On our third night in Puerto Vallarta we were treated to a dinner at the incredible Dreams Resort & Spa. The sun was setting as we toured the grounds so I took every opportunity to take advantage of the light. The rugged coastline, a wedding party dining on the beach, a band on stage overlooking the ocean… it was a productive few minutes that I truly appreciated after spending a fair amount of time in meetings for the past two days. Here’s one from that evening. More to follow.
I had frustratingly little time to explore the old town while in Puerto Vallarta last week. It’s a place of narrow streets and twisting lanes where you could wander for hours. Unfortunately I never had hours, but I did manage a little time to get a few photos of the tourism icons like this shot of the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I added a texture layer in Photoshop for a little atmosphere.
I returned from Mexico wednesday night to temperatures in the 30s. It was in the upper 90s and humid in Puerto Vallarta. Needless to say, it’s not been an easy transition.
I flew down on Sunday the 4th in three legs: Kansas City to Dallas, Dallas to Mexico City, Mexico City to Puerto Vallarta. With layovers of several hours at each airport I didn’t arrive in Puerto Vallarta until long after dark. The photo above is my third frame of the trip – a 30 second exposure made from my balcony just before sunrise, as I was getting my first glimpse of the Pacific and the beautiful Barcelo La Jolla de Mismaloya resort that was hosting the Society of American Travel Writers Board meeting for the next three days.
The Board meeting preceded the SATW Annual Convention in Guadalajara. I attended the Board meeting as an observer since I would be joining the Board at the close of the Guadalajara meeting as the new Chair of the SATW Freelance Council. It was a great opportunity to get to know the other Board members and incoming Board members – I’ll be serving with a great group of people for the next two years.
With all the meetings, shooting time was limited but I made the most of free moments and some incredible outings that were arranged for our dinners. I’ll share more over the coming days as I begin post-processing.
Actually I’m in Guadalajara, Mexico now but I took this shot a few days ago while on the Pacific coast in PV. I attended a Board meeting there and am now in the midst of the Annual Convention of the Society of American Travel Writers where I will be delivering a professional development session on Photoshop. More photos and stories when I get back mid-week.
On our way out to Ohio last week we had a shoot in St. Louis. While there, I noticed that the fountain in Aloe Plaza — across from Union Station — was running. I’ve been to St. Louis several times and I believe this is the first time I’ve seen water in the fountain. I stopped, took a few scouting shots (one is seen at left, above) and planned to make a point of re-shooting it on the return trip a few days later.
My plan was to make use of a free morning I had on the way home and catch the fountain at sunrise. Weather willing, the sky would be a beautiful blue, the front of the train station would be catching the first rays of sunlight and the fountain would be dark in the foreground, in the shadow of the surrounding buildings. I planned to use off-camera flash to light the sculptures and put some sparkle in the water, which would otherwise be rendered silky smooth due to a long exposure. Sounds like a plan, eh?
As we arrived back in St. Louis the day before this planned shoot we made some calls to make sure the fountain would be running at sunrise. Not much luck in that department. The best answer we received was that the fountain’s schedule was “wonky” and if it was running it was running. If not, it was likely off for the season.
I decided to take my chances and left the hotel early, making my way down Market Street in the pre-dawn darkness. I found a parking space, hefted my pack onto my back and walked to the fountain just as the sky began to glow like a Maxfield Parrish painting.
No water.
The shot on the right is a record of my disappointment. I guess I’ll just have to add this to my mental shot list for next time I’m in St. Louis.
I returned from Ohio on Saturday and ran right back out the door for a shoot at a winery near Kansas City on Sunday. The plan was that there would be a large number of people harvesting grapes but that work has been postponed for a week to let the fruit build up some more sugar. I’ll probably go back again next weekend but thought I’d better get something in the can yesterday since the weather was good. No telling what next Sunday might be like. So, I made do with the absolutely terrific owners of the winery and staged a little bit of a harvest. I really like what I got but also look forward to shooting the entire process with buckets and buckets of grapes.
