Wild Katahdin Landscape

March 15, 2021March 15, 2021Kevin

Mount Katahdin, northern terminus of the Applachian Trail

I’ve been thinking of turning this image into a wall poster and have finally done that. The scene is remarkable in particular because a solitary person appears quite small and provides the viewer a sense of scale. This mountain is unlike any other east of the Mississippi River.

I created this photograph during a solo visit to Katahdin. After spending the night at Chimney Pond, I arose early and ascended a very steep trail up to the top of the ridge. As a matter of lucky coincidence, this unidentified lone hiker happened to be about twenty minutes ahead of me.

Here’s what the medium-size poster looks like on my Redbubble store (https://www.redbubble.com/people/kevinheaven/shop).

2020 Cherry Blossom Watch – Boston Update

April 21, 2020November 5, 2022Kevin

April 19 – Boston
At the Public Garden, the flowering plum trees are solidly at peak bloom. Although some cherry trees are beginning to drop their flower petals, color will soon be reborn once the crabapples begin to bloom.

The jackpot of cherry trees is located nearby at the Charles River Esplanade. Here, multiple varieties of cherry trees are near peak bloom and should be giving a great display all this week. Of course, the Kwanzan Cherry trees (near the Hatch Memorial Shell) have not yet begun to bloom.

Charles River Esplanade, Boston Massachusetts

April 21 – Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Cherry trees near City Hall have not yet begun to bloom. Just across the street at Langdon Park, the prettiest tree in Portsmouth is just beginning to display the first few flowers. Downtown on State Street, flowing plum trees are displaying good color.

See my cherry blossom report from two weeks ago here:
https://www.kevindavisphoto.com/blog/2020-cherry-blossom-watch-boston-ma/

Re-processing Photos for T-shirts & Coffee Mugs

April 16, 2020April 16, 2020Kevin

Recently I have been working through my photography catalog for the purposes of overhauling my website. At the same time, I’ve been recognizing that some images can be repurposed for graphic t-shirts and coffee mugs. My latest design is shown here; the left version is intended to be printed on light backgrounds and the right version is intended to be printed on dark backgrounds.

My products at Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/kevinheaven

For this particular work, I used Adobe Photoshop and multiple plugins by Topaz Labs. To adjust the color palette and to enhance the details, I commonly use Topaz Adjust and Topaz Detail.

Here’s the original digital photo from ten years ago. This was probably the first time I had ever taken a digital SLR on a backpacking trip. Because I had not yet learned the features of this camera, I neglected one of the most remarkable features of the Canon 5D mark II … the first DSLR camera capable of 1080p high-def video. To this day, I regret that I did not capture any video in this remote unique landscape.

If you look closely (click on the image to see a larger view) toward the top right of the image, you will see blue blazes painted on the rocks; these blazes mark the hiking trail … a very narrow trail with a potentially nasty drop-off.

2020 Cherry Blossom Watch : Boston MA

April 5, 2020Kevin

All photos in this post were created this morning in Boston.

Considering that the peak bloom in Washington D.C. is at least a week early this year, I am a bit surprised that the timing of cherry blossoms in Boston is looking to be far more normal.

Washington D.C.

“Peak bloom” of the cherry blossoms in Washington D.C. generally pertains to the Yoshino cherry trees.

(According to the National Park Service) This year, peak bloom occurred about March 20, compared to last year when peak bloom occurred April 1. The March air temperatures this year were about seven degrees (f) warmer than last year.

Several years ago, I was in D.C. for the cherry blossoms when spring temperatures arrived earlier than normal. Fortunately for me, I caught the peak bloom just a day or two before a wind storm knocked most of the blossoms off of the Yoshino trees on March 25.

Branch Brook Park, Newark NJ

A 360-acre park, Branch Brook hosts 5000 cherry trees, the highest density of cherry trees anywhere in North America. With numerous varieties of cherry trees, they do not all bloom at the same time and peak season can last two to three weeks.

As I visited Branch Brook in 2019, the trees were spectacular around April 11.

