The Marsh - March and April

 March 11

March is a month full of changes and weather surprises in New England: warmer days and occasional snow storms.  

  March 12

Only a day apart, these two photographs each give a very different feeling to the marsh.  The ice is starting to melt!  Then a week later it's cold again and still no new growth.

  March 19

  March 26 

Ah, finally!  Water and reflections add a new dimension to photographing this lovely place!  

  April 1

April brings the birds back north.  The Canada geese use this area as a resting place on their long journey north.  The ice melts and early mornings give me nice reflections.

  April 9

  April 18

With the melting of the snow I can suddenly walk off the road and onto the land around the marsh.  This is good because I am getting bored with the same perspective for each photograph.  In the May/June blog I will include photographs of very different viewpoints.  The marsh is coming alive!

Puffins

Making bird photos is not my thing.  And I have great respect for bird photographers! They need a lot of patience and BIG lenses.  Birds move quickly and unpredictably and they spook easily- it's difficult.  Yet I had fun sitting in a small dark blind with another photographer, whispering, "Oh, look at that one!" and "Did you get that shot?".
We were on Machias Seal Island Bird Sanctuary in the Gulf of Maine in early June for an afternoon of bird watching and photography.  Both Canada and the US claim sovereignity but Canada maintains a working lighthouse and researchers come to live for periods in the summer.  We took a boat tour with Captain Andy from Cutler, Maine.  The coming ashore is not always guaranteed.  It depends on how high the seas are.

   This is the island from the boat. Then it was necessary to take a smaller boat to the landing ramp which is tricky for folks with lots of gear.  Luckily the seas were calm enough and Captain Andy said it was a go.

 

We walked on boardwalks to the picnic area near the lighthouse.  Boardwalks are mandatory and still we had to watch out not to step on errant eggs as we later walked out to the blinds nestled smack dab in the middle of puffin territory!  We learned that if we were quiet and did not poke our lenses out of the windows then the puffins would come close to the blinds and you can see that they actually sit on the roofs!  We saw Atlantic Puffins, Razorbills, Common and Arctic Terns.

The puffins did come close!  This time of year they have their mating colors.  They make nests down in dark holes between the rocks and periodically check the eggs and keep them warm.  There were birds flying everywhere, skimming the surface of the water and bobbing about on the swells.

We got 45 quiet minutes in the blind to photograph.  I used my Canon 70-300mm lens.  Another photographer had a lens that zoomed to 500mm and she got great close ups.  I had to hope they would come waddling up closer, which rarely happened.  The light was very contrasty, there were shadows but, hey, we were shooting puffins!

I am still not a bird photographer but it's fun to push your limits now and again.

My Year at the Marsh

I drive by this marshy area everyday.  I'm always going somewhere - the gym, the grocery store, the mall.  It's right off of boring, ugly Route 110 in Haverhill, Mass.  Sometimes I see a great blue heron or a duck or two.  Most of the time I don't notice it at all.
I read about photographing in our own "backyard".  I read about going back to an area  many times to really discover what's there.  It doesn't seem that exciting.  But in between the WOW! workshops and the gorgeous sunsets of a scuba trip I want to have something to photograph.  I want to have somewhere I must go every week.  I want to have a project!

 East Meadow River Marsh - Jan 8

So this year my little marsh (yes, I think of it now as "my little marsh") is what I will photograph each and every week of this year 2014.  Having said that, I did that 3 out of the 4 weeks of January.  Oops! But I did not give up.  This is as much an exercise in discipline as it is in creativity.
I had decisions to make.  Should I stick with one view? One focal length? The same time of day?  The same day of the week? I started off by answering those questions with yes, yes, no and no.  I chose this view at 35mm.

Jan 15 - nice morning light.

The same time of day was impossible.  I want to explore the marsh in all kinds of light as I explore it at different seasons of the year.  I've also switched my perspective around a bit as you will see.  I regret I haven't written a monthly blog.  I will catch up in the next few weeks.

Jan 18

January was cold.  It kept snowing every other week.  February was no different.  The winter seemed never-ending.  But my little marsh changed every time I stopped to take a photograph.  Afternoon light, morning light and midday sun - all different.

Feb 6 - the midday sun washes out the color.

Feb 16 - trying to catch an interesting sunset.  How does one predict a sunset with color?

Feb 19 - more snow and the right side of the marsh.  Looks like a meadow doesn't it?

Feb 28 - a little warmth shows the river's direction.  Oops, the power lines cast a shadow in midday!

The next two months, March and April, show big changes in my little marsh.  It's definitely spring!  And I've learned much about photographing this scene.  

My First One Woman Show!

My first two shows as a featured artist happened this spring!  They were entitled "Landscapes" in memory of my mother who passed away this March.
In an earlier blog I wrote about the book of poetry and short stories I helped my mother publish using Blurb.  She named the book "Landscapes" and used my photographs as illustrations.  My mom was an ardent supporter of my photography journey and for that I am grateful.



A word about art shows: work!  I chose 20 of what I felt were my best photographs.  I decided how to print, mat and frame them.  I hung them in a sequence that flowed and made sense.  I advertised the event and had a reception party!  Many people and companies helped me along the way professionally: my printers, my framers, and my photographer friends who encouraged me to do this.  Also, I thank my daughter, Alyssa, who encourages me and is always honest, my friend, Don, who helped me hang and my husband, Geof, who puts on a great party!

