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September 10, 2023

How to Find your Perfect Camera Moment on Vacation

When you think you’ve just snapped your perfect vacation shot like I did while sea kayaking in Alaska, don’t put your camera away just yet. The best may be yet to come.

You can plan all you want, but finding the best moment to visually capture the awesomeness of your vacation will usually be an unexpected opportunity.

During our Backroads’ Alaskan vacation, that happened to me during a fifteen-minute break after we had finished our amazing group sea kayaking expedition around Yukon Island in the Kachemak Bay near Homer.

Downtime can be your Magic Opportunity
We were all waiting around on the island’s beach for the water taxi to pick us up and transport us back to Homer. The group slowly began to focus on skipping stones on the water. This was technically a slight delay in our schedule (as if you could ever perfectly align every minute).

I had already taken my share of photos and videos with my waterproof GoPro while my son and I traversed the Kachemak Bay in our kayak. It was hard to know how successful my shots would be as I snapped away, but I felt satisfied with my attempt.

That said, I can’t deny that I still felt the painful memory of my iPhone kayaking disaster back in Connecticut earlier in the summer. The incident was still fresh. So, I had been a bit preoccupied to avoid a similar incident. Sure, my GoPro was more impervious, but I didn’t have it locked down. I could have easily dropped the GoPro into the bay. (But if I had, that would have certainly been the topic of this post.)

Time to Put my GoPro to Work
I already had ample opportunity to capture beautiful shots and record a few videos while on the water. I was done. Or was I?

For me, a big challenge during this kind of trip was to snap away… and also keep up.

Remember, I was always in motion with the group… kayaking… bicycling and hiking. I never had fifteen minutes to really take my time and craft the perfect shot. And then it hit me…

I was standing there on a mystical island in Alaska in perfect weather conditions. I had nothing to do for fifteen minutes while our group waited.

Holy cow! This was the moment! My opportunity! It was like a lightning bolt hit me. (And yes, sometimes I need that to see the obvious.)

Every view from this rocky island beach was spectacular. My mind raced as I considered my options on how to best use this creative opportunity.

By this point in our vacation, I had realized that the wide Alaskan vistas were my ‘money shots.’ I had come prepared to zoom in tight with my Panasonic Lumix ZX200D and its 15x zoom lens. But I quickly learned that the opposite approach demanded equal attention.

GoPro… this is your moment to shine!

But wait, I didn’t have a tripod with me. D’oh! I looked about at the craggy shore and angled boulders littered about. (I felt like nature was smirking at me.) Then I walked up to one of the rocks and peered closer. Yep… I could see a few flat spots… Enough space to balance my GoPro.

I looked behind me. Everyone was happily skipping their own rocks, and nobody noticed my absence.

I had found my moment. And I put my GoPro to work. Here’s what it captured:

My Alaskan Zen
It’s often difficult to be in an incredible environment and appropriately capture its imagery. And in trying to do so, you can easily forget to fully immerse yourself in that space.

This fifteen-minute exercise enabled me to do both. Admittedly, my video clips only offer a limited view on this mind-blowing Alaskan space. But I can happily report that these fifteen minutes also became my minutes of pure Alaskan Zen.

Slow Down
I returned to the group as the water taxi arrived. I boarded the boat, and nobody knew what I had just experienced. I had joined with the Alaskan wilderness for those few minutes. It was a true gift.

When you’re wired to always be on the go, it’s useful to sometimes slow down and embrace the unscheduled moment. That’s where the magic often resides.

For your camera… and for you.

July 9, 2023

A Cloudy Morning Doesn’t have to Ruin your Sunrise Photography

If you’re looking to photograph the sunrise, but it’s a cloudy day, consider a time lapse instead. Here’s what you might discover…

It’s not really the sunrise. It’s everything else that surrounds the rising, warm circle. That’s what matters when you’re trying to capture this magical moment. It’s the state of the rest of the sky that makes our sun the star.

Placed properly (as if the photographer has the power), clouds can make a sunrise truly spectacular. All of those wonderful colors in the early morning sky are immediately enhanced by clouds.

Clouds are your friend. Clouds are your special ingredient. Until they take over and ruin your shot.

But even after they creep in and mask the glow, don’t call it a day. It’s not over.

Speed up the Clouds with a Time Lapse
If you choose to look at clouds differently and start to observe their motion and trajectory, you can begin to unlock their beautiful intensity with your camera. Often, you can accomplish this with a time lapse.