In 2020, in the interest of social distancing for COVID-19, the park was formally closed to visitors. I can find no information regarding the timing of the cherry blossoms.

Boston MA

A bit akin to Branch Brook Park, Boston has a variety of different trees such that “peak bloom” in Boston is not a singular period of three to five days. Furthermore, Boston’s flowering trees include species other than cherry trees. The Back Bay area is known for Magnolias that bloom at the beginning of April, a dozen varieties of cherries, followed by Kwanzan Cherry that bloom near the end of the month, and then joined by Flowering Dogwood.

In 2019, cherry blossoms along the Charles River Esplanade were stunning around April 22.

Today in 2020, along with the blooming of Magnolias, both Haigan and Weeping Haigan cherry are just now blooming. While I did see two other cherry trees blooming, most cherry species have not yet begun to bloom in Boston.

One Year After The Fire

October 23, 2019October 23, 2019Kevin

Mid-October 2018, I photographed Wakefield Massachusetts using an aerial drone. As the autumn colors were not well developed yet, I returned a week later to make the same photo again. That’s the first photo here, October 23, 2018.

Some renovation work was in progress that day. You can see scaffolding against the steeple and one of the tall windows is laying on the grass.

In the evening later that day, a lightning storm passed through the area and this presumably sparked the fire that destroyed the First Baptist Church. The next day, I again put the drone in the air to photograph the aftermath of the fire.

Today is the one-year anniversary of that fire, so I returned to again make the same photograph, but without the church.

Outdoor Photography – chasing mother nature

June 28, 2019July 28, 2022Kevin

Rumney Marsh photographed with an aerial drone (sUAS)

I first visited Rumney Marsh in the month of May. Although I discovered some great photo compositions, the marsh was mostly brown. Presuming that the grasses would fully transform the landscape into a greener palate, I vaguely planned to return some weeks later. Shown here below is my first image from the May visit:

This year, spring in New England has featured more rain than normal. Dry days are a bit like currency – have to spend them judiciously. Five or six weeks later I returned to the marsh on a dry day and found the green grasses covered the land, as expected. Unexpectedly, coastal clouds were lingering and the water reflected white sky (not blue sky).

While that is a nice image, … I had imagined the water reflecting a blue sky. So, I returned later that same day after the clouds cleared away. That final image is shown at the top of this article.

In all three instances, the image required post-processing for HDR, particularly because the buildings on the horizon were too bright. So each of these three instances is a combination of multiple exposures, simply to control the dynamic range of light.

Photo Opportunity – Blooming of the Cherry Trees

March 25, 2019Kevin

Evening at the tidal basin, Washington D.C.

Flowers blooming on Cherry trees is a harbinger of spring because Cherry trees bloom first, before other flowering trees. While these blooms are a much anticipated spectacle, predicting when the cherry trees will bloom … is difficult business.

From Macon Georgia to Boston Massachusetts, you can visit well-known groves of cherry trees. The trees bloomed in Georgia last week. Unfortunately, I missed it because of car trouble.

The very first blooms appeared in Macon GA around March 10. The very first blooms appeared in Washington D.C. just a few days ago.

The general blooming of Cherry trees in Washington D.C. has not happened yet, but should begin by end of this week. Midweek temperatures this week are still cool with overnight temperatures close to freezing. The current weather forecast tells that the temperature will warm this Thursday. So, blooms should be popping this coming weekend.

At our nation’s capitol, people do actively report the progress of the cherry tree buds. Here’s an update today:
cherry-blossoms-now-at-stage-4-with-peak-bloom-fast-approaching

The best-known location around D.C. is the tidal basin, shown in the photo above. As you can see in this late-day photo, it can draw a dense crowd. You will not find crowds like this early in the morning.

Public Art (on utility boxes)

August 22, 2018Kevin

Stopping at a coffee shop downtown, I put a quarter in the parking meter. When I returned, 20 minutes remained on the meter, so I took a short walk. That’s when I happily discovered art on a utility box … and another … and another.

