-
Nature Photography: Chasing the View
I am just going to open with this video. Sorry about the camera shake. I’d suggest watching it with the volume on. You’ll hear how tired I was before reaching this view. I knew this hike was going to be difficult but I hadn’t expected stretches of trails that could scarcely be called walkable paths. At one point, I lost the next trail marker. I followed a path that looked like a path but I couldn’t see the next marker. I found it a few minutes later, up the side of a mountain. It’s technically a trail but it’s difficult to spot from below. This is the kind of trail…
-
The Ruins of Hudson Highlands
She used to hunt for silence like you would burried treasure. Now, the forest was quiet. The ruins no longer spoke to her. She thought she’d miss the voices. She didn’t. She missed the stories. …. Even before COVID, I avoided heavily trafficked trails. I hike because I want to be away from people. And, it’s difficult to take good photos if a lot of people are in the way. Adobe Photoshop’s Content-Aware tool has gotten better at removing people from photos but I’d rather not rely on that. I made an exception this weekend because I wanted to the ruins in Hudson Highlands State Park. Should’vet gone during…
-
Life Lessons While Hiking to Bull Hill/Mt. Taurus Overlook
Don’t look at someone on top of the mountain and forget they had to climb to get there. Thoughts like that kept crossing my mind as I hiked up Mt. Taurus/Bull Hill near Cold Spring, NY. Living in NY for 11 years, the crowds and the closeness are starting to get to me. More often, I spend my weekends hiking the Hudson Valley. I haven’t done it in months because everything was closed. Since NY is opening, so are the trails. But COVID isn’t gone. I had to be careful. I left my apartment earlier than usual to avoid any crowds on public transportation. I chose a trail said to…
-
Creating “To Other Worlds'” Print Cover, With Design Tips for Indie Authors
I generally don’t have a preference for book format. Ebook, print, audio, I don’t particularly care. I just like books. But, there is a special kind of feeling when I’ve finished the print cover for my book. Maybe it’s because seeing the full front and back cover makes it seem real. But, designing a print cover is something special, in a good and slightly annoying way. Here’s To Other Worlds’ cover for posting online: Since I don’t want the headache of trying to make a photo book look pretty as an ebook, To Other Worlds will be only available as a hardback. Maybe, eventually, I’ll look into turning it into an…
-
Story and Photos: Alone in the Sky
We lived in the clouds. I think, at some point, I had what humans called friends and family but they stayed long enough to teach me how to survive alone and get my assignment. I’ve been on this island for longer than I remember. I could find the exact amount of years I’ve been up here but why would I want to? We’re watching but for what, no one would tell me. I don’t know exactly what you’d call us or where we came from. My education didn’t include that information. I observed and reported on the humans in my area. Clouds shifted and covered the town below. Moving that…
-
Travel Photography: Changing Perspectives in Waimea Canyon
You can stand in front of a beautiful scene and be bored photographing it. That happens, a lot, at least for me, when I’m in a touristy place. Brooklyn Bridge is nice but I’d rather shoot something else. Something that hasn’t been photographed millions of times. It’s also super annoying when you can’t get a good people-free shot. On top of that, fences often limit you to a certain perspective. When I want to Waimea Canyon in Hawaii, we were perched on top of the canyon. I don’t have a wide-angle or telephoto lens so my shots were further limited. After taking some landscape shots, I was bored. The scene…
-
Behind the Scenes: Creating a Fantasy Photography Book
Nothing like a new project to get your inspiration moving. After 13 books and life not turning out anywhere near the way I expected, I started to realize I was slowly giving up on writing. Not consciously, of course. Most days, I just didn’t feel like working on a story or blogging. I still don’t actually. It’s not just the writing side of life that’s a bit depressing. Not being able to afford basic things gets old. People like to romanticize the starving artist. Those people clearly have never been one. All of that just gets to you. But, then I reminded myself that things weren’t going to change if…
-
What Is Fantasy Photography?
Ever come across a scene that looks straight out of a fantasy book? I guess that may be different for everyone. From what I’ve seen, most see it as photos of people dressed as elves, royalty, fairies or other fantasy characters or people being digitally altered to look like mythical creatures. Here are some examples: This Photographer Builds Her Fantasy Worlds by Hand, No Photoshop Ethereal Portraits of Women Who Look Like They’re Straight Out of a Fairy Tale I didn’t know that until I did some research. I had my own definition of fantasy photography. Quaint houses surrounded by nature, making you think you’re about to step into another…
