot fall color, but the leaves were a little past peak and the color was marginal. I loaded the pictures into my computer but have not had a chance to review them. Now that the Expo is over for this year I can start spending my time out in the field, but early next year the Expo planning will start up again. I’m going to have to find a way to balance my passion and my obligations.

The panorama was shot last year during my trip to West Virginia. I was truly late to the party. There were barely any leaves left on the trees. I was driving along a county road and noticed this scene and pulled over. The sun was high in the sky which is normally a deal breaker, but the trees in the foreground were creating these great lines leading up to the next group of trees.

Reflections

2011-10-27T19:14:00.000-04:00

Late February I got together with Tony Sweet and a few other friends at Eastern State Penitentiary for a day of shooting. I have shot at ESP several times and just when I was starting to think I had seen it all, the melting of the winter snow covered the floor with water, presenting me with new ways of seeing the same old thing.

Early Fall

2011-10-20T17:00:00.000-04:00

I wanted to share one more picture from my hiking trip in Shenandoah a few weeks ago. While Shenandoah is famous for the sweeping vistas along Skyline Drive, I have always found the park to be much more inviting in the fog.

First Snow

2011-10-12T17:00:00.000-04:00

Each year around the end of September I start watching fall foliage reports. I suspect that most landscape photographers do the same. I usually plan to start my fall photography in the Canaan Valley area around the end of the first week in October. When I checked the West Virginia Foliage Report, I noticed that area of the state was peaking on October 1st, literally 2 days later. I canceled my plans to participate in a Photowalk here in town and quickly changed my hotel reservations. The weather forecast for the weekend was snow, rain, and some fog as a bonus!

The first stop upon arrival and lunch at a favorite location was Dolly Sods. Near the top of the mountain the rain turned to snow and what a treat. In the wooded setting above this was a beautiful sight! At Bear Rocks on the other hand the snow was blowing at about 30mph. Combine that with the Gray Sky of Death and Bear Rocks was not the most photogenic place.

The conditions in Canaan Valley were peak color but certainly not the best color. I’m hoping other areas will have stronger color this year.

Ghost Town Ahead

2011-10-04T17:12:00.000-04:00

I’m finally getting around to posting a picture from last year, one of my early efforts using textures. This is a small ghost town located in the New River Gorge area of West Virginia. It was a cool location and I hope to return one day.

Early Fall

2011-09-29T17:08:00.000-04:00

As I start to write this blog I’m struggling a bit with the title. This is a picture that took a little bit of effort to obtain. But first I digress. This past weekend I had marked my calendar to shoot star trails. But as the weekend approached the possibility of having clear skies seemed doubtful. So after canceling the planned trip to shoot star trails, I noticed that the weather forecast called for fog in the Shenandoah area. Time to switch to plan B. I decided to get up early to be in the Shenandoah for first light and hopefully lots of fog. The fog was everywhere but so was the rain. I had decided to hike into the upper falls of White Oak Canyon. I typically like to start my hikes going up rather than down. That helps prevent biting off more elevation than I’m able to handle. We parked at Skyline Drive and started hiking down in the rain and fog. By we, I mean Duke and me. Duke is my Labrador Retriever. Originally I was going to leave him at home this time, but at the last minute he was giving me a really sad look and I gave in. I’m glad I had him since I only saw a total of 3 people on the trails, but the downside is I came home with a wet and muddy dog and had to give him a bath.

I really did not take that many pictures, but I’m really pleased with the few that I have. I’m also happy that my pack and clothes are waterproof because it sure was a wet day. With regard to the elevation, I made it back up the mountain just fine but I’m also glad the hike was not any longer or steeper. Driving and hiking through Shenandoah I noticed some yellow leaves and leaves were starting to fall, but in the photo above is the only place that I noticed brilliant red maple leaves and must say I’m surprised they are turning so soon. Perhaps fall will be early this year, but more important to me, I wish for much more of this brilliant color.

Moonrise

2011-09-22T16:55:00.000-04:00

I recently spent a little time in Chincoteague. The highlight of the trip was spending 2 nights shooting the moonrise on the beach. Besides being eaten alive by mosquitoes, it was a pretty good trip with lots of variety. On my return home I find that most of my photo friends recommend going in November and now I understand why.

Pax River Air Show

2011-09-14T17:25:00.000-04:00

This year like most years I shoot an air show. This year the show was located at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station over Labor Day Weekend and the star attraction was the Blue Angels. When shooting an air show there are small details, like the color of the sky, that can make a huge difference in the quality of your shots. This year the sky was barely blue with a hint of overcast, not exactly optimal but better than a cloudy day. I have experienced that as well.

Spending most of my time shooting objects that don’t move, shooting an air show can be a challenge. The speeds of the planes can average over 400 mph and occasionally Mach 0.9. At that speed the sound starts to trail the aircraft. As in every type of photography composition matters. It takes a combination of luck and effort to get the shot. In general there are few keepers and lots of throwaways. With some maneuvers I just put down the camera, knowing they might not make good pictures but are a thrill to watch just the same.

All things considered an air show is a huge amount of fun. Our Military puts a lot of effort into providing a safe and entertaining experience. I for one am grateful for the experience, but more importantly I am grateful for their service to our country!

Storm Over the Valley

2011-09-08T20:21:00.000-04:00

A couple of months ago I spent the evening sitting on top of the mountain called Big Schloss located west of Woodstock, Va. Our objective for the evening was to shoot star trails. While we were waiting for it to get dark enough to shoot star trails a thunderstorm was happening to the east. In this area of the country storms generally move from the west to east so in this case I was not really concerned with being among the highest objects in the area.

Since I don’t have a shutter release that trips when it senses a lightning strike. I would hold the shutter open for a few seconds and repeat. The image about is a composite of 4 different shots.

Regarding star trails, that did not work out. About 15 minutes after we set up another storm started approaching from the west and we felt it best to get off the mountain before it arrived.

What to do

2011-09-02T20:19:00.001-04:00

This year, just like the past several years, I headed over to Potomac Maryland to shoot sunflowers. But this year I found it somewhat difficult. One reason I suspect was that I spent half my time talking with other photographers and spreading the word about Nature Visions! Perhaps that kept me from finding my groove. I suspect the other reason was that having shot this location several times I just did not see much new to shoot. I don’t care to duplicate my prior efforts and each time I shoot I generally try to find a new perspective or something different. When all else fails I reach for the Lensbaby, in this case the Fisheye delivered some shots I had not taken before.

Chrome

2011-08-23T17:18:00.000-04:00

Early this summer I heard about a location with a collectionof old cars. There are not many of these places left and I was on my waywithin a week. These old cars are disappearing and I find myself willingto travel significant distance to shoot them.

When I was a kid Chrome was a big deal. While you canstill find it on today’s cars, it’s not the design feature it once was. The neat thing about this collection was that most of the cars were from the50’s and had some of the most ornate hood emblems that I have ever seen. The owner is looking to get rid of this collection, I’m not sure if itwill be there next year, but if it is I hope to shoot it again.

Click here for a gallery from this trip.

Quick Trip

2011-08-15T17:14:00.000-04:00

Last week my friend Greg called to say he was going to GreatFalls on Friday night after work and did I want to join him. Something happened the last few weeks andthat something is that I have not picked up my camera. I was juststarting to get over a nasty summer cold and decided to join friends Greg andAllen for a night out. Upon arrival at Great Falls the water level wasquite nice but the skies were not happening. What do I mean bythat? No real color and no clouds. So we hiked down to the river’sedge which is a mini adventure in itself. We setup in a favoritespot and shot a few frames and watched a few kayakers go over the falls. I did not have the right lens for the kayakers, but I was prepared to shoot apanorama.

