Canyonlands

My latest travels brought me back to one of my favorite places, Moab Utah. I camped with my brother right in downtown Moab. Each morning I left at about 3:30am and headed up into Canyonlands for a sunrise shot. It’s an incredible place to watch the sun come up. Most of the time it was just me on top of 2000-foot cliffs overlooking the Colorado and Green Rivers.

Colorado River

This particular shot was actually a sunset shot at False Kiva. It is located part way down a cliff, it exact location is kept a “loose” secret to help preserve it. Off to the right of the picture, just out of frame is my brother patiently waiting for the sunset.

False Kiva

When the sun rises at Mesa Arch it bounces light off the cliff and illuminates the underside of the rock.

Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park, UT

Tim at Mesa Arch

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North Carolina

Rain storms in the NC mountains

Adverse weather conditions can be a photographer’s best friend. I headed out mid-afternoon to scout locations for a sunset shot. The weather was bad and turned worse as soon as I hit the mountains. The rain was so heavy you could barely see the road. My wipers were at full speed and rivers of water were streaking across the roads. This went on for over an hour. There didn’t seem to be an end in sight. I ended up sitting in a switchback area for a while just listening to music on the car stereo near a good overlook. Finally the rain let up just enough for me to head over to check out the view. It was spectacular. The rain clouds had briefly moved out and the next wall of rain was approaching rapidly. The weather held for about 15 minutes for me to get this shot. Then the storms came in again and the rain came down again for the rest of the day.

Everglades

Did a little fishing in the everglades. Got about 13 miles out and had to turn around. Because of the high winds I decided not to bring my camera. Figures, due to the fires it was the most spectacular sunset I’ve seen in a while.

Art Show Schedule for 2011

January, February and March are going to be fun for us. We have a lot art shows to take part in. Here is where you can find us (or just come to our Hollywood gallery).
January 1st and 2nd – Las Olas Art Show – Ft. Lauderdale, FL
January 8th and 9th – Beux Art Festival – University of Miami
January 15th and 16th – Downtown Delray Art Show – Delray, FL
January 22nd and 23rd – City Place Art Show – West Palm, FL
January 29th and 30th – Boca Museum of Art – Boca Raton, FL
February 5th and 6th – Hope Sound Festival of the Arts – Hope Sound, FL
February 26th and 27th – Downtown Stuart Art Festival – Stuart, FL
March 5th and 6th – Las Olas Art Show, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
March 12th and 13th – Art Festival by the Sea – Jupiter, FL
March 19th and 20th – Key Biscayne Art Festival – Key Biscayne, FL

Angel Oak

I mentioned earlier that I would much rather come back from a trip with one really good shot than a dozen mediocre ones. Well, I feel like I got that one. The weather was a bust in New England so after a few days of R&R in Pennsylvania we headed home. While in PA I was looking through a book on the world’s incredible trees. One that caught my eye was located on St. Johns Island. It is known as the Angel Oak. Considered one of the oldest living things east of the Rockies at 1500 years, this majestic oak covers over 17,000sf of ground. After a long trip of overcast weather I arrived at the Angel Oak greeted by bright sun and clear skies. Exactly what I didn’t want. The one day I wanted the clouds I got sun. The only way to get the shot I wanted of the tree was to wait it out. Eventually the sky started forming small puffy clouds that would cross in front of the sun for a minute at a time, just enough to get what I needed. This was the shot that made the whole trip. You can see the slightly dappled light on the ground from the sun just starting to reappear from behind the cloud during the exposure. I knew I had the shot. I was smiling the rest of the way to FL.

Pennsylvania

I grew up in central Pennsylvania. I know about every back road there is in the area. I love going back. It’s like reliving my childhood. One area I like to drive to is Belleville.  It is a rural farming area that is largely Amish.  You never know what to expect as the sun comes up. The rolling valley sits between two mountains. As the sun first starts shining in the valley the landscape comes alive. Pockets of fog can form in the low areas and slowly grow to fill parts of the valley. The sounds of horse hooves are heard in the distance as the Amish head out in their buggies. This particular morning the sheep were put in a graveyard to cut the grass.  After three days the graveyard was looking trim, no mowers necessary.

Maine 2010

What a journey. It is a long way to Maine from Florida but worth it every year. This year was no exception. Even though the weather didn’t cooperate this year, it was still fun. I always said I would much rather come back from a trip with one really good shot than a dozen mediocre ones.
My wife, two dogs and I headed to the coast of Maine to shoot some lighthouses. I ended up spending more time sight seeing than shooting. The weather forecast was not looking good. I like clouds in the sky when I shoot but not dark, gray and gloomy. I had one morning out of four that I got a little break in the sky. I sat at this location every sunrise and on the 4th day the sky opened up enough to give me this bit of color.
Waiting for the color pop. 
I also decided to take advantage of the gray and gloom. Lighthouses are most helpful to ships in bad weather. Well this evenings shot was one of those the lighthouse guided some fishing boats in. Visibility was bad and the fog was setting in fast. Two trollers came into the bay while I was setting up this shot. The lighthouse was a great sight for them as well as me. This final shot was taken about 50 minutes after sunset.
For once the weatherman got it right. Six days of clouds and rain and at least six more ahead of us. The whole NE was socked in. We spent some time driving around NH, VT and NY. I have to include a shot of “Jessica” – my wife named her. My dogs really wanted to get out of the car and check her out. Didn’t happen.
It was off to Pennsylvania to wait the weather out.


Gallery Opening

I wanted to thank everyone for coming to the grand opening party. It was a great success. What a huge turnout! The wine kept flowing late into the night.