FritzImages

My thoughts driving into Vermont were to find landscape outdoor digital Image opportunities. But before any hiking was to be done, a trip with Mr. Knowledge over to the Brondville fair (Vermont’s Oldest continouse fair) was in order.

As always, I’m packing a DLSR, and have it set up with the new 16-35 f4g V2. I have been shooting a lot with the lens and like it quite a bit, it puts out some quality images, makes you move to get your shot, and even at 1/50 sec, the VR can buy you a few more stops, and then the D3s can crank up the ISO so this body/lens combination is very productive in both rural/urban environment.

But this was a tractor pull, well actually a Vermont Tractor Pulling Association sponsored event in the street legal pickup class, with the winner earning bragging rights for the next year.

Well getting out of my comfort zone is one thing, so I just began to retool the D3s to Shutter priority at 1/60, pumped my ISO to 12,800, set focus mode to continuous….and started my panning as the trucks roared up the track…

I soon found out that the smoke spewing trucks created the motion and drama and power that produced a compelling Image. In post, I liked the roughness of the moment accented by the grainy ISO pixels, so I went for my ‘old school’ film plug-ins, to pull it all together… It was a fun evening and fresh candy apples were had by all…

One can only imagine what happens beneath the range of light that falls on the earth from the moon. The idea for waking at 3:30 to travel back to Grafton Peace Pagoda came to me from when I was here the day before, but that idea had its beginning thread from my August 31st post, Moonrise.

It all seemed interconnected, as I witnessed the white moonlight streaming down over the white dome creating this wonderful reflecting glow back into the night. The world beneath this moon had seen its fair share of hustle and bustle, but here in this tranquil setting, the moonlight was at peace.

There is quite a bit of information on the web about the Peace Pagoda, which are located throughout the world. I’ve read articles by it’s Japanese founder and later day disciples and all the activity that has been going on to establish more Pagodas. Interestingly, the only two in the US are located in Massachusetts, but there is a third in construction in my favorite woodlands, the smokey mountains of Tennessee, near ORNL where I once worked…..

One last comment, with 9/11, just a few days away, a peace march starts here and moves thru some of the larger cities in the area and then winds it’s way down to NYC. ‘Why do you have a peace walk?’, was a questioned posed to the venerable Nipponzan Myōhōji nun who efforts helped built this Pagoda, ‘because I have a leg’. This honorable woman Jun Yasuda has walked the entire US, three times, amazing……..

Wikipedia.com

My eyes have never seen such a sight as this. First I have never seen a pagoda and second here it was, a brilliant white dome, backdropped across the blue sky, out here in the middle of nowhere.  I was amazed, who would build such a building   why?, where did the money and time and material come from ? What was its purpose ?  I figured there were plenty of answers to those basic questions, which I’d research later…

For what was before me, after coming out of the woodland trail , was an Image of wonderment that I wanted to capture, in all of its glory in this wonderful, peaceful, tranquil environment. I walked around the building, looking for different angles, but kept coming back to this location.  Fortunately for me, a group of people arrived, so now the Pagoda image has some life in it, and not just this wonderful white domed building.

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I have led you on with a bit of a trip with my Images these past few days.  For those just tuning in, I am traveling towards the Peace Pagoda of Grafton,MA thru a short peace trail.  Here, just before a short embankment climb to the large open field where the Pagoda lies is this  very very strange woodland scene.

After I came upon the area, my thoughts were how to put my vison of all these elements together and hopefully have some cooperation with natures lighting.  The devotion rockpile was precariously  stacked and the colors and shades of the rock held a lot of harmony against the father tree and background saplings.  So I went low and up  and framed the devotion rocks under one of the arms of the father tree.

Then it was time to wait for the sun to hide behind some very shallow clouds to diffuse the light. The waiting game begain as I waited for an hour for the proper light.  I have dozens of impatient shots of this image of the sunlight breaking thru all the tree leaves and casting a mottled layer of bright light and shade spots which distract for the content of this image.

My wait was but a moment in time. Can you imagine, how long it has taken for that piece of rectangular granite now sandwiched between the crux of the tree to inch skyward in these woodlands.  And now this odd hurtful looking tree commands a final image to the entrance of one of only two Peace Pagodas in the US…….

to be continued……

It really was an interesting walk thru this short forest trail which led to the Grafton Peace Pagoda. The trail was extremly well marked with black arrows on small squares on a white backgeound, nailed into trees every ten feet.  The trail itself was worn well thru the upper ground level of any tree which butted against the edges of the trail.

However, there were unique devotion rockstacks every where along the trail.  Each was different and seperate from its neighbors, and they were everywhere.  This small forest trail was entirely new to me as well as this paths ending. I could not help wonder who would spend so much time practiving their faith in such a far away place on such a simple trail.  You see, after doig some research the following day, there are only 2 Peace Pagodas in the US, and this simple trail, with the simple devotion rockstack were the lead into  something quite special and I think spectacular…..