Texture Overload

2011-08-01T18:36:00.000-04:00

A couple of months ago I took friends JustBob and Karen Messick to my favorite Car Farm. This is a great location and while there is always something to shoot, I must admit that I’m working hard to find it. There are some factors that change my perspective such as season, time of day, direction of light, etc. But still I don’t want to take pictures that I have already taken. I also think this type of exercise helps me develop as a photographer. It forces me to try and see past the easy shots.

The rusted exteriors of the cars are full of texture, but in this case I decided that some additional texture was the look I was after.

Mountain Laurel

2011-07-26T16:52:00.000-04:00

For years I have noticed the Mountain Laurel in Shenandoah National Park but before this year I have never seen it in bloom. It seemed like I was always early or late. This past June as I was driving through the Southern section of the park the Mountain Laurel was in peak. I had originally driven up to the park to photograph the fawns and pretty much struck out in that regard. But the Mountain Laurel was a nice surprise and helped make the trip worthwhile.

Ricketts Glen

2011-07-19T17:04:00.002-04:00

The shot above was taken in late May at Ricketts Glen in Pennsylvania. This was my first trip to Ricketts Glen and I was not disappointed. The best time to go seems to be in the spring when the water is flowing. I had planned to go last fall but called the park to find out that the water flow was barely a trickle. The park has a large number of waterfalls, but a little hiking is required to reach them.

The shot above is a double layer panorama. I used an old Nikon manual focus 28mm perspective correction lens to shoot the double layer. The nice thing about such a large shot will be evident if I ever print the picture. The native size of this shot is 25 by 45 inches.

Incredible Iceland

2011-07-12T16:50:00.000-04:00

As I write this post I just finished tweeting with my friend Tony Sweet who is back in Iceland for what I expect will be another great workshop. Last year I “got lost” in Iceland with Tony and Einar. It was the trip of a lifetime! As I mentioned in my blog last year, Iceland is a wonderful country and the people are warm and welcoming. I love America but Iceland in some respects felt like home.

When I look at the few thousand pictures from last year I remember all of them except for this one. I just don’t remember taking this picture. It’s mine, no doubt about it. I considered entering this picture in Nature Visions last year, but something told me it might not do that well. Regardless, it is one of my favorites from the trip.

I know one thing for sure… I can’t wait to see the images Tony brings back this year.

So much for being timely

2011-07-05T18:36:00.000-04:00

When doing a photography blog it seems that two things are necessary, regular posts and perhaps timely posts. After all in this day of instant communication, it’s about what you’re doing “now”. I try and post about once a week, give or take a few days. I also try and keep the work recent, but it seems like I’m failing at the second part of the deal. I’m working through a considerable backlog of images and see no indication that I’ll be caught up anytime soon. So I’m going to ask for some forgiveness from my followers in regards to the “timely” part. If you want to follow my latest adventures, I would recommend that you follow me on Facebook and Twitter.

Above is an image that I took of the Bluebells back in April. I used a light green fabric for the background and a reflector to put just a light splash of sunlight on the flowers.

If It’s Red Shoot It!

2011-06-23T17:52:00.002-04:00

Last Winter I was downtown on a cold rainy day and noticed this line of bicycles. The repeating lines and the color were too much to ignore.

What to do with a Blue Sky

2011-06-16T21:16:00.000-04:00

For the longest time I have avoided shooting a subject with a clear blue sky. Oftentimes I might find it to be a beautiful day but that does not mean the clear blue sky makes an interesting photograph. My friend John Barclay changed all that. John posted a picture on his blog last year that changed my whole perspective.

When I shot this skyscraper in Baltimore at dusk a few months ago, I knew that the creative use of texture would be just what I needed to finish the picture.

It’s Just A Picture

2011-06-13T18:11:00.000-04:00

Pictured above is the St. Nichols Coal Breaker in Mahanoy City, PA. I heard about this place last fall and was even told there were not any “No Trespassing” signs. So a couple of weeks ago on my way to Ricketts Glen I decided it was worth a slight detour to do a little site survey. For someone who enjoys photographing decrepitude it just does not get any better. But as they say, “Houston, we have a problem”. Upon my arrival I noticed brand new “No Trespassing” signs all over the property. In photographing a place like this you already take on a fair amount of risk, mostly risk of injury. I was not willing to take on the risk of criminal charges.

Upon returning home I contacted the company that owns the property to seek permission to photograph. As expected I was told the site is off limits. I have always respected the property rights of others and while I would love to photograph this wonderful place, I just can’t disregard the wishes of the property owner as well as risk legal trouble. After all, it’s just a picture.

Cape May

2011-06-07T17:08:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in my last post, my friend Tony Sweet invited me up to Cape May for a weekend of shooting. Tony showed all of us the great sites and I can easily understand why people fall in love with this little beach town.

Click here for a small gallery.

One more from the Car-nival

2011-06-03T17:43:00.001-04:00

I wanted to post one more panorama from my recent trip to the Cape May. One of the challenges of shooting this location was the clutter and the harsh light. Shooting most of my shots in Infrared helped solve the harsh light problem. My other challenge was trying to simplify the clutter. I’m always thinking about the composition and I do not agree with people who say they will fix it in Photoshop, but this time I was able to use some techniques in post-production that helped simplify the scene. I shot 3 panoramas on this trip. I posted the 3rd panorama a couple weeks ago on Facebook. There is a link on the side of this page if you wish to join my Facebook Page.

Lately I have been in the habit of only posting a select image here on the blog. This time I decided to post a few additional pictures from this trip.

Click here for a gallery.

The Car-nival

2011-06-01T17:44:00.002-04:00

A few weeks ago my friend Tony Sweet invited me to meet him after his Cape May workshop for a unique visit to a junk yard. Spending the weekend at the beach with a side trip to a junk yard was just too good to refuse. What was unique about this particular junk yard was the inventory of cars from the 30’s and 40’s. I suspect there were at least 200 cars and trucks from this bygone era. As with most photography subjects, I think it might take multiple visits to fully explore what this location has to offer.

Secret Location

2011-05-25T17:35:00.003-04:00

This past Saturday night I was on my way to White Oak Canyon to shoot the falls. Along the way I saw a familiar road sign that pointed to the Rapidan Wildlife Management Area. I have been back in this area many times over the last couple of years and find it a great place to shoot. The Rapidan River runs parallel to the road for several miles with easy access to great photographic material. I decided to head up to the Rapidan instead and am glad that I did because it was flowing the best I have ever seen it. I just wish I had remembered to bring my chest waders because there were several shots that would have required me to stand in that deep of water. Instead the bottom of my shorts got a bit wet.

While I have a number of shots I would love to share, as I mentioned in my prior post I’m a bit busy, so just one this time.

I have seen plenty of campers and fishermen in this area but never another photographer. I figured that it was time to spread the word.

Click here for the location on Google Maps. Also note the roads are rough, if you decide to go I recommend a truck or SUV.

Spring is upon me and I’m not ready

2011-05-19T17:22:00.000-04:00

I keep telling myself that I’m a Nature Photographer but in truth I find so many wonderful things to shoot. I have been spending the past couple weekends up to my elbows in rusted cars. I also had a nice trip to Cape May, NJ last weekend and am hard at work on the 2011 Nature Visions Expo. I’m not complaining but the truth is the Expo work does cut in to my image processing time. Last year was a great year for the Expo and we are hard at work to make the 2011 Expo every bit as good and perhaps just a little bit better! This year Art Wolfe will be our Keynote Speaker and we could not be more excited!

I’m also moderating the Nature Visions Blog this year. So in addition to checking out my site, I hope you will make frequent visits to the Nature Visions Blog.

