It’s been a minute since our last trip to Bonaire… I took this series of photos from the southeastern coast of the country with my drone. It is common to have lots of wind in Bonaire and this day was very windy. My drone didn’t love it
White Rhino
I keep searching for happy photos to post since there is so much darkness in our world right now. So tonight, I’m posting this photo from our 2017 trip to South Africa. We came upon this White Rhino during one of our safari rides. Wow, 2017 seems like 20 years ago right now…
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Currently Trump Land
I took this photo in August while MJ and I were in Washington DC visiting friends. We stayed at a hotel a few blocks from the White House and I went over at sunset to capture some images. I had a hard time capturing any without the protesters who were in front. So I had to get creative with my composition.
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Bonaire Historic Site
We had a wonderful time exploring the entire island. On the southern end of the island, there are two historic sites with around 8 to 12 of these tiny huts. One set is painted white and the other is yellow. These are former huts for the slaves that were used in the Salt Flats way back in history. Unfortunately, even this beautiful country has a negative mark on their history due to the use of slaves. I can’t imagine how terrible the working and living conditions were for these poor souls.
This specific location is also one of the numerous designated scuba diving sites around the island, all marked with a stone painted yellow and the dive site name on it. As you can see, this dive site is called “white slave”.
To view a larger version, click HERE
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White Rhino
MJ and I had a successful and fun South Africa trip. Here is another photo from one of our safaris. This is a white rhino…we never found a black rhino, leopard, wild african dogs or a meer cat. But we found lots of everything else, including lots of white rhinos in a number of different locations. This guy faced us to allow for this wonderful perspective, but we were never in any danger. He just wanted to go back to sleep.
To view a larger version, click HERE
Don’t forget to check out my photo galleries. I update and add to them often.
Valhalla Ranch
Here is another photo from my time at Valhalla Ranch near Grayling Michigan. This 650-acre hunting resort is a wonderful place. If you’re a deer hunter, you won’t be disappointed with the number and size of the white tail deer. I took this photo behind the lodge which sits next to the West Branch Big Creek. I loved the composition of the river, the forest and the ranch road.
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Don’t forget to check out my photo galleries. I update and add to them often.
Valhalla Ranch
As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve been off the grid the last 10 days or so. Between work, work travel, my Baldrige volunteer work and some fun travel; I’ve been extremely busy. I started last week in Washington D.C. for work meetings and ended the week in northern Michigan to get some ship wreck scuba diving in around the Mackinaw Straits area of Lake Huron. By the way, the scuba diving in the Great Lakes is amazing. But I’ll leave that for another day.
Anyway, I had an old friend contact me to see if I’d photograph his hunting resort and ranch in Northern Michigan. He had no idea that I was going to already be in that area. So, I spent some time at his 605 acres ranch and resort photographing the deer, the property and the facilities. I have to admit, he has a wonderful setup if you just want some quiet time in the forest or you want to bag a trophy white tail buck. You can see more on his location here: http://www.valhallami.com/
Tonight’s photo is one of the bucks. We came up on this one by mistake and found it laying in the tall grass.
To view a larger version, click HERE
Don’t forget to check out my photo galleries. I update and add to them often.
The Beast
Tonight I’m posting something different. I think you need something different from time to time and so do I. For your viewing pleasure, I present to you “The Beast”. I took this picture off the coast of Isla de Guadalupe Mexico in 2012. It took us 30 hours by boat to reach this spot. We traveled from San Diego and by boat to Ensenada Mexico where we checked in with Customs. Then from Ensenada, we made the long crossing to Guadalupe.
Once on site, we anchored off shore and drove with the Great Whites for three days. I don’t know how many different Great Whites we saw, but they circled us on every dive. Sometimes there would be only one at a time, other times there was up to 5 at time….that we could see. So I don’t know if there were only 5 sharks or 50 different sharks. In the end, it doesn’t matter. We had a great experience and enjoyed the show.
The Beast in this photo was typical of the 14 footers we experienced. Large, graceful, and just amazing.
To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click here.
White House
I’ll be busy over the next few weeks, so I’ll continue to post pictures on my routine schedule….but my blog comments will probably be shorter then normal. But you’ll have to keep checking to make sure just in case I fine some extra time. In the mean time, enjoy the photos.
To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.
To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.
Shark Photography - Reprinted Article
This is a re-print of the article I wrote for Nikon Rumors.com, which they posted on their website on Jan. 11, 2013. You can see that version here: http://nikonrumors.com/2014/01/11/guest-post-shark-photography.aspx/
Shark photography….really???? I know that’s what you’re asking at this very moment. Let me come back to that question.
