Serenity

Way back in January, I got up one frigid morning and took my camera and tripod down to Brighton Beach to capture the sunrise.  While I got some very nice sunrise images (which, sadly and painfully, did not make the final cut), this was my favorite image of the day.  I love the calmness and the serenity that the picture conveys.  I also love the fact that if I didn’t tell you it was in the dead of winter, you’d probably think I took this during the summer.  I used my (then) brand new Lee Big Stopper (a 10ND filter) to be able to keep the shutter open long enough to smooth out the ocean while not having the entire picture blown out by all the light.  42mm, f/16, 13 seconds, 100 ISO, 10ND filter, tripod.

Arches

Central Park is one of my favorite places to shoot.  Being a nature lover who lives in the middle of the largest urban jungle in the country sometimes presents a challenge.  Sure you can get great cityscapes (some of which you’ll see later), but for greenery and such, it leaves much to be desired.  Unless of course, you head to one of the city’s parks — and Central Park is the biggest one of the bunch.

Bethesda Terrace is one of the most recognizable places in Central Park.  Most people have seen the famous fountain at 72nd Street.  However, aside from the fountain and the terrace which overlooks it, there is also the underside of the terrace, with it’s unique architecture and design.  I shot this one for 52 Frames for their “Black and White” week and it ended up earning one of the Top 4 spots for the week (out of close to 800 photos).

I don’t normally like to shoot black and white.  At heart, I’m a color junkie and I *love* seeing all the wonderful color that is out there.  But yet, I found that, for this shot, I ended up liking the black and white version better.  Perhaps it’s because the lack of color allows me to focus on the lines, textures and shapes in a way that I could not do with the color dominating the picture as it does in the color version:

I don’t know that this will inspire me to do more black and white shooting (it hasn’t really since I took it back in January), but I still happen to like it.  30mm, f/4.5, 25 seconds, ISO 100, tripod.

Rockefeller Center Flags

I don’t often shoot at Rockefeller Plaza.  In fact, the night I went to shoot this shot, I didn’t intend to go to Rockefeller Plaza to shoot.  I shot a picture of the status of Atlas and St. Patrick’s Cathedral for a 52 Frames photo and then, wandering around, came across the plaza.  It didn’t take me too long to notice how the flags were blowing in the night wind and to realize that, with a long enough exposure, I could get some interesting motion in the flags.  Add to the fact that all these world flags had tons and tons of color in them (I did mention earlier that I love color, right?) and that they could make a very interesting shot.  So I set up my tripod and shot the flags with various exposures and from various angles.  This was my favorite shot.

24mm, f/18, 6 seconds, ISO 200, tripod.

Colors of the City

There are plenty of great places to shoot the famous New York skyline.  Most people know about shooting from Brooklyn Bridge or Liberty State Park or from Weehawken.  Somewhat less known, however, is Gantry Plaza State Park.

Gantry Plaza State Park is located in Queens, just across the East River from Manhattan.  It’s a wonderful spot from which to shoot the skyline.  I arrived there on Presidents Day shortly before sunset and began shooting.  Since I was facing west, I had the sun setting behind the buildings and it made for some very nice shots.  Alas, some of those shots were the last ones to be cut for this Top 10.  The shot that did make it, however, was one that I took well after sunset.  The sky was already beginning to darken when I noticed how the colors of the skyscrapers were reflecting off the East River.  I realized that if I left the shutter open long enough to smooth out the motion of the water, it might make for an interesting shot.  This is the result:

I really like the reflection of the colors in the river.  I was originally ready to go home after sunset, but I’m glad I stuck around to see what other opportunities would develop and this one didn’t disappoint.  35mm, f/16, 30 seconds, ISO 100, tripod

Red Gerbera

Last year, I began taking photos of flowers on black backgrounds (in fact, one of them made it into last year’s Top 10).  I like the way the absolute darkness of the black contrasts with the color of the flower and makes it really stand out.  My favorite of the ones I shot this year is this one of a Red Gerbera.  Daises are wonderful flowers for photography, as they give you a defined center that the viewer can instantly focus on.

