Big F Feelings

/

There are little f feelings like excitement and conquest, and then there are BIG F FEELINGS like Love and Gratitude. Love or gratitude, which is grandest?....I suspect love, but maybe they go hand and hand....with one comes the other. 

William Arthur Ward, a motivational speaker, spoke of gratitude: "Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings." I love it.

Why can't all in the world see the obvious - It is gratitude and love that will transform the world to a peaceful, coexistent, wonderfully diverse, place to live!

Visualization

/

The saturday before last, Patty and I meandered south to the quaint river village of Middlebury, to attend a late afternoon opening reception for four well known Vermont photographers, at Edgewater Gallery. Edgewater Gallery is a well regarded New England gallery with great light, high ceilings, beautiful display areas, and generally houses expensive oil and water-color pieces by respected New England artists. I know they periodically display photographers work and I wanted to see these photographers new images, talk to them and "see" if I felt I have what it takes to  exhibit there, with some of my large prints of Lake Champlain and other regional, images. If I may so, I can see it. I really believe it...and  I am happy about that, because that belief will help drive me to get there - This is a little of the "Ali affirmation" I spoke of in the Acadia Adventure blog, October 17th. 

Silk 2 PhaseOne IQ 180 240mm 1/6th sec f20 ISO 100

As Patty and I were walking over the bridge, around the corner from the gallery reception,  about 3:30pm, a half hour before the start of the reception, I looked down at the falls below and said: I love it - I have to come back here and shoot the falls with this late afternoon light - At the right exposure the water is going to look like silk. I returned, to capture the image above, and it wasn't what I was visualizing. I know I need to expect the unexpected, while capturing moments in nature (the people like forms in the shadows above are an example), but I wasn't satisfied with the results compared to what I was visualizing, so I went back another day and captured the image below, which is more like what I was visualizing.

Silk Phaseone IQ 180 480mm 1/5 sec f22 ISO 35

I have the pixels to print Silk 36" x 50". I will do some large proofs to see if the image is what I visualized or if I shoot again. At this point, I love the silk like strands of water....but that's just me - the first hurdle to a gallery wall.

Another type of Rush....and Clarity

/

I went to my local urologist yesterday for my annual follow-up PSA, as a result of my radical prostate surgery in 2004. The doc said: "How long has it been since your prostate surgery?" I said, with a question in my voice, it will be eleven years this December. He said; "It's unusual for prostate cancer to reoccur after that many years, but yours may have. We will confirm with another PSA, and then we can talk about radiation". WHAT!?

A Rush PhaseOne IQ 180 240mm 15sec f9 ISO 35

I surprised myself with how clear my thoughts became after hearing the doctor mention I may have cancer again. It is clear to me....I will not have radiation. I will live simply, meaningfully, do what I love to do, be with who I love to be with, and be a good person....for as long a time as I am blessed to be given.

I didn't go to the lab to draw the next vial of blood, Kristin, a pleasant young assistant, who is thinking about being a radiology tech, said; "I usually don't draw blood, but I am the only person here right now, so I will try once. I don't want you to be a pin cushion so if it doesn't work the first time I will send you to the lab." She focused and diligently inserted the needle. My questionable blood started flowing down the plastic tube, oh so slowly. It gave me time to find out Kristin was in Vet School when she got pregnant, had to quit, but it was a blessing, she said, because in the last three and a half years she decided to go another route and wouldn't change a thing....she loves her daughter and married the father, who she loves.

I asked when would I find out about the new PSA test. They said 10am tomorrow, but if you register for online records, you may be able to see the results before tomorrow. After leaving the urology dept. I went to the eye specialist dept to see how the images they bought from me looked on the walls. They were impressed and I was happy. They asked for calling cards to give to admirers. I felt good. I then went home, thought more, with much clarity, got console from Patty and registered for on-line access to my records. About eight hours after thinking my remaining time will be short, I saw the results <.01. I cried. Well, what the hell, maybe I'll live with the love that became clear with the thought of death, no matter how many more years I am blessed to have, to live my love priorities!