One part of Newton’s theory of motion is that a body in motion tends to stay in motion, so after an early-bird morning of shooting fake farm cows and fall fauna, I spent some time spelunking up a mountain drive. I drove past nothing more than a 8X11 small white sigh that said ‘Grafton Peace Pogoda’, my interst piqued,

I headed up a dirt road with fall overgrowth of grapeleaves and blackberry bushes, that soon revealed on the left hand side of the road this royal looking sign. Not knowing what this little trip was going to bring, I loaded up my domke-bag with my digital D3s a few ulta wides, fish, 105mm and head up the trail and Gitzo….my quest for travel and outdoor adventure was very curious for what I’d see next…..

to be continued…

It is the best Ice Cream for miles. It is the most flavorful with twenty exotic flavors of vanilla. Something called a BLUE MOON, (recipe closely garderd) is a best seller. Ever had black licorice ice cream ?  You will find flavors here not invented anywhere else, and they all taste great…

The place is called Moxie’s.  I added this location to Image taking list early in the summer.  So when is the best time for a neat colorful Image to match the internal flavors of Moxie’s, yep late at night, around 9pm.  If you are in the Troy, NY area …take a short trip over here, you’ll enjoy the simple moment……

There are simple moments, just past your door threshold, that give meaning to your passion for photography.  It is easy to loose your balance between the natures night lights and mans lcds. I really enjoy waiting for nature to align all these elements and being there to witness and capture this vision.

You may need some tools to make it happen, and more tools to create the final Image to share, but did I say?, I really deep down enjoy that 1/60 of a second, … in the cool night air, watching the sun set in the west, … its last light sending out a faint pink hue as a full moon reflects its orb of white onto a path of clouds stuck between the passing of day into night.

The one thing that you need to do, is be there, it’s that simple moment, waiting for us ……moonrise

Born of the earth, raised by the sun, quenched by the rain, Image captured, vision fulfilled in the Digital Darkroom…..can’t for the life of me understand why this Image has stuck around with me for over a year, it might not be anyone’s cup of tea but mine, so it’s out for a few eyeballs in the world to see now.  The simplicity of an Image, the composition, the elements selected, the colors, shades, hues all contribute hopefully to a compelling Image.

I wanted a diffused, soft petel look, and my plan has been to figure out a process to put texture and contrast back into the flower, which I have been working on for a while.  It’s a test, so each time I check into this posting, I see how it goes with the daily flow, moods and ambient lighting.

The image was shot with the venerable 70-180 f/4.5-5.6D ED variable aperture zoom. The lens is no longer in production, and its strengths are optics,contrast, bokeh, short working distance, macro work and a variable aperture (aperture does not change with focus)…Glowing reviews and the lack of people parting with them can sometimes make finding them in the used  market difficult.  I was able to find mine at KEH Camera.

The original curator of the Rhinebeck Aerodrome in the early 70′s had a similar plane and this one was built in the 1990 to compliment the original. The small size, agility,  lift and speed is amazing for a 1930 era plane. This particular plane is powered by a 175hp Ranger and can reach top speed of 110 mph. During the latter half of the air-show a few of the vintage aircraft take off and square off in the sky for some dogfights and special exercises for the spectators.

This Image was taken with the 200-400v2 (handheld) as this wonderful 1931 Great Lakes charged off the runway.  The access to the runway is quite good so you can get rather close for your digital Images. You can sense the planes power,speed and movement by the streaking background of building,trees and runway, created by panning with the plane during takeoff.  An added plus here is the pilots long white scarf, that is way cool…I have poseted some other Images from that day, and getting the sense of movement is key, for instance…

In a bald blue or gray sky , planes can look like bricks without something like clouds or another plane creating sometime of movement. You can try to blur a background, but it does not  have that same feeling as a streaking background……

Another thing you don’t want to do is freeze the prop action, so for the most part you’re letting the camera take care of the aperture as you keep Shutter priority on at 250. Most of the camera settings are unique to this type of photography, and you have to prepare yourself and camera for the this outdoor adventure.

In my photography, I try to take some of the tips and advice that come form the pros, Moose Peterson has branched out from his self proclaimed comfort zone and expanded his photography prowess into winged flight.  His recent daily blogs at the airshows in Reno and Oshkosh provide some of the insights that I have written about…if you want to see some really killer Images of warbirds  and a way cool website, check out his latest work at…...warbirdimages.com

During my early morning travel through the backroads of the Berkshires, I passed this old semi-abandonded farm equipment repair  station. The sun was just peaking thru some trees behind me and I set up the Pce-24. I was soon visited by a young man who told me that his great great grandfather and family had a garage here since the early 1920′s.  They had closed the shop up in the early ’90′s, so about 75 years of outdoor rural Americana had passed thru here. It must have been a busy place, with three large bay doors….