Riding the Back Roads

2011-05-16T17:05:00.000-04:00

I love country roads! Give me the country and the mountains any day. The shot above was taken near Old Rag Mountain. I have been past this location many times but on this cold day in December it seemed particularly moody and warranted taking the time to make a few pictures. This nice thing about nature and landscape photography is that the scene is always changing. If you don’t like how something looks, wait a little while or visit often.

History Lesson

2011-05-04T18:10:00.000-04:00

Lately I have developed a habit of reviewing my images weeks and sometimes months after I have taken them. It’s not that I’m not excited about my pictures, I am. In the case of the shot above, I ventured out on New Year’s morning to shoot a sunrise at a nearby abandoned farm. The farm was a bit disappointing but I found this little cemetery on the way home. It is now April and I’m just getting around to working with this image. Truthfully I was not sure what I would do with this shot or more precisely how I would process the picture and that might be part of the reason for the delay.

I remember being struck by stumbling upon the grave of a former Speaker of the House of Delegates in such a small run down cemetery. It turns out that John Franklin Ryan was indeed a former Speaker of the House in addition to being a large landowner and farmer. The Loudoun Independent has a great article on this former farmer and Speaker of the Virginia House.

EcoTulips

2011-04-28T16:54:00.002-04:00

Last weekend I had just finished hiking in Shenandoah National Park and while riding home I drove by Eco Tulips in Brightwood, Va. They were having an open house event and were kind enough to let me come in and photograph. The mid-day sun was quite bright, but with the use of a diffuser and reflector I was able to get the desired results. The Lensbaby is easily one of my favorite tools for flower photography and in the shot above it delivered great results.

Easter Sunday

2011-04-24T06:00:00.002-04:00

Last December I drove down to Hollywood Cemetery to meet up with a few of my fellow camera club members. I had a hard time finding my groove on that cold winter morning. But after putting the finishing touches on this image, I think the trip turned out just fine. Hollywood Cemetery is a very old cemetery that is home to 2 former Presidents and many other historical people. In the shot above I used my infrared converted camera to take the basic shot and added the glow and color in post processing.

Meet Wendall

2011-04-21T17:22:00.000-04:00

That gentleman in the picture is Wendell Shepherd. But before we get to him, I want to talk about me. I’m a nature photographer but if you have been following my Blog you might not believe me. After all, I have lots of pictures of old cars, old buildings, and kids on skateboards. Even with the kids on skateboards, the picture is more about what they are doing rather than who they are. A few weeks ago I attended a lecture in Baltimore by my friends Tony Sweet and John Barclay. During John’s “Dream, Believe, Create” lecture he shows wonderful examples of people he has captured with his camera. But like me, John is a “nature” photographer and we find ourselves on similar paths. I know that I’m still passionate about getting out in nature and making pictures and I know John is as well, but I think we both seek something more. After hearing John talk about photographing people and the barriers within him, we were inspired. After the lecture I headed down to the Inner Harbor with friends Greg and Bill to shoot at night. While shooting we also heard a trumpet player off in the distance. We were all of the same mind about seeking out the source of the music. We found Wendell. He was quite agreeable to letting us photograph him in exchange for some compensation. I wonder if we had not been inspired by John’s lecture during the day, would we have set off in search of the music? The shot above was taken with my trusty Lensbaby.

Lensbaby Sweet 35

2011-04-14T17:17:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago a new toy arrived in the mail--the Lensbaby Sweet 35. This is a brand new optic for the Lensbaby Composer. The lens has the effective field of view of a 35mm lens. The normal Lensbaby is 50mm equivalent. This lens is also the first to offer a built-in adjustable aperture ring. The very next day I was at the Trans Allegheny Lunatic Asylum for a day long photo shoot and I figured this would be as good a time as any to test the lens. I was very pleased with the way the lens focused and operated, but the big surprise happened after I returned home. In the picture above, the rainbow colored shafts of light were a surprise that I did not expect. I looked at my other shots and did not see this effect so it will take a bit of experimentation to figure out how to duplicate this effect in the future.

Hanging out with the Image Doctors

2011-04-07T18:34:00.001-04:00

A few weeks ago my friend Tony Sweet invited me to do some shooting at Eastern State Penitentiary. I also got to shoot with Jason O’Dell and Rick Walker, otherwise known as the Image Doctors. We had a great time and I probably should have told them how much they influenced my first couple years of photography. While Rick and Jason both shoot Nikon, the guests they interview and the topics they discuss will take you beyond camera brands. In case you have never listened to one of their podcasts, click here and give them a listen.

Considering this was a cold February day, the prison had only a few visitors and I was able to shoot the stitched wide angle panorama above without tourists getting in the way.

Shenandoah after the Fire

2011-04-01T19:29:00.001-04:00

On a windy day in February I was out scouting the back roads of the Shenandoah Valley with my friends Greg and Dan. During the day we noticed that a small area of Shenandoah National Park was on fire. The high winds soon spread the fire across 2000 acres of the park. A couple of weeks later I decided to do a little hiking and survey the damage. I could not escape the burnt smell of the forest but surprisingly the damage appeared minor. Some of the living trees had a little damage to the bark, but most of the fuel for the fire appeared to be the dead wood that litters the forest floor. Considering the amount of fuel that litters the forest floor in Shenandoah, I wonder if one day a lightning strike or perhaps someone’s carelessness will do far greater damage to this park.

Frozen

2011-03-28T20:58:00.000-04:00

Recently my friend Karen Rexrode gave a presentation to our camera club and one of the topics was freezing flowers. I was intrigued and the results are certainly unique. With daffodils starting to bloom and no other plans to make pictures this weekend, I thought I would give this a try. I learned a few things and had a good time in the process. I’m just getting started and hope to do some more experimentation over the next few weeks. If you’re interested in learning how to do this drop me an email and I’ll send you instructions.

Work in Progress

2011-03-25T17:53:00.000-04:00

A lot of my friends are playing with Textures these days. I never felt like this was something I wanted to pursue until this past summer. While in Iceland Tony Sweet showed me how to save a soft image with the use of a texture overlay. I have been using a lot of textures with my Android Photos, but until now I really have not used them on the photos taken with the big boy camera.

Urban Exploration II

2011-03-20T17:52:00.001-04:00

I wanted to share one more shot from my recent trip to Baltimore. This one is easily my favorite.

Urban Exploration

2011-03-18T18:17:00.000-04:00

About a 3 months ago I got an e-mail asking if I wanted to come up to Baltimore and do a little urban exploration. Naturally I jumped at the chance. The place in question was an old distillery. We never got to see any of the distilling equipment. I’m not sure if the equipment was still on site or disassembled. Essentially old warehouse space at this point. Still a great trip!

Mount Storm

2011-03-14T19:57:00.000-04:00

Perhaps the title makes you think I should be talking about a mountain? Mount Storm is a coal fired power plant in West Virginia. I have driven past this plant on my trips to Canaan Valley. I have always thought it might make a nice picture at night, but I never wanted to wait several hours for night fall just to take one picture. During a recent trip through West Virginia I happened to be in the area after dark. An interesting fact is that I had heard about Mount Storm many years ago when I was into scuba diving. The water from the power plant keeps the lake warm, thus this is a popular location for divers in the winter. I never got the chance to dive here, but on the cold night that I took this picture there was a fair amount of steam coming off the water.

