Sunrise on Diamond Beach
Sunrise on Diamond Beach in Iceland, complete with flowing water and massive chunks of glacial ice. A dream come true for sure!
Diamond Beach is the famous beach in Iceland where all these chunks of ice lay about, and photographers like myself run around taking photos and screaming with excitement. Well, ok maybe I was the only one screaming, but still. It’s exciting.
We got up early one morning to make sure we were in place for sunrise, though thankfully sunrise was around 9:30am this time of year. Regardless, I was up around 6am to get dressed and fed, and we left by 7:30am or something like that. It was maybe a 30 minute drive, and when we arrived it was still relatively dark and of course we had the beach to ourselves. The exploring began.
I wandered around, taking stock of these ice chunks and trying to find a composition that I liked. While there were a lot of chunks of ice on the beach, based on the tide it was obvious that most of them would never get touched by a wave - and let’s face it, we were all going for those cool shots of water moving around these ice chunks.
So many of us ended up photographing this same huge chunk, albeit from slightly different angles. Regardless, I was very pleased to be standing there in the first place, capturing these two photos which I consider my best from that outing. Having seen so many shots from this place in the past, it was quite literally a dream come true to be standing there taking my own.
Skulking about in London
Lovely long exposure work from lovely London…
I love to just wander the streets of London. It’s my favorite city and I always find beautiful things to aim the camera towards. This was one of those evenings. I was all over the place and whenever I see a busy street (at every turn in London LOL), I like to set up the tripod for a long exposure and capture some passing cars.
A stunning Welsh sunset
A stunning sunset in lovely Conwy, Wales…
On my first night in Wales, I was treated to a really beautiful sunset. This was in Conwy, looking over the castle and enjoying the trip. I captured this using my 10 stop filter, in order to allow those clouds to streak across the sky.
The Tower Bridge
A long exposure of the Tower Bridge in London…
I’m excited to return to London really soon! London has been my favorite city for a long time, and I will return soon and wander those beautiful streets once again. I captured this on my last visit. I put on my 10 stop filter and took a long exposure here of the Tower Bridge. That long exposure helped smooth out the choppy water of the River Thames and gave it a nice, peaceful look.
The Moulin Rouge
A long exposure taken at the Moulin Rouge in Paris…
Such a great spot for night photography! We were in Paris and sorta near this part of town one evening, and I just had to pop over here and get some long exposures of the spinning wheel at the Moulin Rouge. It’s a colorful part of the city and one worth exploring. Then again, the whole city is just amazing. In other words, if you are planning a trip here, be sure you make it a long one! ;-)
Hallstatt
The lovely, picturesque village of Hallstatt, Austria - such a beauty!
One of the most beautiful little villages I have ever visited, Hallstatt sits aside this gorgeous lake and is surrounded by towering mountains. It’s a photographic dream come true for me to stand there and take some shots. I’ve wanted to visit for years and finally was able to do so when we were in Germany last year. Hallstatt is in Austria, sort of south of Salzburg - roughly an hour+ drive away. It was well worth it though and I’m quite happy how this long exposure turned out as well!
Nights on the bridge
A long exposure in London wherein I captured the light trails of a passing boat…
This was a fun little shot. I was taking a long exposure of the Millennium Bridge in London with St Paul’s Cathedral in the background. During the shot a boat passed by, and I was able to capture it’s light trails, which you can see at the bottom of the frame. Kind of a fun accident!
In the woods of Montana
A long exposure of a creek running through the woods in Montana…
I don’t even remember where in Montana we were for this. I do know I heard a stream, so I wandered into the woods to find it, and I walked away with some nice shots. How’s that for a story? ;-)
Moraine Lake
The dramatic beauty of Moraine Lake in the Canadian Rockies…
It’s just hard to think of a place more beautiful than Moraine Lake.
