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Crossing the Neuse | Bridgeton, North Carolina Purchase prints here. 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.
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Crossing the Neuse | Bridgeton, North Carolina

Purchase prints here.

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.

Jagged Pier | New Bern, NC This fishing pier, located in Lawson Creek Park in New Bern, still shows the scars of last summer’s Hurricane Irene. The storm surge entered the area and appears to have lifted the pier right out of the bottom of the river. I have wanted to shoot this for a while now. The way the lines sort of zig zag up and down is really neat. This particular day, the water was nice and choppy and ready to be smoothed out by a long exposure! This is a 30 second exposure shot through a 10-stop ND filter.
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Jagged Pier | New Bern, NC

This fishing pier, located in Lawson Creek Park in New Bern, still shows the scars of last summer’s Hurricane Irene. The storm surge entered the area and appears to have lifted the pier right out of the bottom of the river. I have wanted to shoot this for a while now. The way the lines sort of zig zag up and down is really neat. This particular day, the water was nice and choppy and ready to be smoothed out by a long exposure!

This is a 30 second exposure shot through a 10-stop ND filter.

Seeing the Wold in a Different Speed | 10-stop ND Filter

ND filter: long exposure sunset on Atlantic Beach, NC.

25 second exposure, ISO-200, f/5.6

I recently picked something up that has been on my gear wish list for some time: a 10 stop ND filter. For those of you unsure of exactly what a ND filter is or does, it is essentially a sunglasses lens for your camera. They come in different steps with 10 being the strongest. The 10-stop is the same as a piece of welding glass and allows you to stop down your lens to shoot long exposures in the daylight without over-exposing.

I haven’t used it much, in fact I haven’t even shot the cliche ‘moving water around rocks’ ND shot. I have used it a few times for post-sunset clouds. I love how it can pull out color left over from the sunset in all parts of the photo including the subtle reflection in the water that the naked eye barely notices.

ND filter: long exposure from New Bern, NC.

138 second exposure, ISO-200, f/5.6

The following sequence was shoot in immediate succession of one another. Another great thing about shooting with the ND filter on is that what you see on your LCD after the shot is usually what you get. Meaning, you can usually tell that a photo is a keeper right away. There is little post processing to do with a long exposure like this aside from color correction and a little contrast adjustment. Minimal post processing is always a great thing! Now, the trade-off is standing around for 120-200 seconds while the photo exposes as you’re getting eaten by mosquitoes (as was the case this evening)!

ND filter: post sunset light behind the North Carolina History Center in New Bern.

123 second exposure, ISO-320, f/10

187 second exposure, ISO-320, f/9

198 second exposure, ISO-400, f/7.1

All of these shots were taken with a Nikon D90, 18-105mm VR lens, tripod held and remote fired. 77mm B+W 10 stop ND filter with 67mm step down ring.

Purchase prints here.

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Path to the Clouds | New Bern, NC Purchase prints here. Happy first day of Spring everyone! With the way the weather has been in the Eastern US lately, it’s easy to forget that it was still technically Winter. I thought this shot of a beautiful pastel sunset behind the NC History Center would be a great way to ring in one of my favorite seasons.  The History Center, part of Tryon Palace, is one of my favorite places to shoot the sunset in New Bern. There are so many great foreground elements there, especially these boardwalks and railings. The plant life is also starting to bloom in the gardens there and I’m really looking forward to working that life into these shots! The shot: Nikon D90, Rokinon 8mm f/3.5 lens. f/22, 1”, ISO-100. 3 exposures, tonemapped with Photomatix. All three exposures and the tonemapped file were manually masked together in Photoshop. Finished with Nik Color Efex ‘Glamour Glow’ filter and ‘Pro Contrast’ filter.
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Path to the Clouds | New Bern, NC


Purchase prints here.

Happy first day of Spring everyone! With the way the weather has been in the Eastern US lately, it’s easy to forget that it was still technically Winter. I thought this shot of a beautiful pastel sunset behind the NC History Center would be a great way to ring in one of my favorite seasons. 

The History Center, part of Tryon Palace, is one of my favorite places to shoot the sunset in New Bern. There are so many great foreground elements there, especially these boardwalks and railings. The plant life is also starting to bloom in the gardens there and I’m really looking forward to working that life into these shots!

The shot: Nikon D90, Rokinon 8mm f/3.5 lens. f/22, 1”, ISO-100. 3 exposures, tonemapped with Photomatix. All three exposures and the tonemapped file were manually masked together in Photoshop. Finished with Nik Color Efex ‘Glamour Glow’ filter and ‘Pro Contrast’ filter.

Sunset on the Trent | New Bern, NC Purchase prints here. On this calm, windless night, the water of the Trent River was at a glassy calm. I crawled down into this little pocket between a street and a boardwalk to get a different vantage point to a spot that I frequently shoot. Boy, the water and muck I was in to shoot this did not smell good at all! 
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Sunset on the Trent | New Bern, NC

Purchase prints here.

On this calm, windless night, the water of the Trent River was at a glassy calm. I crawled down into this little pocket between a street and a boardwalk to get a different vantage point to a spot that I frequently shoot. Boy, the water and muck I was in to shoot this did not smell good at all!