Heavy Weather at Heceta HeadStorm lashing the coast
Lighthouse steadfast on the rocks
Guiding seafarers
The title is "Heavy Weather at Heceta Head"
And the caption is:
Storm lashing the coast
Lighthouse steadfast on the rocks
Guiding seafarers
It was a dark, rainy and stormy late afternoon when I drove up on this scene on Highway 101 on the Oregon Coast. There was a small pullout where I could get off the highway and stop. Not wanting to stand in the rain long, I quickly made a couple of exposures and this was the result.
This is Heceta Head Lighthouse, and I understand it is now also a bed and breakfast.
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The title of this image is Yaquina Lighthouse.
The caption is:
Dangerous coastline
A brightly shining beacon
Ships arriving safe
Yaquina Head Lighthouse is located at Newport, Oregon, and I created the image a few weeks ago during the Julia Anna Gosporadou Oregon Coast workshop. While most people in the workshop, including me, were taking very nice photos of the lighthouse from below, on the rocky and stormy beach, or from a particularly good vantage point adjacent to the lighthouse, I decided to climb a nearby hill and make the image with a long lens. This image was the result. In addition to the lighthouse, sea and sky the design of the sidewalk around the lighthouse is prominent.
This was a long exposure to create the smooth sea. There isn't much character in the sky because of overcast conditions. In post processing I added textures to give it a softer appearance.
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This image is titled Mission Oak, and the caption is:
Mission San José
Dignified oak spreads its arms
Moody skies look on
It is an image of Mission San José, in San Antonio, Texas and is part of my ongoing San Antonio Missions project. There are five missions in San Antonio along the San Antonio River, spaced about 1 to 2 miles apart. The five missions are a UNESCO World Heritage site. The northernmost of the missions is The Alamo, formerly known as Misión San Antonio de Padua, and later as Misión San Antonio de Valero. It is located in the center of downtown San Antonio. There are four additional missions along the river South of The Alamo: Mission San José, Mission Concepción, Mission San Juan, and Mission Espada. Those four missions comprise the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park.
Mission San José was founded February 23, 1720 when Misión San Antonio de Valero (The Alamo) became overcrowded due to the closure of missions in East Texas. Today Mission San José is an active parish with regular services.
This is a 3 minute and 20 second exposure to add character in the sky. The oak tree is what mostly caught my eye from this vantage point, and I wanted to emphasize its grandeur and dignity of that tree in front of the old mission.
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This image is titled "Our Daily Bread" and the caption is:
Sliced bread, coffee
In soft, warming morning light
Time stands still - anew
This is an image of a breakfast table scene at a museum in The Netherlands. I wanted to make an image that evokes nostalgic feelings of a more simple time from the past.
The image was made in 2009 during a trip to Amsterdam and was processed to the final image that you see here in 2017. I have so many images from the past that deserve to be processed that it would take several lifetimes. It would be nice to process them but there just doesn't seem to be the time due to current work I'm doing.
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This image is titled Tracy Arm Journey.
The cruise ship is returning from Sawyer Glacier in Tracy Arm, a beautiful glacier carved fjord near Juneau Alaska.
The ship approaching the 'X' made by the valley and its reflection is what caught my eye, in addition to the dramatic sky.
There was very little processing of the image other than converting it to black and white.
The image is titled Flying Away and the caption is:
Towers fell in grief
But from ashes, spirits rise-
Hope dawns through the pain.
This is another image from the Julia Anna Gosporadou workshop in New York last June. It's also part of my Urbane series.
I hoped to have post processing completed by 9/11 but didn't quite make it. The image is intended as a tribute.
To me, the waterfall represents falling tears, but I just wasn't able to bring out the water the way I wanted to. And I think the oculus represents soaring, flight, and hope.
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Recently I had the privilege of being invited to this working ranch in the Colorado high country (around 10,000 ft. elevation). I was invited to help vaccinate the calves against respiratory problems but I quickly decided the best contribution this city slicker could make was by creating images.
The image is titled "Timeless" and the caption is:
Vast prairie views
Skies promise stormy weather
Now the same as then
The ranch has a rich history, and the large white building that is the primary subject of the image was once a hotel and stagecoach stop/relay station. The upper floor consists of several rooms where passengers could rest (maybe overnight or at least while the horses were being changed and refreshed). The log building behind it was the original homestead when the settlers originally came here in the 1800's.
And you can tell it was a pretty elegant place because the outhouse has two separate doors.
The dirt road extends into the distance and it's easy for me to imagine the stagecoach coming up the road trailed by a cloud of dust.
