Fashion and Glamour Gallery
Tres Amigas
Greetings everyone! It has been some time since my last post… it appears I have fallen into a creative “Bubble”. My task and assignment for these past three weeks was to create some classic based fashion and glamour images. Apparently I have not done so well, after presenting an 84 image slide show; my instructor referred to my work as more “pinup” style than true fashion (granted, a majority of my work was accomplished on the beach). So, I am appealing to my colleagues followers and friends, and visitors to provide some feedback (constructive criticism please). And as usual, I do hope that my images move you, spark imagination, and ignite some creativity! A few more images coming up, thanks again for your visit and comments!
Location: Folly Beach, SC
Equipment used: Nikon D700, Nikkor 24-70 2.8 lens, Induro CT213 Tripod, Induro BHD2 ballhead.
South Carolina
Peaceful seas and a gentle breeze at Sunset
One of my favorite images! A huge hello and thank you to all of my several new followers, and great big thank you to all of my dear long term followers! I hope this image finds each of you safe and heppy and much hope for a safe and productive (drama free) work week!
On a side note, it has come to my attenton that several of my images are being used on other websites (business and personal). I need to take a moment to remind those individuals that my images are copyright protected and unauthorized use is prohibited by law. For those of you who want to use my image, you may surely do so provided you link the image back to my website and please give me credit as photographer (I would not steal your work, so please do not steal mine). If you want to purchase royalty free rights to use the images or want to purchase prints for your home or office: please see my About page for info on how to do that.
On the bright side: My school has bestowed upon my a Mimiya medium format camera with a digital back! So now, I need to find a few locations to shoot seascapes and landscape! If anyone if familiar with Coastal North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and even Florida…please send me your suggested locations. I will do my best to get some of them uploaded for your enjoyment!
Thanks to every one of you for your time, suggestions, input, consideration, and suggestions! Have a safe week everyone!
And on the lighter side
Fine Art Collection
Some of my favorite subjects are the weathered remnants of this pier. For years these great timbers have greeted and parted the incoming and outgoing tides. The sea’s salty caress has eroded and chipped away at these once sturdy wooden goliaths. Yet still they remain through wind, rain, storms, low, and high tides. Maybe I spend too much time observing and thinking of how these old weary wooden stakes remind me of life….or maybe I should spend more time here just enjoying the lady of the sea as she constantly caresses and quietly takes from everything she touches. When she is peaceful, she conveys such a wonderful sense of calm and harmony. And when she is furious, she brings such a sense of perspective at just how small we really are in the grand scheme of life and nature. Still, I find it most theraputic to watch aas she slowly erases the lines in the sand, cleans and heals the scars on her shores. And, brings a fresh start to everything she touches.
Maybe, I should not sip as much wine while I am photographing seascapes…lolol !!
Have a safe (and peaceful) Easter Weekend everyone.
Nature and Wildlife
Portrait of a Pachyderm
I was able to capture this image after waiting patiently for nearly an hour. This big guy finally decided to give me a much appreciated short span of his attention. The more I waited, watched, and studied this huge subject, the more I was simply amazed by the texture and roughness of his skin. The fine details of the texture on his forehead and trunk were amazing. I found it quite magical at how gracefully and silently they can move their great frames and bulk! Heartfelt thanks to this “gentle giant” for his time and cooperation at my attempts to capture the moments he offered my lens.
Equipment used: Nikon D700, nikkor 70-200 2.8 lens, nikkor x2 teleconverter.
Software Used: Adobe Lightroom 4, Adobe Photoshop, Topaz Labs Details Extractor, Topaz Labs Black and white Effects 2.
Fashion and Glamour Gallery
Wow, I took this shot 2 days ago, and already I have been asked, (by several), to make it available as a poster. I must be getting a little bit better with my photography (thanks to you guys!) As you all know, the artist is his/ her own worst critic. So what do you guys think?
Camera Info:
Image shot with a Nikon D700, Nikkor 24-70 2.8 lens. ISO 200, f/9, 1/125 sec,
Key light: Einstein 640 via beauty dish.
Fill light: Einstein 640 via parabolic reflector with silk screen diffusior
**UPDATE** It’s official, this (and several other images featured here in my blog) are now available as posters and much more. For all my WordPress friends, please use the new Discount Code STANBLOG2013 to recieve 18 percent off your purchase. Please let me know if you have any problems using the code (it’s new!) Thanks so much to all of you for your constant feedback and support!
