Location

Scenic photography locations

St.Patricks Day Parade in Southie

Kevin

From California to Georgia, there are a dozen notable St.Patrick’s Day parades that are staged annually in the United States.  But the mac daddy of them all occurs in South Boston.  In 1737 the Irish Society of Boston hosted the first parade to honor St. Patrick’s Day.  Today, this parade can draw a crowd of spectators numbering more than 800,000.  You won’t find big expensive floats like the Rose Bowl Parade or Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, but come on now … the Irish are bit more down to earth.  This parade is a casual affair.  People have fun.

Above all else, anyone thinking of attending this event should be aware of one thing … don’t expect to find a parking space!  Take public transportation.  Parking in Southie is a scarce on normal days; but when the parade route is cleared of all parked vehicles, those displaced vehicles (belonging to local residents) fill every available nook and crany.

 The light was a bit challenging this year … bright sun and deep shadows.  In such situations, a little fill-flash is often the solution to reducing unwanted facial shadows.  Though I had a flash in my bag, I neglected to use it because it has been quite some time since I have done a shoot in this light.   This means a lot more work in post-processing to recover the shadow details (not something I really want to do if I can avoid it.)

(click on an image to see a larger view)

http://www.saintpatricksdayparade.com/boston/boston.htm

Trees @ Mt.Auburn

Trees @ Mt.Auburn

Kevin

When you get the urge to make some outdoor photographs, do you have places that you return to repeatedly?  Would one of those places be a cemetary?   Likely not.  But, Mt.Auburn cemetary (in Cambridge Massachusetts) hosts a marvelous array of flowering trees.  It really is a beautiful place, (with or without tombstones).

Today, I received another canvas print (from ArtisticPhotoCanvas.com) of an image from Mt.Auburn.  So, I am just sharing this image with you, along with another Mt.Auburn image, which I had printed earlier this year (also printed on canvas by APC).

   (To see a larger version, click on the image)







The most recent print is apparently an azalea shrub, though I do not know the exact species.  It is photgraphed with a Canon 100mm f\2.8L macro lens.  (My experience has been that this lens is superior to using a non-macro lens coupled with an extension tube)

The second is a crabapple tree, photographed with the Canon 70-200mm IS f\4.

Fir branch under ice

Kevin


Hiking in the white mountains of NH on Dec.1, there was no snow at the trail head, but eventually became a foot deep. Having made such a mistake once before (several years ago), I kicked myself for doing it again.

It was a long cold day, but there were rewards. In particular there were a few little streams that crossed the trail with small waterfalls only a few inches in height. The spray of water caused some interesting ice formations, including the one shown here. The fir branch was covered in ice, but the mossy rock beneath it was not, presumably because the movement of the water was enough to prevent freezing.

In retrospect, the choice of aperature plays an important role in the success of this image. Both the extreme foreground and the extreme background are slightly out of focus. However, I wish I had framed the image a bit more to the left to avoid the ice touching the left edge of the frame.

Click on the image for a larger view.

Canon EOS 5D mk II, 70-200mm (@ 170), ISO 800, f/7.1, 1/200 sec

The Third Sheep

Kevin

Often, I will plan to be at a certain place at sunrise in order to photograph with the warm sunrise light. However, on this particular day, the weather forecast called for cloudy and cold. So I did not leave my motel room until 7:30am and only then found that some sun was dodging through the cloud cover.
Looking at a map, I chose some back roads to explore. The first road followed a river, but I saw nothing that caught my photographic intentions. Then I drove off through some farmland and stumbled upon these sheep, grazing on a hillside covered with frost. Atop the hill, the sun was catching the orange leaves of autumn maple trees. At the bottom of the hill was a still pool catching reflections.
Just a bit of sunlight on the trees, combined with general cloud cover, the conditions were fleeting and did not last. I captured about a dozen images; this is one of my favorites.
Where is the third sheep? Uphill, further toward the trees, out of frame … but appears in the reflection.

Canon EOS 5D mkII; 70-200mm @ 200; ISO 800, 1/320, f/10

Trillium

admin

Here is a very different type of image from Katahdin / Baxter State Park.
 
 
Both painted trillium and purple trillium are common in the northeast forests and both have a very small window of time during which they bloom, maybe three weeks. Purple trillium are more difficult to photograph because the flowers have a nodding presentation (the flowers droop over and face the ground).
 
 
What always catches my eye is groups of these flowers. Typically they are solitary plants, so a cluster of them is a nice find. For this shot, I used a wide-angle zoom lens with an extension tube. Without the extension tube, focusing distance is perhaps 14 inches. With the extension tube, I can get much closer to the flower, reducing the distance about 50%.
Canon 5D mk II, ISO 400, f/14, 1/6 sec (on a tripod of course)
.

Katahdin

admin

While Mt. Washington (New Hampshire) is the highest peak east of the Mississippi, the terrain of Mt. Katahdin (Maine) is clearly the most challenging “hiking” that I have ever seen (excluding technical “rock climbing”). Before hiking up to the Knife Edge via the Dudley Trail, I thought perhaps carrying a tripod might be a hinderance, so I left it at camp. In retrospect, this was a prudent choice; the Dudley is more rock climbing than hiking. I am not typically afraid of heights, but this trail gave me the creeps!

Atop the Dudley Trail is the infamous Knife Edge between Pamola Peak and Baxter Peak. Having now personally traversed the Knife Edge, I must tell you that words cannot do it justice. It is the most dramatic landscape I have ever seen in the northeast USA; beyond that, I am at a loss for words.

It is widely reported that Mt. Washington is home of the world’s worst weather. Truthfully, many mountains have the same weather; they just don’t have an observatory at the summit to record the facts. At Katahdin, when the weather turned bad, I left and went home.
.

Backpacking and Photography

admin

Carrying a lot of heavy camera equipment on an overnight hiking trip … is a little crazy. It’s just too much weight. For a three-day backpack trip, you might need to carry 35 to 40 pounds of food, clothes, and camping equipment. Add to that 8 to 12 pounds of cameras and lenses, then another 8 pounds for a tripod, you are then carrying 60 pounds. I do not recommend it. That being said, I will do it on occaision to photograph remote locations.

But how to carry all this stuff? “Photo backpack” sounds perfect, but truthfully, these things are designed to carry camera equipment and not much else. Photo backpacks cannot carry all the food, clothing and camping equipment for overnight trips. A hiker’s backpack is necessary. I use a large backpack, stuff a camera bag inside of that, then make daytrips from camp, carrying only the smaller photo bag.

In the past, my camera bag on these trips has been a waist pack plus a small day pack. In fact, the LowePro Orion AW actually comes with both (at least mine did years ago). The waist pack allows fast access to camera equipment without removing a pack from my back.
For my upcoming trip, I will be using a Kata 3N1. This bag quickly converts from a two-shoulder backpack to a one-shoulder sling. On top of that, it has a small compartment at the top, just big enough for lunch and a jacket. Compared to the Orion AW waist bag, the small 3N1-10 is about the same capacity, while the larger 3N1-30 has twice the capacity and still provides fast access to equipment.

My large backpack is an old Kelty Super Tioga external frame pack. Because most hikers today use internal frame packs, most don’t realize that an external frame pack is still a good option in some cases. Some people seem to believe that external frame packs are relics from WWI and no longer manufactured today. Of course, this is false. Just as an example, the ancient and venerable Super Tioga lives on in 2009, though the name has changed. I recently ordered a replacement hip-belt for my Super Tioga, which simply is not possible with an internal frame pack.
.