I’m not sure why I keep clicking the “Remember Me” checkbox when I log into Blogger. Not like it remembers me or anything. Bah.
Two new photo albums are posted over here! One is from our Adirondack trip last week, and the other contains a few images I shot this morning, just after sunrise…
Since I haven’t gotten the time to resize and upload some photos from our recent Adirondack trip, I figured I’d post a few more textual details before they’re lost forever to my less-than-stellar long term memory… Besides, what good is a journal if you don’t keep track of anything with it?
We started out our weekend on Friday in Hague, NY. There, we met Brien, photo-haji of Brien Szabo Nature Photography. Brien is a videographer-turned-photographer who runs photographic workshops out of his vacation home in the small Northern-Adirondack town. He’s a big guy with a big personality and a hilarious Seinfeld-esque wit. He takes superb photographs, using (alternatingly) a Minolta SLR or a big, wooden 4×5 camera.
After we arrived at the Szabo retreat – our base of operations for the weekend – we met Ricky, our fellow student during the 3-day workshop. He had completed the long drive from Toronto shortly before we arrived. The four of us got acquainted on the stone driveway, then hauled our gear into the pine-paneled A-frame cottage, where we chatted for an hour or so as the afternoon light softened.
Our first shooting session consisted of a series of stops along nearby Brant Lake, where Brien felt out our various experience levels and got an idea of what equipment we had available. We tried out some photos of backlit trees, puffed-out cattails, the local white swans and a few lakeside docks. Afterwards, we enjoyed a great dinner at Eddies, one of the two local restaurants.
Early Saturday morning, we hauled out of bed to target some local wild flowers. After navigating the rough dirt road in Brien’s Pathfinder, we spent a few hours capturing macro shots of purple trilliums, fern fiddleheads, wild oats, wild strawberry blossoms and last year’s cinnamon ferns. Kelly and I also experimented with various textures, exploring the various wood barks and green leaves dotting the young-growth forest floor.
Saturday afternoon was largely spent trying to keep the equipment dry. Despite the rain – heavy at times – we managed to capture some wonderful photos of some area streams and runoffs. After we learned a bit about metering and exposure, we were able to capture some great long-exposure shots, allowing the clear water to take on a nice blur.
After Saturday afternoon’s session, we had dinner at The View – the town’s other restaurant. While the restaurant itself was beautiful, the food and the prices could have been a lot better. It’s no wonder Brien reported the restaurant seems to change hands every year. After dinner was the real treat, however – Brien presented a slide show on spot metering, and how important it is to adding depth to nature photographs.
Sunday morning was spent at Putnam Pond, about 35 minutes from the cottage. After a 20 minute hike, we spent the morning applying our newly-learned spot metering techniques to a gorgeous Adirondack stream. Some of my favorite shots from the weekend came from this final session, after which we closed out the weekend and headed toward Lake George to kick off three days of vacation!
I’m sorry about the notable lack of postings over the last several days… Kelly and I have been enjoying a stay in the Adirondack Mountains (in Northern NY) since Friday. We started out the vacation with a photography workshop that spanned 3 days and where we shot over 1500 images of Adirondack wildflowers, plants, waterfalls and landscapes.
Next, we headed to a B&B in Warrensburgh, which is a few miles outside the resort town of Lake George. We’ve spent the last three days hiking, photographing, eating (holy wow the five-course breakfasts are amazing) and enjoying the local attractions.
I should be able to add some galleries soon, with images we shot during and after the workshop.
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