Brave New World....

...is not the name of the web project that of pal of mine, Dean, is directing and producing.  For now he is keeping the title under wraps. But it is the name I am giving this image (click on the pic for a bigger view!)...

I had the pleasure of being on the set today, where I snapped off some pix of the production and came away with this publicity type shot!  I'll have more news on this project as it becomes available, so stay tuned!

Super-Moon!

Last Saturday was the night of the much heralded "Super-Moon."   That's when the moon is 14% brighter and a wee bit bigger cuz it is as close to the Earth as it gets.  I thought it might be a good photo op.  I wasn't the only one!  There were a few other photogs staking out their spots on the edge of the Empire State Plaza overlooking the rest of the city.  Anyway, here is the best of what I was able to get...

The problem with the "Super-Moon" is that because its so bright, you really can't see any definition in the moon itself.  If you want to also expose for the foreground, anyway.  I should have gone the night before, when the moon would have appeared almost full, but would have risen an hour earlier when there is plenty of daylight left.

My buddy John Nilsen took a really nice timelapse of the event... Here it is...
Supermoon Timelapse from John Nilsen Studios on Vimeo.

Happy Spring!

OK, so its the first day of Spring and of course, its snowing outside.  I have always found it real tough to get out there on the Winter days and shoot some pix.  Here's a few shots from this past Winter where I actually got motivated enough to do so...

Happy Holidays!

Last night I was with the rest of the NEWS 10 crew as we put on the "Light the Tree" special.  It was a long day, but at the end (and during the special) the tree was lit and the fireworks went off.  I managed to set down my video camera long enough to grab this shot.  Had to use a high ISO speed (3200) because I was without my tripod, so there's a fair amount a noise in this pic, still...  I'm pretty happy with the way it came out!

Walkin' in the boneyard

Last night, on the eve before All Hallows Eve, my wife Diane and I took a walk through Oakwood Cemetery to see if we could scare up any spooks.  Well I was there to take some pix, not quite sure what Diane's mission was.  She didn't even bring a stake or Holy Water for protection.  We didn't see any ghouls, but it could have been that we got out of there too early, as the only light we thought to bring was my flash for my camera.  Next time we'll be better prepared. 

The mandatory flowing water shot...

Made it up to Thacher Park yesterday.  And although it was an extremely overcast day, I was able to get a couple of nice shots, including this little waterfall.  After I had gotten this photo from a nice safe position, I had climbed down on the wet and slippery rocks (I really have to get hiking shoes), to get a lower angle.  

Turns out, I should've saved myself the trouble.  I like the first shot better!  Yes, I know it's somewhat cliched, but now I can scratch "Flowing waterfall" off my photography checklist. 

Anyway, even though the sun only peaked out a couple of times, the colors were beautiful and it was a great day for a little hike!

You can go home again... on a ladder!

About 20 years ago, I took the above long exposure photo on (gasp) film!  It was from an overpass and gave a nice view of the highway going in and out of the city of Albany.  I always thought I could do better.  First off, I broke the rule of "thirds" by putting the skyline smack dab in the middle.  Secondly, the shot wasn't as sharp as I had hoped.  Even though I was on tripod, there must have been some wind or movement to cause the blur.  I had always planned on going back to that bridge, to try again.  Especially in these days of digital photography where you can take as many shots as you like and don't have to worry about using up film. 

Unfortunately, a few years after I took that original shot, the city erected this 8 foot tall fence...

The fence was much too tall for my tripod and the mesh was too small to shoot through.  Every once in awhile I would wonder if there was a way to get around that fence. After thinking about it for quite some time I recently came up with this...

I wrapped my monopod tightly around the ladder and was able to get just enough reach to shoot over the fence.  I wrapped an extra strap around myself and the camera and as I stood on the top rung, I rested the camera lens on the top of the fence to try to give it a little more support.  Even with that, whenever traffic crossed the overpass I was on, the bridge would shake a little, causing my long exposures to blur.  So I could only take the shots when there was no traffic on the overpass. The exposures were averaging about 20 seconds.  Long enough for the cars to travel the length of the curved road.

Now in that original shot, I felt that the white streak of the oncoming headlights was too much and that the red streaking taillights would have been better if you didn't see the the start of one of the trails.  Ideally, I wanted one lane of oncoming headlights and two lanes of the taillights.  This proved to be quite a challenge.  There were long stretches when there was no traffic at all.  These particular roads come from ramps that don't get that much action in the evening hours.  Also, my hands were getting a bit cold as the sun went down and my fingers were clutching the top of the fence for support.  At one point, a police officer stopped his cruiser and wanted to make sure I wasn't a jumper!  Once I told him what I was doing, he wished me luck and drove off.  And as luck would have it, I never got the exact shot I needed when there was no traffic shaking me and my camera around.  What I did get was a shot of the two lanes of taillights and three minutes later, another shot of the oncoming headlights.  Then, in Photoshop, I was able to combine the two shots into one...

 There was also some cleaning up to do.  I had to get rid of that crane that had been marring the skyline for about a year now. And because of the double exposure, there were some stars that were repeating their pattern because of their movement across the sky.  And later (after some suggestions on the RixFotos Facebook page), I also got rid of the sign.

After taking much care to get a level shot, I decided to tilt the whole thing to make it a little more dynamic. And I came up with 3 different variations. Here are the alternates...

By a small margin, the folks on Facebook, liked this full color one the best...

 

What I find interesting are the changes over 20 years. At one point, those little reflector signs from the original photo had been removed.  You can also see grass growing through the cracks in the pavement on the side of the road.  And finally, the dark trees hugging the curve now obstruct the highway a lot more than they did in the original shot.  Well, after much long windedness, that's about it.  All in all, I'm pretty happy with the new shot (all three of them)!