Fall's End

/

Of course Fall doesn't end until December 21st... however, the leaves are now coming down fast and furious, and one starts thinking about snow, and a new season, about this time of year. This Fall (I suppose I should say...thus far) has been a "a rush" for me, with images produced beyond my expectations.

Fall's End PhaseOne IQ180 240mm 1/6 sec f9 ISO 35

I am so excited about moving beyond Lake Champlain, with trees and non-Champlain water, I added  Trees, Tree Abstracts, Inland Water and Coastal Water sections to my website www.mesipe.com. In searching my photo data base, I surprised myself with how trees are so prevalent already in my shooting. I love the image above, taken October 30th, from the upper field of our new, Richmond, Vermont, family property. It may be my favorite "image of a life-time" .... to date. We'll see if it has wall staying power.

Exploring the Richmond area, for the first time, this last month or so, has been a pure delight. Fall in Vermont is universally known as great Fall foliage sightseeing ... and who knew... it exceeded my expectations... and only fifteen minutes from our home in Burlington.

Water Rush PhaseOne IQ180 240mm 1/10 sec f9 ISO 35

Take a minute and look at a few of my new images at www.mesipe.com. It is hard to think that Winter can top Fall for delightful image making.... but who knows... I'm open to it!



I Love Birch Trees

/

I have always loved birch trees and am delighted to discover that birch are prevalent in our soon to be new home of Richmond, Vermont. I will now add birch trees to my photography water fixation. The beauty is ... Lake Champlain tributaries run through the area with birch all-over their banks.

Richmond Backyard Hasselblad Stellar 19.31mm 1/500 sec f5.6 ISO 100

I am new to searching for birch in the area. With just a few days opening my reticular activator to birch, I am seeing birch all over, in particularly beautiful settings.

Richmond Birch 1 PhaseOne IQ 180 300mm 1/50 sec f5 ISO 35 2 stitched images

Birch Fall PhaseOne IQ 180 300mm 1/4 sec f11 ISO 35

I am anxious to look for winter light on snow covered birch and moving water. Maybe my image of a life-time is right in my future backyard! 

Acadia Adventure

/

After attending my first PhaseOne Camera sponsored workshop, earlier this month in Bar Harbor, Maine and the nearby Acadia National Park, I have new meaning for a passion for photography.

Water On the Rocks PhaseOne IQ 180 120mm 1/3 sec f14 ISO 35

The three independent instructors (there were two PhaseOne professionals present as well) for the ten attending the workshop, are world class Landscape photographers, with the well deserved self-confidence and self-belief for them to say so - a Mohammed Ali like affirmation. Check them out: Tim Wolcott at www.GalleryoftheAmericanLandscape.com, Kevin Raber at www.luminous-landscape.com and Steven Friedman at www.friedmanphoto.com. 

Clearly passionate about their photography, and possibly obsessive, these three pay attention to every little detail in perfecting their images. They first understand that without good content, composition and emotion, to grab the eye of the viewer, no extra attention to the details will make any difference to entice. But with the objective of producing very large images with the very capable PhaseOne equipment, the attention to the details, once the basics are present, does make a world of difference when you are expecting the best from yourself. 

I made a list of equipment they use to help perfect their images, some of which I will purchase to help advance my photography. They include a 3x12 magnifier to check the focus while taking a picture, a Big Stopper (10 times neutral density filter) to buy more time while taking an image, to add affect of more motion, a sun tracking application to determine the sun's location at any time, a distance calculator to be more precise with the area of sharpness in your image, a top notch monitor calibrator to make sure your monitor is going to reflect how the image prints, a view finder to view a scene to the scale you wish to print, and a twelve foot ladder and tripod to get above the brush to view the image you want. A twelve foot tripod?..... now that's obsessive....maybe a drone though.

The point in mentioning all this "stuff" is that with a great deal of passion in doing what we love to do, we will likely be successful. Success, as I am defining success is - the realization of our unique good; world class, in our own right - a feeling we will only know as it relates to ourselves and our effort in doing our best at what we do.

