Trip Down Leafy Lane :: VT

Trip Down Leafy Lane :: VT

A shot from the archives, when we went to Montreal and stopped to take foliage shots along the way. ❤

Friður :: Iceland

Friður :: Iceland
.
.
“I don’t know what’s in the stars
Never heard it from above, the world isn’t ours
But I know what’s in my heart
If you ain’t mine I’ll be torn apart
I don’t know who’s gonna kiss you when I’m gone
So I’m gonna love you now, like it’s all I have
I know it’ll kill me when it’s over
I don’t wanna think about it, I want you to love me now…”
.
.
Shoutout to David Pasillas for the second pair of eyes on this edit. Shoutout to Iceland for being so dang purty! 🇮🇸

.
.
Taken with a Nikon d810, 14-24mm, one exposure/focus point for background, one for foreground with a Lee Big Stop filter, all hanging out on a Manfrotto Tripod. 😊

Sanguine :: ME

Sanguine :: ME

(Alternate working title: “Dat Light Tho”.) 

For those of you without the Googles handy, Sanguine means “hopeful, upbeat, positive”….and these days, who couldn’t use some hope? Also, it’s a funny looking word and I wanted to use it. 😂
Nerdy Stuff: This is a composite of three different exposures, for focus stacking, foreground and sky.

Are you on the social medias? I’d love to be friends!

Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat ….I also have G+ but I rarely use it.

Oh! And we give away a lot of tips and free stuff via our newsletter, so there’s that. 😊

Shadows and Swirls :: NV

“Not all who wander are lost.” ❤

I’m not entirely sure why I never got around to editing these. I think it might have had to do with how special this sunrise felt to me….like I had the whole desert to myself, and I was hesitant to create something that wouldn’t live up to my memory of it. But in the end, beauty is meant to be shared. 😊
Quick shout out to David Pasillas Photography for his help with this edit. He’s a creative powerhouse, editing wizard and all around great guy….make sure to check out his page and leave him some comments to remind him he has a blog. Lol
This is a blend of 3 shots, two foreground (one with sun flare, one without) and the sky, combined to recreate the morning.

Insomnia :: NY

Insomnia :: NY

Insomnia….sounds about right these days. It’s been an awesome, but very busy few months. There has been a lot of great stuff going on with my students over at Light & Landscape, filling print orders (thank you guys for keeping my gas tank full!), weddings, portrait shoots, music shows, newspaper work and travel….but not much of it involves sleeping. Lol  (Shout out to all the sleep deprived entrepreneurs out there chasing their dreams!) Your continued support and confidence in my work is so appreciated! You guys rock!

 

This shot was taken on a beautiful, clear night a few weeks ago in upstate NY. The stars and the company were glorious. 🙂

 

The nerdy details: this is a composite of 4 shots at different ISOs to help moderate the noise. The foreground is a 5 min long exposure, the rest were shot for the stars/Milky Way.

 

 

Unfolding :: OR

Unfolding :: OR

Wahclella Falls in Oregon is pretty nice. 🙂  In fact, the Columbia River Gorge in general is pretty nice!

Ponytail Falls

Tender Introductions :: OR

All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream. – Poe

This gem is called Ponytail Falls (located above Horsetail Falls) and it was our first stop in the Columbia River Gorge on a recent trip to Oregon.  It is a relatively easy, but steep, 0.3 miles from the trailhead, and definitely worth the effort to go see.  It was also one of the few falls we saw in the Gorge that didn’t immediately cover your lens in spray.  If you intend to go shooting anywhere in either the Columbia River Gorge or along the Oregon Coast, make sure to bring extra lens cloths! 🙂

Many thanks to local photographer TJ Simon for taking time to show us around to his favorite spots in the state.  We definitely couldn’t have seen so many great spots without his input and company.  Do us a favor…make sure to check out his site and show him some love!

