The final roadtrip home: Montréal to Jax - Part 2

Musining MI is a nice small town. In the October cold rain, the streets were quiet. I could see this place hustling during the heat of the summer, but now it was bordering on total desertion with just a few locals tending to their business. One thing about cold, rainy, off season days...the parks should be empty! We planned on two days at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, day 1 exploring the west side and day 2 driving over to the east. One of the main roads through the park was closed, so we needed to make a big loop to get to the other end.

   

The first day was a bit ridiculous. Winds at 30-40 mph on the lakefront blowing cold rain. I've shot in the drizzle before but this was insane. There were periods of reprieve. In fact seriously, I find changing weather conditions more productive than bright cloudless days. Day 2 the rain let up but the wind did not rest. At Sable Falls we had a chance meeting with Nancy Rotenberg...what a nice surprise. Go figure, what are the chances? Nancy's work is very influential in my development and I experienced one of her great workshops at the Adirondack Photo Institute.

 

Michigan UP and Pictured Rocks gallery.

From Musining, we took H13 south to Lake Michigan, then east on H2 towards Mackinaw City and hook up with M119 (the famous Tunnel of Trees) between Petosky and Harbor Springs. Our goal was to reach Flint MI by dark. The rain seemed to follow us as we stayed slightly ahead of it. Along H13 we took a small side road which turned into an ATV trail. Some really nice foliage but I was wondering what we would do if an oncoming vehicle approached us...there was no room to turn around. After about a mile of getting totally lost we were deep in the Hiawatha Forest and  decided to backtrack and eventually found our way out.

  

From here H13 runs into Lake Michigan. Going west on 2 to Manistique we stopped at the lighthouse, and then onwards to the Mackinac Bridge. There is a nice visitor's center at the base of the bridge on the south end, so we stopped for some photos. Then onwards to find M119. It's a bit of a haul to get to on backroads but worth it. Everything was still green and lush, the trees literally formed a tunnel. Traffic was somewhat heavy and we did not stop. The road is primarily residential and developed. We got to Flint well after sundown. From Flint it was on to Columbus OH.

Makinac Bridge gallery.

The final roadtrip home: Montréal to Jax - Part 3

Sometimes I like taking the road less traveled. Interstates are nice but you can't really see or experience America sandwiched in between 2 tractor-trailers and eating at Cracker Barrel. Driving through Ontario and then Michigan was actually enlightening, to see the farms, the small towns, and the locals going about their day, totally separated from the hustle and bustle of the city. Well, the rain finally let up...lets see it's been 5 days of downpour now. We took a "shortcut" to get from Flint to Columbus, at least that's what I was told. We passed an old drive in movie that I now wish I had stopped to photograph. Plenty of old gas stations, barns, and shops. The highlight of our stay was meeting Emma our grand-niece. As you can see she is cute as a button and we spent plenty of time getting some good pictures.

   

We left Columbus and headed to Canaan Valley, WV...yahoo! I was familiar with this place when I attended the very first NANPA Regional event held here in May 2006 (my gallery from this event). The foliage was in good form, and the weather...well it seemed like the rain had caught up with us. We felt like we were jinxed, out comes the camera, down comes the rain. As you can see the overcast skies worked in our favor. I would rather dodge the raindrops than deal with the full sun. We debated staying one more day since I missed the morning fog in the valley. I have a tough time catching that fog! We decided to head out per schedule, one more night in Cornelius, NC and then home at last.

   

Canaan Valley Autumn gallery.

Autumn in Québec

To experience autumn in Québec is, well, to experience autumn. In the competition for color, scenic beauty, and the overall ambiance of the season, the Laurentian Mountains really know how to throw a party. I've been up here for 3 years and yet to find the time or conditions to do justice to the change of the seasons here. That means I will just have to come back. I had the privilege of staying with my dear friend and co-worker at his cabin in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts. He treated me to photography at Lac Méduse and gourmet dinner...what more can one ask for? It's lovely in the mountains and that's why so many Montréalers have a place "up north." The next day I drove through the Parc National du Mont-Tremblant. In the winter this is a huge ski resort, in the summer a mecca for camping and hiking. I will miss the access to such wonderful places to photograph and wonderful friends to share these times.

Québec/Ontario Autumn gallery.

Far above Cayuga's waters...

Yes I graduated from Cornell in 1976 and getting back to campus is always somewhat of a rejuvenating journey back to the past. Our son's girfriend's brother is attending the engineering school so we made a trip over to visit with all of them. Cornell has a beautiful campus, and there were a lot of changes (hadn't been back there in almost 10 years). But some things never change...like the clock tower, the Straight, and the gorges. We explored the Cornell Plantations for the first time. For the 5 years I was there I never went. And we made it out to Treman State Park one of our favorites.

 

Cornell University gallery.

  

Robert H. Treman Park gallery.

