Photo Journal of 2009
Dec 26th, This Red-bellied Woodpecker was hanging out in the back yard. He seemed to be getting somewhat of a feast going from the bird feeder to the tree back and forth.
27th Nov, Took a short ride to Soco Falls today. We got there a little early, so had to wait for the sun to set and almost go down. This would be great falls to photograph from the bottom, if you didn't have to slide down an billy goat hill! I might have been able to slide down there, but don't think I could have got back out without a rope and climbing gear.
Indian Creek Falls, Deep Creek, NC
Map of hike: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=104053193349078639589.0004793a091e4f8996e5e&z=16
Nov 4th, Great Blue Heron have been hanging out at this pier lately. This guy was pretty close to the road. I pulled off and shot right from the drivers seat of my mobile blind....aka Ford Focus.
23rd Oct, I was one my way into work and decided to take the long way around. That takes me along the coast of the Chesapeake Bay and the Patuxent River. I figured I might see one or two Great Blue Herons or maybe an eagle where Glenn and I saw one a few days ago. I approached the area where I got pictures of the last eagle, and nothing was out on the osprey nests, the T pier, or pilings in the water. As I looked around I noticed something large in a tree. It kinda looked like a squirrel nest from a distance, but I quickly found it to be another eagle. He stayed right in the top of the tree as I got out of the car and even walked across the road toward him. Didn't bother him at all. I did miss my chance to get him as he flew from the tree. Maybe next time!
20th Oct, Went on a short ride for our lunch break at work today, and it was well worth in. When we left work my buddy Glenn was half joking, when he said "we were going after eagles today". I say half joking because that is really probably what we both wanted to get a shot at. The problem with this is, they don't just set around in certain spots like the Osprey and GBHs do. Then we get to an area of Osprey nest just off shore, and there is a large bird on it. We couldn't see what it was while we were driving toward it. Pretty much knew it wasn't an Osprey, they are all gone for winter. It had to be an eagle or buzzard. We go a nice surprise, it was a Bald Eagle and it was happy to sit there for some pictures.
Oct 11th, While at some friends campsite I got this idea for a picture. With the big dipper in the back ground it made for a cool setting. I shot a test image to see how long to expose for the stars. Two minutes worked for that. Then I had to get everyone to sit still for two minutes! I like how it turned out, but if I would have bumped the ISO up I could have cut the time in half and the star trails wouldn't have been as long. Now we know!
Sept 28th, Went out to take some pictures with a friend and it turned in to one of those nights. It's funny how you can start out looking for a sunset shot, and not stop taking pictures until around midnight. Time flys when your having fun and getting some good results I guess. This we shot a Piney Point Lighthouse on the Potomac River. See more of the shots from this night by .................Clicking Here
Sept 18th, I usually don't post but one picture from a day, but I couldn't help post this nice buck.
Sept 18th, I got the chance to take my parents to Piscataway National Park, and Fort Washington. The for was a cool place to take photos, but trying to get the entire for is a task, even with a wide angle lens. I really want to go back and catch this place again. Some more clouds and at sunset would make for a great photo. I will be back!!
Sept 7th, I found this little guys while out camping this weekend. It was a little cloudy so I used just a little fill flash to get some good light. Sure was a nice weekend to camp and it was cool to find one or two things to shoot that I didn't expect! Can't wait for Colubus Day weekend, to camp again!
August 29th, It was a hot and sunny afternoon of shooting, but I cam away with some cool shots. A local park had a 3 on 3 basketball Challenge. Hard thing with this was the cameras metering was up and down with the sky in the back ground then the court and trees. Thing like that kept the metering changing a lot. Even with spot metering it would blow the background and shirt color would have a large effect on it. I ended up going with matrix metering, and +1 EV then fill flash at about +1 also. that seemed to work about the best. Sure was hot though!
August 22nd, First turn of the first moto in the 250 class at the Lucas Oil Ama Pro Motocross from Budds Creek. Great time, this was the first time I got credentials and photo vest for a Pro Motocross. A high light in photos for me to have that access.
Sugust 15th, Joe crushes this one. The St. Mary's Sheriffs team took on the local radio station 98 Star. Good event with a bunch of good people on both sides!
Aug. 11th, A big group of us had a little fun today with some cardboard boats and various types of super soakers. Not many stayed dry that was for sure! For a few more pictures.................Clicking Here
Aug. 5th, I took a walk down to the beach this evening to see what sunset would turn out like. Sunset wasn't much at all, to many clouds rolled in. As they say though, when photographing sunset, look behind you too! The moon had just come up over the bay. This made for the best shot of the evening!
July 31st, I can't tell you how much fun these guys are to watch. I super nice group of people that help one another out a bunch. To beat all, all they win in a trophy, no money involved! This shoot, was in a fast turn on the track, after dark. This is a pretty difficult area, since there wasn't much light. ISO turned up, and shutter speed a little to low. But its fun! For more pictures.......Clicking Here
11 July, The US Military All-stars took on the Latin All-stars for a great cause at Regency Field. Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, was the big winner for the evening, with much donated to the cause. You can read more about this project and how it helps the wounded and disabled veterans at.... http://www.projecthealingwaters.org/. The US All-stars team is made up of a bunch of great guys and you can see more about them at.... http://usmilitaryallstars.us/
7th July, I got to cover a good concert this day that brought back some old sounds to our area. The show was headlined by Styx, with a special appearance by .38 Special, and an up and coming young star named Tyler Dow Bryant and Band! You can see more of this gallery by........Clicking Here
4th of July, Hollywood VFD had a very nice 4th celebration at their firehouse. They held a car show, a band, and fireworks. John mentioned getting the firetruck and fireworks in one shot, and I tweaked things a little to get this image. I really wasn't that excited about shooting this evening. We were supposed to shoot for the production group at the Trace Adkins concert, but once there were told "no cameras on the in field'. So instead of shooting from the stands, 120 feet away, we left. Oh well, I got a cool shot of a firetruck on the 4th instead! I'm happy.