Tulip Farm

2011-03-09T17:34:00.008-05:00

Or perhaps I should title this post Tulip Factory. Manassas Warrenton Camera Club recently took a trip to Tulips USA. It was one of the best attended club trips I have ever been on. I think all of us had visions of a greenhouse full of tulips in bloom! The reality was quite different. This facility has multiple rows of greenhouses, all of them at least a football field in length. The tulips are grown hydroponically and are picked just short of blooming. After all, they need to be in bloom after the customer takes them home. The owner of Tulips USA gave us a complete tour of his facility and then turned us loose. We had free reign to shoot anywhere in the facility, very generous on his part. As I recall this facility ships about a million tulips a week. It was a very impressive operation.

While I think most of us showed up on Saturday morning with a vision of rows of tulips in full bloom, it took me only a few minutes to readjust my expectations. I always try and embrace what is right with the world, at least in regard to making pictures and this was a great place to spend the morning. I think most of my fellow club members felt the same way.

Winter Wonderland

2011-03-02T17:40:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I took a day trip with my friend Greg Daily to Swallow Falls State Park. As I recall the temperature never got above 20 degrees, but we managed to stay warm and spent the better part of the day exploring the park and just having a good time in general. The falls in the park were frozen solid and there was about a foot of snow on the ground. Part of being a landscape photographer is about enjoying what you do. While I always wish for a productive day, this day was not one of my better ones in that regard. I did see a lot of opportunities but I had to consider my safety. The water was high, it was flowing fast and the ice was thin. This limited my ability to get into key positions to craft the type of images that I think would have shown the beauty around me. When I look at some of the pictures I took that day I find them lacking. But in the end that is fine, just because I was unable to fully capture the beauty around me does not mean that I did not get to enjoy the beauty. It just means that I’m not able to fully share the experience.

Ice Cave

2011-02-23T18:32:00.001-05:00

During my recent trip to West Virginia I finished the day at Blackwater Falls State Park. The highlight of the day was shooting inside this ice cave. The ice formed over the side of the cliff next to Elakala Falls. The structure was about 20 feet deep and tall enough for me to stand up. Judging from the footprints on the trail up to this cave I’m not the first one to enjoy shooting the beautiful structure.

Shenandoah On Fire

2011-02-20T19:00:00.000-05:00

This past Saturday I headed out on a day-long back roads scouting trip on the west side of the Shenandoah National Park. We were near Browntown, Va and noticed a fire in the distance. As we drove closer it became obvious that the northwestern part of the Park was on fire, not a large fire but a significant one. We eventually made our way up a back road only to encounter the sheriff blocking access. My friend Dan rolled down the window and within a minute or two had talked the sheriff into letting us get a closer look.

While I was not happy to see the forest burn, I was hoping to get some dramatic shots. We got a little closer and ran into fire trucks. It appeared the firemen were still some distance from the fire. I’m guessing they did not have direct access to the area that was burning. We decided to turn back, we did not want to get in the way. As we started back down, the park service was bringing in a dozer. I suspect to try and create a road.

The photo above was taken later in the afternoon on the east side of the park. The smoke was drifting at least 10 miles to the east and could be seen much further away.

Canaan Valley

2011-02-13T18:27:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I decided to take a last minute day trip to Canaan Valley. As I drove up the mountains the weather changed from sunny to snowing. It is quite amazing that this area of West Virginia seems to have its own unique weather system. As the day progressed the weather changed from snow to partly cloudy. I tried to shoot the sunset at Blackwater Falls State Park. The clouds leading up to sunset looked quite promising, but moments before the sun set the clouds blocked the sun.

Web Site Update

2011-02-06T17:39:00.000-05:00

I’m a year behind schedule, but I finally updated my site. As I mentioned in my last post, I spent a huge amount of free time going through the last 3 years of images. I found a nice mix of favorites that I have previously posted here on the blog as well as images that I have never shown before. My original site was designed in Dreamweaver, while this was much easier than writing it from scratch in HTML, I still found it to be fairly labor intensive and one of the reasons that I kept putting this project on the back burner.

I was drawn to WordPress because of my involvement with Nature Visions and the Mid Atlantic Nature Photography Expo. It took me a couple weeks to get my head around using a server based approach to web design rather than doing it on my PC and uploading the finished product. The cool thing about WordPress is that you can use themes to change the look and feel of your site. I decided on Photocrati. This one theme offers multiple designs and layouts. Once I decided on the theme I literally had the site up and running within a couple of hours. With the new site I can add photos and create new pages in a snap. I can also promise I will be adding new pictures on an ongoing basis rather than doing a major redesign every few years.

While WordPress is primarily a blogging platform, I really like Blogger and see no advantage to hosting my blog and web site on the same server. My blog here on Blogger will continue to be the primary outlet for posting my adventures and new work. One other item of note, my blog now reformats for mobile devices so you can follow along with Android or iPhone.

Head on over to Don Rosenberger Photography and check out the new layout and images.

Winter Projects

2011-01-31T18:07:00.002-05:00

This winter I decided to redesign my website. Actually it was my intent to do this last winter, but I got side tracked and it never happened. I have a general idea of how I plan to design and deploy the site, but before getting involved in that part of the project I have been spending the last couple weeks going through my image archive and choosing new pictures to showcase. The image above is from a favorite location I affectionately call the “Car Farm”. Having been to the “Farm” multiple times I’m always challenged to find something to shoot that has eluded me before. On a trip last summer I tried to focus on the patterns and colors of the cracked glass.

Fun While It Lasted

2011-01-24T18:22:00.001-05:00

Recently Greg Daily and I were in western Maryland shooting the frozen waterfalls at Swallow Falls State Park. By mid-day the sun was high overhead so we decided to drive over to Deep Creek Lake to have lunch. While driving past the lake I noticed several people on snowmobiles. They were flying across the frozen lake at what looked like 50 mph. I was surprised that the ice on the lake was thick enough for them to do this, but then I noticed a few tents out on the lake and figured people must be ice fishing. We had lunch and on the way back noticed a group out on the lake with their motorcycles so we pulled over and walked on out. I must admit it was kind of strange to walk on water in this way. Especially when I would encounter an inch or two of frozen slush on top. I’m watching these guys use a blade on a 4- wheeler to push the snow and make a track while a few others raced around. Next thing I notice is a pair of policemen walking out on the lake to meet us. Turns out only fishermen and snowmobiles are permitted on the lake, no motorcycles. They told the group that creating the track created a hazard for the snowmobiles. Considering the speed of the snowmobiles, I can easily see how this could be a problem. I managed to get a couple of record shots but left disappointed. I was hoping to come back some other time and try and shoot these guys in a much more creative manner.

Meet Ben

2011-01-17T18:15:00.000-05:00

That young man on a BMX bike is Ben. I met him back in October at the Arlington Skate Park. In the shot above I placed my D300 and a 10.5 mm fisheye on the ground and had Ben ride over it in mid-air. At first I think he questioned my wisdom at putting my camera at risk, but I was not concerned. I had seen him do much harder tricks and figured the chance that he would come done on my gear was remote at best. In photography perspective is essential. I think the small risk paid off just fine. My days of riding skateboards and such have long since passed, but I still get a kick out of seeing these guys do their thing!

Second Chance

2011-01-11T18:11:00.002-05:00

I want to put up a few more pictures from my recent trip to Second Chance in Baltimore. I really do not consider myself to be a small details type of photographer, I would much rather shoot a grand landscape. So Second Chance is great place to practice the type of photography that does not come quite naturally to me.

Memories

2011-01-06T17:06:00.000-05:00

I remember that style of fan when I was a kid, the kind that would cut your finger off. Today we have so many rules and regulations that protect us from the obvious. I took this shot last month when visiting Baltimore and shooting at Second Chance with friends Karen Messick and Bill Gercken. Second Chance was a great place to shoot on a cold day. The warehouse was cold, but at least we were inside.

