Full Thunder Moon...

Even though I have been looking through a camera lens for many, many years, the whole digital thing is fairly new. Just a few years. And now that I have a somewhat up-to-date camera, I find myself experimenting more and more.

One of the great things about digital photography is that you can do a lot in 'Post Production'. With programs like Photoshop and Aperture 3 (and even in iPhoto) there is plenty of manipulating to be done to improve the shots you take.

I am lucky enough to have many friends who are amateur photographers and we exchange ideas and tips... but even better than that, I know two Pros who have been very helpful to me in the past couple of months. David Colt (www.davidcolt.com) specializes in professional golf tournaments, commercial products and lifestyle photography. And Marilyn Humphries (www.humphriesphotography.com) is a photojournalist who documents events for news and social media outlets. Her work appears in local newspapers, national magazines and even in a book called "Courting Equality" published in 2007. Check out their websites... they are both outstanding.

Both Marilyn and David agree that the best thing to do is to take the shot right the first time so you don't need to manipulate it in Post Production. It's not the camera that takes a great shot, it's the photographer.

This is why I have been experimenting with shooting in different Modes with different settings. Today I am going to share with you the result of this experimentation.

Tonight is the night of the Full Thunder Moon so I went out to shoot the moon, and this is what I got:

In this first shot, all I did was zoom out all the way in Auto mode:




Then I zoomed all the way in which gave me a little more light (and the passing clouds added a nice dramatic effect):




Next, I zoomed back out just a little, but changed the exposure compensation:




Then I zoomed out again so that I could get the reflection in the water:




As the Earth rotates and the moon changes position in the sky, I had to change the camera from horizontal to vertical to catch the reflection in the water. Because I zoomed so far out, it got a little dark again. This photo almost looks black and white, but it isn't:




When I switched to Aperture Priority Mode... suddenly the sky brightens right up! And even though the moon was behind the clouds, the camera gathers enough light to make the sky almost appear to be daylight:




And when the moon comes out from behind the clouds, it could easily be mistaken for the sun. Keep in mind that I took these photos around 11:30 PM:




I must have bumped something for this shot, because the flash went off and lit up the retaining wall:




I tilted the camera back up to get the wall out of the photo (you can still see it in the bottom right hand corner). This is one of those times when cropping the photo is a handy tool:




And in this shot I have the ISO setting up all the way to 1600 which helps let in a lot of light. It makes this shot almost seem like daytime:



Of course one of the other things that is crucial in this type of low light photography is using a tripod! The shutter stays open for so long that there is no way to hold the camera steady enough without any movement at all (causing 'Camera Shake'). This is what makes some photos that would have been in focus, blurry.

Hope you are enjoying these photos, so far. Feel free to let me know if there are any interesting subjects you would like to see on this site. Also, let me know of any upcoming events that you think might be fun to photograph.

And if there are any volunteers out there who want to sit for a session... now is your chance! If you don't mind letting me use some of the good photos on my new Photography Website you can have the session for free and access to all the photos we take. Note: this offer expires as soon as the website is running live!

Just a reminder that you can click on any of these photos to enlarge them if you would like to see more detail. Enjoy.

Peace and Love,
------Nick

Sand Sculptures on Revere Beach...

This past weekend I went to Revere, MA to shoot the results of the Revere Beach National Sand Sculpting Festival.

The annual event brings in sculptors from near and far to play in the sand. And the event draws an estimated 350,000 people to Revere Beach each summer.

As much as possible, I will try to match a sculptor with the correct work of art. Unfortunately, I was so wrapped in the work that I didn't do a great job documenting... I will try not to let this happen again.

Since I didn't always match a name with a sculpture, I at least want to list the names of all the participants: Dan Belcher (St. Louis, MO) was supposed to participate but had to withdraw due to an injury; Jonathan "jOBi" Bouchard (Montreal, Canada); Dan Doubleday (Treasure Island, FL); Damon Langios (Victoria, British Columbia); Carl Jara (Cleveland, OH); Matt Long (Staten Island,NY); Matt Martelli (Revere, MA); Sue McGrew (Tacoma, WA); Steve Topazio (Tiverton, RI); Robert Stephane (Montreal, Canada); Meredith Corson (Treasure Island, FL); Sandi "Castle" Stirling (Hamilton Ontario, Canada).

Feel free to Google them if you want more info.

You should be able to click on any of the photos to enlarge them if you want to see more detail.

Below, you will see some of the Tools of the Trade:




Meredith Corson of Sanding Ovations is interrupted from her "clean up" by some of her fans. Meredith has placed 4th (twice) and 5th in past competitions here in Revere:




I wish I could have gotten a higher perch to get a better overview of all the sculptures lined up along the beach:




The next few shots are of the "Sponsor Sculpture". All of the competitors and a few extra sand sculpting masters all chip in to collaboratively create a "Thank You" to the sponsors of the event. This year's theme was "Rapunzel". You will see some of the sponsors sculpted into the castle wall.