Grass Birch Berries PhaseOne IQ 180 80mm 1 sec f16 ISO 35

I am grateful to have been able to attend this extraordinary Acadia workshop and learn from not only the independent instructors, but the well informed staff of PhaseOne. Kevin Raber, for me, was the "grand finale" when he presented a twenty minute display of images, accompanied with music and inspirational commentary. I realized, at the end, that he is a great example of what I speak to in my book about Self-realizing, Connecting and Giving.

Thank you Drew for doing the extra details to make for a memorable and learning experience!

Extraordinary Light

/

Patty said..."you have to see this sky". I seldom run for a camera at twilight to take a picture in our backyard. September 21st was different. I saw the sky and immediately knew this was light to be captured. The next day several people said..."did you see the sky last night? It truly was extraordinary. In processing the image below, I actually reduced the color saturation - It was too unbelievable and looked too intense. As it is, it is hard to imagine...surely, a momentary natural gift from God.

Extraordinary Light Canon EOS iDS Mark III 220mm 1/4 sec f8 ISO 100 4 stitched images

Lake Champlain - Pristine With Improving Water Quality? - Part 3

/

Still wanting to exhibit a high impact photo related to water quality of Lake Champlain for the All Souls Interfaith Gathering Place exhibit in October, I went to my data base of 10,000 images of the Lake. I found the image below, which I captured on the Burlington waterfront in July of 2012, at the height of the drought. Ugly, yet artistic, right? 

Too little rain, too much rain - nature tests our ability to deal with it's delicate balance - a lesson on balance, relevant  for many natural aspects of life. You name it - too little or too much can cause havoc - not just water....sun, food, drink...even sex.

Drought Affect Canon EOS Mark III 100mm 1/1000 sec f6.3 ISO 100

Lake Champlain - Pristine With Improving Water Quality? - Part 2

/

Stacy, a friendly clerk at my local post office, said, while asking how her summer was going - " It's been a great summer....except...except for the last month. We are selling our boat and putting in a swimming pool because we are fed up with the Blue Green Algae in the St. Albans Bay and Georgia Beach, where we have been boating and swimming for years. We don't want to fish in the Lake any longer, and certainly can't swim in the Lake with all the algae."

I drove the thirty miles north from Burlington to St. Albans to check the area for myself. I asked the only two  fisherman on the St. Albans Bay pier where the beaches were - "Oh, St. Albans Beach is over there, and Georgia Beach is a few miles south on the Lake Road, over there (pointing to the south). But, you can't swim....there closed"

Closed Today. Closed Yesterday. Closed Tomorrow. Closed. Closed. Closed.

Closed Today. Closed Yesterday. Closed Tomorrow. Closed. Closed. Closed.

St. Albans Bay water quality has been in the news a lot lately. It's problems with the Blue Green Algae will no doubt add fuel for the water quality passionates during the forum with water quality stakeholders at All Souls, Interfaith Gathering Place in October. Knowing my images are going to be on the walls at the Gathering Place, I wanted to capture the ugly algae to catch the attention of the forum participants. I decided on the image below. I have to apologize - I can't capture ugly; I am programed to look for beauty.

 

Blue Green PhaseOne IQ 180 35mm 1/3 sec f11 ISO 35

Lake Champlain - Pristine With Improving Water Quality

/

In October I will be exhibiting about 20 images from my Lake Champlain project at the All Souls Interfaith Gathering Space, Shelburne, Vermont, in conjunction with an important forum of stakeholders to improve the water quality of Lake Champlain.

Meach Cove Sunlight Canon EOS IDS Mark III 300mm 1/15 sec f22 ISO 640 7 stitched images

I love Lake Champlain and generally, my images depict it as pristine landscape. Yet, it's a real challenge to maintain a high water quality with 18 square miles of water shed and run-off  for every square mile of the lake; this is about six times greater than the great lakes. 

