I hit my first milestone

Good morning/day/evening y’all. It’s been a great week here in Charleston. I’d like to thank all of you in helping me reach the first of many milestones. I’ve reached over a 1000 pageviews on my website. Now to some that’s not a major thing, but for someone who’s been doing this full time for only 3 months it is. And THANK YOU!!! 

This week I headed out to Folly Beach, one of Charleston’s many beaches, to capture a sunrise. Well the colors just weren’t there so I worked on my minimalist photography. That’s were ther is just one subject. I also worked on my long exposure photography as well. I then photographed one of Chalreston’s oldest icons, The Angel Oak Tree. This tree is stated to be around 1500 years old and can you imagine the stories it would tell?  

Well this week we celebrate Amaerica’s birthday, July 4th. So I’ve got a few tips for y’all who are going to shoot the fireworks.  

1) Get a sturdy tripod. You’ll need it because of the long exposure times.  

2) Get a cable release, it makes photographing the fireworks much easier as you don’t need to touch the camera causing blurring images.  

3) Set your camera to Bulb Mode (B) Choose an f-stop around f 9 through f 11.

4) For focus, I’d wait for the first fireworks to go off, let the camera autofocus system lock on then set it to manual focus.  

5) As the fireworks take off, press and hold the cable release and don’t let go until after the explosion dissipates. That way you capture the trail and the explosion all in one shot.  

6) HAVE FUN!!! It’s the 4th of July so sit back and enjoy the show. As photographers we get so caught up on getting the shots that we lose focus on enjoying the moment with friends and family.  

So those are a few tips I have, for y’all who will just shot with your mobile phones, you can hold your phones up and try to anticipate when the explosion occurs as the tail takes off. I have taken a few good shots with my phone. 

Well folks I hope y’all have a great short week, I’ll be off to Greenville this weekend, I’m going there to support a local and fellow photographer who’s doing his first exhibit at a gallery and to explore the Up Country.  

Taken at The Washout on Folly Beach  

This will be short, I promise!!!

Good evening from beautiful, hot and, humid Charleston. It feels just like Miami. Well, since last week’s blog was a bit on the long side, I’ll keep this one short and sweet. Last Friday, I launch a new series on my website where you can purchase some of my images in different sizes. I will print, mat and ship them straight to you and all you have to do is put them in your favorite frame and hang them up. Simple. Click on the link: https://www.sabatierphotography.com/shopping/

Saturday, Malena and I sat around and watched some World Cup action, funny how we’re not really fútbol fans only when the World Cup is on. Oh, and by the way, Charleston has it’s own soccer club, check them out. https://www.chsbatterysc.com/ 

This morning I made the commitment to head out and shoot some sunrise photos, it’s been a long time. I was happy just to get out there and shoot, The sun wasn’t cooperating with me so I took some intimate, or minimalist photos. When you go out and shoot, don’t just shoot the grand vistas, but look around and get some isolated subjects. 

Well, that’s it from me. Told y’all it was going to be a short one.  I hope y’all have a great week!! 

 https://www.sabatierphotography.com/shopping/

Taken at The Washout here on Foley Beach 

The use of leading lines drawing your eyes through the image. 

This Week from Wyoming Bears and Mountains

So, I said a few days ago that I’ll be blogging on a daily basis, well I missed yesterday due to a really long day. That day started at 2:00 A.M. with an astrophotography shot of one of the Moulton Barns with the Milky Way in the background. What an amazing night sky. I’ve been out and seen stars but that morning the sky was littered with them! After the clouds decided to move in, we took a quick power nap in the car. For sunrise, we headed over to the other Moulton Barn with the Tetons in the background. What an amazing sight to see when the sun came over the horizon an lit the barn and mountains. 

Once we came back the the apartment, it was time for some much needed sleep. After some food in the tank we headed out to Jackson and Jenny Lake to scout out future sunrise spots. It’s funny how the body works, I could feel something was wrong and I remember what altitude sickness was and thought I should get some rest. So we headed back to the apartment and I was out by 8:00 P.M.   

