Spook Hill Road Bridge #1

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I woke up today expecting to take a morning trek up into Northern Baltimore County in the snow for some nice "snow on trees" types of shots.  But when I got up instead of the 1-2" we should have had at that point we had about 1/4".  I looked at the weather, realized they changed the forecast taking away most of our snow so I went back to bed.

After I had been up for a while I noticed the sun was breaking through the clouds and there was actually some blue skies mixed in among the clouds.  Quickly I shifted gears realizing the potential for a good sunset.  I have no idea why but I immediately thought of this bridge.  I didn't even know what way it faced, I had photographed it during the daytime the previous winter with a flock of Canadian Geese in front of it but thats about it.  Weird thing is I even figured I would be heading back into the cove behind the bridge.  I guess I was taking mental notes that day last winter when I had shot the bridge during the day.  I got a later start than I had wanted so I ended up watching the infancy of the sunset while still in route.  I got a little impatient and got going a little fast on the road that surrounds Prettyboy Reservoir.  Despite the slightly slippery roads I arrived at the bridge in one piece.

I decided I needed to be at a low angle in order to get a good angle to get the bridge and sky in the same frame.  This meant climbing down a snow covered hill about 25 feet to the waters edge.  I let Sparky off his leash and sent him down the hill first.  He has four paw drive, he always makes it everywhere safely.  I have two feet and I didn't make it down without incident.  I made it about 15 feet down when I slipped down about another 10 feet on my butt.  If it wasn't cold before, it sure was cold now!  No time to worry about that now, light was approaching peak!  I set up  my camera on the tripod (made of metal and also very cold by this point) and set up with the appropriate lens.  After getting a few run of the mill shots (Spook Hill Road Bridge #2, #2 actually came first but was edited second...) I began to play.

For this shot I wanted as long of an exposure as possible because I saw the clouds were moving across the sky at a pretty good clip.  I closed my aperture down to f/22 and lowered my ISO to Nikon's fake 100 (Lo1.0) and put on two neutral density filters and a circular polarizer.  I was able to take my shutter speed from 1/4 second on Spook Hill #2 down to 6 seconds on this image.  This allowed me to keep the shutter open for long enough to have the clouds "paint" themselves across the frame while not allowing anything to blow out and turn white.  After some careful post processing I brought the foreground levels back up so you could see the bridge and ice covered reservoir.

Now in the twilight I put all my gear away, turned around and realized just to my left was a much easier way to get up to the road that didn't involve a 75 degree hill.  When I see a photo opportunity I get so focused I often miss the obvious.  That can be a real hindrance to not only taking the easy way to a location but to getting the shot to begin with.  If you lock yourself into one image you often miss the obvious image which is even stronger.

"Snow Cap" at Great Falls, MD

This image was captured during a recent trip to Great Falls on the Maryland side of the gorge.  It was a decent day, not too terribly cold, with the sun shining and a few scattered clouds.  This was the first time my dog came along to Great Falls.  There is a "no dogs" policy on the boardwalk to the Falls overlook, but I decided on a weekday I would go ahead and chance breaking the rule.  Turns out the place was mobbed.  Dogs everywhere including on the boardwalk.  In fact, I think I spend more time moving Sparky out of peoples and dogs way then I spent taking pictures.  I finally made it through the gauntlet of people, dogs, and potential images and arrived at the overlook where I was hoping to catch a stunning sunset over the gorge.

I was taking in the falls when this rock caught my eye.  The static nature of the rocks and ice contrasting with the rapid movement of the white water rapid instantly excited my curiosity.  I've always loved the smooth look of water over a long exposure, "cotton candy water" as some photographers refer to it as.  A couple of test exposures showed me I needed to stack a few neutral density filters as well as a polarizer in order to get the effect I was looking for.  As soon as I reviewed the image in the camera monitor I knew I loved this picture.  It portrays both a sense of sorrow and solitude that I have been feeling lately.  In fact, many of my pictures have had that feeling of late.  I can't wait to hear on the blog, facebook page, and at shows to find out if this shot speaks to people the way it speaks to me.

The sunset never evolved.  It was a very plain jane sunset with the clouds not picking up any light.  It also turns out that this time of year the sun is at the wrong angle to catch from that viewpoint.  But the couple images I did get more than make up for the lack of an amazing sunset.  In fact, the "Snow Cap" image much better portrays how I was feeling than any sunset could have done.

Favorite Images of 2010

Ok, been absent for a little while, but with the new year here I want to share a few favorite images I've taken in 2010.  As some of you may know, 2010 has been a year full over very high highs and very low lows.  It has been both the best year of my life and the very worst of nightmares at the same time.  Anyway, heres to 2011 with a look back at 2010:

This image of Blackwater Falls in Davis, West Virginia was taken on October 10th. This stop capped off a weekend where we traveled over 1000 miles going from the Delaware Bay, to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and finally to the mountains of West Virginia.  Normally I do not like to have the main subject of my images obsured in any way, but the color of these leaves against the white of the falls was simply striking.  I chose a long exposure because I simply love the velvety soft look of flowing water.  I broke the rule of thirds with how high the top of the falls is, I did that to try and convey the size of the falls.  For those who have not seen or heard of this waterfall it is actually roughly the height of a five story building.  It is quite an impressive sight.  Almost as impressive is the number of stairs leading down to the falls, 294 if my memory serves.  This goes down in my book as one of the hardest "easily accessible" sites in the area.