Every time we get a heavy rain I cringe, knowing the beaches will close due to unhealthy coliform counts, at least for a short while. Can you imagine being permanently restricted from taking a dip in this precious Lake on a hot summer's day? Waste water treatment has kept the phosphorous down for now, but with new land development, population growth and desire to improve crop yields, current efforts to protect water quality result in a constant battle just to meet the status quo, not to mention make improvements. 

If a priority is high enough it will get done! That's my belief. One way, sooner or later priorities call our attention either by value or consequence. If improving Lake Champlain's water quality is made a high enough priority it will be done. Isn't it our responsibility to leave our environment as unspoiled as we found it? Indeed, in a better condition than we found it. With everything there needs to be a balance, but spend any time experiencing the natural beauty of Lake Champlain and tell me the weight doesn't fall heavy to  the side that it is our responsibility, our opportunity, to preserve this God-given environment that holds the pride of Vermont.

Meach cove farms 2 Canon eos mark iii 300 mm 1/60 sec f11 iso 640 6 stitched images


Shirley

/

Shirley

 

 

Shirley was the most significant-other to my father, Walter. She was life-blood for dad, personally and professionally, at Sipe & Gray Oil Co. for about fifty years. She was much more than the secretary/bookkeeper; she was my dad’s keel, under the stormy surface, in stiller waters, keeping the ship afloat, with loving care and concern.

 

And, Shirley was more significant to me than I realized when  I was younger and less wise. She was the guiding hand during my first job at 16, while I helped get accounts receivable statements out on the exact right day, and learned the importance of balancing the books down to the penny. Shirley’s pleasant demeanor and loving care lead me to a career in accounting and financial planning, where I had the honor of returning a guiding hand to her and dad at S&G.

 

I won’t forget Shirley’s warmth, care and love…..and the fishing on Lake Marie, her quiet presences at milestone events when I was growing up, and the screaming love that was manifested with her gorgeous cakes.

 

May you have eternal happiness and love Shirley. I love you.

 

Mike Sipe, protired

Burlington, Vermont

www.MySCGpriorities.com….influenced early by you, Shirley

A Day in the 70th year Celebration

/

August 9th, Just a day after my 69th birthday I, and Patty, who turned 69 in April, celebrated a  Minnesota "potluck" with our families, serving up Brats and Sauerkraut under the disguise of celebrating a day in our 70th year of life. It was followed by a Saint Paul Saints ball game in their new, wonderful ball park in downtown St. Paul. It was a great day for me; having family come together and spending time reflecting back to my boyhood, including my boyhood love for baseball.

Allis-Chalmers PhaseOne IQ 180 120mm 1/30th sec f22 ISO 100 3 stitched images

I move on. Briefly reflecting back is great, fixating there is not. In Toledo, Ohio, half way back to Vermont, from our wonderful visit to Minnesota, in a Outback Steak House, next to our Marriott Hotel, after 11 hours on the road, I felt a most wonderful feeling. I don't know where it came from or why. I looked over at the table next to us, seeing 8 or so "old" people - gray hair, if they were lucky enough to have some, sagging body parts, waddles, blemishes and bellies and I just smiled, thinking we are they and they are beautiful. I felt a sense of freedom, earned wisdom, light-heartedness, connectivity and time....still time to do more of what we love to do. I am feeling like an old Allis-Chalmers tractor, staying tuned up as well as can be, to plow more fields, not worried about making hay when the sun is shining, but just doing what turns me on, now.

The Best of 2015...to date

/

Summer 2015 has been a little washed out for image taking, for me. A vermonter environmentalist declared Vermont a rain forest this year. However, winter and spring were not washed out for me,  I was lacking winter and spring images for my Lake Champlain project and my desire to find winter and spring images paid off; it is funny how that works when the priority is high enough. Five of the seven favorites, year to date are spring images. Ironically, my favorite image so far this year is a spring image, but was captured at Cannon Beach, Oregon.