This morning we headed out to shoot a sunrise, after a few minutes wondering if we should go to Jenny Lake or go to Snake River Overlook. Well with the fog rolling in it was an easy decision to go to Snake River Overlook. WOW!! I got to stand in the same area as Ansel Adams did when he took his famous Snake River photograph. Last year I photographed Yosemite National Park and now I got to photograph Grand Teton, same as Ansel. I would describe the weather this morning as epic. Rain, wind and cold temperatures made these images look like they came right out of something from Lord of the Rings movie.  

This evening we went out looking for some wildlife, bears in particular. While driving we saw two juvenile moose hanging around. Then we headed out to Pilgrim Creek to see one of the world’s famous bears, Grizzly Bear 399. She’s as famous that she has her own Facebook page,  https://www.facebook.com/Grizzly-Bear-399-278005992220778/  While driving we notice a few cars parked along the side of the road and we knew what that meant, a bear jam. She was there with her two cubs looking for food and just being bears.  We were glad to have found these bears because we were worried we couldn’t find any in the park. I think from here on out it should be good. 

Tomorrow will be another sunrise in either Jackson or Jenny Lake, then a sunset on the other side of the Tetons. Hopefully I can do a quick blog with those images. Until then enjoy these below. 

Milky Way over Moulton Barn with a few shooting stars. 

The other Moulton Barn with the Tetons in the background. 

Snake River made famous by Ansel Adams

The famous Grizzly 399 and her two cubs. Looks like one needs his back scratched. 

This week from Wyoming

Well I finally made it to Wyoming, home of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Two amazing parks. I’ll be out here with fellow photographer and host of The Nature Photography Podcast, Jason Eldridge, if you haven’t check him out I highly recommend it. I’ll be out here photographing the amazing landscapes and wildlife around here. 

This afternoon we went out to an overlook where you see the Tetons with some nice sidelight on it. I’ll post below some shots with my phone. Tomorrow morning is an early rise, 2:00 A.M. Yes, you read that correct, 2:00 A.M. Why? Because we’ll be able to catch the Milky Way rise over the mountains. Then stay up for the sunrise.  Well, I’m going to keep it short because I need to get some rest. It’s been a long day of travel, been up since 5:00 A.M. Miami time. In the meantime enjoy these behind the scene shots.  

The famous Grand Tetons that Ansel Adams made famous. Shot on an iPhone  

Here’s a #BTS of my camera and the Tetons  

This Week in my Charleston Chronicles 05/07

Yet another week has come and gone. This week, well let’s just say it went to the toilet. Started out pretty good with editing some photos of the Blessing of the Fleet, then worked on my pricing sheet for the potential real estate clients. Then Wednesday rolled around and I join a few other retirees for lunch. I guess they add me just to keep the average age of the group below 80. No, they’re a great bunch of guys, some are native Charlestonians. Yes, that’s a word y’all.  That evening Malena and I hit up one of our favorite pizza joints. Then a few hours later... Disaster. I felt horrible for the next two days. I guess it was either a stomach bug or something I ate but man did I feel horrible. All I did was watch tv and suffer for the next two days. Friday was May 4th and for all us Star Wars geeks a day we live for, but not this year! I celebrated it right in front of the tv watching Rogue One. Malena nursed me back to health with her chicken soup and TLC. Thanks babe. 

Saturday was Cinco de Mayo, an American celebration of a Mexican victory over Spain in some battle. I guess we need an excuse to party. Our neighbors invited us to go with them over to some friend’s house and celebrate both Cinco de Mayo and the 144th running of the Kentucky Derby. What a beautiful home they have, right on the banks of the Ashley River looking at the Ravenel Bridge off in the distance. Pretty cool place to watch a horse race. The weekend finished off with meeting a few more potential business clients and a documentary movie on the history of Freeriding mountain biking at a local brewery. 

