I had the perfect opportunity to photograph the sunset behind the Portage Canal Lift Bridge in Houghton (pronounced HOE-tun) Michigan. Once again the clouds cooperated, and even though there were a few raindrops around, it was a pretty nice scene.
My brother Bob has a pretty sweet location, right across the road from the Lake Erie shore in Avon Lake, OH. Whenever we visit, we make a point to trek across the street for sunset. His across-the-street neighbor has made a nice little safe harbor for his boats, and has graciously allowed Bob and his guests access to the breakwall. During the traditional 4th of July events, the gang makes a point of heading to the breakwall to watch the sunset. While it is nice to get a few photos of the silhouetted people watching the ball drop, I often stick around until well after “official” sunset because I know that is when the best color will occur. It also means that all of the non-photographers will head back across the street to resume their respective shenanigans.
Most photographers know that the best photographs often happen after the “tourists” have left. And this is just one example. We went over there on three separate nights, and I got nice after-sunset photos each night. Every one just a little different. It definitely pays to stick around!
And a bonus: I finally got to field test my new tripod! 🙂
Sunrises without clouds can be boring, even at the beach. So after watching the sun come up into a clear sky, I happened to see this angle on the building and realized that it made for a pretty graphic image. Just another angle on sunrise!
After we finished up at Limestone Branch in Lebanon, we headed back to our motel in Bardstown. At some point during the drive I noticed that the sky held some promise for an interesting sunset. I knew that we would be passing by Heaven Hill distillery and thought it might make for an interesting foreground, but I wasn’t sure we would get there in time.
We probably missed the peak of the dramatic sky, but we stuck around long enough to get a little color. I didn’t carry a tripod on this trip (I know, I know, but it was about the baby, remember? 🙂 ) so I had to be a little careful to balance shutter speeds and ISO.
Heaven Hill is a nice distillery, and we have visited there previously. Their visitor center is one of the best. We arrived well after closing time, but the parking lot was accessible so I was able wander around and get a few shots in the nice light.
An oldie but goodie from the archives. Belhaven, NC 2010.
I turned the alarm off this morning and went back to sleep, but woke up 15 minutes later and knew what I had to do. 😉
Once more it was worth the effort.
I managed to get my tripod feet (and my own feet) into the sand this morning! 😉
I’ve had a couple of portrait sessions with this tree, located just north of our resort along the shore. It’s got a nice shape, and situated on a little peninsula makes it a nice subject.
Well, not quite the top, but close.
This evening we visited almost-the-summit of Mount Haleakala in Haleakala National Park for what turned out to be a pretty nice sunset with several hundred of our closest friends. The view from nearly 10,000 feet was spectacular!
Kathy & I spent last week on our first cruise in nearly 2 years, aboard Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas out of Port Canaveral. It felt good to get back on the water and we had a great time.
There has been a lot of sensationalistic reporting in the media about cruising, with much hype around the occasional rare but real report of some kind of outbreak. Covid is only the latest hand-wringer. I’ve said for years that cruise ships have been among the cleanest places we’ve visited. They have always been very vigilant about cleaning in an effort to reduce the spread of all kinds of passenger-borne bugs. A report of an outbreak of any kind is fresh meat for a media looking for anything to wring their hands over. Yes, it happens. But relax. It was fun. Yes, we had to take a Covid test before we left home. Yes, we had to wear a mask on occasion. But we have to do that at home anyway, and it was a lot warmer in Cozumel than it is back here in NC! 😉
We paid a visit to Kennedy Space Center before the cruise. I took a few photos and will have more to share over the next few days.
