Celestial Blue

At first, I was attracted to the placid lake and houseboat, but my eyes opened wide when I saw the potential of the clouds in this scene. When I first began to photograph this scene, there was a light rain, but I was persistent in wanting to capture this before the clouds began to dissipate. Luckily, the rain soon stopped and I was able to capture what you see here. The infrared light captured multiple layers of clouds and cloud movement.

Lake Beaverfork, Conway, Arkansas
Color infrared, panorama with slight HDR toning.
Orig # IMG_1014-1032hdrc3

Front Row

What a great view. It looks as though the horizon just goes on forever, but in reality, this is a lake and coming toward me is a wall of heavy rain. Any normal day, you could see the other side of the lake, but with the thick fog, mist and rain blocking the view, the perception changes.

The result was worth it, but it was painstakingly cold and windy. I had to constantly clear my lens of mist, while keeping the umbrella over the camera. It poured on me several times, which I actually had to carry my gear to cover, then return to continue.

Lesson: don't give up if you *really* want the shot.

Beaverfork Lake, Conway, Arkansas
Long exposure with minimal HDR toning.
Orig # KS1_5833a

Gravity

Another from this series of color-infrared images of this tree. I planned this shot ahead of time, to capture the sun setting with the light about half-way up the tree, and subsequently positioning the moon in the same frame. I left plenty of space between the moon and tree to give the greater sense of space (pardon the pun).

I entitled this with "Gravity" because of the effect of shooting this in ultra-wide, the curvature of the earth bends toward the moon, while the tree points to the moon. The result is that your eye is always drawn to the moon, the smallest object in the photograph. :)
Hope you enjoy.

Color-infrared, hdr, converted to monotone.
Orig # DSC_0118-24hdr

You can see my popular, horizontal version here: www.flickr.com/photos/kellyshipp/5622954644/

Where One Day Ends, One Day Begins

"Where One Day Ends, One Day Begins"
This was a tough one to plan and accomplish. I needed a clear horizon for the sun to hit the tree half-way, and lucky timing to include the moon above the tree in the same frame.

I wanted to portray the end of one day, hence the fading sunset light on the tree, with the rise of the moon above the tree. I shot ultra-wide to get the curvature of the earth toward the moon and to draw your eye to the tree, then the moon.

Hope you enjoy. :)
Orig # DSC_0112c

Nature's Green Is Gold...

"Nature's Green is Gold"

I photographed this tree last week and really had this image in-mind afterwards, so I returned this week to get this shot. The tree is rooted among a field of buttercup flowers. It's an obvious HDR image, which took some time processing, but I wanted this to be more artistic than pure realism.
I hope you enjoy.

Orig # KS0_5888-94hdr4cs

A few photos from this past weekend...

A few photos from this past weekend:


"Sunset Bridge"


"Field of Flowers"

Recent photos from this past week...

Here are a few infrared photos from this past week. Hope you enjoy...



Cotton in the Sky

Spring's new growth of leaves opened-up on this tree, offering an explosion of reflective light in a contrasty landscape.

I waited for the moment where most light would strike the new leaves, so I could emphasize their contrast against the blue sky. I had to catch the sun early to position it where I wanted to in the composition.

Hope you enjoy.

High-contrast image sourced from color-infrared light.
Orig # DSC_2014



Spring Offers New Growth

I really like this tree with it's fresh, new growth of leaves. I waited for the sun's position to fit well into the composition and captured this moment.

Hope you enjoy.

High-contrast image sourced from infrared light.
Orig # DSC_1170bw







Drawn to the Light

I was drawn to this landscape. The trees seem to be physically drawn to the sunlight.

High-contrast image sourced from infrared light.
Orig # DSC_2083bw