On the Water

I had a chance to get out on the water this past week end and do a little photography.  Typically it can be windy here in Florida in the wintertime, so when I saw a calm day I immediately got my kayak out on the water.  We recently purchased new kayaks and decided to buy the sit on top style over the sit in style we had.  The new ones are easier to get in and out of, but as I found out, much easier to flip than our old units.  I was out a few weeks ago by myself and managed to flip it twice.  Once when I reached for something behind me and again trying to gather up my stuff floating in the lake in my water tight bag.  Luckily for me I didn't have any camera equipment out, and the alligator I just passed didn't make a meal out of me.  After this experience I decided that I needed to make my kayak flip proof so I can photograph without a concern of losing my equipment and not have to swim with the alligators.  I spent the next couple of weeks engineering outriggers that are fully adjustable to put on the kayak.  This week was the first time out with them installed and they worked perfectly.  Now the kayak feels much more stable and I can focus more on making photographs and less on flipping over.

I have a new web site I just constructed.  You can view it at  http://www.johndoddato.net/

Sapelo Island

                                                                                          Sapelo Island, Ga. - Kodak T-Max Film

I have been too busy lately with computer work.  I had a very important backup hard drive fail and it cost me a couple of weeks of intense work retrieving my files.  I am usually very good at backing up and duplicating files in case the worst happens, but sometimes I let things slide and get sloppy.  Luckily I regained most of my photo files, but some were corrupted and lost forever.  The digital world is always a moving target.  It seems I can never get to a leveling off point where my software and hardware are all up to date and compatible.  It is a marketeers dream to have planned obsolescence.  It keeps a steady customer base for business.  I just recently purchased a new Sony A7R11 camera.  I have used Canon for years but decided that I wanted a smaller and more light weight camera to backpack with.  It has some nice features, but it is over engineered for my liking.  I really don't need ten different ways to do the same thing on a camera.  The learning curve is pretty steep and most of the time I don't have the patience to learn settings I will rarely use.  I have always preferred to set my cameras up as being totally manual just like my old film cameras.  I like having complete control over the equipment I use.  The one nice thing the new Sony camera has is a very nice manual focusing system.  I have never really trusted the auto focus systems on digital cameras for giving the sharpest focal point in the scene.  I know I would feel differently if I was still doing professional sports photography.  In those days, an auto focus camera would have been great to have.  I have been working hard the past couple of weeks finally getting a new web site up and running and hope to have it online in a few days.  Checking on my domain name I have had secured for a number of years, I found out that it just expired and was no longer available for a reasonable price.  Again it is the never ending chasing your tail of the digital world.  Somedays I sit and try to remember what I used to do before all of this technology came into my life.  Certainly younger people can't relate to my concerns because they were born into a world of technology.  I guess if I want to continue with photography I will have to adjust to the numerous changes that come with modern technology.

Old Growth Forrest

There is a magical place in Pennsylvania called Cook Forrest.  It is located in the western area of the state and has some grand old growth forrest where you can walk among trees that are over 150 feet tall. When we lived in that region of the country we would go tent camping there and hike the trails in these forrest.  We often encountered the numerous black bears that roam the area without any problems, and had several frightening moments with the large timber rattlers that populate the area.  I remember our first night camping in this area and seeing large bear.  It was twilight and we were getting ready to enter our small tent when I spotted a black bear walking past us.  We remained still as we watched him move through and out of the area.  A few days later we were hiking down a trail and the sun was directly in our eyes.  I noticed what looked like a large limb laying in the trail only to find out it was a timber rattler that quickly coiled up and gave its rattle alarm with it's tail.  We were momentary frozen by the surprise and stood still thinking how we can back out and get away from this angry snake.  Cautiously stepping back out of striking range we quickly moved back up the trail and waited for the snake to calm down and move off the path.  Later in the day we spoke with a ranger and he said that the area is heavily populated with rattle snakes and suggested caution and a sharp eye is needed to roam around the dense forrest area.  If you are an outdoors enthusiest you know the rewards of being in such locations is worth the risk.  Back home we had to be mindful of the bears and rattle snakes, and here in Florida it is the alligators and water moccasins.  I made the above photograph just after the sun came up from our little camp site.  The early morning light filtering through the trees captures the quietness of being in a deep forrested area.

In search of soft light

My typical time to photograph is in low light situations.  I realize this usually requires me to be out at first light or at the end of the day after sunset.  Other times when the sky is overcast with no wind can be an ideal time to capture the soft light in a scene.  What I like about soft light is the glow that a scene can take on in these lighting conditions. The above photograph was taken in the last few minutes of day light when the light was soft and after the stirring winds have calmed down.  The time is limited so picking a location and setting up is usually done just before or after the sun has set.  I can usually get a couple of setups before the light is completely gone.  An important thing to look for is the side lighting in the scene.  If you look at the trees in this image you will noticed that the trees have a side lighting giving them deminsion and shape.  The open sky to the West is usually the source light for the scene after sunset, so setting up with that in mind can help you achieve the best light available for low light landscape photography. 

