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  

My Wyoming Chronicles

Greetings from Wyoming, yesterday was a off day. A day to relax and take care of some post processing, work on social media and the important laundry run. This morning we headed over to Jackson Lake for a sunrise shoot and it wasn’t disappointing. We then headed over to Oxbow Bend took a few shots while the light was good. As most of you know, sunrise shoots aren’t alway with the sun, but to chase that nice glowing light and the mountains face east so that’s why the mountains have that nice glow to them.  

After Oxbow, we headed north to chase some “critters.” It’s kinda easy to find out where the wildlife hangs around, just look for the traffic jams. I got an opportunity to photograph “Blondie” a grizzly bear  who is a cub from the famous Grizzly Bear 399. Blondie has two cubs of her own. Talking to the rangers, both 399 and Blondie hand out close to the road because it keeps them safe from the male bears who would attack and kill the cubs so that he can have his bloodline continue. This makes for a great soap opera, hmmm? “As the Bears Roam” 

Tomorrow We’ll be heading north to Yellowstone to go photograph some of the best geological sites on earth as well as some wildlife. So get ready for some really cool images.   

Sunrise on Jackson Lake. Those peaks glowed for a few minutes, but well worth it. 

This is how you find wildlife in the National Parks. This reminds me of the Palmetto.  

Here’s a small group of photographers taking images of the bears  

“Blondie”  going taking her morning stroll looking for some breakfast. 

My Wyoming Chronicles, rain, wind and snow...

Day 4 of my Grand Teton/Yellowstone adventure began with a 4:00 A.M. wake up and we headed to Jenny Lake for a sunrise shoot. When we got to Jenny Lake the wind was blowing a bit making the water a bit choppy and we had clear skies making for a non dramatic image. But as they say, “A bad day of photography is better than a day at work.” 

Around mid-morning we headed into Jackson Hole and walked around a bit. We walked into The Wyoming Camera Outfitters store and met with some great bunch of photographers who operate the store. These guys are very familiar with the area and told us were to go to get some great shots. If you ever find yourself in Jackson and want some photo locations or camera gear check them out. https://wyomingcameraoutfitters.com/jackson-location/

We then walked into The Bookover Gallery. If you want to see some amazing images head over to his website,  https://www.brookovergallery.com/  As I walked around his gallery I was just in awe from the images to the framing. Thanks Ben Osborne and Marta Echazarreta for showing me what to look for in good matting and framing. There are several galleries in Jackson Hole to get some inspiration. And I look forward to walking into them. 

After some discussion and weather observing, we decide what to go around the Tetons over to Taghee National Forrest and to the Grand Taghee Resort which overlooks the west side of the Tetons. After an hour drive in pouring rain, we made it to the top of Grand Taghee Resort only to see that the rain was still coming down and there was fresh white powder on the ground. Unfortunately the sunset was a wash, no pun intended, but it was a great scout outing. So we hope to be back for a sunset shot. The weekend is upon us and that means that the park will be packed with tourists with their selfie sticks. So  I’m not sure what we’re going do so stick around and find out.  

Sunrise at Jenny Lake I used a 10 stop ND filter to smooth out the water and a circular polarizer to make the water clear.   

Jason Eldridge of Nature Photography setting up a shot.  

The sunset that didn’t happen. Somewhere behind those grey skies is The Gran Teton. We’ll be back when there is better light.  

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 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 04/18

Another week has come and gone and I hope the cold weather as well. This week was a short week form me, nothing too exciting to report other than we closed on our Miami home and I have officially become a South Carolina residence with that dreaded visit to the DMV. Wow, I guess they’re all the same experience. 

On Friday, we drove down to Miami for a long weekend and catch up with family and friends. This week is going to be a much more productive week. I’m hoping to upload a few new images I have in mind to shoot and a business meeting towards the end of the week. I’m looking forward to the challenges I face this week and everyday as I continue to grow as a photographer and business owner. For now, I’ll leave you with a simple shot of a nice home in downtown Charleston that I want to go back and properly photograph her. 

One of the many historical homes in downtown Charleston. Shot on an iPhone. 

Lots of these alleys to explore.  Shot on an iPhone.