HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
You never know
When you are out in the field shooting you never know whats going to pop up. In addition to critters, other shots will often present themselves. Towards the end of the days three of these “aviators” came over the ridge and gave us a show.
Alaska!
Back to Alaska to photograph Alaskan Moose. Have had two excellent days of shooting with friends in the Anchorage area. More to come.
American Cranes and Transport
August is the annual tower crane issue for American Cranes and Transport. I had been following the construction of a new building right along the FDR Drive and had shot a number of images as the building was going up in its early stages. Tower cranes can be challenging to photograph when they are 20 or 30 stories in the air. I was pleased to learn that one of the images was selected for the cover.
Another Lighthouse
There is something about lighthouses…I just love to photograph them in all types of weather. This summer the weather wasn’t cooperating in Maine when I shot four different lighthouses in one day along midcoast Maine. But with weather there are opportunities and Pemaquid Point Lighthouse presented one. While you can’t tell that lighthouse is on a bluff, the clouds that are drifting by below the structure certainly help create the visual sense that this lighthouse is overlooking something. Black and white was the way to go on this rainy, gray day.
American Cranes and Transport
The June issue of American Cranes and Transport is out.
June is their Annual ACT 100 issue and I was excited to have had the image I posted a while back, the “ass-shot” of the Terex AC-250, selected for the cover.
It’s also the culmination of quite a bit of work that I completed for them relating to Bauma, the largest construction equipment tradeshow in the world, held every three years in Munich. Even with all-access photo credentials, it was a challenge to shoot Bauma for a number of reasons. The weather certainly did not cooperate all the time, although the changing weather patterns created great clouds. Further, the show is BIG. The location of tradeshow booths can take up to a half hour to walk from one to another given the size of the show. And like any tradeshow, the amount of equipment packed into the show presents constant challenges in isolating specific manufacturers or products. And of course, with cranes being outside, time of day to take advantage of available light (when there was available light) created a shooting schedule in the morning and afternoon and, of course, the booths were never near each other. I set my personal best on my Fitbit the first day and then blew threw that on Day Three. Balancing between other commitments at the show and shooting added to the fun as well as the need to have all images processed within three days of the show ending – thank you Photo Mechanic and Adobe.
In addition to images that were selected for articles related to Bauma that appear in the June issue, “Dimmitt’s Bauma” is a 4-page selection of images from my submissions that were selected by the editor of American Crane and Transport to tell the story of Bauma from a photographer’s point of view. The article also includes a short article that I was asked to write as to how I approach a show of that size as a photographer. While I was aware that an article was in the works, the proofs arrived on my birthday and it was a great present to view what had been selected and how the article was laid out.
Light, it doesn’t matter where you are
I was in Upstate NY and thought I would venture to check out Letchworth State Park near Buffalo. The forecast was for rain but my camera was out on the seat next to me as I drove through the countryside early in the morning. The clouds were definitely rolling in and reminded me of the Octoberfest trip to Munich a couple of years back. We had set out from Munich to photograph Neauschwanstein Castle and it was dark and looked like rain. At the base of the hill leading up to the castle, you also have a very good view of Hohenschwangau Castle, which was the summer residence of King Ludwig II. As we were walking past, the sun suddenly popped out from behind the clouds and lit the castle like a spotlight.
Multiple thousands of miles away, with a different subject, it happened again…
Letchworth State Park
Letchworth State Park has been described as the “Grand Canyon of the East”. The Genesee River runs through this deep gorge over three significant waterfalls surrounded by forest both in the gorge and along its borders. In the park, which is southwest of Rochester, NY, the main road runs for approximately 16 miles alongside the top of the Northern wall of the gorge with a lot of accesses and pull-offs that provide ample photographic opportunities. A trail system of about 66 miles of trails only enhances the opportunities. Like the Grand Canyon, the barriers are mostly low stone walls, and like the Grand Canyon, these walls often border the edge of enormous descending gorge walls. Also like the Grand Canyon, there are clearly marked areas that you can venture into and ones that you can’t. But, while reds, yellows, and brown may dominate images of the Grand Canyon, green is your dominant color at this time of the year.
Rain came and went through my three-hour visit to Letchworth. Three hours is not enough time,but I had a flight to catch and really no choice. It did, however, provide me with an overview of the Park, a visit to their museum and a lot of ideas as to when one might be at a certain location at a certain time. On any first visit to a location, I have made it a practice to try to make notes relating to locations, time of day, etc. for future visits.
Was I discouraged because of the rain. NO! The weather really enhanced the greens of the forest and I felt the muted light made the walls of the gorge stand out from the forest. I am in test-drive mode with the D5 and it continued to perform beyond my expectations. I’ll definitely come back here, want to see it in Fall colors and I will probably get even better images if I give it a few days of shooting. But, despite the weather, it was fun to shoot the Park. Here are some favorites from this three-hour tour in a SLIDESHOW, below …..
Another memory of Octoberfest…
Hard to describe the expanse of amusements, rides, beer halls, food stands at the Octoberfest grounds. This was the first thing I saw on the first day to Octoberfest coming in from a side entrance.
Telling the Story
My recent time in Munich reminded me of a great trip that I took to Germany two years ago during Octoberfest. First to the northern city of Lubeck and then down to Munich.
I think travel photography is a great way to enhance a trip. A little preparation pre-trip goes a long way to make sure you are ready to capture those images and that they get safely back home with you – something I wrote about a couple of years back for Currents Magazine and am happy to share if you contact me.
Travel photography gives you the chance to visually tell the story, creating memories you can look back on for years. But to tell the story its more than a simple click. Trying to tie in elements that can visually express your experience in a simple image can be daunting.
To illustrate, the light and sky were great for the first image of the fountain at Munich’s Karlsplatz, just outside of the ancient gate, Karlstor, and the pedestrian area leading to Marienplatz. But if you don’t know Munich, it could be a fountain anywhere in Europe. I like the second one a lot better. It helps tell the story and certainly the time of year that we were in Munich.