Exif data: f/11, 1/2 sec, iso 100, 10 mm

 

Bastion Trickle

Bastion Trickle :: NY

Below the more famous Kaaterskill Falls in NY resides this little guy, Bastion Falls.  This shot is from last fall, when we had gone through a bit of a dry spell an the falls were down to a trickle.  Still beautiful though. 🙂

The photo info: f/11, 1/8 sec, 22 mm, ISO 100, circ polarizer

 

Quiet Abandon

Quiet Abandon :: VT

“It is not the length of life, but the depth of life” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Introducing Warren Falls in Vermont. If you take Route 100 in the Green Mtn Forest, you’ll see a very popular waterfall along the roadside called Moss Glen (Granville). Right up the road is Warren Falls, which in my opinion are more impressive. The clear water, the multiple levels of deep, inviting pools and the rock erosion make for a beautiful scene.

 

In the summer, this is a popular swimming hole, and its difficult to photograph. Late fall though, if you’re brave (stupid?) enough to ford the river for this vantage point, then there are some great images to be made. 🙂

The settings: f/22, 1 sec, 16 mm, ISO 100

Top 6 of 2015

Nubble Lights :: ME

My top of photo of 2015 is hands down the night I got to see the Northern lights for the first time. 🙂  I sat on the rocks in front of the lighthouse, listening to the waves around me, and watched the pillars of light in the sky dance. All around me, I heard other people gasping and laughing at the magic of Mother Nature’s show. It was an experience that I will cherish forever.

The rest of the images, in no particular order are….

Breathing Dreams

This shot of the mighty Taughannock Falls in NY was taken in March.  I have an ongoing photo file of places that I stumble across in my internet travels that have potential…  This location was one of them.  We spent 5 hrs in a car, each way, for a place that on the whole probably wasn’t going to offer many good vantage points for images. But then again, maybe it would. Maybe it needed to be explored. Maybe it needed to be worked at. Maybe… Well, maybe’s are intriguing…so we went.  After all, life is meant to be an adventure. 🙂

Elemental :: MA / NY

Elemental is a shot of Bash Bish Falls in NY.  Beyond having spectacular light luck, and great water conditions (the low water level here was perfect for photos…though maybe less perfect regionally for everything else) I like this photo because it comes with a sense of accomplishment.  I had been coming to this location for the last 17 years (give or take) and was never able to capture the sort of image that did it justice.  This image is a symbol of perseverance.  It reminds me that nature is so very changeable and that great images require patience and persistence to find the right set of conditions.

First Light :: NY

I saw two mind-blowing sunrises this year, and this was the first.  First Light was taken as the Ashokan Reservoir in the Catskills of New York state.  The reservoir is about 2 hours away, and believe me, when the morning came, I didn’t feel like getting up.  But I did, and we (Kyle Van Etten, Scott Davis, Kathy Malatesta and myself) drove there, and it was so very worth it.  The light was magical.  It was a reminder of one very important rule in landscape photography:  You can’t get the shot if you don’t show up.

Cavern Cascades :: NY

Cavern Cascades is one of several great falls in Watkins Glen State Park in NY.  The thing I like so much about this shot is the way the light fell in the gorge, and the varied textures making it absolutely perfect for black and white, which – as you may already know – is where I started my photo journey years ago.  Oh, and the company on this trip was pretty damn nice too.  I met up with Ron Clifford, AD Wheeler and Derek Kind to explore the area for the day.  Such super nice guys and really talented photographers.  I’m very glad to have met them. 🙂

Of Fire and Waves :: CA

Last but not least, is a brand new shot from my last trip of the year.  Earlier this month I went out west to explore Death Valley (California) and Valley of Fire (Nevada).  This shot is from my second mind-blowingest (obviously, that’s a real word) sunrise of the year.  My fellow photographer, Melissa Couture, and I were treated to such a show that morning.  It was one of those times where the photographer and nature lover in me was at freak out level 10.  I felt incredibly blessed to have experienced those moments, watching the colors of the sky shift and burn across the clouds, while the rocks below were painted with a beautiful glow.  It made me grateful for the opportunities I have had in my life, for the chances I’ve taken, for the things I’ve seen and the people I’ve met.  Not a bad way to close out 2015, in my opinion. 😉

Thank you to each and every one of you for the continued support, the comments, the feedback and the love this past year.  It really means the world to me (and to David, my business partner-in-crime!).  Keep on rocking into 2016!

 

xoxo
Shannon