Storm is over

Drove through a very heavy thunderstorm on the way home from Wisconsin on Labor Day. Torrential rain, lots of lightning. As my wife and I approached Port Washington, the rains lightened as the tempest headed out over Lake Michigan. We drove to the Port Washington harbor to see what we could see.

What we saw, just for a few moments, was the sun breaking through the clouds and casting rays over the harbor. Some large drops of rain were still falling as I fired off a half dozen shots. The tricky thing about this kind of shot is to make sure you've exposed properly, otherwise, you get blown out areas of pure white, and nothing in post processing can adequately fix those. I'd fire a shot, take a peek at the image's histogram and note with dismay the large areas of pure white, make an adjustment, meter on a bright but not too bright area of the scene and fire again, all the while hoping the magical view stuck around until I got it right.

Number six was the charm. And then the scene disappeared.

In post processing, where I only adjusted levels, I noticed that the dark areas of the image were riddled with small white spots. I thought to myself that I must have done something to mess up the camera's sensor while changing lenses in the rain. Great. I checked other images taken after this scene, and strangely enough, the spots weren't there. What was up?

It was only after I had meticulouly removed each and every white spot that I concluded that the spots were backlit drops of rain. Oh.

Maybe I should have left them in.

Photograph © 2010 James Jordan.

Aaaaaand ... I'm back!

Spent some time in the northern parts of Wisconsin last week. Started by photographing a family on a Lake Michigan beach and ended with a few days in Door County. Experienced every type of weather Wisconsin can throw at you in July -- fog, heat, humidity, storms, sun, clouds, rain. Great for pictures.

This is the Sturgeon Bay North Pier Lighthouse, which I've photographed many times. This time, it was socked in by pea-soup fog. The lineup of seagulls on the overhead catwalk seemed to imply that air traffic control had imposed a ground stop on all flights around the lighthouse, save for one intrepid gull launching himself into the great unknown.

More pictures and stories to come.

Photograph © 2010 James Jordan.

Sunset over Reefpoint Marina

The day glides to a close in Racine, Wisconsin.

Photograph © 2010 James Jordan.

Cooler by the lake

Weekend sailors enjoy the late afternoon at Reefpoint Marina in Racine, Wisconsin. This particular day, the cool lake air mixed with the hot humid onshore air to produce thick fog over the water.



But the fog didn't hamper the sunset in any way.



Photographs © 2010 James Jordan.

Several reasons why I love Racine, Wisconsin

Photographs © 2010 James Jordan.

Going with the floe

While waiting for the sun to set recently in Door County, Wisconsin, I had lots of time to sit and watch the remains of winter's snow and ice slowly fade away. Some of it, like the ice floes above, crept slowly out of the harbor near Sister Bay on their way to the open expanse of Green Bay to eventually become one with the waters there.

The remnants of formerly sizeable ice chunks glimmered in the late afternoon sunlight.



Others played with the sun, returning a thousand points of light.



Here in the Midwest US of A, spring is a battle of the skies. Advancing warm air masses from the south seek supremacy over the cold air of the north -- a civil war that goes back and forth for several weeks until the northern air mass retreats. We've had a taste of spring, but for the next couple of days, the North will again hold this region. But the South will rise again and make a new assault on the occupation forces and will ultimately prevail.

But in the meantime, dang, it's cold.

Photographs © 2010 James Jordan.

The moon moved me so I moved it

Some double exposures of the moon and the goings on around the Sturgeon Bay lighthouse. As I packed up to leave, a couple of gentlemen arrived to do some fishing. I was nearly back to my car when I looked out to see them at work (good work if you can get it) on the pier. I zoomed in on them and got a shot or two, then added the moon in post.



While the telephoto zoom compresses and flattens perspective, I like how the waters on the shore side of the pier are calm while the open water beyond tosses and churns. I also like how one guy chose to anchor his net on the pier. It was pretty windy that night.

