Category Archives: landscape

Sunrise Cruise Ready

Posted by Mike on

Clayton, NY
Haiku

I have been wanting to get up North for awhile this year. And by North, I mean to the 1000 Island region of NY. Specifically, to Clayton. I had visited the area for a friend’s wedding in 2018 and have continually told myself I needed to go back. Sunday was the day for my adventure.

Sunrise was going to be around 6am. I wanted to capture the morning blue hour which put my arrival time at 5am(ish). Two hour drive backs me up to leaving the apartment at 3am and getting the boys (cats) situated put my wake-up call at 2:30am.

Clayton is on the St. Lawrence River and it was a little windy when I arrived. I wasn’t sure if my piloting skills would hold up to flying the drone over water in the wind so I started by running around with the camera. What a beautiful morning. The sounds of water lapping against the shoreline, the intensifying colors in the sky and the overall peacefulness made the drive totally worth it.

I even managed to sit in an Adirondack chair and simply enjoy the view. Highly recommended!

Morning Light

Water and wind flow
Light arises, greet the day
Your journey begins
Sunrise Cruise Ready
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 4s, 18mm, f/11, ISO 400

I did collect enough courage to fly the drone. I haven’t processed the images yet. I’ll save those for another day. I also expanded on the adventure and explored the coast from Clayton down to Oswego. Sticking mainly to the smaller routes and slowly making my way back home. More on that too…

Cloud Peek

Posted by Mike on

Delta Lake State Park

Thursday evening at Delta Lake yielded a trove of images. I was running up and down the beach area setting up the camera for every view I liked. It wasn’t as crowded as I thought it would have been for such a beautiful ending to the day. I’m OK with that. There are days you want company and others you revel in the solitude. I’m good with that too.

Cloud Peek
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/320s, 17mm f/11, ISO 200

Lost in Reflection

Posted by Mike on

Delta Lake State Park
Haiku

I am me. I know who I am. I didn’t always. Why does it take so long to find out? Does it for everybody? Surfing the waves of my memory I can point to events that forged the earlier version of me. Would changing those events make me different now. Probably. Would I want to… no. I am me.

Lost in Reflection

At the water's edge
True self revealed deep within
Lost in reflection
Lost in Reflection
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/400s, 16mm, f/11, ISO 200

Sunset Gold

Posted by Mike on

Bellamy Harbor

It was a long day at work. One of those days where you are constantly running around but not really accomplishing anything. Where you are being pulled from one small problem to the next. Where your list of projects mockingly calls at you, knowing you will not get to it… yeah, one of those days.

Getting home later than usual doesn’t bother me, the fresh wave of heat and humidity does. After dinner I was not thinking of going back out there, into the sauna, for a few “pictures”. I sat down on the couch and picked up Rick Sammon’s book, the one I mentioned a while ago that I had started. I didn’t get very far into the next chapter when I read a passage about landscape photographers. It hit home.

Always around sunrises and sunsets I keep looking out the windows (actually the time leading up to those events), trying to gauge if I should or shouldn’t go chasing the light. I don’t know why I have these internal struggles. I forget you have to be out there and experience the light in order to capture it. Go! Just go out there and let your eye wander. Point the camera at anything that interests you. Rick’s passage in his book reminded me…

One glance to the west and I knew the sunset was going to be one to watch. I didn’t need to photograph it, I needed to experience it, and if I happen to capture an image… bonus! I headed down to Bellamy Harbor…

Sunset Gold
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/200s, 19mm, f/11, ISO 200

Sunrise Blues

Posted by Mike on

Bellamy Harbor

Bellamy Harbor has not been a sunrise destination for me in quite a while. After the city placed the fences around the canal control gates I didn’t want to up my frustration for the missing harbor view. I get it. I understand why. Still annoys me.

I did go Saturday morning though. I was half hoping the fences would be down (they are not). Maybe there would be a way for me to get my favorite view of the harbor (there is not). I’m sure there is another view that will be “the view” (nope).

