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Beryl’s Barrels | Emerald Isle, NC Early in the morning on May 30, I headed out for the shore to see if I could capture some storm photos as Tropical Storm Beryl came up the North Carolina coast. Other than some pretty gusty wind and heavy rain, she gave me no cool clouds to shoot. I waited out the afternoon at my friend Brad’s studio (www.bradstyronphotography.com). Brad, a great surfer himself, was paying attention to the wind direction. We waited for it to change, cleaning up the surf and blowing in some swells. Around 3:30 it finally did, and we headed over to the beach to shoot some surfing. I spent about three hours out there shooting the surfers who were taking advantage of the great conditions. The sun came out and there were some great clouds blowing overhead. Perfect! At given time, there were somewhere around 50 surfers in that one spot and plenty of action. Next time a storm comes up the coast, I may just wait it out and head out with the surfers. I had a blast! A lot more photos to come from this.
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Beryl’s Barrels | Emerald Isle, NC


Early in the morning on May 30, I headed out for the shore to see if I could capture some storm photos as Tropical Storm Beryl came up the North Carolina coast. Other than some pretty gusty wind and heavy rain, she gave me no cool clouds to shoot. I waited out the afternoon at my friend Brad’s studio (www.bradstyronphotography.com). Brad, a great surfer himself, was paying attention to the wind direction. We waited for it to change, cleaning up the surf and blowing in some swells. Around 3:30 it finally did, and we headed over to the beach to shoot some surfing. I spent about three hours out there shooting the surfers who were taking advantage of the great conditions. The sun came out and there were some great clouds blowing overhead. Perfect! At given time, there were somewhere around 50 surfers in that one spot and plenty of action. Next time a storm comes up the coast, I may just wait it out and head out with the surfers. I had a blast! A lot more photos to come from this.

Sunset Rays | Emerald Isle, North Carolina The sunset on March 4 was a phenomenal one. The entire afternoon had been nothing but gloomy and grey, but as sunset approached, the sky began to part. I was instructing a photography workshop along with Brad Styron and a sunset shoot was on the schedule, although we weren’t sure if we were going to have a worthwhile sky to shoot. With sunset scheduled to happen at 6:00pm, we noticed the amazing color in the sky at around 5:45. Everyone stopped what they were doing and we rushed onto the beach just as the sun passed in between two levels of clouds, creating some awesome rays. The color didn’t last long, but as always in these fleeting moments, we were so glad we rushed out to see it! The shot: Nikon D90, 8mm Rokinon lens. f/22, 1/15th sec., ISO 100. 3 exposures masked together in Photoshop. Finished with Nik Color Efex and Viveza.
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Sunset Rays | Emerald Isle, North Carolina


The sunset on March 4 was a phenomenal one. The entire afternoon had been nothing but gloomy and grey, but as sunset approached, the sky began to part. I was instructing a photography workshop along with Brad Styron and a sunset shoot was on the schedule, although we weren’t sure if we were going to have a worthwhile sky to shoot. With sunset scheduled to happen at 6:00pm, we noticed the amazing color in the sky at around 5:45. Everyone stopped what they were doing and we rushed onto the beach just as the sun passed in between two levels of clouds, creating some awesome rays. The color didn’t last long, but as always in these fleeting moments, we were so glad we rushed out to see it!

The shot: Nikon D90, 8mm Rokinon lens. f/22, 1/15th sec., ISO 100. 3 exposures masked together in Photoshop. Finished with Nik Color Efex and Viveza.

Splash! | Emerald Isle, NC Playing with the Nikkor 70-200 2.8 around the legs of the Bogue Inlet Pier. The lens may have just climbed right to the top of my wish list! The shot: Nikon D90, Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 lens, 1/1250th second, f/5, ISO 200 ©2012 Zach Frailey
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Splash! | Emerald Isle, NC

Playing with the Nikkor 70-200 2.8 around the legs of the Bogue Inlet Pier. The lens may have just climbed right to the top of my wish list!

