Earth laughs in flowers. ~ Henry David Thoreau
Flowers give inspiration to people from all walks of life, whether you are a florist, a gardener, a painter, a photographer or a writer, one can draw inspirations from flowers.
Enjoy…
Longwood Gardens 2/14/12
Happy Birthday Ansel Adams
Below is a newsletter from The Ansel Adams Gallery
Remembering Ansel Adams a s a Champion of the National Parks
Happy Birthday Ansel Adams
…We must take ALL resources under consideration; all resources, because they related fatefully to our life on earth, reflect certain grandeurs, and deserve not only our attention, but our reverence.
Hence, while it is as essential as ever to protect the National Parks and the Wilderness Areas, it is also essential that we protect the forests, the crops, the minerals and the oceans, and it is essential that we preserve the purity of the air we breathe and the water we drink. Certainly with the technology now available, air and water pollution could be severely reduced if not arrested completely and fully controlled. It is ridiculous to quibble about costs in this regard; the ultimate cost of pollution can be the destruction and death of plants, animals and people…
Grand Canyon, Bright Angel Canyon
…There is a constant erosion of the concept and reality of wilderness. The luxuries of modern life - motorboats, proliferating automobiles, portable radios and television sets - all the comforts of urban shelter transported to the wild places on roads built primarily for this purpose - such as these have served to make mass recreation a very profitable enterprise.
Give Nature Time - Ansel Adams Commencement Address - Occidental College 1961
Give Nature Time - Ansel Adams Commencement Address - Occidental College 1961
Photo with 9 notes
A big cat of the Bronx at the Bronx Zoo .
The Snow Leopard’s are not liking this winter so far , no snow for them to play.
But you can come out with Visions Photographic Workshops director of photography to capture these amazing animals.
This Images was captured last year with a 200mm lens f5.6 at 1/200 sec. raw and iso 400 and this images has been cropped and processed in Adobe lightroom 3
Photoset with 2 notes
Long time, no update…
So let’s get started!
Visions Photographic Workshops is pleased to feature Franco Patricio images captured on the Beachscapes and Nightscapes workshops he recently attended.
(nightscapes NYC)
A beautiful use of color and light - notice how the cool blues/purples compliment the warm oranges of the sunset.
(beachscapes - beach)
Notice how the footprints, the waves, and the clouds converge upon the horizon line/vanishing point. It gives the piece movement.
(beachscapes - jetty)
Again, a great use of light to create drama. Attention to pattern in clouds and rocks. Notice how it almost mirrors itself along the horizon line, but the inclusion of the light tower breaks it up in an interesting way.
Thank you Franco for attending the workshops and sharing your incredible work! Can’t wait to see what you got in prison!!
Check out two great weekend workshops coming up soon.
Basics of Photography at the Atlantic View Inn, Avon-By-The-Sea, NJ; November 11 – 13.
Develop Your Creative Eye at the Hotel Tides, Asbury Park, NJ; November 18 – 20.
As always photography director/instructor Michael S. Miller will be leading these great interactive workshops.
Photo with 2 notes
![Hey, guys. Long time, no update. College is a hassle, man. But I love it.So, today’s post is about the paradox of using technology to create the illusion of antique photography. I think this is really cool. The photographer’s name is Kevin Rau and here he describes the process of creating the above picture.
“Jacquelyn (my wife and of whom picture is taken) and I made thispicture during a photography session in the spring. The lens used wasa LensBaby Scout with a single glass optic. The aperture was nothingtoo extreme, but I don’t have the exact f/stop in my notes. The RAWimage was initially processed in Lightroom in order to achieve afairly balanced black and white look. The processing was continued inNik Silver Efex Pro 2 using a custom preset in order to capture thefeel of an older photograph. The image was then opened in PhotoshopCS5 to add some texture to the image. My tendency is to make theimage I work on look older and less refined than what most most moderncameras produce. The next step was to add another Nik layer whichfurther altered the image I currently had. I then addedbrightness/contrast and hue/saturation adjustment layers in Photoshopand added yet another Nik layer which consolidated everything that Ihad done on the image up to this point. It allowed me make some finaladjustments to the image as a whole in Nik. I was fairly pleased withthe result and only added a Photoshop cooling filter adjustment layerto tone down the image.”
It seems that in this day and age, to be able use programs like Lightroom and Photoshop is extremely important. Not only are awesome effects achieved but blemishes removed, unwanted items cropped out, and so much more. It feels like it all started with red-eye remover. At least that is what I remember as being the first step. :]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrpxf3unHO1qmyn7ro1_400.jpg)
Hey, guys. Long time, no update. College is a hassle, man. But I love it.
So, today’s post is about the paradox of using technology to create the illusion of antique photography. I think this is really cool. The photographer’s name is Kevin Rau and here he describes the process of creating the above picture.