Photoshop tip: If you have a good shot of the moon in the semi-dark sky, you can select it with the elliptical selection tool, copy then paste it into another photo. This automatically places the moon on its own layer. It will have the dark ring around it from your selection, but not to worry. Select "Lighten" from the layer options menu. Voila. The moon is now seamlessly blended into the picture. You can then adjust the opacity (which will control the brightness of the moon) to your taste. Flatten the image and save.

Photographs © 2010 James Jordan.

The sun went down ...

I've been away for a few days. To stand. To watch. To ponder. And grab some pictures of what I saw while standing, watching and pondering.

I specifically made a trip to Door County, Wisconsin to fill a few holes in the selection of photographs that will hang in a gallery there from May to October. The theme is twilight and night scenes around the county.

The scene above is a self portrait taken at the marina in Sister Bay. I had wrapped up shooting the sunset and as an afterthought, decided to plop down the tripod, set the self timer and walk to the end of the pier for a shot.

A few stubborn chunks of ice hang around the harbors, slowly falling victim to the warm winds that blow from the south. Their days are numbered. Buds are budding. Grass is greening. Taps and buckets are attached to sugar maple trees. A season ending, another beginning.



Technical stuff: Graduated neutral density filter used to balance sky and foreground tones, 30cc magenta filter to warm up the sky. Photographs © 2010 James Jordan.

Rocks on ice

A sunset as viewed from Nelson Point in Peninsula State Park in Door County, Wisconsin. Before I photographed the massive ice field in the previous photos, I stopped here. I had visited earlier in the day and had gotten some nice enough photos of the area:



But the sunset added some nice dynamics to the scenery. Same rocks, same ice, different light.

When I started out with landscape photography, I was a list crosser-offer. I'd go somewhere, shoot it, consider it over and done with, then move on to the next place and so on. I'm now a come-backer. Shoot a location, then make a mental note to come back when the conditions reset. I think I've learned more about photography by using the latter approach.

Techie stuff: Metered off the top of the second-closest rock in the bottom photo and pretty much nailed the exposure. Just needed to adjust black and white points in post. Used a 2-stop graduated neutral density filter in the top photo and still had some contrast issues to deal with -- I kept the sky as captured, but selected the foreground and lightened it up further. I was in a hurry to get to the ice field so I was not as careful as I could have been. I commited what to me is the unpardonable sin -- the sun blew out to pure white in several frames. Photoshop can't fix that. Some otherwise great shots ruined.

Photographs © 2008 James Jordan.

Cape Neddick lighthouse

Every once in a while, I have a reason to dig into my archive of negatives and slides to hunt for a picture. I received an e-mail from a gentleman in Iowa looking to purchase prints of lighthouses. He supplied a list of the specific ones he is looking for and I happen to have photos of five of the lighthouses on his list.

The one I had to work hardest to find was this one. It's the lighthouse at Cape Neddick in York, Maine. This shot was taken in August of 2001 during a trip through several New England states. I was still learning the intricacies of exposing film properly, and had the courage (or foolishness) to shoot the entire trip on slide film, which leaves little room for error.

After examining the scanned hi-res file, it looks like the rookie did OK. This shot was a tad overexposed, but it works. Actually, the photo above is a black and white conversion from the color transparency. The color version can be seen here.

Back then, I was about three years into following something inside me that made me want to learn everything I could about photography. I have to say that nearly nine years later, the fire is still there, continuing to push me onward. It's nice to go back every once in a while and take a look at some of the mile markers that have been passed along the way.

Photograph © 2009 James Jordan.

Against the storm

Racine, Wisconsin.

Kitchen sink processing -- five-image HDR from a color RAW file, conversion to black and white (figured out what a blue filter can do) with sepia filter applied. Photograph © 2009 James Jordan.

Harbor lights

A pair of lights mark safe passage into the harbor at Racine, Wisconsin while storm clouds pass over Lake Michigan.

Five-image HDR from a single RAW file.

Photograph © 2009 James Jordan.