10,000 Islands

We were camped on Chokoloskee Island a couple of weeks ago to do some kayaking and photography.  This area has thousands of mangrove islands called the Ten Thousand Islands.  Being fairly new to Florida we were excited to explore a new region of the state.  As always when venturing out into a new wilderness area, we gather as much useful information as we can from the local people to help us with our plans.  This first thing we were told is that the tides are very strong in this area, and it was suggested  that we should paddle out with the out going tide and back with the incoming tide.   This approach worked very well and gave us plenty of time out on the water.  As we wandered around the various island it was easy to see we could get lost very quickly.  Everything looked the same so we tried to identify landmarks to remember to guide us back in the direction we needed to go on our return trip.  When I am photographing I take a lot of time composing and setting up may camera gear.   My wife Linda, who often travels with me on these trips, will explore around by herself when I am involved with photography.  I beached my kayak on a little sand bar and Linda paddled around the end of the island as I climbed in among the mangrove trees is search of a photograph.  After about thirty minutes of photographing I returned to my kayak to see it was gone.  I didn't realize the tide had come up and the water had covered the little beach area where my kayak was sitting.  Looking out I could see it about a thousand feet from shore and I was a little startled because Linda was nowhere in sight.  I started wading out and soon realized the water wasn't more than waist deep so I was able to retrieve my kayak with no problem.  If the wind was blowing and I was out there by myself it might have been a different story.  From now on I will always secure my boat with a rope when kayaking where there is a tide.  I have learned over the years that a trip turns into an adventure when something goes wrong. 

Expectations vs. Reality

All of us go through life with a certain amount of expectations, but often times the reality of a situation doesn't match our anticipated plans.  As landscape photographers, we travel to an area with a hope and expectation of finding the right conditions and subject matter to make an interesting photograph.  Many times the reality doesn't match our hopes. Often times the light or the weather is not right for doing photography.  I remember in my early days with photography I would become upset at wasting a day without making an image because the conditions didn't co-operate or I just couldn't find anything I was interested in photographing.  Today I don't get as alarmed with the failed visits to an area and coming away empty handed.  I know from experience that the good images will come and the hard work to find them will never be an easy task.  I made this image a couple of days ago on the east coast of Florida.  My expectations were to revisit the rock jetty that is featured in my banner image on my blog's main page.  I have been wanting to return to this location and repeat the experience to see if I could create another new and interesting image.  I started out my day by checking the motion weather radar map to see if any storms would be moving through the area.  It showed that early afternoon storms were going to be in the region so I decided to make the trip.  I arrived early and scouted the location and waited.  In a couple of hours the storms appeared with some magnificent clouds but the storm failed to go out over the ocean and left the jetty with a blank blue sky behind it.  As I watched the storm moving north up the coastline I felt like I just wasted another trip.  My plans and expectations faded into the reality of the situation.   As I returned to my truck I noticed a small hiking trail going through a hammock of dense trees.  I figured I would make a hike before making the drive home and explored the area forest.   Although this area was only a short way from the beach it was extremely quiet in there and the storm clouds made for some really nice soft light.  I came across this fallen palm frond and instantly knew this was going to be my image of the day.  As I came away I realized the short quiet walk in amongst the trees was the place I was meant to be that day. 

Storm at sunrise

We recently spent some time down in the Florida Keys.  It is a good place to photograph if you are looking to be surrounded by sky and water.  We camped at Long Key St. Pk. and had this view looking out over the ocean from our campsite.  On this particular morning I saw a thunderstorm out over the ocean as the sun was coming up.  I grabbed my camera and tripod and made a quick setup.  I made a few exposures as the storm moved across the horizon.  As I was reviewing my images I noticed that the  limb on the right side of the tree merged with the water so I lowered my tripod and made two more exposures before the sun broke through the clouds.  To me this small adjustment makes a big difference in the final image.  Some of the earlier images had better storm clouds and light shafts but I choose this image because the tree is separated a little from the background.  There is so much to think about when the light is changing quickly.  It is easy to overlook things and make mistakes when hurried.  Most of my work is done in a more contemplative approach where I work slowly and organized.  It takes constant practice to be able to setup your equipment, determine exposure, and find the proper composition in a hurry.  Sometimes you get rewarded with an image and others times it is just a practice for the next time you come across a quick changing scene.