A Few Days in the Adirondacks

[Graham Owen]

A couple of weeks ago I enjoyed spending a few days in the New York Adirondack mountains, a family vacation, but I did manage some time alone with my camera, especially at sunset.

Here's a shot from one of the boat docks where I stayed at Tupper Lake



I like the way the cloud reflection conforms to the opening in the water vegitation



Little stream




Big stream (I thought about slower shutter speeds, but I wanted to capture reality instead of a dream like quality)



Blue and White Swallow in flight, taken with a 200mm macro lens, because my 300 was still being repaired...



Barn Swallow skimming water for insects



Pretty butterfly



Pretty dragonfly



Nice wings



Sunset



Happy Bee



Wildflowers everywhere, even in the swamps



Pretty in pink





wild day lily



Layers of sky


It was a fun trip
Graham

[oTTer]

wow, those are gorgeous. Can you post a picture of or a link to the macro lens you were using? I'd like an idea of what you guys are using. Thanks!

[Graham Owen]

Hi Otter, thanks, I'm glad you like the photos. I always carry my trusty Nikon 200mm f/4 macro lens with me. For the birds and dragonflies in flight I used manual focus because the lens takes way too long to rack in and out. I would have used my 300mm f/4 tele for these shots, but thats another story. (BTW, I have my 300mm back, took about 6 weeks to be repaired, but luckily cost $100 less than the estimate.) I also used the Nikon 200mm macro for wildflower close up shots, and I've found the sweetest bokeh's happens while shooting at f/7.1, also using manual focus, and just rock my body back and forth until I like what I see, and start snapping. I have more trip phtos on my website... [url]http://www.grahamowengallery.com/new_york/New_York_2009.html
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[colorjunkie]

Layers of Sky: print that one!

[Mitchell]

those are nice
But how did you get that last one?!!!!!

[bob_r]

You have some beautiful images there, Graham. I think you made the right decision on the big stream. With that much water, you don't need to slow the shutter speed. I like the reflection pic of the barn swallow too - nice timing. Your layers of sky pic does need to be printed and hung.

Now for the important question - how was the fishing?

[gldiana]

Hey Graham,
as usual you show some great photos and a good variety of subjects, too. I'm having a hard time finding favorites, but some of them did pull a "niiiiice" out of my mouth. Namely: the 2nd (cloud reflected in the marsh); 5th and 6th of the swallow, unusual position of the bird in the 5th (most are captured from their side) and great use of speed in the 6th; I wish the bee was a bit sharper, it would have been a 5 star photo; the flowers are awesome too, I like a lot the wild day Lily photo, good balance between macro and abstract. The sunset cloud photo is beautiful, looks as if it was taken from a plane.

[totalyfrozen]

Those are awesome photos.. I like the Barn Swallow skimming the water.

[Bonish Photo]

Graham, you dont post enough images on this forum!! I never get tired of looking at your work!

To pick a favorite in this series is impossible, but the swallow skimming the water is outstanding as is the bird in flight shot!

Please post more of your work to give us inspiration

[Graham Owen]

A big thank you to all!

Mitchell, I always keep a camera close by when travelling by plane. When booking tickets I take into account the direction I'll be flying, if I want the sun on my side of the plane, or other side, as well as departure and/or arrival times, and choose my seat accordingly. Some of my favorite images were seen through a plane window. I also clean the window when I sit down.

I'll let you guys in on a little secret, how I get some of my bird and dragonfly shots....... As some of you know, I make life-size realistic bugs for movie studios for a living, and keep a small collection in my camera bag. On this year’s Adirondack trip I used a fake orange dragonfly to lure in the blue & white swallow, as well as the dark dragonfly that relentlessly circled the fake bug, allowing me to manually focus my macro lens on it. Granted, none of the dragonfly in flight photos are super sharp, but I had fun trying. During much of the trip my photography time was allocated around family activities, and having fake bugs allows me to condense my photography pleasure.

Oh, I forgot to mention, a photo on my website, of the jumping brown trout, captioned “lucky shot” really wasn’t that lucky, I cast the orange dragonfly off a rocky breakwater, and focused my camera on it. LOL…



Fake Bait....


My only sharp shot of the dragonfly was shooting the departure

[Photography~girl~]

those are all awesome.
i really like the swallow reflection one a lot. And the cloud shot is awesome as well.

[Edd]

Some neat tricks there Graham.

I was trying to photograph a Dragonfly last weekend but just couldn't get him to stay still for long enough. I may revisit the site with a fake intruder !!!!

Ed

[Tusker]

Graham, OUTSTANDING!! Just to put it mildly. We are trying to plan a camping trip up through NY, then into Canada Next year, then turning left and on to the Alaska HWY and into Alaska, on to Anchorage to visit our son and daughter-in-law. These shorts sure make me want to spend a few days in the Adirondacks. Photography at it's highest level. THANKS FOR SHARING!!

[wfeller]

Some very impressive work in there!

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