The Chute

2011-01-03T18:09:00.001-05:00

The shot above is from a recent day hike in Shenandoah. I was hoping to shoot a lot of frozen water, but the streams were only frozen in a few places. This is my fault since I could not get out to the Park a week earlier when the thermometer seemed stuck below freezing. Since then the temperature has warmed during the day and as a result streams and rivers have started to thaw. Hopefully there will be other opportunities as the winter progresses.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-23T19:11:00.001-05:00

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

2010-12-20T20:43:00.000-05:00

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

2010-12-14T17:00:00.001-05:00

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

2010-12-08T19:35:00.001-05:00

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

2010-12-05T16:13:00.000-05:00

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.

Flowers

2010-11-22T17:00:00.002-05:00

I’m not sure how this happened. It certainly wasn’t planned, but with the exception of going to Longwood to photograph the Blue Poppies earlier this year, a whole season went by without spending any time doing flower photography. I will have to make sure I don’t repeat this mistake next year!

Expo Wrap Up

2010-11-15T22:45:00.000-05:00

I hope most people who read my last Blog post decided to checkout the Nature Visions Expo. I think this was possibly our best year ever. Certainly the staff at the Hylton Center went above and beyond. I spent most of the weekend in the Theatre, but did manage to slip out a few times to visit with friends and buy a couple new toys. The lectures were great and all the speakers did a fantastic job. I really appreciate the complements I received from everyone.

In case you missed the Event, Molly and Mary from Awake the Light kicked the day off on Saturday, they were followed by Tony Sweet. Tony wowed the crowd as always. After lunch John Barclay treated the crowd to his Dream, Believe, Create lecture, and finishing up the first day was Charles Glatzer who in my humble opinion is easily one of the best wildlife photographers out there. We had a nice reception on Saturday evening and then Bob Krist delivered an outstanding Keynote Lecture on Saturday evening.

On Sunday Morning Karen Messick came to my rescue as a last minute replacement for Charles Needle. Charles was under the weather and unable to travel. He was missed for sure, but Karen did a great job stepping in at the last minute. Ian Plant treated the crowd to some of his latest images, including a few from Patagonia. As always Ian wowed the crowd. Local favorite Josh Taylor followed Ian, Josh gave a lecture on Garden Photography. Saving one of the best for last, Corey Hilz closed out the event on Sunday.

We also had 4 workshops during the weekend. I did not get a chance to drop in on the workshops, but I'm told they were a success. It was really nice to hear many of the professional photographers complement our fellow club members on the quality of their work. We had over 300 juried images on display during the weekend. I was fortunate enough to have 3 of mine juried into the event.

The feedback from our vendors was tremendous. They loved the people and the venue. The Expo was over a year in planning, but the change in venue was a success. It was an honor to be part of the team of people who put it all together.

The Hylton Center is a beautiful location. Every chance I got I was shooting the place with my Droid. In hindsight I wish I had brought a tripod and DSLR. At John Barclay's suggestion I converted the Blog image to Black and White. I like it in color and black and white. Fell free to let me know which one you prefer.

Nature Visions

2010-11-05T17:45:00.000-04:00

For the past year I have been a board member for the Mid-Atlantic Nature Photography Expo. This event was formerly known as the Meadowlark Photo Expo. The Expo is a non-profit volunteer organization and it takes a considerable amount of planning and preparation to make it happen every year. Having outgrown Meadowlark Gardens, we are moving the event this year to the Hylton Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of the George Mason University in Manassas, VA. We have lined up a great group of inspirational speakers: Bob Krist will be delivering the Keynote Address on Saturday night. For the first time ever, we will be holding workshops and factory reps will be on hand to answer your questions and demo the latest gear.

Full details are available on the Expo’s web site. This year’s event should be our best ever!! Please make plans to attend and tell your friends!!

Happy Halloween

2010-10-30T22:41:00.000-04:00

Cell Phone Photography

2010-10-22T17:19:00.001-04:00

Last summer I met Harry Sandler in Iceland and watched with amazement the incredible work he was able to create with his iPhone.

I’m sure many serious photographers don’t take seriously the change in our universe that is being presented by cell phone cameras. I’m not ready to put my Nikon gear up for sale, nor do I envision that ever happening. The fact is that the cell phone cameras have their limitations. But at the same time I think the cell phone camera has the possibility to liberate you and allow the potential to free your creativity. David duChemin has a saying, “gear is good, vision is better”. I love my Nikon gear, but the gear is what enables me to capture my vision, it does not create the vision.

Here is a list of the current apps that I’m using on my Droid for photography. Camera Zoom FX, Photoshop Express, UniquePic, Photo Effect Oil, Photo Enhance and Foxy Editor.

I have been using my Droid to shoot and post pictures to Twitter. If you want to see some of my phone creations you will need to friend me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.

I shot the photo above in Culpeper, VA about a week ago. It is a picture of the right fender of a beautifully restored Buick Roadmaster.

By the way, I wrote the draft for this blog on my Droid Incredible while rocking to Pandora. Try doing that with your DSLR.

Fall is upon us

2010-10-15T17:29:00.000-04:00

My favorite season for photography is here but looks a little disappointing. The leaves in this part of Virginia pretty much lack color. Fall conditions are looking a little better in West Virginia. I still have a couple shoots planned between now and the end of the month, hopefully I will find better conditions.

The shot above was taken last year. It is the eastern side of Old Rag Mountain on the edge of the Shenandoah National Park.

Herndon Skatepark

2010-10-02T21:20:00.000-04:00

The town of Herndon,Va recently opened a skatepark. Since it was close to home I thought I would check it out. Sure enough it did not disappoint.

Click here for a small gallery

The Unicorn

2010-10-01T19:00:00.001-04:00

During our trip we frequently yelled STOP. This was one of those times. We had finished shooting after a very long day on the road, were riding along and I don’t remember if I yelled stop or someone else did. But everyone was in agreement that there was something special about this little peak. Gudmundur told us that the peak is called the Unicorn. Someone yelled out that it looked like something out of the Harry Potter novels. As far as I was concerned there was something magical about this one and I could have spent a couple of hours hiking and working the scene. Unfortunately we had stopped only for a minute or so when several other people drove up and needed to pass our bus. The road was so narrow that the other cars had to back down the road and we were on the other side of the mountain before we could let them pass. I guess timing is everything because prior to stopping we had not seen anyone else on the road for at least an hour. But I think we stopped at this one at just the right time nonetheless.

Focus on Nature Rocks

2010-09-28T17:00:00.001-04:00

This past July I spent a week in Iceland with Tony Sweet and Focus on Nature. I had known for a couple years that Tony was planning on doing a workshop in Iceland and I was interested, but at the same time unsure because Iceland is not an inexpensive place to visit. Late last summer Tony announced the workshop was scheduled and with the encouragement of my wife I decided to take the plunge. I figured you only live once and I would consider this a “once in a lifetime trip”, but no longer, I fully plan to go back!

Focus on Nature is a personal project of Einar Erlendsson. The company is small but the service and attention to detail is world class. Einar has a saying, “there are no problems, only solutions”. I can attest that this is a true statement. During the workshop there were a number of requests and Einar made every one of them happen.

The general premise of the workshop is you get to shoot and learn from a world class photographer and the locals handle all of the details. That includes getting you to the right place at the right time.

The workshop started with a meeting on Sunday afternoon. We got to know each other and present examples of our work so Tony could understand our abilities. After introductions we had a presentation from a local meteorologist who provided a very accurate estimate of the weather we could expect. Until that meeting the route the workshop would take was not planned. Einar wants you to have the best possible experience and this is just one of the steps he takes to ensure a successful workshop. During the week Einar checked in with the meteorologist to keep us heading in the best possible direction. We met our guide for the week, Gudmundur Ingolfsson. We called him “GuMay”. In addition to telling us the history of the many places we were visiting, he also had a great sense of humor. We traveled in a large 4 wheel drive bus that easily took us everywhere we wanted to go including crossing several rivers. GuMay traveled with us in the bus. Einar either traveled with us or in advance to pave the way.