CHOICE:  How do you choose your best photographs?!  Well, that is after all the important starting point.  I can say that I am my own worst critic and I am probably not alone in this.  I have thousands of digital images stored on my computer.  Most are crap.  The ones I keep coming back to are not and sometimes it takes a while to recognize a diamond in the rough.  I show them to family and friends and when I get a positive reaction then I know I'm on to something.

PRESENTATION: After choosing I have to decide how to print them.  What kind of paper?  What size?  How about canvas?  I have one image printed on fine art paper that everyone swears is a water color!  Another, a black and white Paris scene printed very large on canvas makes one feel as though you can step right into it.  My feeling?  If I wouldn't hang it in my living room then it isn't right.  So I tend to spend a lot of money on presentation.  These two shows cost me over two thousand dollars.  A photographer friend told me he liked that I was not afraid to use color when I matted and framed an image.  He's right.  I love finding the mat color that makes the image pop!

There are so many local venues for photographers: libraries, senior centers, restaurants, hospitals and annual town art shows.  Get out there and show your work.  It's fun!  I'm just getting started.

iPhone Panoramas

Panoramas!  So dramatic!  So eye-catching!  Wouldn't you just love to have a few for your family travel books?  Or to up-load to Facebook?

Here's how to do it with a smart phone:
1)  Purchase an app named Autostitch.  It is available at the iPhone app store for $1.99.  It is also available for iPad, Android, Win64 and Mac OSX.  Website link.
2)  Watch how-to videos on Youtube for tips on how to hold your phone and turn yourself and your phone as you are taking multiple photos.
3)  Share via Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Instagram or email.

This is my first try.  Notice that I had not gotten the hang of it.  There is distortion and the horizon line is skewed:

This next panorama (Las Vegas strip) was definitely better:

Hint: Before using Autostitch play with the tools.  I chose Advanced Resolution which gave me larger images and more pixels to work with.  

I had left my camera at home during this gorgeous sunset!  But thanks to Autostitch I got the shot!   The Merrimack River with ice flows at sunset:

Panoramas are so much fun.  I plan to try it with my Canon as well and use photo merge in Photoshop  CS6.

New Hampshire - White Mountains Fall Color!

Leaves, glorious, leaves!  For landscape photography you can't beat the fall!  The White Mountains National Forest of New Hampshire has it all: lakes, ponds, waterfalls, tiny picturesque villages and colorful foliage!

Again, I opted to join a few other photographers on another Slonina Photography tour.  I did not know the area well and after 4 days of driving the highways and byways of the White Mountains I mapped out a few of my favorite places to return next fall.  I purchased a map of the area and each day I highlighted our route with a different color highlighter.  This helps me do 2 things.  First, when I want to know exactly where I made an image, I just consult my map and easily remember the name of the lake, waterfall or town.  Second, I can re-create my route at another time for other great images.

Eaton, NH

Albany Covered Bridge

For this trip I upgraded to two essential pieces of gear.  First, I bought myself a bigger backpack with enough dividers and pockets to really organize my stuff.  I did a lot of shopping online and read many reviews before I ordered.  I was not disappointed!  I still used my little fanny pack for quick access to small essentials.  

Secondly, I upgraded my tripod with a quick release and an L bracket.  These two items allow me to take my camera easily on and off my tripod and to easily switch my shot from horizontal to vertical while maintaining the same viewing angle.  So easy and it saves my arms from stress!  Check out this online company: Really Right Stuff.

Silver Cascade Falls

Chocorua Lake 

Twilight north of Gorham

Next fall, I'll continue to explore the beautiful scenery of the White Mountains Nat'l Forest.

End of the Summer Drive to Maine

Let's go for a lobster run!  We'll make a weekend of it!
Driving from the northeastern most corner of Massachusetts close to Interstate 95 and the city of Newburyport up to Maine is a short 20 minutes.
But the beautiful forests and coastline of Maine  beckons us to explore further.  There is the cheapest lobster for sale just around the corner and the most gorgeous views with storybook lighthouses and fishing villages to photograph!  It's what summer is all about in New England.

So we loaded the car with stuff our son forgot to take with him to Maine Maritime Academy and drove off to find the tiny town of Castine.
They say in Maine, "You can't get there from here!"  Exactly right!  Why, you ask?  Take a look at the coastline map and you will see a wilderness of fingers of land jutting out into the Atlantic with the rare bridge to connect them.  When one drives the coastline it is from west to east and back again only slowly inching north.
Needless to say, we took the faster inland route until the last few miles of spectacular ocean scenery.  We love the fresh salty air and seafood.  One variety store for miles might take some getting used to but I'll take it over not a single Dunkin's or McDonald's!  We got the lobster too!

  The one Castine Variety Store.

Organic lobster?  I hope so!

Picture perfect clouds!

  The State of Maine is a very large training ship shown in this photo and the one below.  You can make out the wannabe sailors in blue shirts.  Sailing and scuba diving classes are also offered as well as such majors as marine biology and international business.

  

  I'll leave you with this...