We have been having a very wet and stormy year here in Southeast Florida. I decided to try and take advantage of the weather pattern to go out and capture one of my favorite subject matters, Lightning. Each year I have committed to dedicate some free time to chase storms and create a lightning portfolio. Unfortunately, every year something important occurs on the best storm/lightning days or nights. At least this year I was able to spend a whole day chasing storms and as a result got some exciting lighting images to add to my collection.
I chased these storms from the entrance to Everglades National Park all the way to Flamingo. A few times I probably got a little closer than I should have. During one of the storms I could not get out of the truck because the lighting was almost directly overhead. The bolt and thunder were occurring simultaneously.
I read about the earth passing through the Comet 209P/Linear dust trail and the prediction that it would to be a meteor storm with potentially up to 1000 meteors an hour. Of course I decided to grab my camera and plan a trip out into the Everglades to find a nice dark site to witness this once in a lifetime meteor shower. Unfortunately, the meteor shower was a complete dud. I might have witnessed 5 meteors the whole night. However, one of the meteors was the best single meteor I have seen to date. It lit up the sky like a fireball and remained very vibrant for at least 10 seconds before exploding as it neared the horizon.
The bad news was that I had my camera pointed in the completely opposite direction. Either way it was still fun to get out of the house and go see the stars and the milky way. I took a couple of images of the milky way before heading home around 4:00 AM.
I am excited that one of my photographs has been chosen to be featured on the cover of a National publication the Municipal Magazine. The Municipal Magazine is a publication that focuses on issues involving municipalities and governments. They chose a photo I took of the MacArthur Causeway in Downtown Miami.
The last time I observed a lunar eclipse I was in high school which by now is many many years ago. Therefore, I decided not to miss this mornings lunar eclipse despite the middle of the night timing.
I met up with some photographer friends of mine in Everglades National Park around 1:00 AM to try and capture the lunar eclipse on digital film. We started our adventure at Pine Glades Lake and then decided to venture out into one of the cypress domes to try and shoot the eclipse through the forest of trees.
The cypress dome did not produce any useable images. However, I did capture a good image of a lone cypress tree with the moon above it. I used a flashlight to paint/illuminate the tree during the exposure. I also took two images and combined them into one. One image exposed for the night sky and the other exposed for the moon. For the moon exposure I also changed to a longer lens. Using my 16-35 causes the moon to look miniscule in the image. Whereas with my longer lens I can capture a moon that looks closer to what I perceive in real life.
One of the more interesting images I captured was of the lunar eclipse just before it was completely blocked by the earth’s shadow. I captured this image at Pine Glades Lake just as a layer of fog had started to develop above the lake. I used some rocks as a foreground subject. During the exposure I flashed the high beams of my truck to illuminate the fog in the distance as well as the rocks. The image looks as if the bottom of the moon is illuminating the fog but it is not. I also converted this image to black and white.
It was amazing to witness the eclipse from beginning to end. This was especially true of the effect the eclipse had on the night sky. Prior to the eclipse the moon was causing too much light pollution to see anything but the brightest of stars. During the peak of the eclipse the stars became instantly visible and thousands were visible all at once.
I had a good time observing nature and trying to photograph what I was witnessing. Here a few images from this morning.
I went down to Everglades National Park after work on Tuesday to meet up with my friend Robert Chaplin at Pine Glades Lake to try and photograph a sunset. Robert has been teaching a photography workshop in Everglades National Park all this week and I told him I would come down to meet his class.
I decided while I was down there to borrow Robert’s Canon 8-15 fisheye lens and give it a try. I primarily like to shoot wide angle with my Canon 16-35 Is II. I have always thought about trying a fisheye for getting an even wider perspective but to date have not had the opportunity. My wallet may regret trying out his lens.
I set up my shot using the rocks and shoreline to lead the viewers eyes to the post sunset glow. My first few shots had my tripod legs in them as I did not realize how wide a fisheye’s perspective actually was. I also used HDR to take three exposures to compensate for shooting directly into the light. This allowed me to capture the detail in the rocks and water as well as not have any blow outs where the sun had just set. It turned out to be a beautiful sunset with rich color and great reflections.
I may just start looking around for a good used fisheye of my own.
Yesterday I ran out to Everglades National Park to check on a Cowhorn Orchid I found last year but never got to go back and photograph. The orchid is in full bloom but looks as if the blooms are already starting to wither. There were also some other orchids in bloom nearby. The wind was really whipping making it impossible to get a crisp shot of the blooms. I took a few shots but did not really like any of the results. I may try to sneak back out there this weekend and hopefully with better conditions capture an image I will like.
I decided to head back down to Eco Pond on Monday morning to spend some more time trying to photograph the birds. Last time I was there I had to rush off and leave before the birds had really become very active. This time I could stay until it got too hot or the birds left whichever happened first.
