Perfectly AutumnOld Barn Amongst Autumn Trees Glen Arbor, Michigan Every year I travel to Michigan to spend a long weekend with my favorite college buddies. We call it "Tundig" and it's a sort of mini-reunion. We spend the weekend in Northern Michigan eating, drinking, cooking, hiking, photographing, swimming, sleeping and just having a great time. Traditionally it occurred during the University of Michigan autumn break and that means that I get to see the amazing fall colors in full bloom. On this particular day my friends and I decided to go wine tasting. Yes, Michigan does actually have wineries, specializing in mostly white or exotic type wines (like cherry wine). While driving to the wineries we passed by this beautiful barn hidden amongst the trees. I immediately asked my friend to pull over so I could snap a few photos. I loved the way the barn, the beautiful autumn colors, and the blue sky all came together here. Nikon D80 w/Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5: 50mm, f/10, 1/60 sec, ISO 800
Glacier MilkMilky Way over Mt. Reynolds Logan Pass, Glacier National Park, Montana When Willie, Alan, and I set out to spend a week in Glacier National Park we prepared for all kinds of weather. I purchased new rain gear, rented a 24mm f/1.4 lens in the event of clear skies or auroras, and kept my hopes up that the partially cloudy skies in the forecast would lead to beautiful sunrises and sunsets. While doing research for the trip it quickly became evident that most of our time would be spent in Logan Pass. On this particular evening our hopes at an epic sunset faded quickly and not a cloud could be seen in the skies. We gave up on sunset and switched gears .. it was time to use those rented lenses to photograph the Milky Way. A copious number of streams, rivers, waterfalls, and small patches of wildflowers awaited my every turn and provided countless possibilities for compositions. Using the StarWalk app on my iPhone I was able to roughly predict the path of the Milky Way. I quickly saw that the Milky Way would line up almost parallel to the right side of Mt. Reynolds with the core of the Milky Way in between the mountain and the trees. Perfect! I experimented with a variety of compositions but ultimately settled on 2 waterfalls that I liked. I loved the way the waterfall cascaded down from Mt. Reynolds and provided an interesting foreground. It's almost like there's steps leading us right into the sky! I then waited ... and waited ... and waited ... the sky never seemed to get dark enough for the Milky Way to come out. It had not dawned on us that being so far north would leave the sky so bright for so long into the night. Slightly before 11pm the Milky Way first made its appearance on the back of my camera. By 11:30pm the Milky Way finally moved into position. Just as I had predicted the Milky Way lined up perfectly with Mt. Reynolds and the core filled the right side of the sky! Another photo in my "Milk" series! It was then a race to pack up, get to the car, and try to catch the 2am opening in the road closure so we could catch a couple hours of sleep before waking up and starting all over again. As you'll notice the sky doesn't entirely look as sharp as it could. I rented the lens from BorrowLenses and it quickly became clear that this particular copy of the lens had some serious coma flare issues. I did my best to get rid of some of it but eventually removing it became tedious and I gave up. BorrowLenses customer service was awesome and I was given a coupon for the price of the rental to use another time! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 24mm f/1.4G ED: Sky: 24mm, f/1.6, 13 seconds, ISO 3200 Foreground: 24mm, f/10, ISO 100
McMilky FallsMcWay Falls Big Sur, California It's been a while since I've had a photo to post … although it seems like I've been up late editing photos every day for weeks. Between getting sick, dabbling in people photography and trying to get through hundreds of fiery Hawaiian volcano photos I haven't got much sleep lately. This particular night especially... Years ago I remember seeing John Harrison's photo of McWay Falls in Big Sur, CA and knew I had to visit. Last year Rick Whitacre shot the Milky Way here and once again I knew I had to go back. Thwarted by fog and busy schedules I never had my chance, that is until this awful heat wave we've been having here in west coast. The high temperatures kept the fog from creeping in and with the summer time position of the Milky Way I knew I had my chance! Turns out Rick was on his way down that night but I wasn't going down until the following day. Yan decided to join me for a bit of fun. Yan and I arrived at sunset and setup our compositions and focus while we still had some light out. Then we waited. And waited. And waited. At 10pm another photographer, Joel, from Canada arrive and he came with some mighty powerful LED lights. We waited some more. It wasn't until after 1pm that the Milky Way finally moved its way far enough into the frame for my liking. Joel setup the LED lights far to our right to avoid the backscatter of the lights reflecting off the moisture in the air and also gave it a natural look -- all in one shot Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 ED-IF AF-S: 20mm, f/2.8, 20 seconds, ISO 3200