After our first meeting in the afternoon Einar took us out to dinner in Reykjavik, and we could not have had a better group of people. I have never laughed so hard in my life. After dinner the entire group was fast friends and it only got better as the week progressed.

Siggi was our driver for the week. Einar says he is the best driver and I have no reason to doubt it. He seemed to know every back road in the country.

With one exception, I was always the first one off the bus and one of the last to return. One afternoon I returned to the bus to discover that lunch had been finished and Siggi was putting everything away. I figured that was ok, after all missing one meal was not going to kill me. Next thing I know Gumay was pulling everything back out so I could eat.

I could go on and on. I had high expectations, after all this was an expensive trip. The experience easily exceeded my expectations!

By the end of the workshop you are part of Einar’s family. If you have any desire to photograph Iceland I recommend Einar and his company!! Tony is scheduled to lead a workshop again next year. Drop Einar an e-mail and get signed up!!

Incredible Iceland!!

2010-09-24T17:00:00.001-04:00

This past July I spent a week in Iceland with Tony Sweet and Focus on Nature. At this point I think most of my friends have given up on seeing my pictures. It is not that I have not wanted to show them, but it has taken almost 2 months to go over the couple thousand images that resulted from this magnificent trip. I’ll detail the workshop experience in my next blog but for this post I just want to concentrate on the landscape.

The interesting thing about Iceland is that the landscape changes with the terrain. The mountains, colors, clouds, lava fields, volcanoes, waterfalls, blue lagoons, farms, horses, and glaciers were all beyond my wildest expectations. One unexpected experience was our ability to shoot anywhere. We stopped at a power plant one morning looking for a bathroom and before I knew it we were getting a tour of the control room. I can not imagine that happening here in America. It seems that the Icelandic people rely on their common sense. If you get too close to the edge of the cliff you fall over, no warning signs or ropes. I love this approach to life.

I think perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself so I’ll try and start from the beginning. I waited too long to purchase my tickets and had to fly first class on the way over. What a bummer, hanging out in the first class lounge and enjoying all of the other little niceties and I think I’m spoiled. The flight was great. The only bad part was I could not see the thunderstorm that was happening on the opposite side of the plane. That would have been cool to try and shoot.

The first day on the road we arrived at a geothermal power plant. Behind some of these facilities were giant blue pools of water. The salt residue from the geothermal process made for great leading lines to work into my compositions. The next day we headed out for a very long and bumpy ride through the mountains. The landscape was forever changing. Sometimes it looked like the surface of the moon, other times it was lush and green. The volcanic landscape is like nothing I have ever seen. At times I found it very challenging to shoot and other times I could hardly contain my excitement about the grandeur in front of me.

The volcano that made news earlier this year has died down. I did get to see it, but from a bit of a distance. There was a little steam emanating from the top, but it was otherwise quite. The ash was a different story. In some places with each step I would kick up a little cloud of ash.

One night we stayed in a town called Skaftfell, in a hotel located at the base of a glacier. After dinner Tony and I headed out to shoot the glacier and stayed until midnight so we could shoot sunset. We went back to the hotel and crashed for 2 hours and then got up to shoot sunrise at the Glacier Lagoon. What a place, there are huge chunks of glacial ice that break off and head out to sea. Some of the chunks get washed up on a nearby beach and make for great subject material.

The only disappointing part of the trip was that there were no night skies, a little bit of twilight between midnight and 2 a.m. was as dark as it gets. I had hoped to lightpaint the glacier ice, but it does not get dark enough in July to do so.

At the end of the workshop I asked our driver how long it would take him to show me everything worth photographing in Iceland. I was expecting him to say 3 months, instead he told me 3 years. I suspect he is correct.

If it were not for the expense and the need to return home, I would have loved to stay another week!

Click here for a gallery.

Behind Bars Once More

2010-09-17T18:49:00.001-04:00

This past August I joined several friends from the Warrenton-Manassas Camera Club to shoot the old West Virginia Penitentiary in Moundsville, WV. The Penitentiary has a very old and interesting history. It is currently open during the day for tours. I called a couple years ago and asked about taking photos during the day and was told that was fine as long as I could keep up with the tour group. There was no way that was going to work. After shooting the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum last year during a ghost hunt, I decided that Moundsville would make an interesting subject this year.

Here is how it works. You enter the prison at 8:00 pm, get an orientation, and then tour the facility. After returning from the tour they order pizza and then set you loose to begin your ghost hunt. The group size is limited to 50 people. We rarely had any type of issue with our photographs interfering with the ghost hunters. Some time after midnight we were in an interior hallway with a bat. The bat would fly back and forth sometimes just a few inches over our heads. Needless to say we finished up pretty quick and moved on to another area.

While I really enjoy this type of lightpainting, I find it to be a huge challenge. Lightpainting the great outdoors is much easier. In an interior space your light is reflected and not always in a manner I like. But like anything else, with work I suspect I will be able to improve my process.

Click here for a gallery

A Different Type of Sunset

2010-09-13T18:48:00.000-04:00

My first little adventure after I returned home from Iceland was assisting my friend Cory Hilz with a class on lightpainting and star trails. The class was held on the grounds of the Sunset Hills Vineyard in Purcellville, VA. Before the actual class started everyone worked on their own thing. I found the light beams from the setting sun created these incredible lines on the sides of some steel tanks. Whenever I shoot at night with Corey he is always the last one to turn off his camera. I let my camera run for 3 hours and headed home sometime after 2:00am. If my memory serves me correctly, Corey stayed out until 3:00 or 4:00am. I’m guessing the only reason he called it quits was that his camera battery died.

Thunder Over The Blue Ridge

2010-09-07T21:05:00.000-04:00

This past Saturday Greg Daily and I rode out to Martinsburg, WV to see the Thunderbirds. It was a beautiful day, but the light seemed a little on the harsh side for my taste. Of course that is something well beyond my control. The air show was small compared to some of the ones closer to home, with fewer acts flying, but it was still well worth attending. It was also quite windy and as a result the Army’s Golden Knights had to cancel their jump.

Icelandic Panoramas

2010-08-26T20:36:00.000-04:00

I feel like I have been off the Blog for weeks. I have been busy working, shooting, and also editing pictures from Iceland. I hope to have a gallery up sometime soon. In the meantime, I wanted to post the above panorama and tell a little of the technical story behind the shot. For starters the stitched shot is 123 megapixels. The original tiff file is almost 800 megabytes. A couple years ago I purchased a used 28mm Perspective Control Lens. This is a manual lens, no auto anything. Nikon does not make this lens anymore and I was lucky enough to get a good deal on a used one. For shooting panoramas, a few things during the capture will lead to better results during stitching. I used a Pano Head and Nodal Plate from Really Right Stuff. I know some of the software programs are really good at stitching, but using this setup is worth the time and effort. The 28 PC lens allows you to adjust your perspective either up or down without moving the camera. If you level your camera when shooting panoramas you will often have a level horizon right through the middle of your shot. By adjusting the vertical perspective of the lens you have more latitude to compose your shot.

In the shot above I added another step. I adjusted the perspective down so I could see the bottom of the canyon, no sky was visible. I took the shot and then rotated the barrel of the lens 180 degrees and then took a shot that was mostly sky; moved the pano head about 15 degrees and repeated the process until I had covered the canyon end to end. This was my first attempt to create a double layer panorama. Usually I shoot my panos with the camera mounted vertically and then combine 8 or 9 shots to create the pano. In the scene above I was not able to capture the vertical range I was looking for without this technique.

