1/2 sec., F/11, 33mm, ISO 64 - 3 Shot Focus Stack
Just as I had lost all hope for true winter conditions to hit Michigan, in February winter struck back, bringing tons of snow and freezing temperatures. These conditions were enough to form ice on the Great Lakes and freeze over many of the lighthouses that call these waters home. I knew these conditions would be fleeting, so I escaped over to Lake Michigan to capture the beautiful scenery.
Read More1/2500 sec., F/8, 500mm, ISO 400
January brought a lot of exciting aspects to my photography. First, we were finally treated with the wintery conditions I have been longing for, although I haven’t made the best use of the conditions yet. The snow is forecasted to keep falling, so fingers crossed I’m able to be out when the snow is good. Second, I finally took the long-overdue plunge and upgraded my camera body and lenses. I’m not one to talk too much about gear, but I’m toying with the idea of dedicating a blog post to the gear upgrades and discuss what I learned from using an entry-level DSLR for 4 years.
Read More“Never Ending Battle” - 1/4 sec., F/13, 36mm, ISO 100
I’m back again with another photo of the month blog post. I missed last month due to me injuring my ankle which stopped me from getting out to do any shooting in September. Luckily, I was able to recover enough to get out on a 3-day backpacking trip to the far North of Michigan in early October. It was a wonderful trip of great views, awesome hiking, and amazing company. We were fortunate enough to hit the fall colors just perfectly on this trip. I took many different photos on this hike but only walked away with a few I think are gallery-worthy photos. At the end of the day this doesn’t matter to me much, what’s important is I had a wonderful experience hiking the large sandstone cliffs of Northern Michigan.
Read More“Bleed Green” - 6/13/20 | 1/250, F/5.6, 380mm, ISO 200
This blog post will be short and sweet. I’m currently out in the field on a trip again. Originally I was planning on being on the road for 4 days but turns out I’ll be gone for 10 days. This was a much-needed departure from this crazy world. I’m very fortunate to have this opportunity to be out traveling with my camera again and I feel I have not wasted my time. I’m producing some of the best work I have made in a long time (at least that’s what I feel as first impressions). I hope in the near future you will see the photos I have taken up on my website and in my next few YouTube videos.
Read More“Confined” - 4/8/20 | 1/500, F/9, 50mm, ISO 100
There isn’t much to be said about the photo of the month for April. I simply wandered around the house observing how the light shined through the windows, creating abstract shapes as it came in contact with the objects in the room. I used these shapes created by the light and resulting shadows to create this abstract black and white photo. It was a great creative exercise to keep the photography muscles in my brain active and responsive while stuck in lockdown. Since we have been given a little bit extra time due to the lockdown, I figured I would use that time to go through my Lightroom catalog and reminisce about past trips and outing with the camera.
Read MoreI will be the first one to admit that I’m a planner, whether it be my meals for the week, my daily itinerary or a photo trip, I simply love to plan. This trait can have its benefits, but can also be a hindrance. It’s great when things go to plan, which we all know rarely happens, so when it doesn’t, I’m left feeling frustrated. Naturally, throughout my journey in photography, I have done everything I could do to plan shoots, trips, and hikes. Over time I have learned making detailed plans for my photography wasn’t always beneficial. I learned there was a time and place for trying to plan, and a time when I should be spontaneous. In this blog post, I want to share my experiences and share what I have learned about when to plan and when to be spontaneous as it pertains to photography trips. My hope is whoever reading this can learn from my mistakes and experiences to better utilize planning for their photography trips.
Read More“Routine Visitor” - 3/8/20 | 1/1250 sec, F/6.3, 380mm, ISO 3200
It’s 1 hour and 45 minutes before sunrise and my alarm sounds. I get out of bed and quietly walk to the kitchen to start the morning coffee. I return to my room to find my already laid out hiking clothes from the night before. I quickly change, grab my camera gear, fill my water bottle and finish making my coffee. I softly walk out the side door of the house and get to the car. I put my gear in the trunk, place the coffee in the cup holder, start the car, begin a podcast, and drive off to my desired location.
