Last Week
As summer comes to an end, I was reflecting back at all of the great places we've gone over the break. This photo is from the patio at the condo we stay at each summer at Wild Dunes.
This photograph was captured with a Sony a6300.
Intracoastal Kayaks
This photograph was captured with a DJI Mavic pro drone.
Cloudy Solar Eclipse
A band of clouds briefly passed over us during the solar eclipse. We were worried that the show was over but they moved on pretty quickly. In hindsight, I kind of like the photographs that I captured during that period. I was using a makeshift solar filter that made the clouds almost look like some far-off galaxy.
This photograph was captured with a Sony a6300 and a Sony E PZ 18-105mm F4 G OSS Power Zoom Lens, which happens to be my go-to lens 90% of the time.
Caribbean Beach
The beach and water at El Dorado Royale is perfect. It's hard to find a more peaceful experience than relaxing on a king-size bed cabana while listening to the waves lap the shore. If you book a stay at El Dorado Royale, be sure to stay in the Casitas. In addition to the bigger rooms, en-suite outdoor showers and private pools for each set of Casitas, they also include exclusive access to the beachside cabanas on the private Casitas beach.
This photograph was captured with a Sony a6300.
Buckeye Recreation Center
It's easy to forget just how far drones have come in the last few years. This photograph was captured with a GoPro Hero 3+ Black that was attached to a DJI Phantom 2 drone. It's a bit grainy and the sky is definitely blown out but it's a good reminder of the beginning of fall, which is just around the corner up on Beech Mountain.
This is the Buckeye Recreation Center and Buckeye Lake, which is the recreational hub for Beech Mountain. It has the most amazing playground, made by hand out of giant logs and natural rope. There is also a really fun hike called "Falls Loop Trail" that starts off deep in the forest until you come upon a nice waterfall and then follow the creek that feeds it back up to Buckeye Lake.
Birth of PAC-MAN or The Big Beep or Waka Waka Waka
Each frame in this series of images of the solar eclipse were taken roughly ten minutes from one another. I shot them with an in-body filter that I created from a pair of solar eclipse glasses. I realized that the shape of one lens would perfectly fit over an APS-C sensor, just like a Fogal Net from the golden age of film. Luckily, I generally subscribe to the Navy Seal mantra of "Two is one. One is none." because I melted a perfect pinhole in the filter in my first attempt. The focal length of the lens I was using (210mm) was just right for turning my camera lens into an instant firestarter. They should bring those things on Survivor! I backed off a bit to a 105mm lens and everything went perfectly after that.
This photograph was captured with a Sony a6300 and a Sony E PZ 18-105mm F4 G OSS Power Zoom Lens, which happens to be my go-to lens 90% of the time.
Grandfather Mountain
The famous Linn Cove Viaduct wraps around Grandfather Mountain. It was the last stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway to be completed in the 1980s and was an engineering marvel of its time. If you look closely at the ridge of Grandfather Mountain, you can see the suspension bridge that connects two of the peaks.
This image was captured while filming my entry for the 2017 Triple Aught Design Fall Film Festival. If you haven't watched and voted for my short film, I'd really appreciate it if you did! It takes five seconds and there's no registration required.
This photograph was captured with a DJI Mavic pro drone.
Clouds Over a Reef
This photograph was captured with a DJI Mavic pro drone.