Category: Photography

Lighthouse Beach Old Pier

August 21, 2010
Great Lakes ProjectLake MichiganLighthouse BeachLighthouse Beach PierPhotographyRichard Mack Photography

Last night I was hoping to shoot from the top of Grosse Pointe Lighthouse but alas, the weather moved in and it was not to be. Yet, because the week has been filled with detailed work I really wanted to get out and shoot, so I headed down to Lighthouse Beach anyway to one of my favorite places the old pier at the end of the beach. I went just before sunset, which sets behind you in this case, to get the dusk look which I have done before. One thing I wanted to do was shoot basically the same shot I’ve done before so I have many years worth of images showing the rise and fall of the lake levels – which are currently high it seems to me.

Of course as I pulled out my camera a light sprinkle began. Figures. Hence the reason I am not at the top of the lighthouse. After shooting my “standard” shot, with the water in motion I began to play. I’ve talked before about getting out of your comfort zone and doing something slightly different than what you’ve done before.

I zoomed in closer to the end of the old stumps out in the water and began a series of images with the sky and pier in different positions. Each exposure was between 8 and 30 seconds which gives you the whispy look to the water. Even though there was a heavy overcast the clouds did add to the shots.

As darkness fell further I moved in even closer to just a few of the piers old stumps and made a few final exposures, the last one being 8 minutes long (top image). Now the water looks like mist or clouds themselves. I was very happy with the results and hope they will make the final cut in my next book 20% on all five of the Great Lakes.

One final note for those interested, yes I shot them all in RAW, always shoot RAW. The color balance started at 5500 but changed over the evening until it was 8000 degrees Kelvin. I know I could have changed this in Photoshop but I like to do as much in camera as possible. By the time I was done shooting it was just over 45 minutes after sunset. I was glad I was able to get out and shoot again. It always seems like it’s been too long when I finally get out there. I’m hoping Monday to get to the top of the Lighthouse and shoot the shot for the city of Evanston. Besides, it’s the perfect night to shoot the full moon rising!

Get out there!

Peace,

Richard

Henri Cartier-Bresson at Chicago Art Institute

August 10, 2010
PhotographyPhotography Masters

 

As a photographer and also a publisher of fine art photography books I look at many things going on around our part of the world here in the Midwest which have interest in the art world. There is currently a wonderful exhibit of Herni Cartier-Bresson’s work at the Chicago Art Institute through October. I for one love his work, and the fact that he worked almost exclusively in 35mm, my particular choice of formats, even for those landscapes I am known for.

Here’s a great article from the Chicago Tribune today about the exhibit:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-08-08/entertainment/ct-ae-0808-henri-cartier-bresson-20100808_1_henri-cartier-bresson-posthumous-exhibit-art-institute

For more on Henri Cartier-Bresson and the exhibition visit the Art Institutes website at:

http://www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/exhibition/cartierbresson

I hope you can all get down to it before they close!

Peace, Richard

An Hour on Clingmans Dome

October 8, 2009
book signingsGreat Smoky Mountains BookNature Photography AwardPhotographySmoky Mountain National ParkSmoky MountainsSmoky Mountains Book
2 Comments

Firs & Sunset, Clingmans Dome 

This past weekend I had the pleasure of being in Great Smoky Mountains National Park to do two book signing events at Sugarlands and Cades Cove Visitor Centers. It is always fun to be down there and meet folks coming into the park and get reactions to the book first hand. I have some great notes from a few of those who have taken the book home and written me about how much they love the book. I am always humbled by their notes. This past weekend I also ended up giving some advice on where to go to shoot the sunset in the park to three gentlemen who had come for the weekend to shoot some images. I mentioned that on this night they could go up to Clingmans Dome and get two very different shots, one of the full moon rising in the east and then turn to the west and photograph the ridges of mountains in the sunset. I confessed I was going to try and head someplace else to shoot the full moon rising, since I had shot it from Clingmans Dome before – and I showed them the pages in the book. But I confessed if it didn’t work I might see them up there.

 

Well, as it turns out, the location I thought might work looked a bit to far to the southeast and ridges blocked where the moon was going to come up at 81º in the east. So I eventually headed up to Clingmans Dome and ran into these gents and we ended up shooting together, along with the dozens of others up there that cold, cold evening. I was too late for the moon rise, but got there to shoot the end of the sunset. It is always fun to see how you can have 4-5 folks within feet of each other and we all get different results and see the shots differently. It was also fun to give them some advice on the techniques I use to achieve some of the my images and how late into the darkness I end up shooting, usually being the last to leave an area in total darkness.

 

All three it turns out have studio’s down south but don’t do nature photography. I got a nice note back from one of them who it turns out is the photographer for the woman’s roller derby team in Atlanta – who knew they still had roller derby? He’s got some nice shots of them. Ironically, none of them bought the book – what’s up with that? – but we all had a great time anyway! In his note he said they all decided to come back often to shoot in the park, so maybe the next time I’m there over Halloween weekend I’ll run into them again.

 

Sunset, Clingmans Dome

 

To see more from this hour of shooting on Clingmans Dome use this link: Clingmans Dome Sunset

 

Cheers!

Richard