Monday, December 30, 2013

FISHERMAN'S NET


I have decided to write this Blog in order give people a place to learn more about the photograph they are thinking about purchasing, have already purchased or have enjoyed viewing on my website larrypannellphotography.com.

My thoughts are to post a Photograph of the Week and include the location, photographic data and insight on what I was trying to convey with the image. Essentially the story behind the photograph.

I specialize in Landscape, Travel and Fine Art Photography. If you are viewing my blog before you have seen my website please take the time to browse the photographs there as well. I have been fortunate to have travelled many places and you will find photographs of Alaska, Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico, Hawaii, French Polynesia, the South Pacific, Southeast Asia, the Philippines and Vietnam. You may also enjoy my photography of the Western United States and my recent photographs of Yosemite National Park where I currently reside.

Thank you for your interest and all comments would be greatly appreciated

Larry

Enjoy…..

FISHERMANS NET

Location:        South Pacific
                        Isle of Pines, New Caledonia
When:             November 8, 2011
                        10:25am
Camera:         Canon 60d
                        EF 18-200mm
Focal:              18mm
Shutter:          1/250 sec
Aperture:       F 20
ISO:                 800

The Isle of Pines located in the South Pacific, not far off the eastern coast of Australia and is part of the island group of New Caledonia. It is a small almost featureless island except for the tall pines trees that covers most of it, hence it's name, Isle of Pines. It is a beautiful place with white sandy beaches and dense forests from the hills down to the waters edge.

Isle of Pines is a tendered port meaning that our ship, the Rhapsody of the Seas, was too large and the bay too shallow to allow it to moor on the islands small pier. We would drop anchor offshore and the ship would lower its lifeboats and shuttle or "tender" the guests and crew to shore on a twenty-minute boat ride.

On most of my visits to the island I would carry a Panasonic Lumix DMC TS3 camera and enjoy the beach with friends. I'd snorkel taking photographs of the underwater life in the warm, crystal clear water and eat fresh lobster prepared by the locals in stands along the tree lined bay enjoying a cold beer. Just another day in paradise.

This day was different. Instead of the clear, deep blue skies or one with a few white clouds here and there, the sky was dark and filled with dark, angry clouds. This was a perfect opportunity to photograph the island, so I grabbed my Canon and signed up for a tour of the coast to a local village.

Along the way we made several stops to photograph the scenery and to stretch our legs. At one of the stops I noticed that a local fisherman had stretched his net out to dry on a makeshift fence of driftwood. Drawn to the net and its colorful cork floats I dialed back the lens to take advantage of its wide-angle feature and began to compose the shot in my viewfinder. Getting low to the ground and close to the net I saw what I was looking to achieve. I double checked my settings and took a depth breath as it was a handheld shot and pressed the shutter release button.

The results.... the net stretched from one side of the frame to the other and the bright colors of the floats standing out against the gray skies and dark clouds of the oncoming storm. This is one of my favorite photographs.


Isle of Pines as I was being "tendered" to shore

Thank you for your interest and all comments would be greatly appreciated
Larry

Monday, December 23, 2013

EAGLES FLIGHT



I have decided to write this Blog in order give people a place to learn more about the photograph they are thinking about purchasing, have already purchased or have enjoyed viewing on my website larrypannellphotography.com.

My thoughts are to post a Photograph of the Week and include the location, photographic data and insight on what I was trying to convey with the image. Essentially the story behind the photograph.

I specialize in Landscape, Travel and Fine Art Photography. If you are viewing my blog before you have seen my website please take the time to browse the photographs there as well. I have been fortunate to have traveled many places and you will find photographs of Alaska, Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico, Hawaii, French Polynesia, the South Pacific, Southeast Asia, the Philippines and Vietnam. You may also enjoy my photography of the Western United States and my recent photographs of Yosemite National Park where I currently reside.

Thank you for your interest and all comments would be greatly appreciated

Larry

Enjoy.....


EAGLES FLIGHT

Location:        Ketchikan
                         Alaska, US
When:             May 17, 2012
                         1:57pm
Camera:         Canon 60d
                         EF 18-200mm
Focal:              200mm
Shutter:          1/3200 sec
Aperture:       F 5.6
ISO:                 400


This was my second summer spending time in Alaska on the Royal Caribbean Rhapsody of the Seas and my second time to Ketchikan. It was raining lightly, which from what I understand is the norm in Ketchikan.