The picture was taken on our second day in the field. We were traveling through an area known as the highlands in the southern part of the island. The picture below was taken a couple hours after the shot above. The terrain seemed to change around every corner. It was a magnificent day!!

Icelandic Horses

2010-08-09T19:17:00.000-04:00

Truthfully I have never gotten that excited about horses, that is until now. During my trip to Iceland I was able to photograph these magnificent animals several times. In doing so I wondered why the attraction. I suspect it comes down to two things, their long manes often cover their eyes and when they run they seem to hold their heads with pride. In the photo above, we had just pulled into a camping area for lunch and someone noticed a herd of horses running by. I grabbed my camera and started shooting. I had no time to consider shutter speed or any other camera settings. It turned out that their faces were a bit on the soft side, so Tony suggested I apply a texture layer for a different type of effect. I think the resulting image works quite well.

I’m still going through the ton of images from Iceland I hope to have a gallery up in a couple weeks.

Industrial Iceland

2010-08-04T21:48:00.000-04:00

I just returned home from an incredible trip to Iceland with Tony Sweet and Focus on Nature. It is going to take some time to process all the images and get a detailed blog posting up in regard to the trip. Suffice to say that the trip exceeded my wildest expectations! This was shot on our first day in the field. We had just finished shooting the water behind the Blue Lagoon Spa and there were red pipes everywhere. I learned one rule a long time ago, if it’s red, shoot it!

Click here for a small image gallery.

Another Night under the Stars

2010-07-24T18:00:00.007-04:00

A couple weeks ago I hiked Old Rag again to shoot Star Trails with friends Greg, Alan, Tweety, Cindy, and Nick. When it comes to this type of photography, Old Rag is hard to beat. The amount of light pollution is tolerable and there is plenty of room at the summit to set up different compositions. It is also a very challenging and rewarding hike. I posted a video of our evening on my YouTube Page. I’m always looking for other locations to shoot Star Trails in Shenandoah, I know of at least 3 other choice locations, but light pollution from the Shenandoah Valley is a deal killer.

Back Behind Bars

2010-07-17T18:00:00.001-04:00

Once again, I had the rare opportunity to photograph inside the walls of the old Lorton Prison. The deal was the same as before, I’m part of a VIP tour and allowed to shoot while they discuss architecture and planning. While I have always regarded this as a unique opportunity and one that I’m grateful for having, these trips are not photo tours. I don’t get to wait for the light to change. Thirty minutes into the trip I was not feeling the magic. Everything I was seeing seemed to be things that I have seen and shot before, so I switched over to my Lensbaby and decided to shoot exclusively with that one lens. It worked. I started seeing and shooting things like it was my first visit all over again.

Action!!!

2010-07-12T20:05:00.001-04:00

I like to do a fair amount of planning and pre-visualization in regard to my photography, but sometimes you have to throw all of that out the window and just react to what is in front of you. This past Friday my friend Tweety and I were heading over to McKee-Beshers to shoot sunflowers. I have shot this field several times in the past and this year I was in the mood to try something different. While stopping in Poolesville we noticed a new skateboard park and the kids were really hitting it hard!! We looked at each other and instantly decided this was the place to be and spent the next 2 hours shooting the kids. This brought back many memories; I rode a skateboard when I was teenager, but my talents were far less than most of these guys. We kept shooting until it got dark and my flash ran out of batteries. A return trip is a must!!

Click here for a gallery

Click here for Tweety's Gallery

Simple Pleasures

2010-07-11T20:05:00.000-04:00

Last Friday night I took the White’s Ferry across the Potomac. I was a Boy Scout the first time I rode the ferry and not much has changed since then. For some reason I find riding the ferry to be a very relaxing and enjoyable experience. While the ferry shortens the trip from Virginia to Maryland, I think I would take the ferry if it was out of the way. I have also thought over the years about a way to shoot the ferry at night. I have never come up with a plan, but last night I shot the above picture handheld out the window of my truck. The focus is a little soft, perhaps I’ll go back sometime and reshoot the scene.

Summit Point

2010-07-10T16:24:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago my friend Jack Nevitt put together a daytrip to Summit Point Raceway. Many years ago I used to shoot drag racing but the style of racing at Summit Point was new to me. While I was excited about going, it took most of the day for me to get into it. I saw shots that I wanted to do, but for reasons of safety and access they were not possible, at least without special arrangements and certainly not on a race day. I know I need practice and with practice I should be able to achieve better results. Going back is on the To Do list.

Weekend in the Woods

2010-07-03T13:45:00.000-04:00

The last post was the first introduction to my recent camping trip with some friends from the Manassas-Warrenton Camera Club. First I must digress; my friend Greg Daily has asked me several times to go camping and I always said no, indicating that my Boy Scout days were behind me. After our “Scouting Trip from Hell” I decided that camping had to be much better than spending the night stuck in the snow. A few weeks ago we finally had the camping trip for our camera club.

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, the first night we shot star trails and arrived back in camp around 2:00am. I got about an hour sleep before realizing that I had not planned properly and nearly froze to death. So I jumped in my truck and cranked the heat and of course this woke up half the group. So with little sleep we then headed out for an uneventful sunrise at 5:00am. I also found out that I’m not good at sitting around and doing nothing. So during the day I did a little scouting around Staunton and the surrounding countryside. On Saturday night we tried to shoot sunset at Reddish Knob but the top of the mountain was in the clouds. Fortunately about halfway down the mountain we found a nice spot to shoot. Sunday morning we did some more shooting on our way out and then it was time to return home. Overall a very nice trip, I look forward to camping again sometime.

Click here for gallery

A Night Under the Stars

2010-06-29T17:04:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago I went camping with some members of my camera club. One of the main purposes was to do night photography. At first that looked doubtful, late evening the skies turned cloudy, but soon after dark we started seeing stars in the sky. We jumped in our vehicles and drove up the mountain to a spot that we had scouted a few months ago. The shot above was the one that I had planned to do, but things do not always go according to the plan. The clear sky only lasted a little over an hour. I usually like to shoot at least 2 hours worth of stars, providing me with nice long trails, but the clouds were a slight disappointment. The other issue that I did not expect was the effect that fire flies would have on my shot. The compiled images had a number of bright yellow orbs. I just had to laugh but also had to reduce the number of shots that I used to make the final image.

The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum Rocks!!!

2010-06-15T23:10:00.000-04:00

I would have to say without a doubt that shooting at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum was the best day of photography I have had this year. Spending so much time there and getting to know some of the staff was great. These folks are trying to save a national treasure. If you have any interest in this type of photography you must make time for visiting Weston, WV. Be sure and check their website because these tours are only offered a couple of times a year.

Click here for a gallery.

A Killer Weekend

2010-06-10T19:29:00.001-04:00

Last weekend I joined friends Tweety, Bill Gercken, Jeff Johnson, and Jack Nevitt at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum (TALA) in Weston, WV. I shot here last year during an overnight “ghost tour” and had so much fun! This year they have started offering photography tours during the daytime and I knew I had to sign up. I know there are lots of photographers that enjoy shooting old buildings that are in a state of decay. The problem is that most of these buildings are off limits, at least from a legal standpoint. Shooting at TALA offers you a way to do this type of shooting in a legal and fun manner and you are helping them preserve a treasure. I’ll post a gallery from the Asylum next time. I still have a lot of shots left to process.

The Start Of A Very Productive Day

2010-06-07T16:48:00.000-04:00

I love old buildings with signs painted on the bricks. This past weekend I was in West Virginia waiting to do some shooting and noticed this old hardware store nearby. I snapped a couple of quick shots before getting busy with the main reason for being in West Virginia.