The truck is of much more recent vintage, being only about 60 years old. It looks a little run down but I understand there's a high performance Corvette engine under the hood. One of the ranch's brands is on its door.
This ranch has been in one family since settlement, and there are many interesting facts and tales that I learned. One member of the family who lived here was Antoinette Perry, a performer. Not only does she have a street named after her in New York but the Tony Awards are also named for her. And another was a founder of Cities Service and Diamond Shamrock, which is now one of the ranch's many brands.
Through this long exposure with a sepia treatment I was trying to a nostalgic image that expresses the duration of this place across time, which required perseverance against constant threats such as weather as represented by the threatening sky in the image. The exposure time was 4 minutes and 30 seconds using 16 stops of neutral density filters and a circular polarizer.
There was a significant thunderstorm a little later in the day.
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This image, titled "The Park" is Central Park and the New York Skyline.
The image's caption is:
A clear winter day
A Sunday stroll in the park
A coincidence?
The image may be my first successful black and white image. It was March 2008 on a clear weekend day. There was an elevated point in the park where you were looking down on the lake and all of the people strolling about. It was an inviting scene.
It was so long ago that I don't remember and particular challenges that were necessary to overcome other than hand holding the camera.
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This image is titled DAM 3 and is the Denver Art Museum. The lighting on the building is modified to reflect my vision. For me this profile of the building evokes thoughts of jagged mountain peaks, so the caption is:
Jagged peaks skyward
Pointing the way for ascent -
Solidly grounded
The image was made by stitching together three photos made with the Canon 24mm tilt/shift lens and Fuji GFX100S medium format camera body. One image was straight on and then one was shifted up and one was shifted down. By doing it that way I was able to create more space in the foreground leading into the image.
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This image of the Denver Public Library is titled Cacophony I. The caption is:
Chaotic Profile
cacophony of shapes
a striking combo
What a combination of shapes, forms and volumes the architect assembled in designing this building! The word that first comes to me is "cacophony", by which I mean a striking combination of incongruous parts. If form follows function, I have to wonder about the function of each of the forms. In particular I wonder about the flat structure on top. What is its function? It reminds me of a heliport, or the cap of a cap and gown.
I wanted to include the stone sculpture on the right side of the image to provide weight to that portion.
The early morning light was also striking at the time and my objective in processing was to use and enhance the existing light to differentiate each of the different shapes and volumes.
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This image, titled "Empire", represents my interpretation of the Empire State Building. The caption is:
Monumental tower
Ascending to the heavens -
A beacon for all
The image is part of my Urbane series and was made during the recent Julia Anna Gospodarou workshop in New York. I'm looking forward to attending her workshop on the Oregon coast in November, and I see that there are still 2 openings available if that interests you.
The goal was to represent the massive and monumental nature of the structure, emphasizing the architectural setbacks.
The image was made from the 34th street side using a tripod. I used a tripod intending to make a long exposure, but due to an impending thunderstorm and downpour I chose to not take the time for that.
Construction of the Empire State Building began in 1930 and was completed in 1931. It's an art deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, which was the tallest building in the world from 1931 to 1970. The site was the home of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel prior to construction of the building.
It would have been interesting to visit the observation deck on the 102nd floor but neither professional cameras nor tripods are allowed so I chose to not pay the fee to visit.
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This image is the Denver Municipal Building and its caption is:
Classical in form
Governmental in function
Circular looking
Since I walk by this building often, it's so familiar to me that I hadn't considered its possibilities as a black and white architectural fine art image. For me at least, being able to see the possibilities in the familiar is often a problem. I intend to return to the building in different weather and light conditions to explore its possibilities more.
The original raw images were made with the Fuji GFX100S medium format body and Canon 24mm tilt/shift lens. I created 17 raw images by varying the shift of the lens and then selected 8 of those to stitch together in photoshop. The shift function on the lens is what enabled creating this image, and it's why eight images were required. Next time I'll see if it can be done with fewer, perhaps a maximum of five images.
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These three images are titled Gateway 1, Gateway 2 and Gateway 3 and they comprise my Gateway mini-series. The series represents an interpretation of the Gateway Arch, which is located on the west bank of the Mississippi River in St. Louis, Missouri. The caption of each of the three images is:
Ascendant gateway,
Entryway to the future -
Whether bright or dark
Recently I was driving through St. Louis on my return to Denver from a photo printing workshop and made a short stop at the Gateway Arch. It was a hazy morning which turned out to be good conditions for making images showing the sunlight and its reflections on the arch. I remember watching the arch being built in the 1960's when my grandfather would sometimes take me to a Cardinals game so being there brought back those pleasant memories.