This image is entitled "Bashful Raccoon".  This was an image of sheer luck (always remembering that even with luck, if you do not know what you are doing when you get the opportunity to get the shot, you will fail).  I was at Bombay Hook along the Delaware Bay on July 3rd.  I had brought my kids along to what they called "the bug place" due to the number of biting flies that would sneak into the car only to be squished by a hyper 5 and 3 year old.  Driving along one of the back trails where nothing is normally sighted, I spy movement along the edge of the road in the brush.  I immediately hit the brakes, grab my camera with the telephoto zoom on it and rush towards the movement.  It turned out to be a raccoon.  And he was not very happy to see me.  He bolted for a tree and went to climbing it.  Luckily for me he stopped about 10 feet up in a nook and was curious enough to peer down at me.  It really looks like he was posing for me, perhaps he was...

Click here for the original, this smaller thumbnail just does not do the eagle justice.  I've spent a lot of time this year up a Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna River.  If you have not heard, they have a thriving population of eagles that live and breed there in the area.  This is a very popular spot for photographers, bird watchers, and fishermen.  I've spent much time there learning how to use an ultra-telephoto lens and learning the ins and outs of eagles and how they move.  This shot was taken very late in the year: December 11th.  Some days you go up and the eagle simply sit and watch the world.  Other days, like the 11th they are hungry and decide to fish the entire day.  But I have found that finding them fishing is the easy part.  Learning how to track with their movements so you can get a good crisp shot is the hard part.  Its taken many months and many, many shots but I am finally getting the hang of it.  There is something about the cry of a Bald Eagle that is simply intoxicating and keeps drawing me back with hopes of catching these amazing birds in action.

If you like what you see you can see more at Benjamin DeHaven's Gallery at www.dajdesignsphotography.com.  Here are a couple more photographs that hold a special place in my heart:

Great Egret Taking Off At Dusk in Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge

Old Fishing Boat on Hooper's Island, MD

  

Elakala Falls in Blackwater Falls State Park

Storm Clouds Over Great Falls Maryland

Storm Clouds Over Great Falls Maryland

See this image in my online gallery!

The photo trip started with a trip to the Virginia side of the Great Falls gorge.  I underestimated the amount of traffic travelling from my home in Timonium down to Great Falls.  Considering we are talking about I-95 and the Capitol Beltway I should have planned better. But finally I made it and the photography began.

This was before the new superintendent took over and started enforcing the "nobody out on the rocks" policy.  I had a great time getting up close to the falls.  About 5:30pm I noticed it looked like storm clouds where moving in.  I decided that I wanted to be on the Maryland side of the Falls hoping to see some nice sunset light on the incoming clouds.  I hopped in the car and sped back into traffic.

I made it to the Maryland side parking lot just as it was getting dark from the storm clouds.  The sun was about 45 minutes from setting.  I jumped out of the car and grabbed my gear and headed for the Maryland overlook.  I crossed over the C&O Canal by the old tavern.  I could hear the occasional rumble of thunder off in the distance as I reached the boardwalk out to the overlook.  I started walking faster hoping to get some pictures before the skies opened up.  Eventually I reached the overlook and was greeted by these orange pink skies with real rough looking storm clouds.  Now I could actually see the lightning off in the distance.  Specifically there were several bolts that were visible just off the right hand side of the above image.

I chose to shoot the scene with a wide angle lens at 16mm.  I set my shutter speed to 1 second hoping to get some movement in the clouds but it didn't work out quite right.  And later I decided that I liked this image better than the longer exposure.  I think the rough landscape meshed well with the harshness of the clouds.  I love the orange pink sky color, it goes well with the natural color of the rocks.  And the touch of fall colors just makes the boundary between sky and gorge pop.

The rain held up till after dark and I was already back in my car by that point.  All in all the weather really was on my side that night.  Sometimes you just get lucky with the weather.

Blackwater Falls in Autumn

See this image in my online gallery!

Having just been to Blackwater Falls State Park a week prior and not getting anything good due to rain I doubted I would go back anytime soon.  Blackwater is about 3 1/2 hours from my home in Timonium, Maryland.  However, I found myself only an hour from Blackwater with about 2 hours of daylight left.  I pointed the car towards the park and drove.

Upon arrival I had about 1 hour of daylight left.  My first stop was Elakala Falls.  After getting some nice shots down in the gorge I climbed out and raced back to the car.  I then drove to the other side of the park to the Blackwater Falls parking.  Normally I hate going where I am supposed to go, in this case a well built boardwalk leading to the falls.  However, many signs made it clear that on the boardwalk I had to stay.  This limited the creativity of the shot that I could get.  Lucky for me I was there near the peak of the autumn colors so I could creatively compose to capture color.  At this point the light was fading fast allowing for a nice long shutter speed.  I took a few shots and then scurried back up the 214 stairs back to the parking lot, arriving just before complete darkness.  Then for the 3 1/2 hour drive home...

When processing I had to work the balance between getting a bright crisp image and not blowing out the highlights in the falls.  I also paid special attention to bringing out the color in the foreground leaves.  I love the way the oranges and greens contrast with the crisp white water of the falls.  I am quite pleased with how this end up coming out.  It was completely worth the drive and blew the other photoshoot of the day out of the water!

Hello World!

It is 2:07am, this is the time that I work best.  We have been going crazy working on our inventories for upcoming art shows.  It is both exciting and exhausting.  I set up this blog to help tell the story behind my photography.  Stay tuned for updates!