Rolling Thunder

2010-05-30T18:30:00.001-04:00

For the last few years I have shot the riders leaving Patriot Harley Davidson here in Fairfax. It is a very large group numbering well over 1,000 riders at my best guess. It takes about 30 minutes for everyone to ride by and shooting this group is always lots of fun. This morning I met up with friends Greg Daily and Jack Nevitt to shoot along Nutley Street in Fairfax. This year Jack and I decided to head downtown and shoot the group in D.C. Let’s just say I won’t make that mistake again. The biggest issue was the crowd in D.C. lacked some basic courtesy to their fellow man. We set up on Constitution Avenue with 7 lanes of traffic. As soon as the riders started driving by, the crowd immediately moved 3 lanes out into the street. At first this seemed to work since the motorcycles were riding down the center of the road 2 wide. For the next hour the police went up and down trying to get the crowd back up on the curb, but within minutes everyone was back out into the street. Then some people would cross the street, causing the riders to have to stop their procession. Add to that people jumping in front of us while we were taking pictures. After a little over an hour we had enough of this madness and decided to head back home.

With so many riders traveling across the country to ride in this amazing event, I’m sad that the locals could not have shown more courtesy and respect to our visitors.

Click here for a gallery

Thanks and Remembrance

2010-05-29T09:15:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I decided to make a quick trip to Arlington National Cemetery. Every year on Memorial Day weekend an American Flag is placed on each headstone. In the past I have tried to shoot this with mixed success. The cemetery opens at 8:00 am, a full 2 hours after sunrise. This time of year the light tends to be harsh and does not lend to my style of photography. With clouds forecasted for the rest of the day, I headed over in the afternoon to shoot for a couple of hours. Arlington is large enough that you really can’t cover the entire grounds in one trip. Originally the plan was to use the diffused light of the cloudy day and keep the sky out of my shots, that’s how I did most of my shots but I really liked this one. I spent most of my time in Section 60. This is the section where our soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan are being buried.

Typically when I shoot I’m in a different frame of mind. not always seeing the object in front of me for what it is, but for the composition and graphic nature of the shot that I’m working to compose. Today I found myself often stopping to pause and think about the better men than myself who were buried below me, taking note of the families and loved ones who are visiting and trying not to intrude on what might be a very private and personal time for them.

Jones Run Falls

2010-05-24T19:40:00.001-04:00

This past weekend I wanted to get out and do some hiking with Duke my Labrador Retriever. The weather forecast was for cloudy skies so I decided to hike to Jones Run Falls. Jones Run is located in the southern end of the park and it has been about 25 years since I last visited and photographed this waterfall. Before heading out I referenced a couple of my trail guides. One of the guides suggested this was not a good waterfall to photograph. The last time I was there I thought it was a nice waterfall, so I decided to hike down to the falls and give it a try. I was pleased to find the falls in great condition and in my opinion quite photogenic. The only bad thing was that it started raining while I was shooting the falls and kept raining the entire trip back up the mountain.

Dusk at the Car Farm

2010-05-13T16:46:00.000-04:00

In order to start light painting the landscape it has to be close to dark. Otherwise you will not get the long exposures that you need to run around and paint with a flashlight. Typically my light painting exposures range from 10 to 30 seconds. So what to do after the sun sets but before the stars come out? The answer is Flash! Flash photos taken at dusk also have a unique look. The shot above is 3 different flash exposures blended into one shot. The really cool thing about using flash at dusk is since you are exposing for the flash, the remaining landscape is shot at several stops underexposed. This will sometimes lend color in the sky that you would not normally recognize.

Midnight at the Car Farm

2010-05-12T19:21:00.000-04:00

I had a free night so I decided to work on my light paintings from my recent trip to a favorite location I affectionately call the “car farm”. I love light painting and have had pretty good success in the past, but I’m working on taking it to what I consider the next level. Doing this involves a bit more time and planning. I try and imagine the final shot and then figure out how to light it. The shot above is a combination of 6 different exposures. Overall I’m pretty pleased with the results.

Another Quick Trip

2010-05-05T16:47:00.001-04:00

Last weekend I got together with a couple friends to shoot a favorite location. I was hoping to do some light painting and star trails. I had the lensbaby attached to my camera when it came out of the bag so I walked around shooting with the lensbaby soft focus. The shot above is one of my favorites from the afternoon.

Great Falls

2010-04-30T19:27:00.000-04:00

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

2010-04-20T16:44:00.000-04:00

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

2010-04-12T16:00:00.003-04:00

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

2010-04-07T18:15:00.001-04:00

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.

The Scouting Trip from Hell

2010-03-24T20:42:00.000-04:00

For quite some time my friend Greg Daily has been trying to get me to go camping with him. While I admit this could have its benefits in regard to being near your sunrise locations, I need the modern creature comforts that I have become accustomed to. So for a couple years every time the subject comes up I say “not interested”.

Last weekend started out quite normally. I got together with friends Greg Daily and Bill Gercken. Greg plans to lead a field trip for the Manassas-Warrenton Camera Club to the George Washington National Forest later this summer. In preparation we decided to spend the day scouting various locations including campsites. It was a beautiful day and the temperature was about 70 degrees. We found 2 promising locations to return to for light painting against the starlit sky before heading home. So far so good…

Then we decided to check out one more spot. We started heading down a forest service road that follows the ridgeline to Reddish Knob. Remember what I said about it being 70 degrees? It turns out this area had 10 feet of snow this past winter. Greg drives a Mountaineer with all wheel drive. We started encountering a little snow on the road about 8 miles in. All told we were about 30 miles from civilization. A little snow soon turned into a significant amount of snow. Seconds after Greg questioned if we should proceed, his Mountaineer stopped dead in its tracks. We lost our ground clearance and the snow pack was icy. We spent the next 4 hours trying to dig the Mountaineer free with the most rudimentary of tools. We were only able to move the vehicle forward a few feet and could not get traction to get back up the mountain. By this time it became very clear we were not going home from our day trip.

I checked my phone and had little to no signal. But I found a nearby tree that seemed to act as a signal booster. As long as I stood next to the tree I was able to place calls, at least for a minute or two before the call would drop. I called home to explain our situation and my wife got busy working the phone. The Forest Service turned her down since we were not officially lost, just stuck in the middle of nowhere. They suggested she call a towing company. Most turned her down because of the distance or amount of snow. She called just about everyone she could find in 4 counties and late Sunday morning found Bowers Towing in Sugar Grove, WV. These guys were the best!!! Once they heard we had been stranded on the mountain overnight they promised to come at once.

Our first choice was to be towed out. Hiking out would have meant leaving lots of gear behind. None of us were in favor of this option, but staying another night was not an option either. If we had to hike out, I had family standing by to pick us up within a couple miles, but there were 4 to 5 foot snow drifts between them and us.

Greg was a lifesaver. When it became clear we were not getting out, he promptly started a campfire, started melting snow for water and had packed a blanket and towels that helped keep us warm. Bill’s positive attitude really helped keep my anxiety level in check. Sleep was minimal for all of us. With 3 guys who snore means that no one really gets to sleep.

The Blog image was taken early in the day. After getting stranded I was in no mood to be creative. So no light painting or star trails on this trip.

The surprising thing is that I’m actually considering going camping sometime, if I plan for it has got to be better than this trip.

One More

2010-03-22T22:52:00.000-04:00

This past weekend I finished an adventure that I can’t wait to blog about, but before doing so I wanted to post another favorite from my recent trip to Longwood Gardens. It is a 10 shot multiple exposure close up of a hibiscus bloom taken with a Lensbaby with the soft focus optic.