A few recent Nickerson photos - summer 2017

 The morning of the big eclipse I was at Nickerson and shot some skimmers and terns...

 



There was a shipping container on the beach, I assume it is used for storing Life Guard and beach maintenance supplies, but IDK...



The paintings on it were pretty cool, I had to shoot them.

-Jon






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A few recent Nickerson photos - summer 2017

Sunrise at Hemingways near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge March 2016

The first time I ever went to Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, many years ago, I had the pleasure of witnessing the sunrise while crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. I say pleasure because I had not planned it right and didn't know how far I had to drive (no smart phone at the time, no google maps, and no proper prior planning) and while I was less than half way there I got to see the sunrise and realized I had blew it, and would be more than an hour "late" for sunrise...

Pretty much every visit since, over 50 easily in the last 9 or 10 years I've made it to Blackwater before sunrise, sometimes 45 minutes before... It is around a 100 miles to drive for me, and can take nearly 2 hours in the early morning. And it is totally worth it. Here are a couple sunrises from Blackwater that were awesome/epic/wow'd me, etc... Any many more here.




And finally this sunrise, from my second visit when I did actually make it in time for sunrise... ( Taken on December 16, 2006)


In March 2016 I think the weather wasn't supposed to be great and I slept in and then decided anyway to go east, and instead of getting up at 4am I got up at 5:30am or something. As I was driving I saw the amazing sunrise and these strange clouds and it was something to see. So for the first time, I stopped on the East side of the Bay Bridge at sunrise and went to the marina there.
Previously I'd shot the Snowy Owl that was there in the evening, while coming back from the Eastern Shore:


All that lead up to show off these two images I've shared so far from this spot... I shot a bunch, walked on the docks a bit, shot looking east, looking west, and took a few hundred photos. Then I continued east and hit a couple other spots without going to Blackwater.
Empty Docks


Sunrise @ Chesapeake Bay Bridge


Finally, here's a 'contact sheet' from the images I processed and rated from this day in March 2016. I've only posted the 2 above so far. There might be another couple to post from the sunrise timeframe... Later in the day the images were not unique, though it was fun to see the osprey early in the season the ducks as well.



If you're wondering about how I rate images, here it is:
1= come back and find this image and process it later.
2=used for an automated image/hdr creation, not editing by itself for single export
3=any edited image that is not rated higher
4=hdr images (TIF's then processed and exported), or regular images that are a "4". So just because an HDR is a 4 doesn't mean it is an image I really like.
5=highest rating, any image that I REALLY like...

Original content posted at http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/
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Sunrise at Hemingways near the Chesapeake Bay Bridge March 2016

Going Vertical #3

From http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/2010/04/going-vertical-3.html

I'm just up to my 3rd GVP post...



This is a boardwalk at a nearby spot. The other end of the boardwalk has an elevated blind for watching wildlife from.

I hope this Going Vertical Project frees me to shoot vertical more as well as actually posting vertical images. My flickr account has probably 1% (or less) vertical shots, while I might have shot 5% (or less) vertical...

-50-

Original content posted at http://natureandwildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

Nikographer.com / Jon
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Going Vertical #3

More Different More New, Less Old, Less Same

This year I'm figuring more things out. I've been to a lot of places I go many many times. And when I go again now I struggle to see new things, and walk away with images that I like, that are unique, that tell a story, a new story.

Light Is Life


Read on for more.


On a related note, I watched a couple ted.com videos about neurogenesis, and how you can stimulate and regrow your brain.




What I think I took away from those are do new things, expect new results, make the bright new future come to you by just going out and living it. With too much inertia things will seem to never change, and your brain will actually fail to grow.

The way this relates to photography for me is that I am in year 5 of taking things seriously, and realized more so today that I need to hit new spots, try new things, and not just redo old travels.

I went to a new spot this past weekend, that was near another spot I just started to go to this year. The newer spot failed - there was nothing to see but ocean and a guy with a few scopes "counting" stuff. But the other new spot was great within moments of starting to shoot.



Would I take the above image over an even better eagle photo than I've ever taken? Probably not. I really like bald eagles and I would really like to get even better images. But what I've come to learn is for me to compete with myself (past trips, past photos, etc) I need to keep challenging myself and forcing myself to take new risks with new trips to unknown locations.

That's in relation to me and competing with myself, but I think when it comes to competing with others - I could go out and get a top of the line pro-dSLR and a 600mm or 800mm (assuming I wanted to retire a year or two later) and 'get closer' via gear alone. But I'm not ready to do that. It would be like a teenager getting a Corvette. It would be cool, and fun, but it wouldn't be the right thing to do. I want to learn as much as I can by a gradual increase in gear quality, and lots and lots of time using said gear, and wearing it out.

For the record, I've taken nearly 1,000 trips to places in 4 and 1/4 years, give or take a little, and I've taken 250,000+ images as of a month or so ago. Some days maybe 2 or 3 locations, other times 1 place a day.

What this means for me and the next couple months is that I am going to not go to Conowingo Dam anywhere near as much as past years. I've been a bunch of times already this year, but, not much grabbed me. It IS a little early for crazy days which come in late November and some of December.

Last year, early, I found a few new to me spots and I need to hit them during Fall - times I've never visited before. These are 'secret' spots, spots I share images from but not the locations of (on line that is, I've told many people I know in real life). A few images from these spots are:













What I like these days is not just seeing and capturing things, but seeing things others are not seeing and capturing. The uniqueness of an encounter is valuable to me. Shooting eagles with my 400mm next to a row of 500mm and 600mm lenses - assuming the photogs are as skilled as me, that's a wash, except for this or that in a way. I'd like to think I will capture things better than the next guy, but in reality they probably think the same thing, right?! So, I will shoot with my gear - that I like, that I've chosen, but I won't spend hours and days trying to keep up with anyone or out do them on a level playing field.

I want the playing field (which to me is knowledge, location, skill, execution, determination, vision, prediction, etc, etc) to be WAY stacked in my favor to make unique images that tell a story. The Jones' will need to keep up with me if I do it right.

Scott Bourne posted something recently about taking risks, and I read it today, and I agree. I want new results, better results, different results, and I am NOT going to try the same things as before to reach that goal.

Happy shooting,
-Jon

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More Different More New, Less Old, Less Same