SUNRISE AT THE PIER

About two miles north of my apartment building is a pier that I’ve always wanted to photograph during sunrise but it remained a goal for so long now as I unfortunately have never been able to get out of bed that early. Today was a special case as my friends (husband and wife) asked me to take their maternity photos at the beach and wanted the shoot early in the morning to capture the sunrise. I agreed to the early morning shoot in order to finally cross out the pier on my to photograph list. It was a beautiful morning with a generous amount of puffy clouds for a much needed drama to my composition. I had my Canon DSLR with me but didn’t have my wide angle lens so I decided to use my iPhone 11 Pro Max for these wide angle shots, which surprisingly turned out very good. I love taking photographs of sunrises and sunsets and the sun in itself is magnificent enough for a subject, however, an additional subject in the foreground, such as a pier in this case, can make a sunrise or sunset photo more dramatic.

EDEN BY THE SEA

Another one of my morning walk photos taken using my iphone. I was on the boardwalk and noticed two egrets walking on the grassy side of the beach obviously in search of breakfast. While photographing these beautiful creatures, I noticed the curtains of light streaming out of the clouds in the distance. The whole scene reminded me of drawings of the Garden of Eden…that if Eden was by the sea and had only two egrets for residents.

MISTY SUNSET

It was a beautiful summer afternoon in New England and I was on board a cruise ship sailing out of Newport, Rhode Island when I noticed these breathtaking sceneries before me. The sun was close to setting and everything around was turning golden orange. It rained briefly that day so the warm summer air created the perfect recipe for some afternoon mists. From my stateroom balcony I could see the curtain of clouds shrouding the many magnificent beach mansions lining up the rocky shorelines just like the opening scene of a mystery film. I knew as soon as I saw it that I needed to photograph the beauty before me. I had to do some tweaking with my camera settings in order to perfectly capture the mists, the afternoon lights and the shadows. I also intentionally kept the photographs a bit darker to evoke a sense of mystery and suspense.

THE LIONS OF THE BEAGLE

During our cruise to South America in December of 2018, our ship docked at the southernmost city in the world…Ushuaia, Argentina. The city is located in the banks of the Beagle Channel and we were told that Charles Darwin sailed on this very channel with Captain Robert FitzRoy on the HMS Beagle and saw a glacier for the very first time. Along the channel are hundreds of islands teeming with life, which can give any wildlife photographer plenty of photogasms. LOL!

We took an excursion that sailed around these islands and one of the stops was at a sea lion colony. ย The water was rough that day and our small tour boat was rocking like crazy I had to cling on the rails for dear life. Despite nature tossing me around I was able to capture a good number of photos although there were also a lot of blurry shots. ย It was amazing to see all these sea lions in their natural habitat as Iโ€™ve only seen them before in zoos. Here are some of the photographs I took and I hope you all enjoy looking at these lovely creatures in such a wild yet magnificent environment. If by any chance you decide to go somewhere wild and exciting, I highly recommend going down to the southern tip of Argentina.

BREATHLESS IN CAPE ELIZABETH

The Portland Head Light is a historic lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth, Maine and is famously known as the most photographed lighthouse in the United States. I am currently on a cruise around the New England area and one of the stops was Portland, Maine. I booked an excursion that included a visit to this famous landmark in order to join the very many who were mesmerized by its breathtaking views. Cape Elizabeth was the last stop of a whole day excursion and upon my first glimpse of the lighthouse my breath was immediately taken away. Here are some of the photos I took and am very delighted with the outcome, although my only regret was not having enough time to photograph it from the other side of the cliff due to the limited 30-minute stop. I also tried the cotton effect for the waves but my attempts didn’t turn out well as it was too bright. Perhaps another visit in the near future to try that effect (with the right lighting) as well as have all the time in the world to capture this beauty from all available angles.

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