When we visited the Canadian Rockies, I spent two sunsets in a row here at Moraine Lake. It’s just so beautiful that even though my first sunset was gorgeous and I loved my photos, I wanted to return just to see and shoot it some more. It’s that gorgeous. You just sort of stand there in awe at the incredible natural beauty. I don’t often get the chance to shoot landscapes, and rarely do I get to see ones that are this stunning. It’s a real treat. If you are anywhere near it, please go see it.
The best place to shoot sunset in Austin
Looking out over the 360 Bridge at sunset - my favorite sunset spot in Austin!
I just love shooting sunset at the Loop 360 Bridge - it's a great view! I head over here a LOT to shoot the sunset, and always walk away happy about it. The view is fabulous, being elevated and all that, plus you have the gorgeous Pennybacker Bridge and even passing traffic to shoot. Yes, traffic can be a good thing, at least if you are shooting long exposures. :-)
That lovely Venetian light
A lovely sunset in Venice with some gondolas for good measure :-)
Venice is stunning, and oh so photogenic. Everything about it just screams to take a photo. I wandered a bit aimlessly there for several days, and never grew tired of it. You always come across a canal somewhere and there are bridges and gondolas everywhere. One evening at sunset I found myself here, staring at these lovely gondolas. So I set up for a long exposure, focused on the distance chapel, and knowing that the gondolas would move around a bit. I hoped it would look cool, and I feel like it came out exactly how I wanted it to.
Night at Moulin Rouge
A long exposure from the Moulin Rouge in Paris, France…..such a gorgeous city and a gorgeous location for photography!
Ah, lovely Paris at night! So gorgeous there!
I love Paris as much as the next person does - maybe more. I have so many photos from there and even the bad ones are beautiful in some way...that's just Paris. It's all gorgeous. One night while there on my last visit I headed over to the Moulin Rouge. I was hoping to get a long exposure of it because I know the windmill blades turn, so I thought if I could get it right it would be a nice big blur...and it worked great!
Afternoons at the Duomo
A long exposure taken one afternoon in front of the Duomo in Milan, Italy…
The Duomo in Milan, Italy is amazing!
I'm a fan of European cathedrals, because they are usually pretty gorgeous, large and architecturally interesting. The Duomo in Milan is no exception. The facade is stunning and you can of course take tours inside. You can also get on the roof which is a pretty amazing experience, and well worth it. We only spent a couple of days in Milan but it's a city that I would love to return to for further exploration.
This photo is a long exposure taken with my 10 stop filter, which is why the clouds appear to be streaking across the sky. It was about a 2 minute exposure. I love using the 10 stop filter for these sorts of scenes. You get that gorgeous sky and many of the people ghost out of the image. I think it makes for some interesting results. Edited and converted to monochrome in Luminar (or course).
Golden hour at Haystack Rock
A long exposure late one afternoon along the Oregon coast…
Ah, the beauty of the Oregon coast!
I so love the coastline of Oregon - it's my favorite spot in the US. I've visited the little town of Cannon Beach so many times that I have lost count, and of course that also means that I have a TON of photos of Haystack Rock. How can you NOT photograph that thing??
This photo is from our last visit there, which was last summer (sadly, coming up on a year now). We spent about 10 days in this area and I was snapping away quite happily. One afternoon I decided to try something a little different though, and went with a long exposure using my 10 stop filter. Using that filter allowed me to really drag the shutter here, getting a total exposure time on this one of 34 seconds.
This also gave me the benefit of those streaking clouds and that silky smooth water, two things that I love capturing when using filters like the 10 stop. If you don't have a set, give it a try, it's quite fun!
Sunset in Florence
A gorgeous sunset in Firenze...
Ah, I sure miss lovely Italy!
I love Italy, it's really an amazing country and the people, food and of course scenery are all fabulous. On our trip there, we spent just over a week in Florence. We explored it high and low and of course I took photographs all along the way.
On several evenings I found myself out shooting sunset, and in today's shot this was from a bridge over the River Arno, going right through the middle of town. The sunset light was beautiful and I used my 10 stop filter to get a long exposure, which smoothed out the water and clouds.