July 3rd, After shooting the firework from the cemetery of Trinity Church, in St Mary's City, Caleb and I decided to start shooting some of the cemetery. You can see some more of these night shoots and others ....Click Here
July 3rd, I decided to photograph the fireworks at St Mary's College after the River Concert Series. I started by scouting the area for a good and interesting spot earlier in the day. I found a nice view over looking the boats in the harbor area and the point where they were setting off the fireworks. I wanted a foreground with something and the fire works in the background. It would have been a little better if the water wasn't moving the boats as much but I can't stop that.
June 20th, I got the chance to have an all access pass to Pinks All Out at Maryland International Raceway. This is the second time John Douglass and I got to cover Pinks All Out. The Speed crew is great, and the guys you see on Pinks every week are better in person than on TV. It was difficult to shoot this event, but not why you would think. Usually the troubles come from not having enough light to shoot evening or night events. (Speed TV's crew takes care of that! You could shoot at 1/200 SS, F 2.8 and ISO 400 with no problem. Go up to ISO 800 and you could go to SS 1/400th) No the problem was the lights themselves, everywhere I wanted to shoot from had a big light right on the other side of my subject. Unless you shot direct side profiles of the cars the lights were right behind them. Oh well, it was still fun, and I found the roof was a good place no matter what the lighting was. Click Here
June 19th, Went be a friends house to see if the field near his house had a few deer in them. We drove about five miles total and were gone about an hour, and we figure we saw near, if not over 200 deer. They were mostly hidden in fields of wheat, and corn, but we did find a larger group in some soybean fields that were close to the road. To see a few more.... Click Here
June 14th, Five O's had another warm up game. I switched from using the 80-200mm to the 300mm. Little more difficult to get things in the frame, but images turn out nice! Click Here
June 13th, High Point Nationals, Lots of pics and a great day of racing! Click Here
June 12th, Found that Great Falls on the Maryland side seems to be a hot spot for Great Blue Heron. There must have been almost a dozen out on the rocks just under the overlook.
June 9th, Got a quick minute to visit a Great Blue Heron. It was kind of nice to have an overcast sky so the white of the Heron's head doesn't over expose. Overcast days can be really good days to shoot stuff the doesn't include the sky, but set your white balance to cloudy!!!
June 6th, Stopped by Leonardtown High School for 12th Annual Relay for Life. It was late in the evening, but there were plenty of people still walking and running. Great event for a great cause!! For a night time pano, thing worked out pretty good here!
June 6th, T Pain and Flo Rida came to Regency Stadium (Blue Crabs Field). It wasn't to bad of a show over all. Lighting was a little tough do to skin tones, but concerts are always a challenge. Click Here
May 24th, We had a very nice sunset over Goose Creek campground on Patuext River this weekend. I hope you enjoy as much as we did. Click Here
May 23rd, Hank Jr. put on a good show at the Calvert Marine Museum. Concert photography is such a pain. The red lighting they use just ruins pictures!!! Click Here
May 23rd, A great friend was commissioned as an officer in the United States Air Force this day. Good luck my brother!!! Click Here
May 22nd, Shooting in mid-day sun is never good. It make for harsh shadows and you have to over expose to get things to not look like silhouettes in the sky. Plus shooting for five hours in the mid-day sun make for a lobster photographer. Click Here
May 18th, Sometimes you just get more than you expect. I was out for some sunset pictures close to the house, and while shooting a couple deer walked right into the scene. I planned on just shooting with the wide angle lens, but was very glad I took the 300mm zoom with me when they walked out. Pays to be prepared!!! For more pictures....Click Here
May 15th, While looking for some Osprey to photograph, I ran into this little fellow. I believe he is a Eastern Kingbird. It was very nice of him to sit a few for some pictures. For more bird pictures....Click Here
May 9th, Visit to MIR for some pictures of the Jr. Dragsters. Got a few good shots, but the sun was bright and made things a little difficult. Usually I shoot with the 80-200mm, but I thought I would try the wide angle 12-24. Paid off pretty well, I liked the shots with this lens of the cars leaving the line and panning as they passed the tree. The Juniors seem slow but these kids are doing around 80 MPH in the 1/8 mile. You can see a few more by, Click Here
May 8th, I finally got a few good shots of some Great Blue Heron. A friend and I have stalked these birds for weeks now, and it paid off for me today. Got the shutter speed, aperture, right lighting, and ISO to come together this morning. The background isn't even to bad. I think they just got tired of us and let us get these pictures so we would leave them alone. Next to try to get them feeding! This may take all summer to get! Still having fun though!!!
May 4th, Always keep your eyes open while out shooting photos. I was looking for Great Blue Heron, but found a branch to take pictures of. I like how this looked, but I could not get the depth of field and shutter speed I wanted. Tripods are a must!!!