Moments in Time
…and there I was, just me and my camera, listening to Al Greene’s “Still in Love With You” being piped out via several large speakers at the Lowcountry 30th Annual Oyster Boil that was held at a sprawling and gorgeous Boone Hall Plantation, when I looked out towards the cotton field and saw this lovely couple. Yep, Moments in Time like these are priceless!
To answer those of you asking…
Nikon D700, Nikkor 70-200 2.8 lens, hand held.
Moments in Time
Someone once said that some days are like coal, and some days..are like diamonds. Some times your the windshield and some times your the bug…Today was a one of those days when I just wasn’t feeling very inspired until a friend of mine called me up and aasked me to go to the Lowcountry 30th Annual Oyster Boil in Mount Pleasant, SC.
I met several wonderful people, Mike and I shot tons of images, this couple was actually posing for thier friends to take a picture of them with thier “point and shoot” camera (may have been an iPhone). Luckily I had my telephoto and grabbed a few shots. If they email me, I will be glad to share these images with them! I hope everyone enjoys some of the images in my new Gallery “Moments in Time”. No telling what I will be posting in there, but it looks like I have taken on a new project…Street photography with a southern twist on it.
Great Smoky Mountains
Pathways Through the Forest
As I stood there in the delightful morning chill composing this image, I was concentrating on the water trough that flows water from the creek (barely visible from camera left). Cursing under my breath that “how dare they put pavement so close to all this natural beauty!”, then I thought…wait a minute…exactly what am I looking at here? As you all know, learning to “see” can be a trying and tricky time…and as I reflected on how many different paths I have taken over these many years I realized…that no matter how numerous the paths, they all seem to end up placing me right here where I am. Like the snow that melts and travels down the road, down the water trough, and down the creeks, streams, and rivers…eventually to the ocean and then back up to the clouds. falling as snow and rain, to travel many paths right back to the ocean to start it’s journey all over again. Flowing down many different paths just to do it all over again while assuming different forms as liqied, ice, and snow.
So as they say out west, “Happy trails to you”, and as each of us travel our many paths of life try to remember that while destinations are important, the paths you chose to get there….can be even more exciting than the destinations themselves. Just my two cents worth, hope this makes sense to those who need to hear this (like me!).
Equipment used: Nikon D700, Nikkor 12-24mm 2.8 lens, Induro CT213 tripod, Induro BHD2 ballhead, and my trust Stanley thermos.
As always, my images are copyright protected and available to you as wall art prints, wraps, and other merchadise. More info available on my “About” page. You can click on any of my images to see them in HIGH RES. Thanks for visiting! (note: if you click on the image to view it in HIGHRES, you only need to click the back button on your browser to return to this page).
Great Smoky Mountains
Mountain Stream Lullabye
This image is primarily “right from the camera”. I did add some contrast and a small amount of highlight recovery. This will mark a break in my Great Smoky Mountains collection. However, I will be adding to this collection on my webpage if you would like to visit. I plan to add a little more diversity on my blog pages and for sure, I will be featuring more of this gallery on my blog pages in the near future!
Since I purchased Nikkor’s 12-24 2.8 lens, I have been absolutely in love with it’s ability to capture such wide angles of view while maintaining is “corner to corner” tack sharpness. I am going to be heading out to try this lens in some of my Seascape images (keep your fingers crossed, the huge bubble on the end of this lens does not allow for any filter use).
Equipment used: Nikon D700, Nikkor 12-24mm 2.8 lens, Induro CT213 tripod, Induro BHD2 ballhead, and my trusty Stanley thermos.
As always, my images are copyright protected and available to you as wall art prints, wraps, and other merchadise. More info available on my “About” page. You can click on any of my images to see them in HIGH RES. Thanks for visiting! (note: if you click on the image to view it in HIGHRES, you only need to click the back button on your browser to return to this page).
Great Smoky Mountains
Rustic Cabin
Just a little something different…trying a softer image style, hope you like it. Comments welcomed to your preference of sharp and clear, or allowing and enjoying the occassional use of a softer image style.
Equipment used: Nikon D700, Nikkor 12-24mm 2.8 lens, Induro CT213 tripod, Induro BHD2 ballhead, and my trust Stanley thermos.
As always, my images are copyright protected and available to you as wall art prints, wraps, and other merchadise. More info available on my “About” page. You can click on any of my images to see them in HIGH RES. Thanks for visiting! (note: if you click on the image to view it in HIGHRES, you only need to click the back button on your browser to return to this page).
