I had been wanting to get to the Tortugas for years and finally planned a trip this past December. I timed it for the full moon, so I could try some night photography. I booked a two night camping trip and got all my gear ready.

The trip started with 25 mph winds and made for a rough boat ride. I took the Yankee Freedom over, from Key West. I paid to have a kayak ferried with me, which never was launched do to wind. It also clouded over and I spent 2 days waiting for the wind to subside and the sun to come out. Snorkeling is supposed to be great down there, but with all the wind, visibility was pitiful. Just at sunset on the second day, the clouds began to break and I made sure to take advantage of it.

The clouds also stayed sparse enough for me to get something including the moon, or at least the light from it.

I went to sleep a little less nervous about a failed trip and awoke for sunrise. It didn’t amount to much but I knew what I wanted to do with the warm early light.

Although this image is iconic of Ft. Jefferson, I felt this light was pretty rare to capture. Most photographers are day-trippers and are never on the island when the light is this good. I camped for 2 nights and finally got this on the third day. Lucky me!

Thanks for looking!

Paul

One thing that sunrises have that definitely helps pull me out of bed, is the possibility of fog. I always strive to have a mood or atmosphere to my images. This can be created most easily by lighting at the ends of the day(sunrise/sunset). Fog, however, really can ramp things up.

In the Everglades, I  seem to gravitate to the pinelands when it is foggy. Sometimes hard to shot, the fog can really simplify things and allow you to isolate elements easier. I went out twice recently and got several images I am happy with.

The first morning I stayed around the Long Pine Key Campground. There is a lake there with an awesome island of pines that is a wonderful element. I created this panoramic before the sun came up and the moody blues really helped here.

The Still of Morning

This morning was so thick with fog, and you could hear the condensation dripping off the trees.  It was perfectly still and quiet. As the sun broke through the fog I hiked out in the pinelands to get a composition I had in mind but never with these conditions. As I was hiking out to this spot (1 mile away) I could hear turkeys calling. They were reintroduced to Long Pine key after several attempts and it is good to know they have stuck around and not become bobcat food.

A New Beginning

I hiked back to the lake to see how everything looked with different lighting conditions and got this tighter shot of the island.

This was the first shoot of the year and for several months. It definitely helped renew my desire to get out and to create new images.

As the forecast called for fog again, I ran out a week later and it happened to coincide with the full moon. What is great about the full moon is that it rises and sets opposite the sun. This can help with the evening out of lighting conditions and lead to some dramatic images.

As I was driving out this morning I noticed the fog wasn’t as thick as I wanted. I was thinking of running out to the dwarf cypress but decided to go to Pine Glades Lake. I figured getting the  moon setting would be a nice image. I waited until the sun was about the break the horizon and got this image. It is a single image double processed to just barely bring back the overly bright moon. The sun’s light on the foreground helped to even out the dynamic range.

Moonset Over Pine Glades Lake

I briefly walked back into the pinelands and shot this clump of pines, with a nice glow behind them.

Fog doesn’t always help produce dramatic images but sometimes subtle is what you need. Still there is no denying it helps set the mood. Have a great weekend everyone!

]]> http://www.paulmarcellini.com/blog/2011/01/those-foggy-mornings/feed/ 7 http://www.paulmarcellini.com/blog/2010/12/free-desktop-calendars-happy-holidays/ http://www.paulmarcellini.com/blog/2010/12/free-desktop-calendars-happy-holidays/#comments Tue, 21 Dec 2010 17:55:17 +0000 paul http://www.paulmarcellini.com/blog/?p=713 Hope everyone is having a great holiday season so far. Sorry for the lack of new posts, been busy with the business side of things. I have never done this before, but I am providing some free desktop wallpapers. Please respect my copyright and restrict these to personal use. I would love you to share them with friends, but I am giving them a way, so please refrain from abusing my trust.

Also a reminder to the Miami locals, I have some art shows coming up and a display in the Everglades National Park visitor center through the end of January. Would love for you guys to stop by.

Again, Happy Holidays.

You need to click on the words, the thumbnails are previews only.

Alligator Desktop Calendar (171)

Frog Calendar (153)

Heron Calendar (150)

They have showed me some great new shooting methods and techniques, and while shooting a praying mantis this morning, I was able to try one out. First let me show you a traditional shot of how I would normally go about it. I shot this guy with my Tamron 180 macro, tripod mounted, with some off camera fill flash.