Read More“Hang Tight” - 12/26/19 | 1/1600 sec, F/5.6, 500mm, ISO 3200
For my final photo of the month for 2019, I choose a shot of a Tufted Titmouse taken at one of my new favorite little spots to capture birds. This small area at one of my favorite local spots is always full of tufted Timouses and Black-capped Chickadees. They dodge and weave through the tall grass and reeds at a pace almost too fast to capture. They quickly jump from reed to reed, nibbling on the tops for food. It feels like a little game I’m playing with the birds as I try to capture them while they jump and fly through the reeds. It seems like they understand what I’m doing, it’s like they are playing the game with me. Almost taunting me as they hang briefly on a reed, pose for a photo, and fly away before I can take any shots.
Read More“Eye Spy” - 11/16/19 | 1/640 sec, F/5.6, 500mm, ISO 1600
Most of my time out shooting in November was spent taking photos of the deers at one of my favorite local spots. I was out looking for the big bucks running around during the rut. I saw my fair share of bucks, both big and small but never had a really good photographic opportunity with any of them. Most of the bucks were too busy chasing does around to stay around for very long, so I only walked away with snapshots.
Two weeks into the rut we were greeted with an early-season snowstorm that dropped about 8 inches of snow at my local photo spot. I was extremely eager to get out shooting in these conditions. On this very cold morning, I hiked to my go-to spot to see deer, an open field surrounded by woodland. I got to the field just as it got light enough to take photos. I set up my big lens on the tripod and sat down behind a patch of tall grass to give myself a little bit of cover. I settled in for a long period of watching and waiting for any deer who might come walking across the field.
Read MoreRoughly two years ago I took the above two photos on two separate trips. The first photo was taken in a rushed shoot during a peak autumn afternoon very far north in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The second photo was taken up on the northwest coast of Michigan during a very cold and windy morning on the dunes. I love how I composed both of the photos I took on these separate occasions, but as time has passed I started to ask myself these questions. How can I make the photos better? What time of year would better suit these scenes? What type of light would work best? What can I do to make the photos print-worthy?
I feel I have learned a lot and improved many of my photography skills since taking these photos. I learned how to better compose a shot, how to expose a photo with post-processing in mind, how to pre-visualize the light interacting with a scene, and how to slow down. Besides learning skills and techniques I also learned a lot about myself as a photographer. I learned what my favorite type of light is, what my favorite time of the year to shoot is, and what emotions and feelings I want to convey in my photos. All of these factors combined to help me take the following two photos.
Read More“Home within the Reeds” - 8/2/19 | 1/1000 sec, F/5.6, 500mm, ISO 400
During the month of August, I shot in a wide range of places. I went from local marshland, to mighty rivers, to one of the Great Lakes, and back to the local marshland. Now sitting here at the end of August looking at this month’s photos, I can’t help but go back to a photo taken at the local marshland.
I was on a very peaceful morning walk along the maze of boardwalks over the water of the marshland when I came across this Chipping Sparrow. Perched on top of a reed, enjoying the warm morning sun inside his little home. I like this photo because it gives me the feeling of looking into the world of this little bird, peering through a window into its home of tall grass and reeds. The late summer foliage gives this bird a small, momentary sanctuary from the outside world. At first glance, it may seem this is the perfect little dwelling for the sparrow, but what you don’t see is the garbage littered in the water and grass at this birds doorstep. Below is a group of photos taken at my local marshland during this last month.