I don’t use my flash and umbrella too often (most of my shots, as you can easily see, are taken out of doors), but for flowers, they are perfect.  I’ve been experimenting with different lighting angles and different setups and hope to continue to improve at it over the coming year.  100mm, f/11, 1/30 second, ISO 100, tripod, flash, umbrella.

Little Red and Big George

Aside from the skyline and the skyscrapers, probably the most photographed feature of New York City is its bridges.  Nineteen bridges connect the island of Manhattan to other landmasses.  Eighteen of them are on the east side of the city.  Only one is on the west and, aside from the Brooklyn Bridge, it is perhaps New York’s most famous.  This bridge is the George Washington Bridge.

Getting to Fort Washington Park is a bit of a pain, as it’s a bit of a hike from the nearest subway stop, but the view from there can’t be beat.  Once you arrive in the park, you can stand right under the bridge and watch the sun set over the New Jersey Palisades.  Also located there is the famous Little Red Lighthouse, made famous by the children’s book by Hildegarde Swift and Lynd Ward.  Since the lighthouse is almost directly under the bridge, you can easily capture both of them and the setting sun in the same shot.

The sun was casting a fantastic orange glow that day, which is reflected in the sky, clouds and river.  I love this shot despite the fact that it’s not the most technically proficient.  In most cases, the type of lens flare that exists in this shot would more than likely cause me to discard the image, but in this case, I’m more than willing to overlook it.  24mm, f/18, 1/15 second, ISO 100, tripod.

Venus Over The Smokies

In August, Lisa and I took a trip to Tennessee to catch the solar eclipse.  The eclipse itself was an incredible and awesome event and I encourage everyone who has even the slightest chance of seeing a total solar eclipse to do so.

My eclipse pictures didn’t come out too well.  My focus was a bit off (partly due to the fact that I didn’t learn the true purpose of a tripod collar until after the eclipse was done) and, as a result, none of my shots from the eclipse made it into my Top 10.  However, we had an incredible view of the Smoky Mountains from our cabin porch and I made sure to take as many shots as I could (including getting up before sunrise).

My favorite shot from that vantage is this one:

I actually shot this as part of a panorama, but it looked so good as a stand alone shot that I processed this part by itself.  Venus was hanging over the mountains and I love the fact that I was able to capture it as part of the sunrise (it’s the brightest dot on the left hand side of the shot).  As I mentioned earlier, I’m a color junkie and this picture has such deep colors, with beautiful purples, blues, yellows, reds and oranges, that I just fell in love with it.  In addition to the wonderful colors, I also love the isolated trees sitting on the hill.  I had a lot of difficulty picking my Top 10 shots for the year, but if I had to pick a #1, my heart would say that this is the shot.  24 mm, f/4, three shots centered on 1/2 second, ISO 100, tripod.

Great Smoky Mountain Morning

Another shot taken from our cabin porch.  This one was taken later in the morning than the previous one, when the sky had lit up enough to allow the greens to stand out, while still showing off the grand colors of the sunrise.  18mm, f/5.6, 3 shots centered on 1/13 second, ISO 100, tripod.

Half Sun

Another Smoky Mountain shot, this time taken on the next day as the previous ones.  I love how the sun is going into hiding as it rises behind the clouds.  135mm, f/5, 1/1600, ISO 100, tripod.

Morning Mountain Abstract

I’ve always loved mountain photos that are abstracts, where the detail is gone and all you see are shades of mountaintops and the sky.  This shot isn’t quite exactly like that (you have some of the detail in the foreground here), but otherwise, I think this might qualify.  I love how the sunlight, filtering in through the clouds, casts rays on the mountains that, in the background, begin to blend into the mountains themselves.  47mm, f/6.3, 1/1600, ISO 100, tripod.

Tumbling Through the Gorge

I love waterfall shots and, whenever I have the chance, I like to go to one of the waterfalls in my area to shoot it.  In October, I took a trip up to the Finger Lakes region of New York State, which has some amazing gorges with glens and waterfalls running through them.  Watkins Glen is perhaps the most famous of these gorges.  I spent almost an entire day there, shooting the falls and rock formations.  One of my favorite images from that day is this one:

I like how this shot captures not just the flowing glen and the waterfall, but also the rock layers that have been formed by the flowing water over the rock over the last few millennia.  31mm, f/14, 3 shots centered on 1.6 seconds, ISO 100, tripod.