It was fun exploring different viewpoints, vantage points and angles. And as often happens, that exploration piqued the interest of others who were there that morning and wondered what I was doing. That led to a nice conversation before getting back on the road.
Here's some information about the Gateway Arch from WikiPedia:
- Both the width and height of the arch are 630 feet (192 m).
- The cross-sections of the arch's legs are equilateral triangles, narrowing from 54 feet (16 m) per side at the bases to 17 feet (5.2 m) per side at the top.
- The arch is hollow to accommodate a unique tram system that takes visitors to an observation deck at the top.
- The arch was designed by architect Eero Saarinen in 1947. Construction began in 1963, and the arch was completed in 1965.
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The title of this long exposure image of Downtown New York is Urbane V, and it's part of my Urbane series. The vantage point was in New Jersey with the Hudson River in the foreground. There were vessels on the river so the long exposure nicely eliminated those.
The image's caption is:
Beginning of day
Sun rising over waking city -
What will the day bring?
My intent was to contrast the sharp detail in the buildings with the smooth and soft water that resulted from the long exposure. Also to highlight the morning light on the buildings.
The sun is rising to the left of the image. Unfortunately I had read The Photographers Ephemeris app 180 degrees backwards. I was expecting the sun to be behind me but when I arrived it was in front of the camera. That limited the available compositions. Usually I'm not that geographically challenged but was apparently turned around.
The image was with the Fuji GFX100s medium format body and Fujinon 45-100mm lens at 70mm. It was a 6 minute and 40 second exposure using a 16 stop neutral density filter and a polarizing filter. Since the lighting was the opposite of what I was expecting I made this one image and got back on the train and went to Brooklyn for images with the sun to my back.
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This image of the top of the Chrysler Building is from the recent Julia Anna Gospodarou workshop in New York. It's also part of my Urbane Series.
The title is Chrysler Building, and the caption is:
Liberty redux
With eyes brightly lighted -
gargoyles watching
My intent was for a portrait of the top of the Chrysler Building straight on with shading to show depth. The arched areas at the top of the building have always reminded me of the headpiece on the Statue of Liberty repeated again and again. Also the mental image that I have of the building includes the triangular windows lighted at night. So I wanted to emphasize those windows by making them bright and to emphasize the arches by making them stand out in a repeating way.
The image was made at street level but I used DxO Viewpoint to adjust the perspective and make the image appear as if it had been made from approximately the same height.
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The title of this image is: Grand Central. The caption is:
In stately grandeur
Always in a hurry - to where?
Under timeless sky
My intent was to have an exposure just long enough to indicate hurried movement in the mass of people moving through the hall. The sense of movement is greatest the nearer the person is to the camera. I think that the fact that the hall is not entirely symmetrical adds to the aesthetics of the image.
This is a composite of 6 images using the shift capability of the 24 mm Canon tilt shift lens. Actually there were three bracketed images for each of the 6 but I found that only one of the three was needed and I discarded the other two. The six images that I used were merged into two separate panoramas in Lightroom (one for the ceiling area and one for the hall) and then those two panoramas were merged in Photoshop. The final image could have been considerably more expansive if I had taken a couple of more images of the corners of the ceiling. Redoing this image to include those is just one more of many reasons to return to New York soon.
This was taken with the GFX100S camera and the Canon 24mm tilt shift lens with no filters. The shutter speed of 1/5 of a second was enough to capture the sense of rushing that I was looking for.
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The third in my series of images from the recent Julia Anna Gospodarou workshop in New York is titled Urbane IV. It’s also part of my Urbane series of cityscapes and urban architectural images.
The caption is:
Calm and Serene or
Hectic, Unquiet City —
A Dichotomy
This image of Downtown NYC was made from from Brooklyn at Brooklyn Bridge Park.
My intent was to create a dreamy, calm, atmospheric, soft image that contrasts with the structure and harsh angularity of the City, presenting a dichotomy. What’s the reality? I believe they both can be real depending on one’s mindset, vantage point and perspective. The idea was to create that duality by using a long exposure to soften the water and the sky, and by using local contrast on edges to make certain buildings stand out.
This particular vantage point was spectacular in that there were the strong lines in the foreground water leading into the downtown area, and especially to the brightest building in the center. The weather was generally clear that morning but luckily there were enough faint clouds that I was able to coax them out in post processing to create the soft sky with fluid-like clouds.
I visited this vantage point a few days earlier but was not pleased with the images due to the flat lighting, so I returned. It seems there is always something to forget to check. On the return visit the tide was about 1 to 1.5 feet higher, but luckily the center line of posts was not completely submerged.
The exposure was 5 minutes and 27 seconds using a 16 stop neutral density filter and a polarizing filter. The image was made with a Fujifilm GFX100S medium format camera and 50mm Fujinon lens.