Cannon Beach Canon EOS IDS Mark III 84mm 4sec f20 ISO 100 2 stitched images

I love the Oregon coast. I have seen beautiful images of the rock formations dotting the open sand beaches of Oregon, and I wanted to capture one. My daughter Bridget suggested we tour the coast rather than stay in Seattle when we visited her in March. I lucked out to find a full moon setting fifteen minutes before sunrise on March 6th (Actually Winter I guess). I would have loved to have had my more powerful PhaseOne 80 mega-pixel camera with me, but stitching two 21 mega-pixel 4 sec images miraculously worked out. I guess the gulls were sleeping.

Five of my seven favorites to date this year are black and white. Public feedback I receive do not favor black and white, but they really appeal to me. Often I process images in both color and black and white and decide by gut feel which appeals to me the most. Maybe it is just a learning phase I am going through. 

When I am not selecting black and white these days, color usually has a strong impact. I love the color in White Pine Camp and Spring Moon Light.

White Pine Camp Canon EOS IDS Mark III 300mm 1/30 sec f11 ISO 100 5 stitched images

Spring Moon Light Canon EOS IDS Mark III 100mm 1/8 sec f14 ISO 100

We'll see if the favorites to date will make the list for the year. Although summer has not been too productive for my tastes, year to date, I am way a head of previous years in capturing images that   I like.

My "A Clear Focus" Article is Published

/

Light and Landscape Magazine www.lightandlandscapemagazine.com published my article titled A Clear Focus in their issue 12. 

Spring Sprout PhaseOne IQ 180 300mm 1/60 sec f22 ISO 100 3 stitched images

I have enjoyed Light and Landscape Magazine. I have learned from reading the articles and studying the images. I like them all the more now! Take a look - they are a free electronic magazine that can be downloaded to your iPad or other mobile device from the iTunes app store. 

Coolidge Camp and Comment on Persistence

/

White Pine Camp Canon EOS IDS Mark III 300mm 1/30 ISO 100 F11 5 stitched images at sunrise

Our 30th president, Calvin Coolidge, a Vermonter, spent summer time at White Pine Camp in Paul Smiths in up-state New York. Patty and I had the pleasure of sleeping in his bed in the President's cabin this weekend. The log bed is original. I think the mattress has been changed since his one term presidency ended in 1929!

You can't help learn a little about the former president while staying at this very remote and quiet camp; the camp was full and you hardly knew anyone else was there. There are large fieldstone fireplaces all over the place, including boat houses, bowling building, tennis courts, the great living room and, of course, each cabin. We must have used up a cord of wood during our two day stay. The summer, stone fireplace fires reminded us of good times gone by at Patty's family of origin northern Minnesota cabin on Gull lake.

Quiet Cal, as Coolidge was tagged, may have earned the label by spending too much time under the white pines, and fishing on Osgood Pond. He loved the camp and he loved to fish for brook trout. He was sometimes  criticized as avoiding issues while persisting on catching enough trout to feed all his quests.

Osgood Pond; where the fish hide - Canon EOS IDS Mark III 285mm 1/250 sec F11  ISO 100

Coolidge wrote about persistence. He said: "Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." What drives persistence and determination - Love, Passion, High Priority.

Revisited in New Light

/

It was my 65th birthday diner with Patty at Basin Harbor on Lake Champlain in 2011.

Patty shore diner Basin Harbor 8/8/2011

The beauty was too much for me to leave my camera in the cabin. I even made a spectacle of myself and brought my tripod. I normally don't divert my attention so much from my diner partner, but it was my birthday after all, and for me, the main course was going to be the fading evening light on the water and Adirondack Mountains.

Basin Harbor shore diner view ISO 200 1/200 F5.6 105 mm Canon 1DS Mark III

Backyard from Basin Harbor ISO 200 1/250 F5.6 400mm Canon 1DS Mark III 4 stitched images

I overlooked the real beauty of that special birthday celebration. I have over 10,000 images in my Lightroom Library on Lake Champlain. During my process of deleting some that I have not forwarded to my photo gallery at www.mesipe.com or my favorites at www.MySCGpriorities.com, I came across these forgotten images. Maybe with improved skills with Lightroom since 2011, I have learned  how to make images more liking to my tastes. I turned down the light on these two images, tweeked them a bit more, here and there, and now I love them. They moved from trash to treasure, by me looking at them in a new light, four years later - How special of a birthday diner was that!

