Below are a a few shots of the gorgeous sunset from Aruba, where we were a few days ago. Nothing like the current state in the northeast! A few of these are ‘regular’ sots and a few are with camera movement. There’s nothing like being on a beach and shooting a sunrise or sunset for me! Perhaps I’ll venture out in the snowstorm and take a peek at the beach later today… we’ll see!!
The weather was freezing but the sunset was beautiful the other night at our local beach. There was icy foam at the water’s edge which reflected the warm colors of the sun low in the sky. I could watch the sun set at the beach every evening and never get tired of it!
A few shots of our frozen beach. Instead of foam and the edge of the water, there is chunky ice. My fingers felt like they were getting frost bite while I was taking these shots! Even the dogs that normally roam the beach in the winter weren’t out because it’s so cold. Brrr!
After a fun afternoon on our boat on the Long Island Sound, we had a gorgeous ride back with the sun low in the sky and the water calm and serene. It was so beautiful that I couldn’t resist capturing a few shots with that low, golden light of the evening.
Yesterday I had a photography job down near the beach. As I was leaving I saw the sun setting and rushed over to try an capture an image. The sun goes down so quickly once it’s near the horizon line and I knew I really did have to speed to try and get there. The sun was very low by the time I arrived; however, the low position of the sun wasn’t my main issue, the temperature was! My car thermometer said 19° but with the wind, it was much colder than that. As I stood on the beach, my face and ears were absolutely frozen! (I didn’t even turn my car off so I could quickly jump back into the warmth.) I could only bear a minute or so out there photographing. For me, once I’m shooting, I will usually just stick it out whatever the weather. Not yesterday, though! I did get a few pretty shots, but normally I would have stayed long after the sun went down. There was no way that was happening though, what a bite that wind had! We have been spoiled with this mild winter, I suppose – welcome to January in New England.
The town we live in is just gorgeous and I love living here! It borders both the Long Island Sound and the Saugatuck River. Having water all around is the best, there’s always something to catch your eye. Particularly beautiful is the beach at sunset, where we were on Friday evening. Those beautiful and fun evenings grilling and relaxing on the beach with the gorgeous sunsets are some of our favorite nights of the entire year. Last week I was taking photos of the beach and river and some of the boating that is available in our town so I thought I’d share them plus one from the sunset on Friday. There are kayaks and canoes to rent as well as small sailboats and of course marinas for motor boats. Plus the beach is ripe with stuff to do including a huge playground, sand volleyball courts a pavilion and grills for cooking. I have always been a real beach lover having grown up in New Jersey and heading to the beach as often as possible. While the Long Island Sound doesn’t have the waves of the Jersey shore, it is peaceful, beautiful, close by and one of my favorite places to be!!
I think HDR processing of photos makes them look so interesting. Not many of my photos have been processed using HDR (High Dynamic Range), but I have been wanting to try it out. There are many photos out there that are obviously processed using HDR techniques and I think they look amazing. If you aren’t familiar with HDR, it basically makes a photo have an increased level of detail and range of highlights and shadows. Many HDR photos are created my merging together 3, 5 or 7 photos of differing exposures (I just figured out that it doesn’t have to be, though, what a discovery!). Each of these pictures below is a combination of 5 shots, which are exactly the same composition but different exposures. Perhaps these are over-processed, which gives them that ‘extreme’ look. I wouldn’t use this on all of my pictures, but it was fun creating these. I think they almost have a ‘cartoony’ look. Except the purplish one, I think that one looks the most realistic. What do you think of this look?
My good friends were kind enough (and brave enough) to entrust me with photographing their children this year and last year. This creates an incredible amount of excitement and nervousness for me! Since I’m really still new at this (learning all the time!) I’m nervous that that I will get any decent shots and they will love the pictures. I remember packing my kids up and getting them out for a ‘photo shoot’ when they were younger and it was never easy!!! So if they’re making the effort to get there, I better make the results worth it. Yikes.
Their kids are gorgeous and getting a beautiful shot of them doesn’t seem like it would be that difficult! Until it begins, and then there is so much juggling going on… Where should we go? Where is the light? What’s in the background? What setting is my camera on? How are they posed? Where are they looking? How to get them happy and keep them focused? Are there shadows on their faces? Who can hold the reflector? (I need an assistant!!!) I wonder if this ever comes easy to photographers who do this on a regular basis. It sure seemed like it came easy for the photographers I used over the years, but I can’t imagine that right now.
I just loved the whole experience, was pleased with many of the pictures, and hope were too. Lots of fun actually!!! Here are a few, hope you enjoy them too! And let me know if you want me to take some of your kids… I’m a glutton for stress!
A few weeks ago, we were lucky enough to travel with three other couples to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico to celebrate our friend’s ‘big’ birthday. We all appreciated the beauty of the desert alongside the pristine beaches, and loved the absolutely perfect weather. Basically, we spent five days relaxing in paradise. It would have been four days, but we were delayed by October’s unexpected blizzard … one extra day by the pool was decadent and enjoyed by all!
The sunsets and sunrises are incredibly beautiful, and the sunset catamaran trip around the tip of the Baja peninsula into the Pacific was breathtaking!
April Book Photography | Westport, CT 