From the start I wanted to get the’New Idea’ sign in the Image, and it took a bit of fussing to do. I also had to think about how I could use the digital Image darkroom  to adjust the perspective using content aware scaling and PT lens Plugin from ePaperPress

I still wonder what ‘New Idea’ farm equipment was like, and did it go the way of our other American production and manufacturing. That sign was the draw for me, still perched out there, a type of symbolism for the 21st Century, new ideas don’t really last, continuous change does…..

During a recent semipro baseball game at Joe Bruno Stadium in Troy, New York, these wonderful GodBeams split out from behind the overcast clouds. Being able to get these sunsets is not uncommon, but when you add in the baseball game, with a new pitcher warming up, and a Yankee relaxing, it becomes a compelling Image.

The hometown team the Valley Cats went on to win the game against the Lowell Spinners.  The lens used here is the new 16-35mm v2 @22mm f/5.6 and ISO 800.  You can’t have it any better than this, a landscape photo in the middle of the sports action.

There is a move afoot to close the aceess to this overlook spot.  So I have gone to this spot regularly to get a perspective in case the dirt road to the peak is shut to the public.  This time, just as I was unpacking and setting up my gear, this was my first shot of the four hour evening.

I probably could have gone home after this one. I really like the colors and 3-D perspective, that flows from the tall foreground tree sweeping back o the clouds. The lens was the new 24mm f/1.4,, which was at f/13 on my Gitzo 3541….

Made my way up to the ‘track’ and took in the sites and sounds of the Saratoga.  For the uninitiated Saratoga has been the site of the oldest running major thoroughbred horse in the US. The track has been called the Graveyard of Favorites, due to upsets like Man-o-war, Secretariat, and then there was the 100-1 longshot Jim Dandy in 1930.  Last year I took my 200v2 and tripod and set up at backstretch, this year, I went a little more nimble, with my 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G VR, and stayed near the finish line to get this Image.

I wanted to get some blur in the hoofs and legs, so my shutter speed of 200, aperture was 5.6.  The lens has VR so I was able to pan and get some pretty clean shots.  The high sun is always bothersome, so my polarizer was the Marumi, which helped a tad….

Sleeping in, that’s a noble idea, ‘cept when you forget to reprogram the iphone-alarm.  Next dilemma of the 5:00 morning, no power…it’s the middle of summer and the juice is gone…so it’s time to get out the candles and think about how to make time work for me.

That’s when I decided to try the 16-35mm w/marumi c-pol that I ordered months ago and try my hand at some photography off the shoreline…yep..it’s on my list of trying ….out into three feet of water I went

The subject eluded me for a minute, I was taking images of the dock, w/foreground trees, polarized water shadows, the opposite shoreline..then the obvious became clear….it’s the water.

The water on the lake is clear, spring feed, the rain during the night put a refreshing scent into the area. It was too cool to be buggy…and the patten of clouds and reflective powder-blue sky with a tinge of  landscape  morning haze and the composition mural was basically complete.

There is a time period, which I’d say is a half an hour between sunset and twilight, that the water is generally very smooth and calm, the sky is a display of color and cloud formations, and the sun is just setting. It is at this time that the  call for “Last Ski’ is heard in the homes along the lake.  The moment is magically wonderfully, the thrill of skiing on the silky water surface and feeling the rush of the cool evening breezes while gazing at the sky is what it is all about…….

We have this neat slice of baseball here in the Capital region.  The ValleyCats are a minor league baseball team that have all the promotions, fireworks and kid friendly events that you can think of.  The baseball can be very competitive, the new stadium is first class and ticket prices ($5-$10)  can’t be beat for entertainment value.

For my photography, getting seats close to the visitors side first base is key. Here I’ll set up my 200-400 V2 on a mini-pod on top of the visitor dugout to get the pitchers and plate, and I’ll use my other camera body setup with a 70-200m to get  first base, infield action and inside stadium promotional activity (it can be crazy sometimes!).  It’s just a fun time, and another big plus, they will bring you nice cold beers seatside …Go Cats…..

The iphone wake-ring although expected was not welcome.  My posting for last nights ‘Jenny’ sucked up more time in the DD than expected, so at 2Am, it was finished. That left only two hours of sleep before heading to Bear Mountain. I resorted to an old tip about wearing your clothes to sleep to allow a few more minutes of sleep…

Why the draw ?.…I knew from my last foray up the mountain that it I could luck out and get a sky that wasn’t bald, I might have an enjoyable image.  Here the city looms under it vapor lights which we captured in the low cloud cover.

I have discovered that the 12-24mm is best for 4-5:30 time range, (no ND filter required) and the lens is sharp, a new tip picked up from this AM; use Live View to select and nail your focus in low light.  I also work my white balance and picture control with a few tweaks.

