Glowing Sunset | Croatan National Forest
The last few days, the clouds at sunset have just been phenomenal and I haven’t been able to resist heading out to shoot the sunset now for four nights in a row. This particular evening was no exception as I headed down to the banks of the Neuse River at Flanner’s Beach in the Croatan Forest. I took a variety of shots, both from the shore and knee deep in the water. This is one of the first shots I got while at the scene. The billowing clouds opposite of the sun were lit up bright orange as the sun shifted toward the horizon. I had a late start hitting the road and I barely got to my spot in time for sunset, but I had a hunch that if I drove the extra miles, I’d be treated to an awesome scene. Sometimes you just have to play the hunch.
Right on Schedule | Bridgeton, NC
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This is part two of a bucket list shot that I posted a few days ago, and in my opinion, the better of the two. At first I was concerned about this one turning out. I only had time to shoot one frame of the train in this position, so everything had to be right and ready to go in camera. Turned out pretty good!
You can check out the old post, complete with a lot of info on bucket lists and the back story to this series of photos here.
The shot: Nikon D90, 8mm Rokinon lens, 2 exposures (one for the train and bridge, one for the sky). Manually masked in Photoshop.
Crossing the Neuse | Bridgeton, North Carolina
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Each and every photographer has a list of shots that the dream of. This ‘Photographer’s Bucket List’ is something that helps keep us going, striving for that shot that we have planned in our head time and time again. Most, if not all, of these dream photos can only happen by being incredibly patient or just being in the right place at the right time. If they could be planned, then they wouldn’t be so special, would they?
I have two sets of Bucket List Shots. The first one contains shots of and at places that will probably not be places that I spend much time at in my life. Fog on the green mountains of New Zealand, the blue interior of a glacial cavern or a foggy sunrise at the Golden Gate Bridge…places I fully plan on shooting eventually, but not places where I anticipate I will frequent. Set two are local shots. It’s a shorter list, but easier to achieve. All I have to do is be in the spot when conditions are right.
The above image was on that list. For those of you not familiar with the New Bern, NC area, at its mouth, the Neuse River is the widest river in the United States. Just a few miles upstream, in New Bern, it is still plenty wide. There is a very long span of railroad bridge that passes just a few feet above the water’s surface. I have long wanted to shoot a train passing over, just after sunset, so that I could capture the clouds and color of the sky, the light on the engine and the reflections of it all on the calm water.
I have been to this spot numerous times in hopes of achieving my shot. I have seen trains pass, I have seen the sun set. But never at the same time. On this particular night, I set out to shoot some pretty astounding storm clouds that were passing just west of New Bern. I figured my best bet was to shoot them from the other side of the river, and capture the sun setting over downtown. Soon after the sun set, I was packing my gear up when I saw the light of a train slowy moving across the far corner of New Bern. When I saw it make its turn toward the river, I hopped in my Jeep and sped to this little spot along the tracks for my shot.
The train was coming toward me so slowly. It just seemed to be creeping along. But, as it reached the point on the tracks where I wanted to start shooting, it seemed to just blow right by. I was able to get two shots, this one and one of it closer with a lot of motion (which I like more).
In the end, sometimes the best way to plan one of your bucket list shots is to not plan at all—just hope for some good luck and timing!
The shot: Nikon D90, 18-105mm Nikkor VR lens @18mm. 3 exposures, bracketed. Tonemapped in Photomatix and then masked together with original frames in Photoshop. The water is from the middle exposure, the sky from the darkest exposure (lightened with the middle exposure) and the bridge was from the tonemapped file. Finished with a touch of contrast and glamour glow using Nik Color Efex Pro.
Standing Alone | Croatan National Forest
This tree, standing alone in a salt marsh, really caught my eye during a recent hike. The cloud that seems to perfectly line up behind the tree may have been what made me notice it so well. I shot this with a wide angle down low to really stretch out the grass that was bent over.
It Came From Outer Space | Croatan Forest, NC
This otherworldly scene is actually the bottom of the Neuse River. High winds pushed water out of the river and left the clay bottom exposed, complete with lots of little bits of stump and driftwood. I spent a lot of time wandering around, in some places close to 200 yards offshore, and shooting just about everything in sight. It made for a really neat afternoon hike.
The shot: Nikon D90, Rokinon 8mm f/3.5 lens. f/22, 1/25 sec., ISO-100. 2 exposures, manually masked in Photoshop.
