Simply Ablaze!...

"Simply Ablaze" - A Roadside Snapshot.

It seems every tree in New England is begging for individual attention right now. Which raises a question of how best to enjoy the beauty of fall in New England?

Like people each tree has it's own unique qualities. Yet when viewed "en masse" and enjoyed as a group of good friends... there is a completely different dynamic and feel to them. 

And in the end I guess trees in fall are like people... there is no right or wrong way to embrace, enjoy and learn from them. You simply have to be open to the opportunities that both life and Mother Nature present us to enrich our lives and nourish our soul and not let them pass you by.

"Evening Shadow" - Craft's Hill, Lebanon NH

"Evening Shadow"

Seeing the shadow cast by an unseen fern on the bark of this birch tree reminded me that it is often the “shadow of our actions” that defines who we are and establishes our presence in this world rather than what we do while physically seen.

Signs #1

"Follow Your Heart"  :-)  

"Follow Your Heart"

This is the first in a series of new photographs I am working on... "alternative interpretations" of the signs (both literal and figurative) that we see and experience in our lives each day.

In this case it is about following your heart!

Have a great journey! :-)  

To see this and more visit: https://davemengle.smugmug.com/Inspiration/

Smell All the Flowers...

One of the problems with photographing flowers is that it is so easy to get caught up in their sheer beauty through the viewfinder that it is easy to totally miss or ignore their other great attributes.

And one of these is the multitude of wonderful smells and fragrances you experience while "nose to blossom" when taking closeups like this one.

And it was this realization the other day that led me to re-think the old expression about "Taking time to smell the Roses".

In fact we should take time to smell all the flowers and experiences life presents us with.  Often it is easy to get caught up in one aspect of something and miss a lot of what life is just begging us to experience.

So the next time you start to focus in what you think is that single most important aspect of something take a step back... take a deep breath and enjoy the rest of what life has to offer!  :-)

Self Assignment...

Iris - Lebanon, NH

Every once in awhile I like to challenge myself.

Today's "self-assignment" was to find and photograph at least two visually interesting subjects within 50 feet of my home.

Further more... the goal was both shoot and post-process the photos within 30 minutes start to finish. 

The genesis of this challenge came from a conversation I was having with a friend the other day.  I had been trying to explain to him what it was like to work as a news photographer in the mid-19080's when you had to shoot an assignment, process your film, edit negatives, make prints and write captions under a deadline.

While the technology of producing and distributing photos over a network has changed wildly in the past 30 years... some things have not.  You still need an eye for composition and content.  You still need (some) technical skills and you need to be able to function effectively under a deadline.

This image was shot with a Samsung mobile device and processed using PhotoShopExpress.  While I'm not a huge fan of shooting with mobiles the results can be good properly handled... and since it was also raining during this challenge to myself... I didn't really want to expose my DSLR's to the wet weather.

"Sea Grass" - Bunche Beach, FL

"Sea Grass" - Bunche Beach, FL

This image was shot early one evening as I was walking the beach in search of sunset photos... which weren't happening.

Turing my camera and attention inland and away from the ocean, I shortly came upon this composition.

What makes this photograph appealing to me is the sense of warmth, peacefulness and tranquility it conveys... which were the exact feelings I had while walking the beach that evening.

Over a year later I can still feel the gentle breezes off the water swirling around me and the warmth of the setting sun on my back.

A combination of compositional elements come together to make this image work.  Shooting somewhat tight on the grasses gives the photo an abstract and texture while the alternating strips of shadow and sun creates an almost 3 dimensional sense of depth.

Shot handheld with a Nikon D90 camera and Nikkor zoom lens... although I forget which one :-)

"Floating Leaf" - Centre County, PA

Floating Leaf - Centre County, PA

This is another one of my favorites from my "Black & White Period".  At the time I was heavily involved in trying to teach myself the "Zone System" (a system of determining exposure and film development) practiced and perfected by Ansel Adams. 

On late-fall a walk through the woods looking for subjects that would lend themselves well to experimenting with these techniques... I saw this leaf floating on the surface of a slow moving stream. 

I was attracted to the various textures and the range of tones... from a few near white grains of sand here and there to the deep blacks along the corners... all forming a frame for the remains of this decaying leaf.

Shot with a Nikon F2 with 55/3.5 Micro-Nikkor on Tri-x film.

"Mirror Image in Sand" - Starfish, St. Augustine, FL

Another image from early in my career as a photographer and a perfect example of what I've always said... "Some of your best photos will always be the result of complete accidents, dumb luck... or both".

Mirror Image in Sand - St. Augustine, FL.

This was shot made during a family vacation to St. Augustine, Florida.  I was about 18 at the time and our family had been staying at the Kon Tiki campground outside St. Augustine.

We'd been collecting shells and other treasures from the sea at the beach one day and set them all aside on the picnic table to dry out.

The next morning as we were packing up for the return trip home to Pennsylvania... I picked up this starfish and was delightfully surprised to see this image magically materialize right before my eyes.

I immediately grabbed my camera (which I think was a Yashica TL Electro-X the time) from the car and started shooting away.  It had a relatively decent quality Soligor zoom lens on it with a macro capability that I didn't use much due to the challenge of holding it steady enough to get good results.  But In this case I got lucky and was able to hand hold it well enough to capture this image on Kodak Plus-X film.  