The Ohio trip also went well but there was always a little something that prevented me from getting what I had in my head onto the card. I usually have some preconceived idea for a shoot before I arrive on location. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. The best is what seems to happen most often and that is discovering something that is even better than what I had in mind. Certainly a lot of that happened on this trip but there were also a few shots that I would have loved to have captured that just didn’t come together. I’ll post more about those missed opportunities over the next few days.
Oh, and I finally have a shiny, new version of WordPress powering this blog. There have been a few hiccups so far but I hope to soon be able to add some new bells and whistles.
I’ve been on the road this week working on several projects. Domestic stuff — nothing outside the U.S. — but the inner Canadian in me was thrilled to spot this (and several other) Tim Hortons near Columbus, Ohio. Oh, Timmy! I knew you’d broken into Michigan but I’m so happy to see you spreading southward.
For those who aren’t familiar, Tim Hortons is like the Canadian McDonalds. Actually, they’re everywhere like McDonalds, but the menu is closer to Dunkin Donuts with some chili and sandwiches thrown in. I connect Tim Hortons with Canada at about the same level as the maple leaf. Tim Hortons IS Canada.
Unfortunately, I’ve found the U.S. Timmys to be inferior to the native Canadian varieties. Maybe the Canadian Tims rely on some artificial flavoring that has been banned in the U.S. Who knows. I only know that when I see a Tim Hortons it makes me happy. Honestly, it’s not the donuts. It’s a symbol of a country I love. I must have been Canadian in a former life.
Oh, and the funkiness of the above images is due to the Toy Camera App on my iPhone — it randomly applies lomo-like effects to each shot. I’ll have some “real” photos from the trip once I’m back in the office.
Today I am officially caught up with my post-processing. The image above is one of the last I shot during June’s trip to the Black Hills. Now I’ll turn my attention back to uploading to stock agencies and keywording my Alamy files. I don’t have long before the travel season picks up for me again so I’ll have to make the most of these last couple of weeks in the office.
Several trips are already lined up for the next few months and I might try and squeeze in some Fall color shooting for my stock files if the season looks good. I have some locations in mind but it will just depend on when the peak color hits and if I’m available. The Black Hills is one of those spots I’d like to return to. We’ll see what happens. I have my leaf spies out and they’ll tell me when things start to look good.
I also spent part of last week preparing my entry into the SATW Bill Muster Photo Showcase (here is a slide show of some previous winners). Time was tight this year and I didn’t get to put as much thought into my entry as I have in the past. Maybe that’s good, though. With competitions it’s easy to over-think things. Afterall, it all comes down to the judges opinions — not mine. It’d be great if it were based on my opinion, wouldn’t it? Heh. Results won’t be announced until October so I have some time to sweat it out. I’ll let you know.
Now that I have some time back in the office, I’m hitting the files hard — trying to get caught up on post-processing. I’m not too far behind but it can get out of hand quickly. The last couple of days I’ve been working on images from my trip to New Mexico earlier this year. The one above was taken during a hike at Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument. I’m using Lightroom for my initial post-processing work now — moving to Photoshop for more detailed work. Even though I know the tools in Lightroom and ACR are pretty much identical, I find that there is a luminous quality to the images I get out of Lightroom. Maybe it’s just psychological due to the darker interface in LR but I like it. This image displays that characteristic in the bounced light coming through the slot canyon at the top.
Well… it was a pretty grey trip to the Black Hills. It was either raining or about to rain for four straight days. I still hold to my previous statement that the area is beautiful even in bad weather but, when you’re selling stock to travel publishers, most people like to see sunshine. Oh well. I did get some shots that I like that I’ll post here soon but I’m starting off with the dino sculpture that I ran across on Saturday while driving the length of South Dakota — just as the skies were beginning to break.
Wouldn’t you know it. Blue skies for the drive home.