Quarantine Sale
As a special one time offer to provide relief during the pandemic, I am providing a special offer to my loyal readers of this blog. This offer will be good through the rest of this month. For every $100 or more purchase, I will be offering 30% off all prints of mine through this website by entering the coupon code APRIL20 during your checkout process. Here is how you do it: 1. Place your mouse over the photo you want to buy and click on the buy button that will appear in the lower right part of the image. 2. Select which size and type of photo you want on the right hand side and click on the + button. The item will be added to your cart. 3. Click on the shopping cart in the upper right part of the page and click proceed to checkout. You can then either sign in with your account, register an account or continue as a guest. 4. Enter in your shipping information to continue the checkout process. 5. Apply the coupon code APRIL20 and click apply to get the 30% discount. 6. Continue the checkout process and enter in your payment information.
Finding Beauty In Chaos
Happy April! It is one of my favorite months of the year to spend outside. After a break from taking pictures, the new greenery and blooms have inspired me to get out and photograph again. Through all this Coronavirus chaos, hopefully you have been able to enjoy some time outside. With so many indoor gathering places closed, many of you are spending time outside. Many establishments and city parks are closed, so a lot of people are flocking to the hiking trails in national parks, state parks and national forests that still remain open. Overcrowding has become a problem on the more popular trails. With this in mind, I have avoided the hot spots that are well known through social media. Instead I have only been to places where I feel like I will either see few people or no people at all. I also tend to head out on early weekday mornings before the sun rises or when there is a chance of rain in the forecast. Using this methodology, I have been able to enjoy a lot solitude. However, one drawback to avoiding the iconic locations is that I have to work harder to find what I feel are good pictures. Some places, when you reach the destination it is obvious what you are supposed to shoot. Through research, imagination, walking farther and looking harder I feel like I was able to come up with some unique images that either rarely get photographed or perhaps get an image that nobody has ever produced. I enjoy that challenge.
The two pictures above are from the Mountain Fork River in the southeast corner of Oklahoma. The water was higher than I expected. The waves were bigger as they flowed over the rocks and was flooding some of the nearby landscape. Brush was often in the way of the view of the river and it can make a rather chaotic scene. Numerous bushes and tree limbs present a challenge, but the goal is to try to simplify and create as much order to the chaos as possible. Through a couple of openings, I was able to create a couple of intimate landscapes of the flowing water. Across the border in southwest Arkansas was another river that can be popular with whitewater canoeists and kayakers when water levels are adequate, but it does not get much foot traffic and I had the entire trail to myself. Below is a picture of the Cossatot River. The large rocks in the river creates a unique look, and has more a "western" flavor to it compared to most streams in Arkansas.
This morning I went to a small group of waterfalls in the Ozark National Forest in northern Franklin County, Arkansas. I went to a little visited unnamed waterfall where once again I tried to make sense out of chaos. We are at the peak of redbud season in the Ozarks and this redbud in full bloom made for some nice balance to compliment this waterfall.
When the redbuds are in bloom that means the dogwood trees will soon be out. Hopefully we can all make sense out of the chaos as we get through this and come out better on the other side. Milky Way On The Maine CoastI hope all is well with you guys during this unusual time. The good news with the quarantine measures is that I have been spending more time working on photos from previous trips. I told you that I would show you some night sky pictures from my trip to Maine in August. So I'm going to show you my favorite 2 images from the Maine Coast.
Milky Way Over The MatterhornLast year, I went to Maine back in the summer and Switzerland back in the fall. I mentioned that I would be posting some night photos from these locations and now I am eventually posting some of those pictures. So first, I thought I would post a picture from the Matterhorn.
This is a composite image that is actually two pictures blended into one. One picture is exposed for the sky and the reflections in the pond while another picture is exposed for the ground. At longer exposures, the camera will see stars that the naked eye can't see. The glow on the horizon is a result of light pollution over Central Europe. However, it helps make the Matterhorn stand out. I will soon have some night photos from Maine. Honeymoon in Saint Lucia
I was married back in October and over the holidays Christina and I spent our honeymoon on the island of Saint Lucia in the Caribbean Sea, a place of scenic mountains, forests and beaches. The island is volcanic in origin and so it boasts places such as warm sulphur springs and one of the Caribbean’s most famous landmarks, the Pitons, as majestic remnants of the geologic past. Those mountains are known as the Pitons behind us and they were a favorite photo subject on this trip.
It's nice to get a break from winter in the United States and enjoy temperatures that were always either in the 70s or 80s. We had a nice mix of downtime just enjoying the sun and the views and also did some activities such as snorkeling, hiking and sightseeing. I also managed to do some photography, especially while my new bride slept in.
Not only did I photograph these two famous mountains with colorful sunrises and sunsets but I also photographed them under clear nights with stars and moonlight.
One night, we had a lionfish dinner on the beach. The bonfire next to the dining area provided nice light painting for this rock outcrop on the shore. Not only was it a tasty meal, but it was also educational. We learned about how lionfish are an invasive species to the oceans and there is a growing industry to eat lionfish in an attempt to curb its population. Lionfish are native to the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific, but it is believed that a few home aquarium owners of lionfish were released in the Atlantic Ocean. Since then, they have rapidly reproduced. You can find out more about the lionfish in this educational video from PBS here. Below is an example of what a lion fish looks like.
Here is a look of that same rock outcrop at Anse Mamin Beach near Soufriere.
Long exposure shots with water can be fun and challenging. My feet and my tripod legs got wet but I walked away with a few nice wave shots.
We also did a few hikes in the tropical forest. At the end of our favorite trail was this view of the Pitons and Sugar Beach.
Wildlife was also seen such as numerous hummingbirds, lizards and geckos. It was our first time to see a tarantula in the wild, but the sight of a rainbow over one of the Pitons made up for it.
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