As an aside I think this also might have been the first time I really had to make a photo under the pressure of a "deadline".  As I recall the family car with pop-up camper attached was pulling out of the campsite as I was shooting :-)

"Barnacle Encrusted Shell" - Sanibel Island, FL

Barnacle Encrusted Shell - Sanibel Island, FL

This photo was shot on an early morning walk along the "City Beach" on Sanibel Island.

I had forgotten to pick-up my cameras before driving from Fort Myers to the beach and only discovered I didn't have them when I got there.

"Midly" upset and armed with only an Android device I decided to try and make the best with what I had.

Although not of nearly the technical quality I would have gotten with my DSLR's... I still think this is a decent shot and an example of what can be done by anyone with the technology commonly available today.

"Colorful Plantings" - Old Main, Penn State University

Plantings - Old Main, Penn State University

This photo was taken on a slightly overcast day while photographing on the main campus of Penn State University.

I had already spent a fair amount of time shooting one of the most iconic landmarks at Penn State, "Old Main" which is the primary administration building on campus.

During a bit of a break I noticed these colorful, leafy plantings behind me.  They looked like they had promise, but something was lacking at the time so I went back to shooting the building.

Satisfied I had done what I could to catch some new angles on an already over-photographed subject, I turned around and went to pick-up my camera bag.  Just then the sun broke through a high overcast and created a mild back-lighting on these leaves.  That was all they needed to break into the vibrant and unusual colors you see in the photo here.

I used a Nikon D90 DSLR with a 180/2.8 ED lens close to wide-open to make this image.  This created the both shallow depth of field (which draws your eye to the main subject) as well as the vibrant and well saturated colors.  The back-lighting effect adds to the photo by creating a 3-dimensional feeling and is what really caused the colors to "pop".

And no, this was not PhotoShopped :-) 

Mt. Moosilauke - Aplenglow

M

Mt. Moosilauke - Warren, NH

t. Moosilauke - Alpenglow.

This photo of the last rays of sunshine falling on the western slopes of Mt. Moosilauke was shot on a cold and windy fall evening from the summit of Mt. Cardigan in Orange, NH.

I had hiked to the summit to witness a relatively rare astronomical event.  Sunset and moon rise were both going to happen simultaneously (or at least within 5 minutes of each other) that evening and I thought it might make for some interesting photographs.

My first thought about how to illustrate this event had been to try for a panoramic that included both sunset and moon rise in one photograph, but the brisk and windy conditions on the summit of Cardigan crushed that plan relatively quickly.  

Changing up my approach, I set up 2 cameras, one facing east to shoot the moon rising over Newfound Lake and the other facing west toward Mt. Ascutney in VT for my sunset photos.  Both cameras were mounted on "mini-pods" close to the ground to try and minimize any wind induced camera shake during what would be long exposures.

As the moon come up and the sun sank below the horizon, I managed to shoot the equivalent of about 5 "rolls of film" while laying on my stomach and trying to time my shots between 25 mph gusts of wind.

This photograph of Moosilauke (roughly 27 off in the distance), is one of my favorites. 

Shot with a Nikon 8700 at 1/8 second.

Moss & Pine Needles on Forest Floor

Moss & Pine Needles on Forest Floor - Cardigan Mountain, 

This photo is one of a series I did a couple years ago exploring the colors, patterns and textures of the forest floor.

Shoot while hiking on Mt. Cardigan in Orange, NH it features elements of all the above.

My style of photography tends to focus on use of long lenses (a result of my years shooting sports) or looking for the patterns, colors and textures that occur in Nature and "zooming-in" on them to produce a different and visually interesting composition.

Shot using a Nikon Coolpix 8700 camera using close-up mode and a very slight amount of user controlled fill flash.

One of the biggest challenges in making this photo was all the black flies that were trying to eat me alive while I stood still long enough to grab the photo.

"In the Weeds"

"In the Weeds"

This image is a good illustration of the interesting effects you can get shooting in mixed lighting conditions.

Shot late in the evening along a rural roadside it combines elements of backlighting and mixed color balances. 

Backlighting is a technique that can be used very effectively to highlight the main subject in a photo from a darker background.

The rich greens in the foreground are a result of the warm (colored) evening sun backlighting the weeds while the cooler blues are a result of having no direct sunlight hitting the background, which is largely in shadow.

This image is basically "straight from the camera" with minimal post processing in Nikon CaptureNX.

Hummingbird

Hummingbird

Hummingbird

Good luck sometimes plays a significant part in making good photos.

Despite using professional equipment and having a high level of technical skills, every (honest) photographer will tell you that some of their best photographs are the result of just "Getting lucky".

That was the case in this photo.   This was actually shot near dusk and during a light drizzle.  My expectations were not high while shooting but the birds were putting on a good show while feeding so I figured, "Why not?"  Like a few other posts this photo is a good illustration of shooting tight to maintain maximum quality while still allowing some cropping options.  The lens used was a mid-range telephoto shot wide open (out of necessity in low light) and to create the shallow depth-of-field which directs you eye to the main subject.

Shot using a Nikon DX format DSLR with a 300/2.8 ED lens wide open.  On board fill flash used. 

Duck - State College, PA

Duck - State College, PA

After many years this photo is still one of my favorites. 

This is an example of shooting tight to maximize image quality.  The challenge when shooting this tight is to maintain a "useful" composition which still gives perspective editors and art directors some options on how to use your photo.

This photo also illustrates the use of a wide aperture and shallow depth-of-field to focus attention on the main subject.

Shoot with Nikon F3 and 400/3.5ED Nikkor lens... probably close to wide-open.  Original on Fujichrome 100