And that’s it, that’s the Top 10.  Well, actually, I do have to admit that I cheated… there are actually 11 images here.  I *tried* to get it down to ten, but simply could not bear to cut any of the images here so, I admit, I cheated a bit.

So, how did I do compared to last year’s Top 10?  I think my photography has improved, but sometimes it’s hard to tell if that’s because I had opportunities this year that I didn’t have last year (such as my trip to Tennessee) or if I really have improved in the technical and artistic senses.  I suppose I need to think about it more.  What do you think?  Have I improved?  And, if not (and please don’t be afraid to tell me so if that’s what you think), what do you think I can improve on?

Zev

In past years, in the fall, I’ve gone away in the fall to take pictures of the fall foliage.  This year, because I was working as a contract employee in my main job (and did not have any paid time off), I could not take the time off to spend a day or two shooting upstate as I like to do.  However, that does not mean that I didn’t shoot — I just had to change a few things.  Instead, I ended up shooting in two different places on Sunday mornings and afternoons – Hacklebarney State Park in New Jersey and Wave Hill in the Bronx.

Hacklebarney State Park is a beautiful park in North-Central New Jersey.  There are lots of great hiking trails and great scenic beauty.  There were also lots of waterfalls, which, for me is always a treat as I’m a big sucker for waterfall shots.  However, after reviewing the shots I took, I found that I wasn’t truly impressed with any of them.  They were okay, I suppose, but they lacked that special… spark that I like to find in my shots.  Perhaps I’ll go back and revisit them in a month or so and see if my feelings have changed.  But let me be up front in saying that the park is a beautiful place — the fact that I didn’t come away with any great shots is not the fault of the park.  That lies with me.

In any event, that’s also not to say that every shot I took was bad.  There were a few that I took that I thought were decent.  Here are some of them.

The other place I went to for fall foliage shots was Wave Hill, in the Bronx.   Wave Hill is a public botanic garden with a great view of the Hudson River and the Palisades.   I had heard about the park before and had wanted to go there, but every time I planned it, something interfered with those plans.  Finally, I managed to get there – and I was not disappointed.

Wave Hill is a small park – you can easily cover it in half a day – but packed in that small area is an incredible amount of scenic beauty.  The fact that I was there at the height of the fall foliage season only  made it even better.  I took a lot of shots that day and here are some of my favorites.

Autumn Color at Wave Hill, Bronx NY

The sun over a tree at Wave Hill in Bronx, NY

The Reading Bench

I love this last shot.  I saw this little bench sitting under this big ancient tree, with the fall color and the Hudson and Palisades in the background and could not resist taking this shot.  This is just the type of shot where a person could easily while away the afternoon with a good book and cool drink on that bench.  I think that I’ll eventually blow that one up and hang it on a wall somewhere in my home.

That’s all for the nature portion of the update.  Afterwards, I’ll catch you up with the shots I’ve taken around New York City in the last few months.  There are some really nice ones in that bunch, so please check back.

Despite what you would think, there are quite a few places in New York City where you can get decent nature shots.  The city is blessed with several large parks where nature shots can be found and even some of the smaller parks can give you a decent nature picture if you choose your angles correctly.

One of my favorite places to shoot in Manhattan is the North Woods, located in the northwest corner of Central Park.  When you walk through the North Woods, it’s very easy to forget that you  are smack dab in the middle of the busiest island in the US.

I happen to love waterfall shots and, as it turns out there are some waterfalls in the North Woods.  Towards the northern end of the woods, you can find this idyllic scene, which is the shot that I submitted:

When the weather gets a bit nicer and as the woods blossom with their spring green, I’ll have to go there again and spend more time shooting in the North Woods.

What do you think of this shot?  Comments, criticisms and critiques are always welcome, encouraged and appreciated.

Zev

Truth to tell, however, I almost can’t help it.  As I’ve mentioned before, I love waterfalls and if you love waterfalls and go to a place like Ricketts Glen, that’s like dropping off a kid in a place like Toys R Us, except that all the toys are unwrapped and the kid can play with whatever s/he wants. 