Same Image Different View

/

I am exploring with looking at photography subjects differently, to capture a mood or create a feel, or maybe just an appealing look. Take a look at the images below. They are the same image with a different perspective.

Dusk One, 2.5 seconds, f11 using medium format camera

The bottom images were taken just a couple minutes after the top one, looking at the same subject, while moving the camera horizontally, back and forth rather slowly, over 2 to 4 seconds; in effect, painting with light. The first 2 images on the bottom are merely the 3rd image divided into two parts to create a look of separate and unified, which, when printed large and framed, will cover a very large space on a wall. The color on the top image is probably most like the color I saw at the time I shot the images. Although the skies and colors are changing quickly at dusk, I play with the color and warmth of the image in Lightroom and PhotoShop to be most appealing to me.  These images are new to me. I will need a while of looking at them to know if they have staying power for me. We'll see if any make the list of my favorites for 2015.

Below is another image I captured this spring, while looking for a single boat in Malletts Bay, without the noise of too many boats around; in other words - the first one in the harbor for the season. Color versus Black and White and different cropping.

Early harbor, 300mm lens with medium format camera, 1/30th sec at f6.3, high key, Black and White

Early harbor, unedited

The feel, graphics and appeal of these two renditions of the same image are substantially contrasting to me. I love the black and white and am bored with the original color capture. I have to go with what I like; what appeals to me, even if no one else likes it. I guess that is integrity with my photography; capturing and rendering what I like to look at - what else can I do?  It is great though to have other people like the stuff too..

A related priority planning comment I make with this blog is - each person's reality is different, and what is appealing can be easily "distorted" or "viewed" differently from one person to the next. What is appealing is based on perception of what you want to see or do or feel...and that  can be quite different for you and me. This concept was presented to me, in the 80's, by Psychology of Mind professionals as Separate Realties. The Separate Realities concept is powerful for understanding where the other person or even yourself are coming from. Take for instance newly weds who do not totally understand each other's history. One spouse is used to receiving a lot of small gifts from family loved ones at Christmas and the other spouse is used to receiving very few and more expensive gifts from loved ones. Their first Christmas together they operate based on their traditions and proceed to unknowingly hurt each other's feelings. Understanding histories, dreams, values, passions, and plans are absolutely necessary to do your own planning or help someone else with their planning. Take a look at the mere 50 priority planning foundation questions in the appendix of ADVOCATE PLANNING: To Do What You Love To Do and see if you know the answers for your significant others, clients, and even yourself - just 10 questions per area. A free download is available under the book tab or on the home page.

 

 

CONNECTING

/

I have been developing MySCGpriorities.com website with Ronn and Sam at Thelen, the idea people, out of St. Cloud, Minnesota, for some time now, and I am ready to connect with as many people as possible, starting with this launching blog. 

The purpose of MySCGpriorities.com site is to connect with everyone interested in doing their passions; loving themselves, others, and most everything one does. And secondly, to explore, relate and play with my passion for photography. 

In ADVOCATE PLANNING: To Do What You Love To Do (Get your free download by clicking here) I write about Exploring, Relating and Playing as Connecting planning value activities. I believe that if something is a high enough priority, a passion if you will, you will do it and it will contribute to your success - the realization of your unique good. 

I have loved photography for forty years and over that time I just dabbled with exploring it, relating with it and playing at it, while I evolved my passion for planning. It is not uncommon for one passion to fall away to the benefits derived from living out another passion - There is only so much time, and balance is an ongoing challenge requiring some prioritization.  

As I ended my practictioner planning career I realized how living my passion for photography and dealing with the related priority planning therefor connected to the most important part of financial planning - values-based priorities planning. I don't have to give up my planning passion! I can live it and write about it. I may have to give my planning ideas away without charge. That's good. I was well rewarded in my career and I get much pleasure in giving out my planning opinions. This is my time to flip flop the time I spend on planning with the time I spend on my other two passions -  family and photography.  