Having been there before one of my friends from the ship, Rachel Ellis from New Zealand decided to join me for lunch as I knew a great place for sushi. It was about a mile walk from the ship and we walked down the road that hugged the bay trying not to get soaked.

During lunch I had noticed a bald eagle sitting on top of a mooring. When we finished we decided to see how close we could get to take a picture. Once we had gotten closer we noticed that the eagle was on a seaplane dock and the gate was open. We looked at each other and said, "let's go".

We hurried down the ramp to the dock to see how close we could get and took care to stay away from the seaplane moored there as we were pushing our luck as it was.

We got our cameras out and looking up to our amazement we realized there were about twenty eagles feeding and chasing each other within fifty feet to one hundred yards away. Shutters clicking we began to shoot away. As we did I noticed out of the corner of my eye the door to the office open and someone heading our way. I told Rachel to shot as fast as she could because he was headed down here to kick us off the dock.

As he arrived he just smiled and said "isn't this incredible...we normally don't let anyone down here." And then he told us to get underneath the wing of the plane so we could take pictures and stay out of the rain. How great was that...

I had taken about a hundred shots praying all the time...please be in focus, please be in focus... Then all of a sudden it stopped just as quickly as it had started. The eagles scattered to the four winds and went on their way.

When we left I was shaking, hoping the exposures were okay, hoping everything was in focus and kept mumbling to Rachel how this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

In this specific shot the eagle was maybe twenty feet off the water and headed straight at us. He eventually got so close that I have photographs where I could not even fit all of him into the frame.

This was a very special day and I am very thankful that I was able to experience this magnificent bird in its natural environment and being able to photograph it was just the icing on the cake....

Thank you for your interest and all comments would be greatly appreciated
Larry

Monday, December 16, 2013

HALF DOME POWDER


I have decided to write this Blog in order give people a place to learn more about the photograph they are thinking about purchasing, have already purchased or have enjoyed viewing on my website larrypannellphotography.com.

My thoughts are to post a Photograph of the Week and include the location, photographic data and insight on what I was trying to convey with the image. Essentially the story behind the photograph.

I specialize in Landscape, Travel and Fine Art Photography. If you are viewing my blog before you have seen my website please take the time to browse the photographs there as well. I have been fortunate to have traveled many places and you will find photographs of Alaska, Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico, Hawaii, French Polynesia, the South Pacific, Southeast Asia, the Philippines and Vietnam. You may also enjoy my photography of the Western United States and my recent photographs of Yosemite National Park where I currently reside.

Thank you for your interest and all comments would be greatly appreciated

Larry

Enjoy.....


HALF DOME POWDER

 Location: Yosemite National Park
                    California, US
                    Ahwahnee Meadow
When:       October 29, 2013
                    10:45am
Camera:    Canon 60d
                    EF 18-55mm
Shutter      1/30 sec
Aperture   F 29
ISO             100


I have decided to start this series with one of my personal favorites...Half Dome Powder. This photograph as taken just after the first snow of the season in October 2013.

It had snowed most of the night and a few hours during the morning. Just after it stopped around 11 am I walked over to the Ahwahnee Meadow about 100 yards from where I live.

I had been praying all summer long to have the day off during the first snow of the year and as luck would have it my prayers were answered. There is something special about Yosemite anytime of year but to be able to witness the first snow is awe-inspiring. The way the clouds hang along the granite walls and dance in and out of the canyons, the shifting of the light and the appearing and disappearing of Half Dome, El Capitan and the other monoliths that make up Yosemite Valley.

I carefully set up my camera on my tripod and framed the photograph to include the meadow and trees to give scale to the rock walls and surroundings. I checked exposure setting making sure I was at ISO 100 and the maximum depth of field as shutter speed was not a concern when using a tripod. I also double checked my focus and that I had the self timer set at 2 seconds to be sure there was  no camera movement.

I stayed in the meadow and watched as the clouds moved in and out of the frame. I took my time and shot the scene for about forty five minutes. After moving to different areas of the meadow and taking several photographs I decided this specific photograph was what I was looking to accomplish. The meadow was slightly covered by snow and trees had enough snow on them to have definition and contrast. The clouds seemed to hover just above the trees and hug the sheer granite cliffs giving movement to the photograph. Half Dome itself was visible and framed by the low lying clouds and give the picture a central theme.

I love this photograph and hope you enjoy it and the story of how it came about


I returned to the Ahwahnee Meadow after shooting photographs at different locations throughout Yosemite Valley that morning. Here is Half Dome four hours later on the same day. What a difference a few hours can make…

HALF DOME FALL COLORS