This shot is of the B Reynolds Falls, a 40 foot cascade.  As with all these shots, there are far more beautiful in person than any picture that I can take. 

B Reynolds Falls at Ricketts Glen State Park.

Next up — pictures from Central Park, New York.

Zev

Unfortunately, however, it seems that I lost most of my trip to Macedonia Brook State Park.  This is particularly frustrating because I have an automatic online backup solution, but it seems that it didn’t quite finish backing up those shots.  It also didn’t finish backing up my Ricketts Glen and Central Park photo shoots, but, fortunately, I hadn’t yet deleted those shots off my card, so I was able to recover them (I did lose some of the editing work I had done on those, but I can recover them and, truth to tell, I wasn’t all that happy with the first edits anyway).

At some point in the near future, I’ll write up a post about my computer-crash and data recovery experience and the lessons I’ve learned.  However, for now, I’m here to give you two more pics from Ricketts Glen.

Feel free to enjoy these shots and to share this post.  If you have any questions about these shots, please feel free to ask in the comments.

Zev

As I’ve said before, I’m a sucker for waterfall pictures.  I just love how the water tumbles over the rocks in this shot.  I hope to put up a complete album soon, but, for now, I just wanted to share this one.

As always, comments, critiques and criticisms are welcome, encouraged and appreciated.

Zev

Well, if you like waterfalls, then you have to visit Ricketts Glen State Park in Pennsylvania.  This park has about twenty waterfalls in it — varying in different types and sizes.  Some are straight drops, some tumble gently over rocks and some shoot violently through crevasses formed by the rushing water.  There are small falls, such as the Cayuga Falls at 11 feet, while others are huge drops, including the 90-foot drop of the Ganoga Falls.  Going there during the autumn, just as the trees were showing off their colors was an even bigger treat.

I spent about eight hours in the park, making a loop along two branches of the river.  When I wasn’t busy climbing, I was busy being mesmerized by the beauty of the place.  If you like photographing waterfalls, then this place is your dream come true.

It’s going to be a few days before I have all my shots edited, but for now, here are two of the shots I have.  This first one is of Cayuga Falls.  The drop here is 11 feet.

Cayuga Falls at Ricketts Glen State Park.

This one is a part of Mohawk Falls.  In total, Mohawk Falls are 37 feet.

Mohawk Falls at Ricketts Glen State Park

I plan to have more images from both Ricketts Glen and Macedonia Brook State Park up next week, as well as, perhaps, some shots from my upcoming photo walk in Central Park on Sunday.

Zev

A Small Little Slice of Heaven In Prospect Park

Yes, it’s a very small waterfall, but it’s still beautiful, which, in my opinion, is what counts far more than the height or the volume of water.  Fortunately, I had my tripod with me, so I was able to set up and take multiple shots of this little waterfall.  Without my tripod, I could never have captured this image (which is actually blended from seven images captured at different exposures).

This shot was taken at the beginning of October and one of the things I love is that you can just begin to see the changing of the colors of the leaves.  There is just a hint of yellow on some of the leaves, giving a tease of the grand colors that would be there in the week or two that followed.

When I was hiking through Minnewaska State Park two autumns ago, I found a very large waterfall — somewhere between forty and sixty feet in height.  I took some shots of it, but, truth to tell, none of the shots came out all that well.  The amount of water coming over the fall was very little in comparison to the size of the fall itself, and the stream just seemed to get lost in the rock face in the pictures that I took.

After spending some time at the bottom of the falls, I followed the trail upstream for a bit and soon found myself at the top of the falls.  Interestingly enough, about thirty feet from the top of the falls, I found yet another waterfall.  This one was no more than four feet high, but yet, it made for a far better picture.

A small waterfall at Minnewaska State Park.

I spent a lot more time at this small waterfall than at the big one further down the trail.  The amount of water coming over the fall, the rock and the little eddy pool that it formed made this shot far more interesting than anything I could have gotten at the bigger falls.  Which, I guess, goes to prove that, at least where waterfalls are concerned, bigger isn’t always better.

Zev