Finding a rainbow

I hopped a ride with Gregg and Dorothea to shoot clouds on Shore Farm Road. The day previous was a bust so I was eager to try again. The skies had been dramatic and varied for days and I wanted some of them. Although we had planned a sunset run, the skies I saw while driving home from work were ripe for pickin', so I tipped off Dorothea as soon as I walked in the door. We hadn't been on the farm long before we were rewarded with terrific skies.... and the rainbow.

I've been shooting for HDR processing most of the time now,
but sometimes the ole single frame is the better image.

Another shortie, with HDRs, NIK filters.

Another May Sunset by the Docks

An older fellow fishing on the docks when I arrived greeted me with "looks like it's too cloudy for pictures, eh?" He left about 45 minutes later...too soon to see the show. I'm playing with my new CS3 and trial versions of NIK Efex (filters) and NIK Dfine 2.0 (noise reduction). Adobe Bridge is a powerful editing tool and I love the ease with which I can now view, move and edit files.

A short show.

A Cloud Show at Bruce's Farm

The clouds were gorgeous as we left Albemarle late last Saturday afternoon, and I was wondering where I could compose some shots. I had my camera only because I thought
I might grab a shot or two at a currently being developed subdivision, Edgewater on Lake Tillery. It wasn't until we pulled onto Indian Mound Road on the way to Edgewater, that it hit me that , of course, "the farm" would be an ideal vantage point. Although I didn't have my tripod, I tried bracketing for HDR and found it worked fine. I used the fences and the VR (vibration reduction) on my Nikon 18-200mm for steadying. The shots of Wendy and Nelson walking are not HDR.

I might try one of this series on metallic photo paper from Bullock Professional. If you're not familiar with metallic paper, check it out. It's high contrast, snappy color and has an interesting depth that's impossible to achieve with inkjets. This webpage is offering free samples of either Kodak's "E" surface or of the Metallic, both being Kodak's Endura real photo paper.

Shore Farm Road - Mourning Light

An unexpectedly enriching weekend with other photographers, morning light and a very generous landowner. Thanks Bruce. Thanks William.

I went, I waited , I saw

If you show up enough there's eventually some kind of payoff. It wasn't ideal, I wasn't coming up with the best compositions, I fumbled my ISO and apertures, but it was enough to keep me "showing up". This day, this light, these clouds are forever gone, but I'll show up at these docks again...and again. And maybe "it" will show up..and I'll get it right...or not. Maybe it's just about "being there" and that's enough.