“Jacquelyn (my wife and of whom picture is taken) and I made this
It seems that in this day and age, to be able use programs like Lightroom and Photoshop is extremely important. Not only are awesome effects achieved but blemishes removed, unwanted items cropped out, and so much more. It feels like it all started with red-eye remover. At least that is what I remember as being the first step. :]
picture during a photography session in the spring. The lens used was
a LensBaby Scout with a single glass optic. The aperture was nothing
too extreme, but I don’t have the exact f/stop in my notes. The RAW
image was initially processed in Lightroom in order to achieve a
fairly balanced black and white look. The processing was continued in
Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 using a custom preset in order to capture the
feel of an older photograph. The image was then opened in Photoshop
CS5 to add some texture to the image. My tendency is to make the
image I work on look older and less refined than what most most modern
cameras produce. The next step was to add another Nik layer which
further altered the image I currently had. I then added
brightness/contrast and hue/saturation adjustment layers in Photoshop
and added yet another Nik layer which consolidated everything that I
had done on the image up to this point. It allowed me make some final
adjustments to the image as a whole in Nik. I was fairly pleased with
the result and only added a Photoshop cooling filter adjustment layer
to tone down the image.”
Photo with 2 notes
Visions Photographic Workshops’ director of photography Michael S. Miller and his assistant and executive director Beverly Miller are travelling the globe. Currently, they are in Switzerland on assignment.
The 2011 Zofingen ITU Powerman Long Distance Duathlon World Championship is where the lenses are focused. Check back soon to see images of athletes in action, including Ryan T. Rau who is racing for NexCare Health Systems/Hamburg Fitness Center.
Photoset with 4 notes
Hey guys. So instead of showing you awesome pictures from a workshop, I will be presenting kick ass shots Visions Photographic Workshops director of photography Michael S. Miller captured of Hurricane Irene’s impact on the Jersey Shore.
I have to admit that the hurricane was pretty scary. I live right next to the Shark River which feeds right into the Atlantic Ocean a mere ten minutes away. And my house is surrounded by trees. Guess who didn’t sleep.
We lost power in the middle of the night; my little brother was attempting to watch LOST and the internet cut out. The wind seemed louder than the rain most times and, despite the fact that my family had camped into the middle of the house where there were as few windows as possible we could hear the storm roaring late into the night and early into the morning.
Luckily the only damage were broken branches and a new carpet of leaves outside of my front door. A power line broke a few blocks away and people nearby still don’t have electricity. The river did flood, fortunately I live up a slope from it.
These photos were taken of the Shark River Inlet from the Avon-By-The-Sea boardwalk and bridge into Belmar between 8:00am & 8:30am on Sunday morning, August 28th. The storm surge was at approximately 7:00am and high tide at the Inlet about the same.
Focal length: 70mm
Shutter speed: 1/250
F-Stop: f/5.6
ISO: 200
Focal length: 70mm
Shutter speed: 1/350
F-Stop: f/5.6
ISO: 200
Focal length: 70mm
Shutter speed: 1/350
F-Stop: f/5.6
ISO: 200
Focal length: 55 mm
Shutter speed: 1/320 sec
F-Stop: f/5.6
ISO: 200
Photo with 1 note
One of the many awesome workshops VPW offers is called Under the Boardwalk in Asbury Park, NJ. This is yet another workshop I have been meaning to go on but I haven’t been able to.
There are so many things in Asbury Park to photograph, from the iconic Tillie face and Madam Marie’s fortune telling booth to the rather large Convention Hall, which was designed by the same architectural firm that drew up Grand Central Station.
The above photo was taken in Convention Hall by George A. Reiner, one of Visions Photographic Workshop regulars. This picture is really cool for many reasons, to me. The blurred figure adds motion and the feeling of time passing and being rushed. I love the color of the doors and window frames as well, and the shadows that accentuate it. But above all, the lines in this get me. The descending windows and how things narrow and disappear… angle shots like these are some of my favorites.
I will hopefully be going on the next Under the Boardwalk, Wednesday August 17th. These look like so much fun and the photographs everyone comes back with are outstanding.
The latest Visions Photographic Workshop that I was a part of was on 1 August at the Bronx Zoo in New York and it started at 8:45 AM. I definitely should have gone to bed earlier the day before; I slept almost the entire drive up. I brought two cameras with me: my grandfather’s Minolta X700 loaded with some black and white film and Michael S. Miller’s borrowed Nikon D200. The only people in our group today were myself, Michael, and a woman named Joanne.
Wildlife is my favorite thing to photograph. It always has been. So, I was extremely excited to be on this trip, despite the fact that it felt like the zoo was located in Hades. It was as hot as an actual tropical environment. I suppose that added to the day in a weird way.
We walked the park taking pictures of countless animals from about 9:30 to 3:00. Snow leopards, gorillas, a polar bear, and a gang of wandering peacocks are a few to name. Out of all of these animals, the monkeys were the most fun to shoot. They were the most lively (probably because the were in the air conditioning) and animated. The primate photographed above is a Wolf Monkey shot by yours truly. They were absolutely adorable.
The last animals we took pictures of were the lions, who were lounging lazily in the grass. It had cooled down slightly outside, with some cloud cover. Despite all of that I slept the ride back too. But not before reviewing the digital shots and talking with Joanna about the trip.
This workshop, titled “It’s All Happening at the Zoo,” happens multiple times a year, but this was the first one I had been on. I will definitely go again if I have the chance.
Focal length: 70 mm
Shutter speed: 1/800 sec
F-Stop: f/5.6
ISO: 400
Page 1 of 2