The morning twilight is so fragile and fleeting, these Images are only available for two-five minutes, but they are incredibly enjoyable to witness, and I never tire of looking at that first pre-dawn….

There is a lot of vintage aircraft left to be posted from my Images taken at the Rhinebeck Aerdrome a month ago. The aircraft shown here is the 1917 Curtis “Jenny”, its name coming from the model letter JN-4.
These aircraft never saw action in WWI, but somehow it became famous as America’s first wartime airplane.  Her main purpose was to train pilots for the Army, Navy, and close to 7,000 were built in Buffalo, NY. After the war hundreds of the planes were sold to the public, and with its 90HP motor and ease of flying, it became a very popular plane. As a matter of fact, Charles Lindbergh’s first plane was a Jenny….. Today there are only 50 Jenny’s left, found mostly in museums, and very few are flown…so this is a rare treat to see this bird up in the sky….

For the last few years I have been driving around the mountain back roads searching for a vantage point  to glimpse an unencumbered landscape view of the area.

A week ago I saw a sign made of ragged half sheet of plywood painted brick red with white letters that sounded out a call to arms to ‘KEEP BEAR POINT OPEN”.  So during the evening I inquired at the local tavern where was Bear Mountain peak ?

That is when I learned that a half a mile up the road from my house, was an abandoned mountain road, that traverses straight up to the wonderful view of Rensellear Valley.

I woke at 4:00am this morning and trekked up the logging road, lugging my 45,50,16,14-24 lens, At the peak, the 24 PC-E was the lens to use to assist in framing the shot. As much as I frame away from a mid-horizon line, there was no way to avoid it…., I wanted the escarpment boulders in the foreground, the elm and lower lake to create the depth and let the morning pink glow create the drama, with the morning haze over the far off Berkshires.

The folks at the Reinbeck airdrome have restored a number of vintage ground vehicles to compliment their airshow. This 1917 Model T speedster was one of 15,000,000 model T’s build from 1909 to 1927. At the time you could have paid about $700 for this car.  The day I was there it had just received a new coat of paint, hence the mottled yellow tires.

Behind the model T, is a 1913 Renault, and the plane taking off is a 1929 Barnstormer, know as the D-25 which has a top speed of 110 MPH.  I took my shot after watching the D-25 approach and bank for landing, and soon afterwords the cars where all started up and driven away for the airshow performance.

I waited under the canopy of the fast moving storm cell with my eyes glazing upwards towards the mountain top shrouded in the turbulent fog blanketing its ridgeline.  Looking eastward, I knew the sun would have to rise aft the mountain – bursting up thru the misty vapors and burn off the fog.

I framed my Images and waited for the clouds and sun to do its dance and tug and pull for control of the morning.  It was one of those romancing the cool morning light moments. To realize that feeling on my D3s and 80-300mm, I chose autowhite balance, standard picture control and pushed my ISO to soften the pixels.

After the morning sunrise spectacle, which starts at 4:30 and ends at 6:00, the biology starts to kick in on this large pond.  If the temps are cool it takes awhile for the insects to start to moving about, then the birds start warming up, especially the swallows. These birds tend to stay perched on power lines observing everything until the bugs start moving.

The next thing you know it, this tree branch becomes the local rookery for the kids, while the parents dart all over collecting the Breaskfast at Brodie’s…..mmm …I’ll have a toasted moth…

I recalled months ago,  looking westward at the tip of the Sierra’s in the morning twilight waiting for the eastern sun to rise up from behind the mountains to my back, which then lite up the Sierra’s peak tops with a unfamiliar pink/purple hue on a grey/brown snow.

This morning, the weather has been calm and warm for a few days, and the sun’s movements from behind Mount Brodie sent out a similar pink/magenta color, faintly similar, but uniquely east coast.  I’ve been using this easy access but isolated pond beneath Brodie to settle on some Image techniques with shutter, polarizer, split grads, and f/stop.

After, a few thoughtful realizations about how polarizers rob 1 stop of light, I finally was able to set up this exposure correctly.  I took my spot meter reading at the sky above the sun rise and set and locked my exposure.  I then opened up the exposure by 2.5 stop, then used my .9 ND grad, and took the Image at f/16 for 1/2 sec

Well, I finally have been able to take aim with the new 200-400 V2 on some local flying critters and the results are remarkable.  Last week I was tracking baseball players and old warplanes with the lens, and this is the first real chance to use it on some cooperative wildlife.

I’ve tried using the tc-20e II with the lens in low light and the autofocus does not work that well.  I should have tried it in this early morning sun, but I was getting fairly close up to the critters so I just did not get around to it.  Overall the lens is dynamic, very fast on acquisitions, and locks on quickly.  I’ll work may way to a review after I have some more field experience.  First impressions are superb though…as this little guy can attest to..