Next week is what I call the holy day of obligation and looking forward to another year with friends and family. Malena and I will be down in Miami for the weekend to spend it with our mother’s. Then on Wednesday, I fly out to Wyoming. I’ll be there for the next ten days photographing The Grand Teton and the famous Yellowstone National Park. So today I started to pack all my camera gear. Lots of gear and other gear I rented that should be there when I arrive. I’ll post a picture of my gear. Well until next week, make it prosperous and have fun.  

Here’s my photo gear that will be traveling with me. I use Canon gear but there’s a Sony in the mix as well.  6dm1, 16-35mm f4, 28-75mm f2.8, 70-300L, Samyang 14mm 2.8, 28mm f1.8 a 10 stop ND filter, 2 circular polarizers, a Sony a6000 with a Rokinon 12mm f2.8, a few cable releases and that little orange box is a MIOPS controller. It does a little bit of everything, it’s my lightning trigger, intervelometer, cable release. It’s controlled all via Bluetooth to my phone. And my rocket blower to clean out the sensors. All that plus a 15” laptop computer fit into that backpack. 

Here it is all packed up and ready to go. I guess I’ll make my appointment with the chiropractor when I get back.   

This week in my Charleston Chronicles

Well another week has come and gone. We are closing on April and coming up on May. At this rate the holidays will be here in no time. I had a very productive week, met with my SCORE mentor, this is a free  service that South Carolina offers small business owners in order to help them be successful. Took in a great amount of business information from him. Did a bit of exploring and photographing in downtown. Thinking of a few personal projects while walking around, more to come on that later on. I had my first business meeting on Thursday and it went well, let’s see if I can start drumming up some business. 

Over the weekend I took a matting and mounting class where I got to mat my own photograph. This will help me with several things; 1) it’ll help me distinguish myself from the rest of the local artist who just use plain white mats and 2) help reduce the cost in having someone else do it. I’m only going to do my own matting for the smaller prints, all my other pieces will be done by professionals.   

Sunday was a great day. Malena and I took part in the annual “Blessing of the Fleet”  where the local fishermen parade down the Cooper River and are blessed by the local clergy in hopes of a good and safe fishing season. After the Blessing we headed over to Water’s Edge, a local eatery on the banks of Shem Creek where you can see the fleet of shrimp boats. If you ever find yourself in Charleston, come check out Shem Creek. Let’s make this week and every week a great one! 

Another beautiful Charleston sunset. That is St. Phillip’s in the background. (Image shot for my IPhone) 

Ben Osborn of Eastbound and Down Framing who taught a workshop on how to matte and mount your images. I learned quite a bit from Ben who’s a transplant from Austin, Tx. And yes, we both agree that Lewis BBQ is the closest thing to Texas BBQ in Charleston. 

A collage of images from The Blessing of the Fleet event in Mt. Pleasant. 

This week in my Charleston Chronicles

Well, I’ll categorize this week as a semi productive week. We drove back on Tuesday from spending the weekend down in Miami. I then got to work more on the business side of things. Man, it’s what they all say about entrepreneurship. Owning your own business is rough. I spend more time sitting in the chair typing away then behind the lens. I guess in order to build a good business you need a solid foundation.

Over this past weekend, Malena and I visited the Francis Marion National Forrest. We did part of the Palmetto Trail system which starts here in the low country and ends up near Columbia. I was scoping out good spots for some astrophotography so there might be some Milky Way shots coming.  We then headed to Shem Creek in Mt. Pleasant for a sunset dinner. On Sunday, I met with some potential clients and viewed some homes for sale.

 I have two business meetings this week, one with my business mentor, and the other with a realtor and their broker. Things are starting to look good here in Charleston. It’s been a month now and I’m really excited to be living here in the Low Country. So I’m going to leave you with this image taken on Saturday evening during the sunset. Now, I have to say it’s one of the best ones I’ve seen yet. 

Sunset at Shem Creek Park. That’s the Ravenel Bridge in the background. The colors were amazing that  day. I’m looking forward to seeing more of these.   