While I prefer a camera with interchangeable lenses, at times like this I am happy to have a mobile phone with a camera. My phone-camera is not a great camera, but as the saying goes … the best camera is the one you have with you.

I must also note that Android / Google Photos includes some photo post-processing functions that I rarely use but did use here. The leftmost image was badly overexposed. The problem was very well solved by applying “auto”.

(No, I’m not giving up my big interchangable-lens cameras.)

Pansonic Lumix G3, G5, G7, G85 and G9

January 8, 2018January 8, 2018Kevin

(Left) Panasonic Lumix G3, and (right) Panasonic Lumix G85

Panasonic has long maintained two similar MFT camera lines, DMC-G series and DMC-GH series. In general, the G series has been intended as mid-level cameras while the GH series has been a bit more high-end, but the differences have not always been obvious. All of the G and GH series cameras are system cameras with interchangeable lenses and hot shoe for external flash.

While I do own and use DSLR cameras, I have used Panasonic Lumix cameras as smaller alternatives. My typical day kit (less gear than a multi-day kit) includes a camera body, two lenses, and minor accessories. My Lumix G series kit is half the size of my DSLR kit.

While camera features improve with each generation, the MFT image sensors in the Lumix cameras seems to not change very much. The resolution has remained 16 MP up until the new G9, which introduces 20MP in the same FT/MFT format. In low-light, the RAW image noise is less than excellent but isn’t bad. Comparing the G3 to the G85, I see a small improvement in the newer camera, but it is small. It effectively gives me one more stop; the G85 noise at ISO 3200 is comparable to the G3 at 1600.

Features

After considerable study, here are the notable feature changes (notable in my opinion) starting with the G3 and moving to the very latest G9 (which I believe will ship later this month).

The G5 camera layout and handling is essentially the same as the G3

9 fps vs 6 fps
“Live MOS” image sensor has technical speed improvements, but same resolution.
Video recording supports MP4
Higher resolution in both the LCD display and the EVF
Eye-sensor below the EVF
Larger handgrip

The G7 layout and handling is significantly updated (compared to the G5)

4K video recording
OLED touch screen
4K photo mode
Wi-fi

The G85 camera layout and handling is essentially the same as the G7. Here are the important feature enhancements in the G85.

In-body image stabilization (sensor-shift type)
9 fps vs 6 fps
49 focus pts vs 27
Higher resolution in both the LCD display and the viewfinder display

The G9 camera layout and handling is new and includes an monochrome LCD info screen on top of the camera. This is a breakout camera that exceeds the G series moniker.

20mp MFT sensor
20 fps
225 autofocus points
Much larger viewfinder (EFV)
UHD/4K video up to 60 fps
6K photo mode
80MP image achieved by shifting the sensor 1/2 pixel and then combining the two images together.
Optional battery grip (for better handling in vertical orientation)
USB 3.0
Both Wi-fi and Bluetooth
More than 5 ounces heavier than the G85; a bit smaller and lighter than GH5
Lacks any built-in flash

New England Autumn Foliage Season

September 22, 2017Kevin

I love autumn in New England. The colors of the leaves here are world famous. The reason is the large number of sugar maple trees and a good number of red maple trees.

If you are planning your fall vacation, there are a some good web sites that can help, but most are simply reporting the foliage as it is right now rather than forecasting when peak color will manifest.
Here’s a reasonably good map that I found helpful:

Peak Fall Foliage Map

Do keep in mind this is based upon past years and not necessarily an accurate prediction for this year. As they say in the stock market, past performance does not guarantee future results.

I’ve read multiple suggestions online that the color could be particularly vibrant this year, considering this year’s temperatures and rainfall. Eastern Massachusetts experience significant drought during 2016 … but not so in 2017.

Also consider the night temperatures are still warmer than usual. Tonight, temperature will finally drop into the 40s but warmth returns this weekend. This may mean peak color will be a bit later than usual.

Washington D.C.

Branch Brook Park, Newark NJ

Boston MA

Features

Pin It on Pinterest