Great Smoky Mountains
Fall Colors Begin
One of my favorite things to do is to hike through the woods where the silence and solitude can be deafening. The sound of the wind blowing through the trees is a haunting reminder of small we are in totality of nature. The chill of the air stings our cheeks warning us that “old man winter” is on the way. The feeling of solitude fill our mind as we wonder about those that have walked the paths, stood by the streams, and lived through the harshness of nature’s frosty blanket. Behind me I can hear the roar of a waterfall. Setting up my camera and tripod for this shot, the animals surely thought I was crazy…moving from side to side, the forward and backward, until I finally found a spot I was happy with for the photograph. This shot was something I wanted to savor and enjoy…the rich warm colors of fall as they began to show themselves in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Equipment used: Nikon D700, Nikkor 12-24mm 2.8 lens, Induro CT213 tripod, Induro BHD2 ballhead, and my trusty Stanley thermos.
As always, my images are copyright protected and available to you as wall art prints, wraps, and other merchadise. More info available on my “About” page. You can click on any of my images to see them in HIGH RES. Thanks for visiting! (note: if you click on the image to view it in HIGHRES, you only need to click the back button on your browser to return to this page).
Great Smoky Mountains
Enchanted Path to the Woodshed
Chilly and misty morning in Gatlinburg, TN. This old wood shed was ighlighte by the rocks, colors, and even the mist and trees. Drawing my eye and my lens to spend some time trying to capture it. Well, and a thermos full of coffee to ward off the wet chill in the air.
Equipment used: Nikon D700, Nikkor 12-24mm 2.8 lens, Induro CT213 tripod, Induro BHD2 ballhead, and my trusty Stanley thermos.
As always, my images are copyright protected and available to you as wall art prints, wraps, and other merchadise. More info available on my “About” page. You can click on any of my images to see them in HIGH RES. Thanks for visiting! (note: if you click on the image to view it in HIGHRES, you only need to click the back button on your browser to return to this page).
Fine Art Collection
Ravenel Bridge
One of the great Icons of Charleston, SC is the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge. Under this bridge is Waterfront Park, and it does have some wonderful photo ops. This shot is just another of my attempts to fine tune my eye for some true fine art imagery, many thanks for your visits and comments!
Assignment: Here we are at the park, find a subject and compose your shot.
Location: Charleston, SC
Equipment used: Nikon D700, Nikkor 24-70 2.8 lens, full ND filter, Induro CT213 tripod, and an Induro BHD2 ballhead.
As always, my images are copyright protected and available to you as wall art prints, wraps, and other merchadise. More info available on my “About” page. You can click on any of my images to see them in HIGH RES. Thanks for visiting!
Fine Art Collection
Sometimes, we just see something and say to ourselves, “thats it, take the picture!”, I am not really sure why I felt that way about this image. I guess thats why our professor hands us assignments and says to just go shoot. I was standing in a parking garage for shelter from the storm, when I looked out and saw this image. The two people walking with umbrellas to keep the rain off of themselves, the strong image of the tree…it’s leaves and branches resembling the shape of the umbrellas, the lamp post and sidewalk, the heavy amounts of water on the ground, and puddles….it just said, “go ahead, take the shot”. I am hoping to come up with a name for this image, so if anyone is more connected to thier “inner artist” than I am, please send me a shout! Thanks so much for visiting!
Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: Nikkor 24-70 2.8
Camera Settings: ISO 200, f/3.5, 1/200sec. focal length: 48mm
As always, my images are copyright protected and available to you as wall art prints, wraps, and other merchadise. More info available on my “About” page. You can click on any of my images to see them in HIGH RES. Thanks for visiting! Y’all come back now, ya hear?
Stills and digital artwork
Low angle of view of a dock, rope and cleat with the clouds in the back ground.
As you may have guessed already, this is not my usual camera gear. Our instructor wanted us to get out of our “comfort zone” and get back to the basics. So, this was shot with an entry level Nikon (of course Nikon!), it is a D5000 with an 18-200 VR zoom lens. The perfect lil combo for a “walk around” camera and lens. More images coming with my full frame Nikon and lenses, but for now…I hope this one doesn’t dissappoint my friends and followers. Stay safe and get out there!
As always, my images are copyright protected and available to you as wall art prints, wraps, and other merchadise. More info available on my “About” page. You can click on any of my images to see them in HIGH RES. Thanks for visiting! Y’all come back now, ya hear?
Travel- Grandfather Mountain
Another view of the Mile High Swing Bridge.