Without connecting with people there is less likelihood of fulfillment from learning, serving, mentoring, contributing and transferring. I connect with myself more these days. That is a natural part of life during retirement from being a planning practitioner, I suppose. The benefit is I get to know myself better and I get a lot of agreement with my opinions. That being said I wish to connect with as many people as possible with this site. Will you help me by spreading the word? My connections are few, but my desire to connect with all is great. Please pass on this blog, book and best of my photos site to you Facebook and Linkedin connections. 

Thank you. I hope I connect with you!

Black and White with Split-Toning - A real priority?

/

I have focused on capturing the beauty of Lake Champlain for the last five years. My intent is an exhibit, book and making large prints of what I view as eye-holding. The more I shoot the Lake and view the images the more I seem to learn about what I really like. I surprise myself often; I capture an image that I like at the moment, but it doesn't hold my attention long on the wall. On the other hand, I have images that I didn't like as well initially that took me a while of viewing to conclude...this is something that really holds my attention. This is not unlike refining any priority, it takes some experimenting and reflection to know what you really like.

I am not sure about these split-toned black and whites that I recently captured; they haven't had the test of time. But, I am presently attracted to black and white, and in some cases, like the ones that I exhibit here, a little split-toning to warm them up and give me a feel that may just be eye-holding.

Choosing my favorite images for 2011, '12, '13 and '14

/

2011 There are no images in 2011 that qualify for printing large, to 30x40 or thereabouts, a present objective. That makes sense; I wasn’t geared up to produce images of that size nor did I have that lofty objective back then. Producing large prints became possible for me in 2012 with the purchase of sufficient megapixels with my medium format PhaseOne camera, and with starting to stitch 35m photos from my Canon with Photoshop.

Castellina

Castellina

View all Best of 2011 Photos

It was a fun year to photograph though. It was the year I captured one of my all time favorite photographs — the white villa at Castellina, Italy, in the Tuscany region. Accordingly, my choice for 2011, for my favorite image of the year is easy — it is the White Villa.

The image is really by luck. Well, maybe they all are. I had taken an image of the Castellina village at sunrise, April 5th, with a 300mm lens and a 2x adapter, to affect a 600mm lens. I was high and far away, maybe ten miles, so I still captured too much in the image. The While Villa section of the image is just a fraction of the total image. When I saw the results of cropping to such a small size I was delighted with the results – It presented me with a very painterly effect; one that goes away if I print the image any bigger than about 15x15.

2011 was the year of the Flood on Lake Champlain. The water got to about 103 feet, an all time record level. The breakwater disappeared under water and presented a once in a lifetime view of a May Burlington waterfront with no breakwater and no boats. One morning the sky and water blended together, broken only by the lighthouse and a floating log here and there. I love those images – two are presented in my 2011 picks.

I generally don’t move the camera intentionally while taking a picture. I usually use a sturdy tripod and a cable release to minimize movement while the image is captured. You spend a lot of money to get sharp focus and high resolution – then you’re going to intentionally move the camera and screw it all up? Yes, I do occasionally, to get a feeling. The beauty with digital is you can try it and immediately see what you got and modify accordingly. I continue to enjoy playing with natural elements and motion, looking for that gift of just the right confluence of elements to give me a great feeling to view. Two motion images in 2011 that I like are Summer Dream and Morning Run.

2012  Of the six favorites that I picked for 2012 only Peggy’s Lighthouse and Drought Watercolor are clearly able to produce large both horizontal and vertical directions. Three were taken with my 35mm and stitched to be able to print larger and three were taken with the larger megapixel PhaseOne camera.

Unbelievably, 2012 was a drought year on Lake Champlain, following the flood year of 2011. The drought too presented images I will possibly never again see the likes of. Drought Watercolor and Drought Art are a couple I like, depicting drought effects.