Going back in time, sort of

I was contacted by a woman last week who had seen my photographs of Racine, Wisconsin on Flickr and was interested in purchasing prints. She was searching for photos of various cities in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan for a client who was looking to decorate some office space. I mentioned that I also had photos of Duluth, Ironwood and Wausau. Those cities were on the list, so she requested to see them.

Those photos were taken in the summer of 2004, so I had to do some digging through several years' worth of prints, negatives and CDs (I've only been shooting digital for a year and a half). It was an interesting exercise to see how far I'd progressed as a photographer. There were more than a few "if I knew then what I know now" moments. Missed opportunities. A few gems. A lot of junk.

The photo above was taken before I had completely gotten a handle on the art of exposure. It was taken midday (mistake number one, but our travel schedule didn't allow a visit to Duluth during the golden hours). The day was hot and hazy and I overcompensated for the haziness and overexposed most of the pictures.

Photoshop to the rescue. For this photo of the South Breakwater Lighthouse in Duluth, I brought the midtones down, which helped bring out the details of the pier and lighthouse. The sky and water still had a lot of white, so I created a masking layer. I used one of Photoshop Elements' preset gradients -- a purple to orange blend, set it as a semi-transparent layer over the photograph and voila! Instant mood. Original photo posted at right in the interest of full disclosure.

Cheating? Maybe. Back then, I could have sandwiched a couple of filters over the lens to get basically the same result. I was even carrying a graduated orange filter and blue filter in my camera bag that day.

So I just pulled them out a few years later electronically.

Photograph © 2009 James Jordan.

Ephraim

One of the most picturesque villages on the peninsula of Door County, Wisconsin is the hamlet of Ephraim, which is situated on a bluff overlooking Eagle Harbor on the Green Bay side. This photo was taken just before the late day sun slipped behind Eagle Bluff on the opposite side of the harbor and as clouds rolled in from Lake Michigan to the east. The fall colors were at their peak, and the sky provided a hint of the winter to come.

Click on this post's headline to see image EXIF data. Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2008 James Jordan.

Taking flight

After witnessing the blazing fall colors in Door County, Wisconsin last weekend, the trip home seemed anticlimactic. Stiff winds from the previous day had stripped many of the leaves from the trees. The sky hung in sheets of gray. A squall line of clouds formed over the open water of Lake Michigan where cold air from Canada tussled with the warmer air at the water's surface.

My wife and I stopped in the small town of Kewaunee to take a look at the lighthouse. I have photographed it a number of times and I wanted to try to capture it against the late fall/early winter sky.

I set up a tripod and shot a few frames with a telephoto lens from just off a parking lot in a small beachfront park near the light. I wanted to get a low angle view of the lighthouse behind some old pilings in the water and decided to head down to the water's edge to set up. I picked up the tripod and set off. As I crested a small sand dune I came face to face with a large flock of resting gulls. I stopped dead in my tracks hoping not to disturb them, and for a second it seemed to work. As I considered my options for getting to the water's edge without agitating the birds, one gull decided the guy with the tripod and camera was sufficiently threatening to demand action. It spread its wings and flapped toward the water. That's all it took for several dozen birds to loudly follow suit.

I ran several steps down the dune, chunked the tripod's legs into the sand and quickly fired off three shots as the gulls headed for the pilings. This shot is what I consider the best of the three - the first shot, actually, as the gulls flew in somewhat of a formation. The second and third shots document the gulls going off in all directions.

It was good to get away, to witness the beauty of God's creation and make some good contacts while in Door County (I'm in job seeking/freelance gig mode almost all the time now). The owner of an art gallery expressed enthusiastic interest when I described a series of Door County photos I have been working on for the last two years. If all goes well, I'll be represented in her gallery next spring.

We'll see if that opportunity takes flight.

Click on this post's headline to see the image's EXIF data. Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2008 James Jordan.