As always, my images are copyright protected and available to you as wall art prints, wraps, and other merchadise. More info available on my “About” page. You can click on any of my images to see them in HIGH RES. Thanks for visiting!
Travel- Grandfather Mountain
This is the Mile High Swing Bridge located at Grandfather Mountain Park in North Carolina. The walking platform is actually one mile above sea level… hence the name. The park itself is a wonderful place to visit and hosts many events including a yearly nature photography contest. Please visit the parks website for schedules, events, and attractions.
As always, my images are copyright protected and available to you as wall art prints, wraps, and other merchadise. More info available on my “About” page. You can click on any of my images to see them in HIGH RES. Thanks for visiting!
Classic Curves and Lines
Combining a classic auto as a background to a classic beauty holding a classic guitar…and a classic black and white post production effect, I hope my viewers agree, is a classic combination of classic lines and curves.
Model: Kristeena (a young mother of one)
Location: Myrtle Beach, SC, USA
Equipment used: Nikon D700, Nikkor 70-200 2.8 VR lens, a single SB900 fired through a shoot through umbrella (model right) and a soft silver reflector (model left).
As always, my images are copyright protected and available to you as wall art prints, wraps, and other merchadise. More info available on my “About” page. You can click on any of my images to see them in HIGH RES. Thanks for visiting!
Travel
This is a closer look at that lead boat in the previous image. The Lady Linda is located near Beaufort, SC, USA and works daily as a fishing vessel. She is also famous for being featured in a movie…it featured such stars as Nick Nolte and Barbra Streisand…can you name the movie? It was not until later after photographing this image that I learned of her legacy from a local that was also enjoying the early light of dawn (at a different lcoation). He had asked if I had photographed the boat. When I replied with yes, he began to tell the tale and also educate myself and my fellow photographer Neil Owens about the boat and the area of Beaufort, Fripp Island, Hunting Beach, and the A.C.E Basin…ya just never know who you are going to bump into out there! I grabbed this shot just seconds before the first direct rays of light fell on the Lady Linda and the marsh.
Location: Beaufort, SC, USA
Equipment used: Nikon D700, Nikkor 24-70 2.8 lens, Induro CT213 tripod, Induro BHD2 ballhead.
As always, my images are copyright protected and available to you as wall art prints, wraps, and other merchadise. More info available on my “About” page. You can click on any of my images to see them in HIGH RES. Thanks for visiting!
Fishing Boats at Dawn
Sometimes, if your patient, you can be blessed with catching those very first rays of light at the sun comes over the horizon. Some of this image is still in the shadows while the marsh grass, boats, and some of the clouds begin to recieve those first golden rays of direct sunlight.
Location: Beaufort, SC, USA
Equipment used: Nikon D700, Nikkor 24-70 2.8 lens, Induro CT213 tripod, Induro BHD2 ballhead, and a Cokin reverse ND filter.
As always, my images are copyright protected and available to you as wall art prints, wraps, and other merchadise. More info available on my “About” page. You can click on any of my images to see them in HIGH RES. Thanks for visiting!
Stills and digital artwork
And here is the black and white version
Light after sunset (about 2 minutes after)
Gorgeous scenery after sunset in Key West, FL, USA
Equipment used: Nikon D700, Nikkor 50mm 1.8 lens, Induro CT213tripod, Induro BHD2 ballhead
As always, my images are copyright protected and available to you as wall art prints, wraps, and other merchadise. More info available on my “About” page. You can click on any of my images to see them in HIGH RES. Thanks for visiting!
Stills and digital artwork
Light after sunset (about 2 minutes after)
Gorgeous scenery after sunset in Key West, FL, USA
Equipment used: Nikon D700, Nikkor 50mm 1.8 lens, Induro CT213tripod, Induro BHD2 ballhead
As always, my images are copyright protected and available to you as wall art prints, wraps, and other merchadise. More info available on my “About” page. You can click on any of my images to see them in HIGH RES. Thanks for visiting!
Travel
Triple Falls photographer at the Dupont State Forest, NC, USA
This is an outdoor portrait I did of my son on our day hike to several falls in the Dupont State Forest. The color version of this is on my website as well and is equally as awesome (of course I am biased, it is a portrait of my son! lolol!)
Equipment used: Nikon D700, Nikkor 24-70 2.8 lens, Induro CT213 tripod, Induro BDH2 ballhead
As always, my images are copyright protected and available to you as wall art prints, wraps, and other merchadise. More info available on my “About” page. You can click on any of my images to see them in HIGH RES. Thanks for visiting!
javashotsblog 