How I took the Shot

​How I took this shot?

St. Michael’s Church in downtown Charleston

So how do you get those clouds to streak across the sky you ask? Well it’s by using a 10 stop neutral density (ND) filter. It’s like sunglasses for your camera. What a ND filter does is it slows down your shutter speed, which is the amount the aperture stays open, giving time for the clouds to move across the sensor of your camera. There are several ND filters that offer different “stops” of light. 3, 6, 10, 15 stops are the most common ones out there. They also come in round, screw in, or square. The round ones screw into the thread on the end of your lens. The square filter requires a filter holder. He’s a tip, if you do buy the round filters, go with the largest diameter of the lens you have. Then buy step down rings for the other lenses. If you’re good with math it’ll be easy to figure out, but we are in the age of technology so there’s an app for that.

Figuring out the right exposure

When trying to calculate the correct exposure with a ND filter, you have to figure out what the “proper” exposure is without the ND filter first. In the case of the image used, I got a proper exposure of 1/400th of a second at a F/Stop of f10. So if I use a 10 stop filter I would get an exposure of 2.5 seconds. Now I’ll be honest here, as an artist, I went with a longer exposure to really get those clouds moving across the sensor creating movement. I used a 30 second exposure. That’s 5 stops longer then what the filter is for. But since the day was overcast and showers were forecasted, I knew I can get away with a 30 second exposure and not “blow” out, most of the image will be overexposed,  my image.

A ND filter can also be used on smoothing water movement making it nice and silky. One other important thing; Prior to you putting on the ND Filter, make sure your subject is in focus then turn off the autofocus on your lens. This will prevent the lens from trying to focus through that dark piece of glass. 

So go out there and play around with ND filters and long exposures and let’s see what you get. As a fellow photographer says “hey, pixels are free.”

Location: Broad Street/ Meeting Street Charleston SC 03/30/18

Subject: St. Michael Church

Camera: Canon 6D

Focal length: 28mm Tamron 28-75 f2.8

Aperture: f/10

Exposure: 30 second time exposure

ISO: 100

10 Stop ND (neutral density)

Here I am exposing for the shot. As you can see there are a few cars, but with a long exposure those cars disappear or can add motion to the photo. 

Here’s my setup. I use square filters. I use a Colin filter holder with a Haida 10 stop ND filter. 

This week in my Charleston Chronicles

Well another week has gone by living here in Charleston. This past weekend was great, on Saturday my wife, Malena, ran her first event here in Charleston. It was the 41 annual Cooper River Bridge run. A run that starts in Mt. Pleasant just across the Cooper River and finished in downtown Charleston. Approximately 40,000 runner turned out this year. As she ran the the course, I headed out to do what I like to do, take pictures. Well, the light wasn’t all the best but as that old saying goes, “A bad day of photography is better than a day at work”. Then I headed over to King Street and see the runners come by. I had found a great donut shop, imaging that, and hung out and did a bit of people watching. 

Sunday, we headed out to Summerville, a little town just north of Charleston where there was the Azalea Festival going on. We went with some friendly neighbors here in our complex. Greg and Nancy are transplants from Minnesota and are the unofficial welcomers of our apartment complex. Well the festival was great, lots of people walking around but no flowers to been seen. As I walked around I was getting ideas for next year of possibly doing a booth here and showing off some of my art, so stay tuned for that. Well another week has started and I’m officially a South Carolina resident, as I did that dreaded line at the DMV. Man, they’re all about the same no matter what state you live in. Okay folks thanks for reading. Maybe my next post I’ll do it from the MIA? Catch y’all on the flip side. 

Bed & Breakfast up for sale

We saw this nice Bed and Breakfast that’s currently up on the market. If anyone is interested in. 

Lots and lots of people walking at the #Azalea Festival

a little #BTS of my Sunrise during Saturday morning 

Look Ma, here come the tourist...

Royal Caribbean Cruise line Grandeur of the Seas coming in for the day. Carnival Cruise also comes to Charleston.