The shot: Nikon D90, Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 lens, 1/1250th second, f/5, ISO 200

©2012 Zach Frailey

Waves in the Sand | Fort Macon, North Carolina It’s a very foggy morning here in Eastern NC, so I thought I’d bring some clearer skies to your monitors today. This scene was shot at the end of last week at Fort Macon, NC. From late afternoon all the way through sunset; I don’t think that I’ve had the privilege to shoot in more perfect light.  Facebook | Twitter | Flickr | 500px | Google+ This was shot with what is currently my favorite and most useful landscape lens in my bag- the 8mm Rokinon ‘fisheye.’ It’s classified as a fisheye, and rightfully so at 8mm, but there’s nothing fishy about it. At the right angle, there is little to no distortion on the edges and it is sharp as a tack. I shoot everything with it at f/16 and up and it produces the sharpest landscapes I’ve made. And at around $300, it’s an absolute steal! Keep in mind, it’s 100% manual, but it’s fun and liberating to not be tempted to fall back into what the camera thinks is best. The shot: Nikon D90, Rokinon 8mm lens, tripod held and remote fired. f/16, 1/200 sec., ISO-200. 2 exposures, manually masked in Photoshop. No color correction. ©2012 Zach Frailey
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Waves in the Sand | Fort Macon, North Carolina

It’s a very foggy morning here in Eastern NC, so I thought I’d bring some clearer skies to your monitors today. This scene was shot at the end of last week at Fort Macon, NC. From late afternoon all the way through sunset; I don’t think that I’ve had the privilege to shoot in more perfect light. 

Facebook | Twitter | Flickr | 500px | Google+

This was shot with what is currently my favorite and most useful landscape lens in my bag- the 8mm Rokinon ‘fisheye.’ It’s classified as a fisheye, and rightfully so at 8mm, but there’s nothing fishy about it. At the right angle, there is little to no distortion on the edges and it is sharp as a tack. I shoot everything with it at f/16 and up and it produces the sharpest landscapes I’ve made. And at around $300, it’s an absolute steal! Keep in mind, it’s 100% manual, but it’s fun and liberating to not be tempted to fall back into what the camera thinks is best.

The shot: Nikon D90, Rokinon 8mm lens, tripod held and remote fired. f/16, 1/200 sec., ISO-200. 2 exposures, manually masked in Photoshop. No color correction.

©2012 Zach Frailey

Getting Caught Up  Wow, I feel like I’ve been on vacation or something. The past two weeks have been ‘different’ to say the least. I recently started working a few days a week at a local newspaper and that’s kept me pretty busy of late. As my readers know, editorial photography isn’t what I typically do. However, shooting speakers, sporting events and breaking news has really helped revive a lot of things that I have kind of pushed to the side, photography-wise. I’m relearning things that I have unintentionally pushed to the side while doing my HDR photography, and that’s a great thing. Two weekends ago, I traveled up to Corolla, NC on the Outer Banks to do seven family photo sessions. I had a great time and came out with some great shots. Again, portraiture is not something that I do all that often, but it was great and I hope to get into it a little more. I have a few sessions booked in the near future and I can’t wait to get them planned. Thanks to all of this, the only photos you’ve seen over the past two weeks were from the archives and from those family sessions in Corolla. Today I’m sharing the last image from those family portraits. I edited this with some texture and my logo as a watermark with the intention as adding this to my promotional material. I think that’s a good way to close out this project- putting my stamp on the last photo edit to kind of signal completion.  I’m looking forward to getting out and shooting some fresh material in the coming days, keep an eye out! —Join me on my other social networks: Facebook | Twitter | Flickr | 500px | Google+
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Getting Caught Up 

Wow, I feel like I’ve been on vacation or something. The past two weeks have been ‘different’ to say the least. I recently started working a few days a week at a local newspaper and that’s kept me pretty busy of late. As my readers know, editorial photography isn’t what I typically do. However, shooting speakers, sporting events and breaking news has really helped revive a lot of things that I have kind of pushed to the side, photography-wise. I’m relearning things that I have unintentionally pushed to the side while doing my HDR photography, and that’s a great thing.

Two weekends ago, I traveled up to Corolla, NC on the Outer Banks to do seven family photo sessions. I had a great time and came out with some great shots. Again, portraiture is not something that I do all that often, but it was great and I hope to get into it a little more. I have a few sessions booked in the near future and I can’t wait to get them planned.

Thanks to all of this, the only photos you’ve seen over the past two weeks were from the archives and from those family sessions in Corolla. Today I’m sharing the last image from those family portraits. I edited this with some texture and my logo as a watermark with the intention as adding this to my promotional material. I think that’s a good way to close out this project- putting my stamp on the last photo edit to kind of signal completion. 

I’m looking forward to getting out and shooting some fresh material in the coming days, keep an eye out!

—Join me on my other social networks:

Facebook | Twitter | Flickr | 500px | Google+