Fish House Blue Rocks

Fish House Blue Rocks

View all Best of 2012 Photos

Patty's and my trip to Nova Scotia in 2012 was special; maybe Patty’s favorite place she’s visited. We went to Peggy’s Lighthouse, the afternoon of September 18th, probably an hour and one half from the village of Lunenburg, where we were staying. I had to get there at sunrise. I got up in the middle of the night on the 19th and drove again to the lighthouse to get there at sunrise. I took my image and got back to Lunenburg for a 9am breakfast with Patty at one of the small friendly village cafes that was getting ready to close for the year.

My favorite image of 2012 was taken at sunrise, another morning while in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, just a few miles away in the fishing community of Blue Rocks. It is the Fish House Blue Rocks. It has a good feel and look to me. I took the image with the 35mm and stitched 3 images together and I took the image with the 80 megapixel PhaseOne. This was done over a half hour's time. I ended up picking the stitched image because I liked the position of the light on the fish house. The changing light makes all the difference in the world.

Sun Drenched is an interesting light image. It was taken in February of 2012 on Lake Champlain. This Adirondack mountain range is my favorite and I have not yet captured all the beauty I feel from the range. There is always next year.

2013  More prolific in 2013. I suspect because I retired in 2013 and started to become comfortable with the PhaseOne. Accordingly, I show twelve images from which to pick the image of the year, rather than six. I have strong feelings about a number of these images and worry about overdoing the layout for you. I really only wanted to show six, but I couldn’t do it, maybe next year. The more I shoot the more critical I become of my image making, but apparently I am not critical enough yet. I will have to push the learning curve to demand more; to, in effect, raise the bar. I am confident that the more I shoot, the better the images will be and the more discriminating I will become. I will better understand how to narrow the field of possibilities to appealing images. Self study, reviewing others work, and a workshop here and there will also be good to take it to the next level, which I really want to do.

When I enter a photo contest and don’t win I am surprised. I am emotionally locked into my images. I usually look at a number of the winners and say, I wouldn’t have even considered entering that image, or that image, or this other one. I never want to be driven by what others think but jury photography always has something to teach, so I will entire a contest once in a while when I think the theme applies.

red sail yellow marker

red sail yellow marker

View all Best of 2013 Photos

My favorite image of 2013 is one that I have a hard time taking my eyes from and, I know would not have a chance in any photo contest. It is a simple image that took me a half-year looking at before I understood what was so attractive to me. It is the clouds, not the water or boats. The image is Red Sail Yellow Marker. It meets my objective of printable large and, for me, has wall staying power. I sold one the other day, so I guess I am not the only one that likes this image.

2013, and for that matter, 2014 were years of the clouds, or maybe I am just coming a live with the beautiful impact of clouds. I also noticed this in New Mexico when I visited there a number of years ago. Some areas may just have more noticeable dramatic cloud formations.

2014  I found it easier to limit my selection to twelve for 2014. I must be getting more discriminating. I discovered black and white and split toning in 2014. Or rather, I started to fall in love with the more traditional classic look on some images. I started to look at color images as black and white and frequently preferred the black and white, specifically with a warming touch, with split toning. I like the dynamic tonal range I see with black and white. I am getting back to the thinking I had while shooting large-format film with my 4x5 Wiesner; print black and white unless color is an important element for image impact. Seven of the twelve images I show for 2014 are black and white. There is no intent to select the black and whites. It just worked out that way in my unsophisticated selection process.

I had a hard time choosing between Uncertain Weather and Off Track for my 2014 selection. I really love the foreground water in Off Track. I finally chose Uncertain Weather because I love the massive varied clouds dwarfing the mountains and sailboats.

Uncertain Weather

Uncertain Weather

View all Best of 2014 Photos

I realize real artists don’t explain their work and don’t call out their favorites. I suspect that is telling about where I am on the learning curve. The process is good though, for forcing me to select and thus refine my thinking on the value of my images. I have learned how I have moved or changed, by doing this process. Any input you have is welcome. I appreciate all perspectives, unless you try to encourage me to quit this treat of an avocation. I look forward to digging into my images for 2015. As part of my blogging I will review like I have here on a quarterly basis in the process of refining the annual selection. No promises though… I am feeling my way along.