Moored for the night

Door County, Wisconsin is my favoritest place to be. And autumn is my favoritest time to be there. And the locals that I spoke with while I was there this past weekend say that this year's fall colors are the richest in recent memory. And yet some of my favoritest pictures taken this past weekend of this favoritest place at this favoritest time of year had nothing to do with fall colors. Go figure.

Yes, I shot plenty of trees and colorful leafy scenery while up there, as the previous photo can attest. But I also shot some twilight and night photos and some pretty bodacious Lake Michigan surf - onshore winds on Sunday gusted well above 30-40 mph, kicking up some pretty impressive tubes and at one juncture, threatened to blow me off a rocky crag at Cave Point. I'll go into that later.

But today I'll go with something a little more on the tranquil side. The photo above is of the Anderson Dock in Ephraim on the Green Bay side of the Door peninsula. This shot was taken about a half hour after the sun had set. The sunset itself was pretty dull - the clouds you see in the photo pretty much obscured the view. But I thought that the clouds themselves were interesting enough to risk sticking around to see what would happen as the light faded.

What happened was an interesting juxtaposition of the dark swirling clouds and the calm mirror-like surface of the water in Eagle Harbor. It's as if the safe haven of the dock makes the moored boats immune to the turbulent forces of nature which lurk above. I remember feeling that way when I was a young boy. A storm outside our house may have raged, but all was well because my dad was not afraid.

This was also a poignant weekend because it was one year ago that the raging storms of life claimed my father. He passed away after complications following a kidney surgery. Now it's my turn to stand calm in the storm as my family sees the trees bend and hears the wind howl.

I had a good role model.

Click on this post's headline for image exposure data. Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2008 James Jordan.

Dark clouds

This wasn’t the shot I had planned. I kept my eye on the sky and clouds as the day drew to a close in Door County last July. It had been raining on and off all day, and it appeared that the sky was clearing. If things worked out, the sun would break through just before it set, illuminating the clouds with a fiery hue.

I set up in a small park on the shore of Green Bay to wait and see what would happen. The sky did continue to clear, but instead of a fiery show, the sky glowed a light orange color behind the remaining dark clouds, then disappeared for the day.

I saw a composition forming with a boat dock and some dark clouds that floated by above it. I wanted to be sure the dock could be seen above the horizon line. The only way to do that was to hold the camera just inches above the water. I did, bent over and unable to see the shot before I took it. I made several shots, a couple of which came out framed nicely.

The plans to get through the cloudy days don’t always come off the way we envision them, but we humans manage to make the best of it anyway.

Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2008 James Jordan.

Beacons

Racine, Wisconsin is a fairly typical Midwestern town that just happens to sit on Lake Michigan. It is trying very hard to recast itself as an artist’s community, and I think it has a good shot at succeeding. They city has invested heavily in its waterfront area, which is a boost to downtown businesses. If initiatives like Create Uptown Racine can coax more people off Interstate 94, they will do well.

And I’m not just saying that because one of my photos of the Racine harbor was selected for the Create Uptown Racine Web site. I’ve long been a fan of the city and its waterfront, and have the photos to prove it.

Photo: Old Racine breakwater light with Wind Point Lighthouse in the distance. Photograph © James Jordan.

Fishin'

Here's a great weekend-type photo. Hope whatever it is that you're fishing for makes a nibble on your line.

Photo blogging: The Blackstar photo agency Web site just started publishing a blog for photographers. One post offers some tips for photo bloggers ... but really anyone can make good use of these blogging tips.

Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2008 James Jordan.

Grand Marais

Early morning in Grand Marais, Minnesota. Located about 30 miles south of the U.S./Canada border. There's nothing like heading out along the shore of Lake Superior on a crisp morning (in Grand Marais, there's no other kind - it rarely gets above 70 degrees there in the summer - the lake sees to that). All is quiet except for the lapping of the water against the volcanic rock on the shore and the occasional laughter of a loon.

Orton processing applied to match my memories of the place.

Click on picture to enlarge. Photograph © 2008 James Jordan.