Here is the Witch and a couple more sponsors:




Rather than make the viewers walk all the way around, the artists made a front and back perspective of Rapunzel.




This is MoonLite Embrace by Steve Topazio:




Star Struck by Sue McGrew is beautiful I'm not sure this photo does it justice. Again I wish I could have gotten up higher so the fence wasn't in the shot.




Change In The Key of Life by "Sandman" Matt Long:




This is one of the sculptures that I failed to match with a name:




You can see how Dan Doubleday exaggerates perspective to wrap a family together (mostly):




This is Dan Doubleday being interviewed by NECN and a view of his sculpture from another angle:




Not sure who this is, but it was one of my favorites. You may not be able to see it in this photo, but if you look closely at some of the sculptures, you will notice that there are wires poking out of some of them at the higher points. This is to prevent birds from landing on them and ruining the artwork!




This is the other side of the sculpture above. Now you can see why it is one of my favorites. This shows the fetus in the womb of the pregnant mom surrounded by musical notes!




This is sort of a Sci-Fi sculpture. If you look closely at the top it looks like a woman screaming. The detail may not show up in a small photo on this blog... but on my computer at home (when you blow it up) the detail is incredible.




This is the same sculpture as above from another angle:




This is called "Push" but I'm not sure who the sculptor is...




Again I wish I could have gotten up a little higher to get the whole row of sculptures.




This next piece is so good, I had to shoot it from every angle. It is called, "selFISH trap" by jOBi. This is a side view.




This is the top (or spine) of the fish.




This is another side view.




And then from the underbelly.




Here are some other things that were going on nearby...

When life hands you lemons...




Not everyone was focused on the Sand Sculptures. This guy was at the beach at least as long as I was, and the whole time he was 'detecting metal'. Of course, he was probably looking at me thinking, "How many pictures can this guy take?"




And some people were just chillaxin'




This creative little girl found a great way to cool off. In about 20 years she will be a fixture in the U.S. Patent Office!



Here are just a few answers to some questions that you may have:

Yes. All the sculptures are made from real sand.

No. The sand is not from Revere Beach. They imported it from Hudson, NH. (I guess they have better quality sand there...)

No. There are no structures inside or underneath the sculptures. It's all sand.

No. The rain doesn't really destroy the sculptures as much as you might think. Although it may leave some pock marks.

Glue. That's what gets sprayed on after the sculpture is finished to help hold it together.

And I already answered the question about the little wires sticking out of the tops of some of the sculptures... that's to prevent the birds from landing on them.

If you want to know more information about the event, sculptors, sponsors or anything else go to www.reverebeachpartnership.com .

Hope you are enjoying the summer!

Peace and Love,
------Nick

Welcome to 3000 Words Photography!

Welcome!

I am in the process of setting up my official photography website, but until that site is up and running, I will be posting some of my photography here.

Lately, I have been shooting a lot of Dance Concerts. So today's post will showcase some Photos from these concerts.

In the next post I will show some of my Landscape or Outdoor Photography. Soon after that will be some Head Shot and Portrait type of photos.

Ultimately, my goal is to market myself as a Destination Photographer. So if you know anyone (or a group of people) who would like to take a photographer with them on vacation, let me know. The great thing about this is that they don't have to stress out about getting great vacation shots and they get to be IN them too!

OK, here are a few of my recent shots:



This is Laura, Petra and Nicole from a piece called, "When Love Takes You In". It was featured in Robyn Goulette's concert this past June.




Christine and Levi Perry in "Mary Sweet Mary" (also choreographed by Robyn for the same concert).




Tabitha and Erin in a piece called, "Bassett Brook" choreographed by Judith Wombwell



This is Kathryn Alter in "Gestation" (a piece she choreographed herself).



Lisa in the same Kathryn Alter piece.



And this is Ryoko (and Ula in the background) in the same piece as above.



Erin in another fun piece called, "Shed 2.0" by Judith Wombwell.



This is Kathryn in Judith's original version of "Shed".



This photo (and the next) are from a 2008 Boston Liturgical Dance Ensemble performance of A Dancer's Christmas. Choreography by Father Robert VerEcke, SJ (a.k.a. "The Dancing Jesuit"). This photo is Nicky as (what I like to call) "The Good Shepherd".



This is Jillian in rehearsal for that same show. Check out those lines!

These are just a few of my many dance shots. I hope to get more over the summer at the Windhover Summer Dance Workshops. Dusan Tynek and some of his dancers will be in town! Looking forward to that!

Enjoy these photos! There are many more to come...

Peace and Love,
------Nick