2013 was a great year for me as an artist. It was one of discovery and of learning. It was one of new friends in the business and one of great travel. Among all the new things I learned in 2013, I came to realize my love for photographing at night. While I've always been a night enthusiast, I've never dedicated so much time as I did in 2013 to exploring the photographic possibilities once the sun has gone down.
Where 2012 was a year of exploring wildlife and nature in places like Masai Mara in Kenya or Costa Rica; 2013 was the year of photographing the night sky. And it was a wonderful year to say the least.
I've partnered with a handful of wonderful night photographers from around Los Angeles and together we spent hours traveling California, New Mexico, and Nevada in hopes of capturing the perfect night sky. I made great new friends and have seen places I've always wanted to visit.
As I go into 2014, I've discovered time lapse photography. And I will say. I'm hooked. It is a steep learning curve to perfect, but that is my goal in 2014. It's quickly grown to be my new passion.
So here we go...hope you enjoy these images as much as I enjoyed photographing them! My new love for night photography might be a little obvious....:-) -cg
#10-- El Salvador.
Siete Cascadas/The Seven Waterfalls
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| "The Seven Waterfalls" Canon 5D Mark iii 16-35mm Canon L ii 15 Secs F-11 100ISO |
This image is number 10 on my list. It makes my Top 10 because of it's beauty, and the wonderful memories this trip created for me. In May, I traveled to photograph the country of El Salvador. To my surprise, the country was absolutely beautiful, safe, and its people were very inviting. It was a very memorable trip; one I'm obligated to do again soon to complete the project I'm currently working on there. This image of The Seven Waterfalls is just a peek of the many natural falls found within this tiny country.
It's almost as if the jungle is crying. In a series of waterfalls that cascade down a very large mountain within the jungle, this image was the third waterfall of the bunch. Hiking there took about 15 minutes from the main road along its sister waterfalls that were just as awe inspiring.
It was raining while I took this photo. Standing in the rain capturing nature is a wonderful feeling....I look forward to returning soon!
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#9--Clouds at 11pm in New Mexico
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| "Church" 17 images stacked F-2.8 3 Seconds @ 1000ISO (stacked) |
In September, my brother and I spent a couple nights photographing an old church (1883) on a friend's ranch in New Mexico. It was such a fun night just exploring the countryside with my brother and teaching him the mechanics of night photography. With his help, I was able to capture this image of the cloud movement over a full moon night over the church.
It was so bright out with a full moon, and the light pollution is so low in New Mexico, a standard 30 second exposure can look remarkably close to a daytime photo. This image is actually a stack of seventeen 3-second exposures images placed on top of each other with star stacking software. You can actually see the star trails behind the clouds. I did not know this effect would come out so remarkable until I experimented with it. It's a step in a different direction for me and struck me as unique. For this reason, it's number 9 on my list.
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#8--Startrails over El Matador Beach
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| "El Matador" 48 images stacked 30 seconds F-2.8 1600ISO |
Yes, another night photo. What can I say...2013 was the year of night photography. El Matador Beach is one of the most photographed beaches in Southern California. But on this night, the night of my 33rd birthday, I set out to capture El Matador Beach in a fashion I've never seen before.
So me and a couple of my fellow photographer buddies set out to spend the late evening looking for that unique shot of El Matador. This is what I came up with. It is a series of 48 images stacked to capture the star trails. They are 30 second exposures.
It's one of my favorite images of 2013 simply because I don't believe I've ever seen one like this taken at El Matador Beach. I've made several night photo trips since then but for some reason this image always stuck out in my mind. Despite the airplanes flying thru the frame I still list this as one of my favorites.
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#7- Yosemite E-Session. (tie)
Okay...so I'm going to cheat a little on this one. It's a tie. This past August I had the privilege of photographing my younger brother and his fiance at Yosemite National Park. It was a fantastic experience not only because the session meant a lot for me, but also because they insisted on having their photos taken within my favorite National Park.
The first image is Tony and Valerie in the Merced River. It is a 1.5 second exposure that required them to stand very still. I convinced them (they didn't need much convincing) to take their shoes off and sit on the two rocks within the river. They did it and we nailed the shot on the very first attempt. This is one of my favorite E-Session portraits I've taken in a very long time. Not only because it's my brother but also because it's at one of my favorite locations to shoot within the park.
My only regret is not seeing Half Dome or El Capitan light up at sunset as a large fire fogged up the sky with smoke. Regardless, it stands in a class by itself in my opinion......
The second image is a tie with my river shot. I fell in love with the shot when it happened. It's simply the fact that we were lined up at the perfect place to capture the light rays from the sun before it dipped beneath the mountains. While we did plan to be in this meadow at sunset in hopes of getting those famous light rays, I never thought that it would actually happen. I remember this exact moment as we hurried to get the shot. Light rays were beaming everywhere....:-)
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#6- Love at Zuma Beach
Sometimes the light just happens. I photographed Blake and Ginger's beach wedding at The Sunset on Zuma Beach in Malibu. Of the weddings I shoot over the course of the year, there is always one sunset shot that just sticks out to me. This is it.
I remember speaking with the bride on her wedding day as the rain clouds moved through Malibu. I could sense the nerves in her as I told her that she not need worry as the sunset would be amazing. I'm glad I was right because it cleared up just in time for the wedding and we were blessed with this amazing light at sunset.
Before capturing this image I positioned my assistant with a studio light (I soon hope to be patented) from above. The original plan was to photograph Blake dipping his bride. But at the last minute I told Ginger to jump into his arms. She looked at me not knowing what I meant. So I just yelled..."kiss him!" This is what she did....jumped right into his arms and kissed him. And so this image came to be.
This is actually an image straight out of the camera. I needed to do nothing to it in post production as it just worked. The colors in the sunset came out so vibrant and worthy of being in my Top 10 of the year.
Tomorrow, I plan to post my Top 5 Images of 2013.....-cg
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