A Tree With Character Revisted
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The weather systems aligned and we were blessed with two mornings of dense fog a couple of weeks ago here in Wichita. I had a great time taking photographs. This is a particular tree that caught my eye out at Sedgwick County Park. The last time I went out for a major fog shoot here at home, I had posted a “Tree With Character” on the blog, I thought this one qualified for the same honor. All the post processing was done in Lightroom.
The Path
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Taken before all the leaves fell from the trees at Sedgwick County Park, Wichita, Ks. I was shooting fall color but this has had an infrared style filter applied in post processing. I think this was one of the filters built into Lightroom. The color version is nice too, but the leaves here were still mostly green, so I got out of hand with the filter thing.
Beer Bottle Chandelier
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The only reason I’m posting this is because it was taken with my new iPhone 5s. I waited a long time to get a phone with a good camera. This particular indoor, fairly low light image does not stand up to much magnification, however at this size it looks pretty good. I haven’t yet gotten the new phone outdoors to see what it can do. It’s not replacing my Nikon, but I’ll always have it with me, which of course is not the case with the big DSLR. By the way, this is a light in a local Mexican restaurant.
Fall at Beaver Pond
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Another 2008 image from Acadia National Park. This was among the very first images I took in the park. We had arrived at Bar Harbor in the evening, and I took a little recon drive into the park. I recall driving around a curve and two things hit me….first I recognized this was beaver pond which I recognized from my trip research, second…wow! I HAD picked the right week to visit, fall color looked to be peaking inside the park. I wasn’t alone either, there were at least five cars parked along the road , and five to ten photographer with tripods shooting the trees and glassy water in the fading light. I pulled over, found a spot, and took a few photos myself of course, the best of which yous see here.
Boulder Beach
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Wet rocks. I traveled almost two thousand miles from Kansas to Maine, to take photographs of wet rocks. Because that’s what we do. (Fortunately, I came back with a lot more than wet rock photos.) These are the particularly photogenic rocks of Boulder Beach in Acadia National Park, Maine. This location is along the shore just north of the Otter Cliffs in my last post. The waves have worn these rocks super smooth. Generally, they range in size from baseballs, up to watermelons. Of maybe softballs to footballs. Most of them are grapefruit sized. You get the idea. I must add that the entire “beach” is composed of these rocks at this spot. It was very difficult to walk around and use a tripod. Not an ankle friendly environment, especially in the rain. The plan was to be here for some super cool sunrise photos-but there were low clouds and rain, no sun – one has to improvise. I re-post processed this one recently and am quite fond of it.
Otter Cliffs
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I’ve been revisiting some old images, and found this one from a 2008 visit to Acadia National Park in Maine. This one was overexposed but I was able to extract some lost detail and color in the sky, much to my surprise. Shooting RAW is the only way to fly! I believe that’s Otter Cliffs in the distance. I love Acadia – it’s a do-not-miss destination especially if you time it right, and visit in the correct one to two week period for fall colors. (Which varies year to year of course-usually sometime in October.)
Tora! Tora! Tora!
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This years Wichita Flight Festival featured the Tora Tora Tora airshow. Flown by members of the Commemorative Air Force based in Texas, the show gives the audience just a taste of what it looks like to be attacked by a swarm of Japanese aircraft. It is a recreation of the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. The group takes pains to explain the show is not a glorification of war, but rather a dynamic history lesson about the event which propelled the U.S. into World War II. As I understand it, most if not all the Japanese planes in the show are very accurate reproductions, which were constructed for the major motion picture Tora Tora Tora from 1970.
The show is very enjoyable, something I will not soon forget. World War II era aviation has always been an interest of mine. Although I’m sure all the flying is choreographed, from a photographic standpoint (from someone who had never seen the show before), it was chaos and mayhem. I’ve never attempted to shoot such an event, I was reasonably pleased with the outcome. The show includes lots of explosions and smoke, which definitely adds to the experience.
I’ve posted these photos as a gallery, please feel free to click and enlarge! Amongst all the Japanese planes, you’ll see a lone American P40 Warhawk in there. I’ll have more of that great plane at a later date.
Aerobatics
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From the Wichita Flight Festival airshow last weekend. Above, we have Otto the helicopter, flown by pilot Roger Buis.
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This is pilot Kent Pietsch flying his yellow plane through one of the more sedate maneuvers. I just like the smoke trails for photography purposes. Pietsch later landed his plane on top of a truck. (Well, there was a little flat platform on top of the truck, but still…..
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These last two are pilot Jason Newburg in his Pitts Viper aircraft.
The Fires Of Sunset
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Sunset storm in Wichita, Kansas about an hour ago. My next few posts were supposed to be airshow photos, but this sky thing happened tonight so I ran out for a quick snap.
Ford Shoots Ford
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Last year around this time I posted a “Ford Shoots Chevy” photo from the Blacktop Nationals car show. This year it was a Ford that had the best hubcap for a self portrait. So there you have it!