My interest in photography and scuba diving was engrained in me early by my father. In the 1960’s he was scuba diving on shipwrecks in the Great Lakes during the infancy of recreational scuba diving, as we know it today. He also worked as a professional photographer his entire life, so I grew up surrounded by these activities and his passions were passed onto me. Over the last twenty-five years I’ve completed hundreds of dives in all different environments (lakes, quarries, cenotes, rivers, ice, oceans, wrecks, deep dives, reefs, drift diving, big animals, exotic locations, etc.) in over 20 countries and taken tons of photos. I started taking my photography seriously about six years ago. No big shock that I decided to combine my hobbies and purchased an Ikelite underwater housing and strobes for my Nikon D90. Since then, I’ve upgraded my main camera to a Nikon D800 and focused my photography on three areas (HDR Landscapes, HDR Architecture, and underwater images). I use the D800 for the above-water work and continue to use my Nikon D90 setup for the underwater work.
Photographing sharks in their native environment is one of the things I love most. So back to the question about “shark photography…really?” Yes really!! Now I realize that scuba diving isn’t for everyone. And scuba diving with some of the most dangerous animals on earth really isn’t for everyone. I’ve had countless people ask me why? Why risk it? Why would I even want to be that close? Why get in the water with these animals? In the end, the answer is the same….. I love seeing these beautiful animals up close and for those brief encounters trying to just experience the moment. I don’t find them scary and have never been threatened by them for a second. I honestly don’t think they see humans as anything other then something odd in their world. In the past I’ve dove with Great Whites, Tiger Sharks, Lemon Sharks, Reef Sharks, etc…. So when we were planning our last trip and decided on the Playa del Carmen area of Mexico, I knew it was an opportunity to dive with and photograph Bull Sharks.
Mark from Phocea Mexico
So I booked my dives in advance with Phocea Mexico (http://www.phoceamexico.com/). I must say they were the friendliest, most well organized, and greatest value of any dive operator I’ve encountered in all my travels. During the months of November through March, they do a daily Bull Shark dive about a quarter of a mile out from the main swimming beach in Playa del Carmen Mexico. Earlier in the day, I completed two reef dives with them and saw Bull Sharks in the distance during those dives. On all of my past shark dives, the crew used chum to get the sharks to come in close to us. Not here!!!! We literally took the boat out from the beach, went over the side and quickly dropped to the sandy bottom at about 60 feet deep and waited. Within minutes the sharks found us and came in close for a peek at the visitors in their territory. After about ten minutes the numerous sharks got bored of us and moved off…..I thought. Later when we started to swim back up to the boat, one of them followed us right up to the surface. Nothing like looking down and finding a 10-foot Bull Shark right below your feet…. I loved every minute.
On the Bull Shark dive, I photographed them using my Nikon D90 in the Ikelite housing with two Ikelite strobes. I had the camera set in Manual mode at f8, ISO 100, and 120th of a second, RAW format with the shark about 10 feet away. Top side, I used Photomatix Pro to tone map the image and convert it into a black and white (B/W) image in Photoshop CS6. I felt converting it into a B/W helped make the shark pop out of the image. The original picture was very blue since there isn’t much light to distinguish colors below 30 feet. The color image was a little flat.
Great White Shark - Guadalupe Island Mexico
Tiger Shark in Bahamas
Great White Shark
Bull Shark
Bull Shark
Greene County Covered Bridge
Last weekend I traveled to Green County (far southwestern
corner of Pennsylvania) to participate in a sporting clay shoot as a fund
raising event for a local non-profit.
I was probably about ten minutes from the West Virginia boarder when I
came across the White Bridge (not only the color, but its name is the White
Bridge). So…… of course I stopped
to photograph the 100 plus year old bridge.
To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the photo above.
George Washington Hotel Lobby
This hotel was built in 1923 and designed by famous architect
William Lee Stoddart. Presidents
JFK and Harry S. Truman have stayed at the hotel in the past. There have been a number of music and
movie stars who have stayed at the hotel over the years. Interestingly, the horror film New
Terminal Hotel starring Corey Haim (if you can call him a star), was filmed
here. In 2010, local firefighters
discovered what they thought was the most grisly murder in Washington in over
35 years. About 8 hours was spent
investigating before authorities discovered it was leftover from the film.
This picture is from the second level looking down on the lobby. You can see the full color version below as well.
To purchase a print or view the entire gallery, click the picture above.
Full color version.