We took a side trip to Corning NY home of Corning glass and the museum. Again this is a place we never visited in our time up here. The exploring and discovery never stops, nor should it.

 

Corning Museum of Glass gallery.

Final days in Montréal

My official "day job" retirement date has been set to Sept 1, so I will be saying goodbye to all my friends in this wonderful city, and regretful for all the pictures I never got around to taking. Montréal is an optimum location for photography and I don't think I took advantage of it. I'm hoping that it will take a few months to sell my condo so I will have a chance to get final shots in. So the big lesson for me is to always be in "visitor" mode when you are on location, and get the shots you want because who knows what will happen and when you will return. I will always be thankful for the opportunity for living here and the images I was able to make. With all of this in mind my boss took me to the Laval Centre de la Nature which is right around the corner from our office. Actually we got lost getting there so we missed the sunrise, but this is a bit of an oasis in the middle of a city. We had a lot of fun testing out his new Nikon D300 and being late for work.

The next day I did my farewell visit to the Jardin Botanique de Montréal, one of my favorite places of all time. I will really miss being able to escape to this incredible place. My goal was to document as many of the plants and flowers as I could, but I was never able to dedicate myself to working through this.

Then I took some interior shots of my condo for the realtor. Finally got some use out of my TS 24mm lens.

 

  

Shenandoah National Park

 On our annual car migration from Jacksonville to Montréal we stopped first in Roanoke, VA and the next morning drove through the Shenandoah NP on our way up to PA. This park is located on the north end of the Blue Ridge Parkway and consists of a 105 mile drive through the park with various lookout points and visitor centers along the way. I think it took us about 3 hours to make the drive, stopping to take in a sandwich and to take in a Visitor’s Center.  

The mountain-laurel were in bloom and made for a nice contrast in the wooded areas. Along the roadside the plants were profuse in some areas and very beautiful.

NANPA Member Slideshow

I was once again fortunate enough to be able to present at the Member's Slideshow. This is a fun event and you get to meet some great people, like Artie Morris who was also a presenter. Here was my written presentation (what got me in) but I managed to change it as the stage fright took over. The theme of the show was "Luck." 9 Habits of Highly Lucky Photographers

How many of you feel that all your good images are the result of luck? So that many of you have good images?

I’m convinced that ALL of my good images are the result of luck. But luck doesn’t have to mean accident or chance.

Here’s a quote by Ray Kroc:  “Luck is a dividend of sweat…the more you sweat, the luckier you get” Sweat, work, whatever you want to call it...basically you need to get out there and do something in order to get the shot. I want to share with you my own “Habits of Luck” based on 9 memorable images.

1.      Go out when it’s cold. Montréal Botanical Gardens, 30 degrees, windy, and wet. What’s a boy from FL doing in a place like this? It had been cold and the ponds were freezing, what were the chances of seeing this if I had listened to reason?

2.      Go out when there’s rain. Pre-dawn forecast, rain, cold – a sure prescription for sleeping in. Not according to Brenda Tharp, “We came here to shoot not sleep in!” If not for that kind of loving encouragement I would have missed the cloud show in Camden Harbor after the rain cleared.

3.      Stop the car. I was in Mill Valley on the road to Muir Woods. How many times do you just drive and say to yourself, “Ooo, nice shot, can’t stop, nice shot, can’t stop, nice shot. Well you got to STOP.  I pulled over and set up the tripod. Then I stayed and just enjoyed the view.

4.      Look down and listen. Ok, I spend a lot of time looking at the ground but not “hearing” what is there. One fern kept whispering to me, “look at me, look at me” and I’m glad I did.

5.      Look up and find something. Typically I don’t walk in the woods looking up at the trees. I tend to bump into a lot of things. But something made me look up and I found the beginnings of autumn.

6.      Never put your camera away. Don’t you hate those people in a group that can’t seem to put their camera away when it’s time to go? But there’s something about leaving that relaxes your mind, so be ready if something appears.

7.      Make the best of where you are. It was February 2005 and lucky me, a sales meeting in …Las Vegas. It so happened that was the time the wild flowers went crazy in Death Valley, what an orgy of color!

8.      Be nice to your neighbor. When you are nice to your neighbors, they tend to bring you things to photograph. Wow!

9.      Play. Nancy Rotenberg was trying to get us all in touch with our feelings and I wasn’t getting it. Nancy I’m still working on it! Shooting with my eyes closed and waving my camera around just did not make sense. See what happens when you just play?

 I’ll close with a quote by Wayne Gretzky (wasn’t he a Canadian sports photographer?) “You miss 100% of the shots you never take”

Friends…Work, sweat, and get lucky. Make it a habit. Thank you.

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It occurred to me that my image posts were repetitive..."hey I've seen those images before..." Well that goes to show:

a) I don't have a lot of good stuff b) I'm lazy and don't like processing new stuff c) It's all part of the plan to get the most from what you've got