Monthly Archives: January 2023

 

Ready or not, here we come! As announced recently I am going to do a  project attempting to make one image a day for the month of February.  Why?  Winter is pretty bleak around here but I need to challenge myself to get back in to shooting shape for Spring!  Inspired by a YouTube video and remembering Jim Brandenburg’s great book project of one shot a day encouraged me to give it a go.  I want it to be a good teaching opportunity for those of you that will follow the project.  So at the suggestion of my dear brother, Jim Haverstock, this is the plan.

 

The Plan:

 

1. One shot a day. One Frame, no second chances!
4. I will use the Fujifilm X-T5 as the body.
7. I have decided to make this a teaching moment by selecting the right lens for the attempted shot each day, and then explain in the comments each day why that was the lens selected for this photographic opportunity!
10. I will shoot jpeg fine images with only the most minimum of post processing and will share what I did to each image.  The point here is to try to get it right in the camera, something Jack Graham and I have taught our students for years.

 

1. I will post each day after the image has been made.

 

We all need to challenge ourselves so that when that great opportunity presents itself we will be ready to make the most of it!  Pray that I can do that for the entire month of February, so that we all can learn together!  Good or bad, I promise to be transparent about the success or failure!

 

Wish me luck!

 

Blessings,

 

the pilgrim

 

Laurel Lake in Fall, Southern Kentucky near Corbin, KY where I live.

 

For the vast majority of my photographic life I have shot everything from ground level to 5′ 9″!  That offered a very limited perspective on most subjects.  It was not until I was in my 50’s that I finally fulfilled a lifelong dream to become a pilot and a whole new photographic perspective was opened to me with a view from above the earth.  Flying, for me, was the ultimate visual experience and it has changed the way I see photographically forever.  From above your subject the world now becomes line, form, texture, light and color.  I now see all subjects much more graphically!  Please allow me to share some of my favorite images from the project and book, America From 500 Feet. Some of these images never appeared in the book, so they are being shared for the first time.  I hope you enjoy them!

 

Newly paved and painted road in the Dutch Country of Pennsylvania.

 

Cumberland Falls State Park in fall, (13 miles from home), in Southern Kentucky.

 

Imperial Sand Dunes National Recreation Area in Southern California.

 

Augusta National Golf Course, the day after The Masters Golf Tournament, Augusta, Georgia.

 

View of the Gand Tetons in winter from a rented Cessna, Jackson, Wyoming.

 

Sunrise over the Canoe Boundary Waters in Minnesota.

 

It’s amazing how different our world, or any subject, looks when we seek a new perspective!

 

Blessings,

 

 

the pilgrim

 

I got inspired this morning!  I was looking at Youtube videos, something I do way too much, but, I found a review of the X-T5 and it was one of the most wonderfully produced videos I’ve seen in a while.  The information was spot on and the video work was very, very well done.  Don’t worry, I will link it below!

 

Anyway, the point of the video was this person got an X-T5 and, for two weeks, shot one image a day with one lens the 56mm f 1.2.  It reminded me of a great book Jim Brandenburg, celebrated national Geographic photographer and friend, did many years ago.  So I have decided to take the month of February, usually a very un-inspiring month around where I live to make images and make one image a day for the month!  I will use the new X-T5 and some one lens to be determined.  I’m leaning toward either the 18-55 f 2.8-4 or the 50mm f 2.  I will allow myself one close-up diopter so I can do some close-up images too. The self imposed rules will be.

 

1.   One frame per day, that is one shot only.

2,  I will allow myself to let the camera bracket three different film simulations for that one shot;  Velvia – Provia – Acros with a red filter.

3.  I will allow myself only a minimum of post processing, basically I want the images to be straight out of the camera, jpegs.

4.  I will keep the camera, tripod and close-up diopter with me all the time and only attempt a shot when I think I have what is worth my one frame per day.

5.  I will post that image, everyday, regardless of the success of the image.

6.  The pressure is on now!!!!!  ….and that’s a good thing, that is why I’m doing this, to force myself to get really serious again about looking, seeing, shooting and planning out my shots!

 

 

I hope you will join me everyday to see how it is going, I encourage you to post your thoughts to encourage me to stick with it!!!!!  Hold my feet to the fire!

 

The first image will be posted February 1st!

Here is the video that inspired this project:

 

 

Thanks for coming to my blog!

 

Blessings,

 

 

the pilgrim

Nikon D3s – 200-400 @ f 4.5 and 1/4000th of a second

 

Photography, to me, is problem solving.  You get an idea of what you want to  show the viewer in a photograph and then you have to work out the technical and aesthetic problems to make it happen!  Motion rendition is one of those problems we need to deal with.  Do we want to stop the action so we can see all the details in a moving subject or allow the motion to blur giving the illusion of actual movement?  In the photo above of a NFL football game a fast shutter speed was used to stop the motion of the players allowing the viewer to see all the details.  Below a slow shutter speed and panning with the horse and rider gives the illusion of motion.  Both are valid problem solvers!

 

Nikon D7000 – 70-300 @  f 22 @ 1/20th of a second, panning.

 

Below, once again, I wanted to show the movement of the water, and thankfully all in the scene that was moving was the water, so with a slow shutter speed I could get this effect without anything else blurring.

 

Nikon D800 – 16-35 @ f 22 – 2 seconds.

 

Nikon D700 – F 8 @ 1/2,000th of a second.

 

This last shot was one that was the result of several days of attempting to capture this exact moment.  I was at the Reno Air Races where the Navy’s Blue Angel’s demonstration team was preparing  to perform over the weekend  On Wednesday Thursday and Friday they practiced their routine over and over in preparation for the big Saturday and Sunday show.  The moment where two planes past very close to each other, nose to nose, I shot over and over.  At first I would get just one plane and not the other, then just two tails, finally I was getting both planes in the frame but not nose to nose!  By the time they were ready to perform on Saturday, I was too and on one lucky shot I got this image!  When I reviewed the images I was a shocked that the other planes behind and below them, miles away, right there.  The Navy photographer said he had never see that captured before and asked how did I pull it off, I was honest, I said, “I didn’t even know they were there!!!!!”

 

Sometimes practice plus dumb luck pays off!

 

Blessings,

 

Bonus shot!

 

Nikon D3 – 70-300 – f 8 @ 1/2,000th of a second.

 

the pilgrim