BARNEGAT LIGHT – FALL GETS SERIOUS

It’s been a hectic October….a workshop on Cape Cod, a workshop on Acadia Island, preparing for three juried exhibitions, and preparing and presenting a talk on my photography in recent years.  In between I finally cut the cord and moved from the beach back to my winter cave.  Yesterday was my first sort of day off with nothing pressing.  So, back to the beach for the day, a lot windier, colder, and threatening than my last nap on the beach, October 9th.  But, of course, all seasons have their beauty demanding to be photographed.

Old Barney on a late fall day.

I know, I know….do we need another shot of Old Barney?  Well, it’s my blog so the answer is yes but particularly because of the stunning clouds.  And, and, did you notice that bright spot of cloud just behind the light chamber, itself?

A head boat coming in Barnegat inlet.

There were brave souls fishing along the inlet jetty and also going out in small boats  Here came a head boat after a morning’s fishing.  It was said that the stripers were running and, indeed, my son-in-law, Bob, had a small group out on his boat and they came home with a 25 pounder.

The gull below was soaring on the wind in slow motion just above some of the jetty fishermen, hoping for a snack.

The view of the beach from the trail through the dunes was striking and  beautiful.

Driving back from Barnegat to head home I decided to pull off into a dead end in Surf City for a pre-trip nap.  This is the view that I drove into, of the causeway and Barnegat Bay with the clouds scudding by and a squally wind churning up the surf.   No nap.

 For my fellow gearheads, the above image was derived from three bracketed exposures, using Photomatix and applying a painterly effect.

CAPE COD AT PROVINCETOWN

I recently attended a workshop at Provincetown under the tutelage of a superb photographer and a nice guy, Jeff Lovinger.  Jeff and his wife spent several years in North Africa and Indonesia and finally settled some 20 years ago in Provincetown where they operate an inn and a gallery for their photographic art, and it is art.  Here are some images from the workshop, and more can be seen at one of my galleries by clicking here.

 The  above scene is at Highland Lighthouse in North Truro which we visited at dusk.  Jeff placed a great deal of emphasis on shooting to post-process with HDR (High Dynamic Range) software.   What one does is shoot the scenes at three to five different exposure values.  Later, the software can pull out the details in shadow and those in the light, and create a single image with a high range of light and dark.  It works.

The following morning we were on the piers to shoot the dawn and sunrise.  Again, this is a low-light situation which means slow shutter speeds.  Then, there were winds gusting 10 to 15 knots which want to shake the tripod during the prolonged shutter speeds, and/or move the boats, gulls, etc.  Nobody said it would be easy.  

And here was another sunrise scene punctuated by the cormorant just popping up from breakfast search.

 

 Then off to the dunes and tidal pools at the Hatches Harbor Salt Marsh.

 

The distant dune line was the peak of the bluffs that overlook the Atlantic.  Their marshes are  much prettier than the muck of our Jersey shore.

At the end of the day we were on the beach at twilight, a magic time and there were people frolicking on the beach.

For more Cape Cod and Provincetown images click here.

A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN BEACH HAVEN

An old-guard, stalwart, long-contributing  member of our club used to declare this so often that it became a catch phrase  fondly associated with him.  At 89 he still managed to get to club activities, including appearing in the annual group photo of past Commodores.  I was glad he was in it last year as we lost him in the spring.  I thought of him today when I captured this image.  Here’s to ya, Walter; it was a beautiful day.