As Christmas drew close I decided to take a 3 day trip up to Leavenworth Washington to enjoy the snow and get some winter photography started.

As luck would have it Mother Nature had it start snowing on my arrival and thru the next day.  Here are some shots of the town Christmas Lights and the Wenatchee River. And of course a lot of snow.

Early Morning Frosted Bush Twig

Twilight off the deck of our lodge

Looking East as the sun rises over the Wenatchee River

Reflections of the Mountains in the Wenatchee River 

Oh, Did I mention it was a rustic lodge ;0)

Leavenworth Town Center Christmas Lights.

Twilight across the field adjacent to our lodge. 

Notice the 1st start of the evening

Early Morning Snow covering the trees along the Wenatchee River.

It was a fun (if you could ignore the cold) couple of days of shooting. Except for the night shoot every shot was set for exposure compensation of 1.5/2.0 stops.  This is done to offset the cameras tendency to overexpose due to the abundance of White Snow. 

Hope you enjoy these. Be sure to check out my Etsy Shop.  www.etsy.com/shop/eschossophotography if you're interested in purchasing some fine art photography. 

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Have a great week and Happy New Year.  Don't forget your camera.

Aaron

Sugar Cane Burning

On the way to work in late June I came up to the Honoapiilani Hwy Intersection heading to Lahaina, this is what I saw across the road.  I pulled over and retrieved my Canon 6D and tripod, only to find out that I had the attachment for my travel tripod that didn't fit the Manfrotto I had with me. Returning to the car to put everything away I noticed the flames reflection off the roof of my White (clean) Civic.  Laying the camera on the edge of the roof, I was able to get these shots.

Water Truck driving parallel to the burning field

As the flames intensity grow closer to the hwy vehicles continue along.

Tree & Flames reflection from Cars roof.

 Wider angle of the above shot

This is the last time that this field will ever be planted or burnt as HC&S discontinues sugar cane production on the island of Maui.

Have a great week and don't forget the camera.

Aloha,

Aaron

Water Drops

Practice, Practice, Practice.

Yesterday I broke out the camera's, yes 2 cameras, Canon 6D & 7D and setup a small light box of white 3/8" foam board.

I tried using my laser to trigger the camera, but didn't have any luck as it was too erratic. Sometimes not triggering at all other times doing continuous shots until I'd turn it off. So I reverted to the old fashion method of counting the drops and firing on the 4th drop as I estimated the time of the cone leaving the waters surface.  Probably had a 20% success rate. Thank the lord for digital technology.

I started with clear water to get distance and focus (I still think I can get the drops more defined as I practice) and then added blue coloring and then red.  Some of these are much more dramatic as the blue was mixed by the balls of red hitting the surface. 

I ended up having the best success with my 7D mark II as the 10-22 lens seemed to be easier to focus and reacted better to the available light.  

Blue/Clear drop suspended about a pool of blue water with rings radiating across the surface.

 

Raising water tower from a pool of red & clear water. 

 

Wildlife

As the clouds broke and the sunlight came out to play (i.e. It stopped raining for a couple of hours) I headed out to the Wildlife Refuge to see what waterfowl had arrived (if any) and scope out places to set up for future shoots.

Saw much more than I counted on, although not as many waterfowl as I thought there would be.  Right at the end as the sun was setting it started to sprinkle.

Reflections on the pond

Canadian Honker gliding across the water

Two Teal coming in for a landing

 

Bunnie trying not to be seen

 

All in all it was an enjoyable couple of hours walking the refuge and looking at the wildlife.  I laid along the short and watched/photographed the Canadian Honker for about an hour. She didn't seem to mind me at all, although she did stay at least halfway across the pond from me.  Teal were a surprise as I had just walked up to a new area and as I turned they came streaking by.  Got 3 shots off with only the first being in focus and panned to freeze their flight. Saw a large crane, but it was to far away for a decent shot.  I'm really looking forward to the next couple of months when the geese and ducks really start arriving. 

Heading to Mnt. Rainier on Tues.  Should be some good locations if it's not poring rain.  Have a wonderful week. Enjoy the fall colors and don't forget the camera.

Aloha,

Aaron

Mount Rainier

Aloha:
Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday were Mount Rainier exploration days. Unfortunately the weather wasn't very cooperative (it rained 95% of the time).  Still the fall colors were beautiful and should be even better over the next few weeks. Most are just starting to turn.

We were able to find an abundance of different mushrooms, a couple of nice waterfalls & mountainside landscapes.

Here are 6 different Mushroom types that we found.

