I love road trips!  Gas up, pack some PB&J, the GPS, camera gear, and set off for new territory.  For this adventure, I explored Long Island's North Fork where the towns have Indian names like Aquebogue, Cutchogue, and Mattituck.  There are no mega-malls, or concrete jungles.  Out here, it's only vast farmland owned by friendly families.  Business operates at a different pace with most accepting cash but not credit cards.  You slow down, taste wine, and enjoy the view. To document the experience, I brought along my Canon 40D with an Canon 85mm f1.8 lens. 

I happily wandered through acres of peaceful lavender while enjoying the heavenly aroma.  I wondered how one can capture "scent" in a photo.  Normally when shooting landscapes, I use f16 or even f22 to render everything sharp from near to far.  Yet here, I wanted to capture the softer, ethereal quality of the flowers.    I decided to shoot wide open at f1.8 so only part of the image would be sharp.  I composed the shot above to show the symetry and patterns of the sprawling farmland.

When shooting a type of photo story, it's also important to remember to take a few detail shots.  For the image below, I used the 85mm again, and focused on one flower stem.  At f1.8, everything else turned into a wash of lavender.  I could have stayed here all day, but alas, there was more country to explore.

What would a visit to the East End be without sampling some wine?  This view is from the second floor balcony of Raphael's Winery.  Perhaps I fell under the spell of their 2004 Merlot Estate, or the samples of Riesling, but I decided to keep shooting at f1.8!  Here, the neatly arranged rows of grapes stretch into the horizon with a little barn in the distance.  

Back inside, I took this photo of the processing area through a window.

We also stopped at a local fruit stand where the berries were ripe for picking.  Continuing at f1.8, I photographed the local produce, and a sunflower before making thr long journey home.

A colorful Rooster signals the end of this day's farm adventure

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Every summer I take several trips to the Sweetbriar Nature Center in Smithtown, New York to photograph Butterflies.  I use my Canon 40D with a Canon 100mm Macro lens and a 580 EXII flash.  While a ring flash would be nice for this type of work, it's not necessary.  You can still create wonderful butterfly pictures using a standard external flash.  On this visit, I chose to drastically underexpose the busy background and illuminate the butterfly with the flash.  One of the keys to making this work is to find a butterfly with several feet between it, and the background.  By using my max flash sync speed of 1/250, an ISO of 100, and a small aperture of f11, I was able to render the background black.  The milkweed to the right was still lit by the flash since it was closer to the camera.  Notice how the flash really highlights the detail around the edges of the wing to provide some separation with the background.   To avoid getting an overflashed look, you can also cut the power on the flash slightly.  I was shooting with it on ETTL, and occasionally dialed it down to -1/3, -2/3, and even -1.  As for the depth of field, f11 served two purposes.  It let in less light, and provided greater depth of field so the entire butterfly was sharp including the antenna.   

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“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” - John Muir

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Many of the same techniques I used to photograph the Blue Angels worked well during a morning session with the Black Skimmers. Aperture was wide at f5.6, and a fast shutter speed of 1/1600 allowed me to freeze the action. The light was low, so I had to crank up the ISO to 800. All shots were tripod mounted and I also used a Cable Release. Canon 40D and Canon 400mm. I also used the Zoom H2 to record the sounds of the Black Skimmer. It's a short thirty second clip. (Requires Quicktime Player)  This is only the second time I've tried embedding sound into a blog post.  Please let me know if you experience any technical difficulty playing the track.  Thanks!

This behavior is why the bird is called the Black Skimmer.

You can see the golden light of sunrise in the birds feathers.

It was very early in the morning, but well worth it!

This Skimmer dove between the waves as the tide rose.

The Skimmer has a wide wingspan of approximately 44".

An iPhone snap of the signage on the beach. The Black Skimmer is not endangered, but is classified as a "Species of Special Concern" by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

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Here are ten images of the Blue Angels from Friday's practice Airshow at Jones Beach.  They put on an incredible performance.  As you'll see in the photos below, the precision they fly with is simply astounding.

I also recorded their heart pounding entrance with the Zoom H2. (requires Quicktime player)

Only 18 inches separates the four jets in the Diamond Pass.