I still enjoyed my time at the park but it was related to being there. The sound of the water rushing over the spillway. The call of the ducks as they paddled through the water. The rustle of leaves in the trees. Aaahhh! Good morning…

Sunrise Blues

Mornings unhindered
A state of serenity
Hear the sunrise blues
Sunrise Blues
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1.3s, 14mm, f/11, ISO 200

Future Yet Written

Posted by Mike on

Delta Lake State Park

I am in double trouble.

Since I have been on this journey of photography I see the world around me differently. Images appear everywhere I look. Driving the car can be interesting as I am constantly seeing new opportunities for my camera. The way the light is falling on a tree or the color of the sky as the sun rushes toward the horizon.

Now words are coming out too. I have used the titles of my images to convey a little more about each image. It might have been a thought or feeling as I took the image, or they might come after as I’m processing. Lately, more words have been coming out and yesterday I needed to stop along the way to work to record a few that kept playing in my head…

Hidden beneath the surface
Never quite awake
A thought, a feeling
Waiting to escape
Held in reserve
For fear of rejection
This part of me
So long forgotten

Your words reached within
And untied the knots
The spirit set free
To soar now unbound
What heights will be reached
The limit is endless
My story unfolds
The future yet written.
Future Yet Written
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/125s, 40mm, f/11, ISO 200

Sentinel

Posted by Mike on

Delta Lake State Park
Haiku

As long as I have been going to Delta Lake to photograph the views I have been drawn to this tree. I have captured its image throughout the seasons. I never understood why this tree held my focus until I realized, the tree is me…

Sentinel

Stoic in the wind
Sentinel to the water
Lake dreams unfurled
Sentinel
Olympus E-M1 Mark III, M. Zuiko 12-100mm f/4, 1/40s, 13mm, f/11, ISO 200

Sea of Yellow

Posted by Mike on

Wagner Farms
Haiku Poetry

Late in the afternoon I headed out to explore with the camera. I didn’t have a particular destination in mind, it only needed to be different. Someplace I haven’t been in a while. I was letting my subconscious decide the turns along the way when I remembered Wagner Farms was open. They have sunflower fields!

The sky was looking fantastic. My excitement was palpable. Drive!

I parked the car and could not get the camera out of the bag quick enough. I took a step back. I slowed my breathing. The sunflowers were not going anywhere. I needed a moment to plan.

The macro lens was on the camera which is what I wanted to capture details. What to do for the long shots, the grand vistas, the sweeping landscapes… bring another camera! With one camera hanging off my hip from the capture clip and the other from the strap around my neck I walked into the fields.

It was a sea of yellow! Glorious!

Dang, I’m not alone. What are these other people doing in my fields? Breath…

I explored the main field switching between the two cameras every few feet. I had forgotten how people use the sunflower fields for photo shoots. Navigating around portrait photographers and their subjects was interesting but I was determined to not let it ruin my afternoon. I happily collected my images.

Off to the second field. Different varieties of sunflowers with the non-standard coloring were in the second field. There were also less people. My smile was growing.

I was almost done with the second field when noticed the sky. Whoa! The clouds had rolled in but the sun was streaking through them. I needed that image. I knew exactly where to get the one I wanted. Back to the first field…

To say I wanted to run would not be admitting too much, right? No, running not allowed. I settled on asking Mother Nature not to change the view. Please stay a few more minutes… please. Whew! I made it.

There are small platforms along the fields to give some elevation. Not high, maybe four feet but enough to allow you to look out across the entire field with the sun flowers poking through a blanket of green. This is the image I wanted. The words started trickling into my head as soon as I stepped off the platform…

Replenished

Hope.  Streaking earthward
Alighting on yellow seas
Spirit replenished
Sea of Yellow
Olympus PEN-F, M. Zuiko 17mm f/1.8, 1/250s, f/11, ISO 200