Just like on Saturday, there were about the same number of birds and variety of birds. Although this time I also saw a pileated woodpecker. The pileated woodpecker looks like woody woodpecker the cartoon with the tall triangular pointed red head. I would have like to have captured him in flight but he never got close enough.
I did get some more shots of the lone reddish egret fishing/dancing across the pond. The reddish egret was very active this morning and was using all of his fishing tricks to catch breakfast. He did his dance across the water as well as his raised wings pretend shade trick. It was if nothing else entertaining to watch.
The roseate spoonbills still were not very active and just sat across the pond on the dead branches before eventually just flying away. I will give it a few more weeks before trying back to see if more birds have arrived and the activity level increases.
Before heading home I also walked some of the Coastal Prairie Trail at the south-west end of the flamingo campground. I plan on coming back when I have the time and energy to walk the entire length. All in all it was a good morning of photography and time spent in the Everglades.
Had the pleasure of being asked to give a presentation to the Focus on Parks Miami Dade youth group about my photography and passion for Everglades National Park. The presentation took place at the Anhinga Trail in Everglades National Park. The group consisted of about 20 middle school children who were going to be spending the next two (2) days in Everglades National Park learning about the ecosystems, conservation and photography. This was many of the children’s first time visiting the Everglades and they were excited to see the birds, alligators and other wildlife up close and personal. The Focus on Parks Miami Dade is a six (6) week program that visits various parks throughout Miami-Dade County and gives each child a camera in which to capture their experiences and teach them about photography. I am glad I got to be a part of their first visit to Everglades National Park.
I have not had time lately to make it out to the park so I decided to take advantage of my time in the everglades by running down to Eco Pond around sunrise prior to meeting with the kids at 10:00 AM. Last time I checked on Eco Pond was back in December and there were almost no birds to speak of. This time there were a good number of Roseate Spoonbills and snowy egrets, with the occasional cormorant, tri-color heron, reddish egret, king fisher, ibis, duck and osprey. However, the birds have still not shown up in large numbers as they have in years past. Hopefully, they are just late this year due to the warmer weather and higher water levels.
Unfortunately, I did not get to stay very long and due to the cooler morning the birds were not very active. The Roseate Spoonbills for the most part sat stationary on the nearby driftwood. The Reddish Egret was the most active bird in the bunch and as a result I was able to get some good shots of him flying around and fishing. In order to make it back to the Anhinga Trail I had to leave just as the birds started to become more active and start feeding. Captured two decent shots of some birds in flight. I really like the reddish egret shot. I have a few more I may go through and post later.
I am excited to announce that I will be exhibiting my work at the Everglades City Museum of the Everglades during the month of February 2014. I will be hosting a meet the artist reception on February 8 from 1:00 PM until 3:00 PM. The title of this exhibit will be “Favorite Times in the Glades” and display many of my images from my adventures throughout the Everglades Eco System from Fish Eating Creek south to Flamingo. I will have a handful of new pieces that I will be displaying for the first time as part of this exhibit.
The Everglades Seafood Festival will take place in Everglades City from February 7-9 and features live music, great food, vendors and arts and crafts.
The Marjory Stoneman Festival will also take place in Everglades City from February 18-22. I hope you will put both of these fun events on your calendar and stop in and see my exhibit while you are there. You can visit my online gallery at www.stephenshelleyphotography.com.
I attended the 29th Annual Everglades Coalition Conference in Naples, Florida this past weekend. This is my second time attending this conference and I really enjoyed learning more about conservation, preservation and restoration issues affecting the Florida Everglades. I also spent some time promoting the new National Park Trolley that was recently launched by the City of Homestead. I will have another blog post specifically discussing this conference.
The purpose of this blog post is to post a few pictures I took while attending the conference. I was able to run out to the beach Thursday night before the kick-off reception to capture what turned out to be an amazing sunset. There was a large cloud bank out over the water that seemed like it might block the setting sun. I looked up the azimuth of the sunset and checked it with my compass. It turned out the sun was going to set just on the edge of the cloud bank. I set up my camera and tripod using some nearby rocks as a foreground subject and hoped that the sun would light up the clouds once it sand below the horizon. I got lucky and the sunset was beautiful to witness.
I used a slow shutter speed to cause the water to blur and give the image a more dramatic feel. I used an aperture of f18 or higher to slow the shutter speed but also to give me a nice sun star as the sun sank low on the horizon. Lastly, I used HDR to capture the full dynamic range and allow for me to see the foreground rocks as something other than black silhouettes. I was happy with the resulting photos and will likely add one of them to my gallery of images on my website.
I also took a few shots late Friday afternoon after the conference dinner to utilize the almost full moon and empty beach. I liked the result but would have preferred a cloudless sky or puffy clouds to the thin wispy clouds that were present. I tried to turn the camera at an angle that would capture as little clouds as possible and more stars. The resulting image was fun to capture and I will make a note to try and do some more full moon light photography in the future.