And now the “other” type of image. Both David and John use a Tokina 10-17 fisheye. This lens is WIDE! They usually shoot it on a crop sensor. I did try it on my full-frame 5d2, and it is really only usable above 15mm. Anyways, I dropped my memory card in John’s 7d with the Tokina mounted, and again, some off-camera flash. This is the result, a totally different feel, mood, everything. I have known about this wide-angle macro technique for some time, really getting it demoed to me by Clay Bolt. I definitely will need to play around with it myself more, but was quite excited by this quick result.

Last weekend I ran out to South Cumberland State Park. I had been rappelling in the Stone Door area back in college and remembered what a nice view it was over Savage Gulf.  It is located in the South Cumberland State Park which is a little over 21,000 acres and protects a lot of the Cumberland Plateau, the largest forested plateau in the Continental United States.

We first visited Foster Falls but it was just a trickle, apparently from a very dry season. Ironically, as we sent up camp at the Stone Door area, a thunderstorm rolled in and it rained for several hours. It finally broke up just before sunset and we made the 1 mile hike out to the overlook. The storm clouds allowed for a dramatic sunset and all the humidity left a wonderful rising fog and mist in the Savage Gulf. Savage Gulf is a large valley carved into the western edge of the Cumberland Plateau shaped like a crowfoot. The edges of the plateau has some great outcroppings of sandstone, some of which have waterfalls flowing over them. 

The Stone Door feature is a large crack in the rock that leads form the top of the plateau into the valley.  It looks like a big open door and was used by the Indians as a natural passageway. We got to the final overlook just as the light was getting nice. I got two images, the last being about 10 minutes after the second. It was getting darker and the longer exposures helped show the flowing fog and mist.

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I have not been making many new images lately, so I have been reviewing overlooked stuff from the past year. This one however, was taken way back in 2007. In September, after recently graduating college, I flew out to  Colorado for a week or so of hanging out and pretending a real life may not have to start. After several days, my buddies decided they wanted to summit Crestone Needle, one of the 54 Colorado mountains that peaks above 14,000 feet (14,197 ft to be exact). Both were experienced climbers and had bagged many other 14er’s in years past. I was along for the ride.

The approach up was a tough 4wd road that was very time consuming and interesting to say the least. My friend’s Land Rover was having some overheating issues which had us progressing even slower but we finally made it to the trail-head. We planned to camp at around 12,000ft and try for a sunrise summit the following day.

As we starting the hike, I immediately regretting living at sea level. It was obvious this wouldn’t be easy for me. The lungs were burning and an altitude head-ache quickly set in. After what seemed like way to0 long for the distance covered, we made it to camp. It was a great little spot nestled in some evergreens not too far from the South Colony Lakes. We got a simple tarp shelter and campfire set-up and then went off exploring a bit before the sun set. It helped to forget the head-ache, but it never went away.

The stars were beautiful that night and I tried some light painting with a flashlight while I caught some star trails. This was one of my first attempts but I was quite happy with how it came out.

We then went to bed, expecting a 2am wake-up to reach the summit by sunrise. Up to this point the weather had been great, maybe low 60′s and not too windy. Well, at some point shortly after retiring to the tarp shelter, the wind picked up dramatically and the temperature dropped. Rain came in and so between the occasional waterdrops that got under the tarp, and the constant flapping, we did not sleep. Sunrise summit was pretty much done and we “slept in” until maybe 7. All of a sudden one of my buddies looked out and said the mountain was glowing. The entire face of Crestone Needle was catching sunrise light and showing exactly why it is in the Sangre de Cristo(Blood of Christ) Range. I jumped up, put on whatever jacket I had, and rushed out to take whatever pictures I could. It was freezing with the wind howling, but I managed this shot from the creek, fed by one of the South Colony Lakes. Definitely one of the more exciting experiences to see.

Due to the lack of sleep and the wet rock which would make the already difficult climb a little more dangerous, we called off the summit and headed back into town. we had a great hot breakfast that could not come soon enough. We relaxed a bit and then headed back to Salida, for some much needed naps.

So, despite not having a 14er under my belt, I definitely had a keeper image and experience to remember.

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Storm Over the Mangroves

Mangrove Moonrise

Reaching

Mangrove Magic

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