Landing gear is down.

There are two Blue Angels here.  This is a very close pass at incredibly high speeds.

Inverted with landing gear out.

Another beautiful pass.

Precision at its best.

Blue Angel #6 breaks away from #5.

#1 and 4 are inverted while 2 and 3 remain upright.

"Fat Albert" is the Blue Angel support plane.

For airshow photography tips, check my article here.

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Every Memorial Day weekend I get amped up about the Jones Beach Air Show.  This year is no exception, especially considering the world's best flight performance team, the Blue Angels will take to the skies.  On Thursday evening I scoped out Republic Airport in Farmingdale and found where they park the jets.  I shot this image through the chain link fence with a wide aperture of f2.8.  The sky was rather bland, so I decided to create a composite image using a dramatic sky I photographed recently.  Putting the two photos together made a pretty big impact.  This image was not for a newspaper or press wire, so altering it with Photoshop is not an ethical issue.  Tomorrow the real fun begins as I photograph them in flight. More to come.

For airshow photography tips, check my article here.

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Every year photographers flock to the beaches on Long Island to photograph the Black Skimmers.  This summer will be no different as I'll likely return many times to document their behavior.  Since they fly at speeds in excess of twenty-five mph, they are a real challenge to track in the air.  With the camera mounted to the tripod, I use one hand to move the camera, panning along the horizon.  Meanwhile, I have the cable release in the other hand, squeezing the shutter button down halfway.  The trick is to keep the center focusing sensor on the bird.  This gets easier with practice and there will be lots of throw away shots.  Don't be discouraged as blurry birds in flight photos happen to all of us.  Keep at it, and you'll get what you are looking for.  Also, with birds that fly this fast, you'll want to make sure your shutter speed is at least 1/1000 or faster.  For this particular shot, I was at 1/4000, f5.6 and ISO 800.  As I continue to photograph these beautiful birds, I'll share some of the highlights here.  If you have any great bird species in your area, I'd love to hear about it in the comment area. 

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Three weeks until the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, and my local park lies beneath a layer of garbage. I wrote to the Town Supervisor Kate Murray and her staff advised me to contact the County. I called their office but was transferred twice, put on hold indefinitely, made to endure dead air, shuffling papers, crickets... Eventually, they told me I should call the Town.  When I explained that I already had, they took my name and number and said someone would call me back. I'm still waiting. Is this starting to sound like a run-around to anyone else?

Whose lake is this anyway?  The town doesn't seem to want it, nor does the County. I guess it belongs to each of us; the community.  I'm more than willing to help clean it up, but will require some basic supplies and support.

Since phone calls and emails proved to be inneffective methods of communication, I'm hoping this blog post and these disturbing photos will inspire our elected officials to act on behalf of our planet.

Perhaps it would be beneficial if they heard from more of us. Kate Murray even has her own helpline. 

 Twin Lakes Preserve, Wantagh, New York

A discarded milk container lies amongst scattered debris at Twin Lakes, March 31, 2010.

An assortment of trash at Twin Lakes Preserve, March 31, 2010.

A deceased Great Blue Heron found at Twin Lakes Preserve on March 31, 2010.  The cause of death is unknown.

Glass can take thousands of years to break down.

This plastic water bottle will take approximately 450-500 years to decompose.

More trash at Twin Lakes Preserve in Wantagh.

Aluminum cans are estimated to take at least 500 years to decompose.

These weathered plastic bottles appear to have been resting at Twin Lakes for several years.

At a minumum, styrofoam will take 1000 years to decompose, yet some reports claim that it may never break down. 

More styrofoam at Twin Lakes Preserve in Wantagh, March 31, 2010.

Please let your voice be heard in the comments area.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead 

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The other morning Sue and I set out on a bird watching excursion to find the Sandhill Crane.  While we never ended up spotting one, we did have fun with these Black-Capped Chickadees.  Filmed with a Flip Video.  



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A nor'easter tore through Long Island on March 13th, 2010, causing massive amounts of damage in the town of Wantagh, New York.  Large trees were uprooted and destroyed cars, homes, sidewalks, and other property.  Power lines were also pulled down leaving an estimated 100,000 people are without power.

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