Even the grayest and foggiest morning may contain its own cloud dance that can be revealed through a time lapse. You just need to speed up time to really see what’s going on…

Stormy Predictions?
Last year, I captured some amazing sunrise time lapses overlooking the mud flats in Cape Porpoise, Maine. And yes, the best ones had lots of clouds circling the sun, and they all gave it enough space to visibly rise.

This summer, my family and I returned to this incredible part of Maine, but my photography encountered more challenging weather conditions. In fact, the forecast was for rain each day of the week. It was as if a storm cloud would be parked overhead for the entirety of our vacation.

But as my wife likes to say, coastal weather conditions can be unpredictable. And that’s where the opportunity lies.

So instead of sleeping in, I still woke up early every day to evaluate the cloud cover.

Vacation Report
The first morning totally fooled the weather forecast, and I was there to witness the sun making its glorious appearance.
This was my gift for the week. The remaining days, I would have to work harder to find my shots…

On the next morning, the clouds rolled in during my time lapse recording to obscure any hope of seeing the sun. As I stood there at 5am, I wondered what the point was to keep going. But I continued my 30-minute time lapse recording by my little DJI Osmo Pocket.
When I reviewed my Osmo Pocket’s video clip, the sped-up motion revealed a morning rush hour of Maine cloud traffic.

It was dark. It was moody. It had great flow. I loved it.

The Dark and the Light
Yes, I was drawn to the power of the dark side. And I had plenty opportunity to experience it on this vacation. It’s pretty cool. I get it now.

I’m pleased that I found both the dark and the light during this trip to Maine.

Like a great restaurant, nature just serves it up. And you enjoy it.

I learned that it’s not about finding the shot you want, it’s about experiencing the uniqueness of each new day.

And if your camera can capture just a little of that, you’ve accomplished your job as a photographer.

Here are my morning time lapses.

June 25, 2023

Why an Overcast Day can Offer the Best Conditions for Nature Shots

Cloudy conditions at the Prydden Brook Falls in Connecticut can still offer a photographer great imagery to capture. Here’s what I humbly learned…

Last summer, my family and I went on a beautiful hike along with friends up to the Prydden Brook Falls in Newtown, Connecticut. For me, the waterfall was the highlight of our eight-mile hike through the Paugussett State Forest on the Zoar trail.

I focused on capturing silky smooth photos of the rushing water with my small Panasonic Lumix LX10 camera. That, of course, took slowing down my camera’s shutter speed.
This effect is the opposite of freezing fast motion. Instead it blurs it, while the surroundings remain crystal clear.

Packing my Gear
This year, we returned to our Zoar trail hike. (It’s actually the fourth time… We started during our series of ‘pandemic hikes’ back in 2021.)

On this trek, I brought my beefier Panasonic Lumix GH5 II with me. I had it stashed comfortably in the bottom of my Peak Design V2 Everyday Backpack designed for camera gear. I also carried my compact Manfrotto Befree Live carbon-fiber video travel tripod vertically in the other side of my Peak Design backpack. (It has adjustable internal compartments that enable this kind of trick.)

My goal was to capture more 4K video along with some additional stills.

Discovering the Beauty in Darker Conditions
Unfortunately, the conditions weren’t optimal. it was overcast when we arrived at the falls that afternoon. (And the sun came out as soon as we left.)

Of course, the darker environment gave the space an entirely different feel. The water wasn’t sparkling in the sunlight. The rocks didn’t glisten.

I was disappointed, but I still proceeded to get my shots. But when we returned home and I reviewed my videos and photos, I was surprised by what I saw…
I liked the darker imagery after all.

It has a moody energy. But the water is still bright… coursing through the darker scene. There’s plenty of contrast. Dark doesn’t have to mean murky.

I often feel the creative urge to brighten up my shots. But mother nature forced me down a different path this time. And it was a great lesson that I humbly learned.

My Waterfall Video Montage Continues
Last year, I created a little video montage of my Prydden Brook Falls shots. So I happily decided to update it with my newer and moodier clips.

Weather Conditions are Irrelevant
As our Zoar trail hike has become an annual event, I’ll plan on capturing and adding more clips to my little video montage in the future.

Nature’s beauty displays itself in countless ways… through sunny or cloudy conditions. The next time, I’ll try to remember that and simply show up to appreciate the unique magic that’s on display that particular day.

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