Tag Archives: england

Best of 2017

27 Dec

 

This year, I chose my “best of” based on the memories I was lucky enough to have made.  It was a year of great trips (courtesy of some flight credits I had to use up before they expired) and I am beyond thankful I was able to see England, Northern Ireland and Ireland, Chincoteague ponies, Great Sand Dunes in Colorado, the many nights I spent under the stars with friends, the eclipse, the Adirondacks and Iceland (northern light, heeellllooo). I am grateful for these opportunities and for having good friends to make these memories with. ❤

2017 had its difficult parts, and I am definitely hoping 2018 shows improvement in some areas…but I am thankful.  Cheers to a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year!

Enigmatic :: England

3 Apr

Important life lesson….never take our historic sites for GRANITE. 😂

Prehistoric :: England

21 Feb
Prehistoric :: England

Prehistoric :: England

Those sunbeams though. ❤

The Colossus :: England

6 Feb
The Colossus :: England

The Colossus :: England

 

For those of you who ever spent time on Craigslist laughing at the frequently ridiculous posts, this blog is for you. 😉

One of the alternate titles for this shot is: “Mist Connections”

Your soft shadow drew me in. Your rough,  indomitable exterior held my attention, for what felt like years, as I carefully soaked up every detail of you with my eyes. You coyly tried to hide behind a thin veil of fog, as if you knew what I did…that this was love at first sight. But not a simple, effortless love. No. This was going to be heated, passionate, make you scream “I fucking love you!” kind of love.

Suddenly, the light hit you, like a sign from the heavens, in the most beautiful way, and I had to capture this moment. It was the only way I’d have you forever. Soon, I’d have to leave for the next location, where I would inevitably fall in love all over again, with someone (thing/subject) else I couldn’t have.

But we will always have this moment. And it will be perfect.

:-p

Okay, but in all seriousness, this is Corfe Castle in Southern England and it’s part of their National Trust system.  It’s a lovely spot, which I did thoroughly enjoy visiting.  Probably a little too much, since we got wrapped up in shooting here and were late for our ticket time at Stonehenge (and had to beg to be let in. haha You can’t take a photographer anywhere….)

Worth it though!

 

 

Room With a View

14 Jun
Room With a View

Room With a View

This past weekend, I took a nice photowalk with my good friend Jared of Ramsdell Photography.  Our topic du jour was “old mills”.  I can’t speak for all of New England, but our little corner of the region seems to be full of old textile mills that pretty much beg to be photographed.

This particular building was loaded with texture and color, but the thing my eyes kept going back to was the penthouse suite.

So what did I do?  Crawl through some brush, using my body to push it back from the camera lens while I contorted myself into a pretzel to see through the viewfinder on an low, upward facing camera (managing to avoid something that looked suspiciously like poison ivy at the same time!)

Maybe I should re-name it a “Yoga-walk”? 😉

Musings

30 May
Beavertail Lighthouse - RI

Beavertail Lighthouse – RI

Let me start by saying, I’m not a “water” person.  I’m definitely an “I like my feet to be on solid ground, where sharks and alligators can’t eat me” kind of person.  I am also an “I almost had a panic attack while kayaking the other day” when my friend pointed out a snapping turtle in the water near us.

That being said, as much as I love being dry, I am drawn to be close to the water. It’s a powerful, beautiful force of nature and it makes a great addition to most photos.
Being at Niagara this weekend reminded me of how incredible, impressive and intense water can be.  There is a spot on the American side (in the Cave of the Winds) where you can stand under just a sliver of the Bridal Veil Falls.  The water slams into your skin, and the wind from the falls pushes you around on the deck – it is an experience that always takes my breath away.

As I walked away from the Bridal Veil this weekend, I turned to my friend and explained my feelings about water.  I don’t love the idea of being in it, but boy do I respect it.  And I love, love, love to photograph it in its various forms.  In fact, in the next few blog posts, you will definitely see some photos from the weekend.  But first…!

Today’s photo is one I’ve been sitting on for a few weeks.  It wasn’t what I envisioned when I drove to the coast in Rhode Island to take photos.  I have hopes of a colorful sunset on the horizon, rock formations in the foreground, leading lines, and somewhere in there, a lighthouse.  What I got was fog.  And some crazy powerful waves.  And lots of wind.  And raindrops on my camera lens.  And dangerous footing.  And about an hour of reflection – when nature acts up, it reminds me that we are just small (but mighty!) creatures in a gigantic (amazing, beautiful, wonderful!) world.

As I’ve had time away from the photo, it’s grown on me.  It is a pano, with only the rocks processed for HDR.  This was taken around 8:45pm, so obviously long exposure was used.  Also, as us photographers all know, the details make the shot.  It took me a few versions of this image before I realized I was missing the light from the lighthouse.  With it being socked in, I was hard to make out exactly what it was without the light so I had to begin counting the seconds per rotation.  Seven seconds per revolution, two second timer to allow the vibrations from my finger to dissipate.  So I set my focus, and began counting…at five seconds, I’d press the shutter and hope for the best. =)