Read More“When Time Blends Together” - 7/20/19 | 1/5 sec, F/14, 155mm, ISO 100
If you photograph nature you will probably agree with me when I say summer is the hardest season to photograph. The bugs are out, the sun rises far too early and sets way too late, everything is green and overgrown, and the light is harsh most of the day. I find it very hard to find much inspiration or motivation to shoot during the summer for the above reasons. In past summers, I have succumb to the lack of motivation and just stopped shooting nature expect for the bigger trips I took. However, I wanted to change that this summer. I wanted to push myself creatively, to see things in a different light (no pun intended), and continue to develop as a photographer. I have spoken about this before in a past Photo of the Month post, how I want to expand my creativity with the camera, and look at the finer details of a scene. And this month’s photo is the result of just that.
Read More“A Dance in the Sky” - 6/8/19 | 1/250 sec, F/13, 165mm, ISO 100
I awoke on my last day in Grand Teton National Park to almost sub-freezing temperatures and heavy falling snow. The snowstorm didn’t just bring cold and snow, it also brought incredibly atmospheric conditions to shoot in. At the start of the morning, I was quite skeptical of coming away with any photos but I saw the potential the conditions provided. At first sight, the entire Teton mountain range was completely socked in with clouds which only confirmed my doubts for the morning. After an hour or so of driving around with nothing but cloud in sight, I accepted the fact that no photos of the mountains were going to be taken. So I tried my best to look for abstract and intimate scenes in the falling snow while also just simply enjoying my last morning of the trip.
Read More“Against the Current” - 5/22/19 | 1 sec, F/16, 95mm, ISO 100
May’s photo of the month is my attempt at expanding my photographic creativity past the obvious. In the last few months, I have focused on looking at the finer details while out with the camera. Such as the shapes made by cascading water, the reflections of a rock, or in this case a small branch with fresh leaves flowing in a stream. I have really enjoyed the process of looking closer at the smaller pieces to the larger landscape.
Read More“What Really Matters” - 4/6/19 | 1/1000, F/5.6, 500mm, ISO 1600
I’m very proud of my photo of the month for April because it was the culmination of numerous things I have learned while photographing deer. I have failed more than I can count while attempting to take the perfect photo of this very skittish animal. Through my many failures, I have learned how to treat an encounter with deer to achieve the photos I’m after but, also ensure the comfort of the deer. The knowledge I have gained came together like pieces to a puzzle on this very chilly Saturday morning.
Read More“Eye Catcher” - 3/31/19 | 1/1000, F/5.6, 390mm, ISO 800
Taken on the last day of the month, my photo of the month for March is a minimalist style photo of a Red-winged Blackbird. This was also one of my first photos with my newly acquired Nikon 200-500mm lens. On this morning I was fortunate enough to come across a spot where someone had dropped a hand full of bird feed on the ground. This created the perfect opportunity for some bird photography. It also snowed a couple inches the night before, creating a very beautiful scene to work with. To take this shot I simply setup on the ground, sat back, and watched the endless stream of birds coming to feed. The hardest part about this particular shoot was walking away. It was one of those shoots that is so good you wish it never ended.
I have decided to start a monthly blog where I share my favorite photo(s) from each month. Even though we are half way through April I thought it would be good to take a look back at my favorite photos so far this year. These photos of the month may not always be my “best” photos but instead will be my “favorite” photos. They may be my favorites because of the experience of taking the photo, the conditions on that particular day, or just simply because I really like the photo. I want this monthly blog to be a platform where I can share the background on some of my photos. I also want this blog to be a way for me to continuously review my work, ensuring I’m always learning and taking steps to improve as a photographer.
“Companions of the Void” - 1/18/19 | 8 Shot Vertical Panorama, 1/13, f/9.0, 86mm, ISO 100
I chose this minimalist panorama as my photo of the month for January because of the absolutely perfect wintry conditions I got to experience. The complete white-out was caused by a heavy Michigan snow storm, making for a calm, quiet, and peaceful morning out with the camera. I love shooting in these conditions because of the way it simplifies the landscape and allows for the creation of minimalist photos. I was originally unsure about this photo because of the visual tug of war created by the two lone islands. As time has passed I have grown to love this photo and love the connection created by the two subjects. I like to think of these islands as one an others only companions in a world void of anything else.