 
2 Waterfalls:

Tree embracing Mountain Peak

Starting Fall Colors

Have a wonderful week, and don't forget the camera
Aloha
Aaron

Ocean Shore Birds

As the weather turns to fall, and right to winter in WA, I look forward to a lot of Aviary photography of the next few months. Early morning (4am) on Tues I heard my first flight of geese coming thru. Will have to head out to the Wildlife Refuge soon.

Last Saturday we took a trip out to the coast to visit my Mother and it was such a nice day decided to walk one of the paths along the bay. Couldn't resist taking some shots of the birds flying by.  Ravens and Seagulls were the most prevalent. I learning that it can be a challenge trying to focus and track a flying bird, but am enjoying it immensely. Here are a few that I've processed so far.

The Raven flying close above the water is one of my 1st attempts at using motion blur in the post processing.  Be sure to let me know your thoughts.

 Raven in flight

  Raven at rest

 Gliding Seagull

 Seagull Reflection

 Another Gliding Seagull

As you can see from these photos the sky was fairly cloudless, but a beautiful blue against the Gray/White Seagulls. 

Off to Mnt. Rainier for 2 nights next week. Should have some good fall colors, waterfalls and hopefully some wildlife to share next weekend.

Have a wonderful week and don't forget the camera.

Aloha,

Aaron

Elma. WA Wildlife Refuge

After 20 years with Maui Jim Sunglasses on Aug 15th I retired to pursue my passion for photography.  On Aug 19th I moved from Maui to Washington State.  My Corporate Gifts Ohana gifted me with a new Canon 400mm lens.  For the last 4 days as we unpacked our container and moved 90% of our belongings into a storage unit I have stared at the box and wished I had it on my 6D and in my hands.  Today I realized this dream.

I visited the Elma Wildlife Refuge, which is a wetlands area consisting of 5 separate ponds and adjoining lands. A 1 mile walk past 2 of the ponds yielded these photos.    

Bird sitting in Tree

 

Duck floating in one of the 5 ponds around the refuge

 

Rabbit caught on one of the trails through the refuge

 

Flower blooming on a wilting water Lillie reflecting in the pond

 

Beautiful Fireweed blossoms along a trail in the Wildlife Refuge

 

Hope you had a wonderful weekend and remembered to take you camera.

Aloha

Aaron

Wildlife Refuge

Geese and Ducks are starting their migration into the area, so went to the refuge to see if any where in the area yet. Couple of ducks, but no geese yet.  Did see a coyote, but was to far off (and running to fast) to get a good picture. Did get another nice shot of blooming water lilie and nice reflection shot off the pond.  Enjoy.

Pond Reflection

Water Lilie

 

Sunset

Will be interesting to see what wildlife appears over the next couple of months. 

Have a great rest of the week. Don't forget your camera!

Mahalo

Aaron

Peoria Illinois

Aloha 

It's been a few weeks since I posted anything, for which I apologize.  I've tried to be consistent in my postings, but life has just gotten in the way. I was laid up with emergency surgery in June and then dealing with a major move. Needles to say photography ended up being set aside. My photo shoots will still be limited for the next few weeks, but I did manage to get a hour or so in on a recent trip to Peoria, IL 

This is a barn I have visited 4 times over the last 6 years. Some of you my remember my HDR of the old farm trailer that was sitting inside this barn. I had intended to shoot it again, but they have finally removed it. So instead we have a couple of shots of the barn and soy bean field as well as a couple of closeup shots of some amorous bugs 😏

Barn

Barn access road

 

Bugs on field plant

 

Will be posting more regularly starting mid September. Enjoy your weekend & Don't forget the camera

Aloha

Aaron

Cane Burning

On the way to work yesterday morning as I came up to the Honoapiilani Hwy Intersection, this is what I found. At one point the smoke was so thick I could not see across the street. As 144 years of Sugar Cane production comes to an end. Fewer and fewer green fields of Sugar Cane are visible across the Valley Isle of Maui.

Water Truck driving parallel to the burning field

 Intense. As the flames intensity grows the wind increases as well

 Reflections from my car's roof

 As the flames increase vehicles continue down the Hwy.

A very unique experience. In 20 years living on Maui, I had never been at a cane burning and this is my 3rd field burning in the last month. So glad that I have been able to capture these images that will never be experienced again in Maui.

Have a great week and don't forget the Camera.

Aloha 

Aaron

The last few nights we've had some spectacular sunsets. So last night I decided to go sit on the beach about an hour before sunset and enjoy the beach and see what the sunset would be like. Unfortunely it wasn't as great as the nights before, but still a nice sunset.
Here are 3 sunsets taken from the within 10' of the same location. These were all taken hand held with a Canon 6D, 24-70mm f2.8 ISO 100, f22.  These really show how much and how quickly light and color can change. These were all taken with 45 minutes of each other.

 

 

 

Have a wonderful week & don't forget the camera.

Aloha,

Aaron