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This image, titled Gale Force, is of the IAC Building by Frank Gehry. The building is located in New York not too far from the waterfront between Greenwich Village and Midtown. I understand the architect intended the building to remind one of sails, maybe because it is near the waterfront. It did make me think of a sailing ship under way and I intended the lighting in the image to simulate a storm . . . a storm indicated by strong light acting on the building. Hence the title of the image.
The caption is:
In gale conditions
With sails set for the squall--
Propelled by light
By Richard Lionberger, June 2023
This is the second in a series of images that I made at the Julia Anna Gosporadou workshop in New York. It's one of my favorites from the workshop and was fun to create. I particularly like the lamppost. One of the lights was burned out so I had to fix that. To use Roland Barthes' term, the lamppost could be the punctum, the jab, the pin prick. It establishes place and shows that the entire building is not included, only the upper portion.
The image was made with a Canon 24mm tilt/shift lens on a Fuji GFX100S medium format camera. The lens was shifted up to the maximum but the camera still had to be tilted up some due to being so close to the building. The verticals were corrected in post processing. The exposure was 2 minutes and 40 seconds using a 16 stop ND filter and a polarizing filter.
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A couple of weeks ago I attended a workshop in New York put on by [Julia Anna Gosporadou]. It was both a learning experience and an opportunity to make images of the outstanding architecture and waterscapes in New York. Julia’s black and white work is incredibly interesting and avant-garde. She may be the next Ansel Adams. And in addition to being a talented photographer she’s also a talented teacher. Those of us who attended were fortunate to be able to see and learn her methods and processes demonstrated in person. I’m going to be posting several images from the workshop over the coming weeks. This is the first in that series.
The title of this image is “Top of the Rock”, referencing the popular visitor attraction at Rockefeller Center. The upper part of the building is also the focus of this image.
The image was taken handheld with the camera pointed up focusing on the upper part of the building. The idea was to express the soaring nature of the building and a little bit of its setting, which is indicated by the subtle, dim structures on the right and left sides. Also the lighting from the left, making the right side buildings lighter than those on the left.
Somewhere, I got the idea that I would like to create a Haiku poem to go with my images. So I’m giving it a try here. These are my first attempts at Haiku, and I admit that they don’t always comply strictly with the rules. But they’re close. Here’s the caption for Top of the Rock:
Shining bright beacon
Among quiet art deco friends;
Attracting evening light
I'm pursuing mini-projects in connection with a workshop that I'll be participating in with Alain Briot in a few weeks. As he has pointed out, often we get bogged down and don't complete projects because they just get too time consuming, especially for a recovering perfectionist. In contrast I finished this mini-project in about one and a half hours from beginning editing the images to completion and publication here. Just getting the project finished gives a feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction.
A walk in the forest reveals so many forms, shapes, textures and feelings. To me these images are representative of those.
The images may now be found on the website in the Mini-Series titled Trees 1.
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This is a long exposure image of the Toronto Skyline that I made during the September 2022 Julia Anna Gospodarou juliaannagospodarou.comworkshop in Toronto. As I hope you can see from the image, the workshop was worthwhile. I learned many new and useful techniques from Julia - and would not have been able to process this image to this final result without Julia's mentoring. I call the image Urbane II. Urbane I was a similar image that I ended up discarding and starting over with this one.
The image features the prominent CN Tower, which is iconic landmark in Toronto, as well as the Rogers Centre just to the left of the CN Tower.
The exposure was 3 minutes and 46 seconds at ISO100 and f8 using a Nikon Z6II with a 28-75mm 2.8 lens at 45mm.
A long exposure was necessary because there were many water taxis going back and forth from the island where I was located to downtown Toronto. The exposure was long enough and the water taxis were going fast enough that they weren't in one location long enough to register in the image.
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Portland Head Light Ocean view at Portland Head Light in Portland Maine in evening light.
This long exposure ocean view includes the Portland Head Light at Portland Maine, which I understand is one of the most photographed lighthouses in the world. The sun was setting behind me over my right shoulder. There was intermittent cloud cover and the clouds were moving right to left at a moderate speed. The lighthouse is located in a park where there are several good vantage points for photographing it. The original of this photo and a couple of others are included below.
The intent is to present the vastness of the sea and the dichotomy of the apparent tranquility and calm to the danger of the sea as represented by the lighthouse to help keep ships off of the rocks.
Following is info about the exposure:
Date: July 16, 2022
Time: 6:21pm
Subject: Portland Head Light
Camera angle (vertical axis): level
Camera angle (horizontal axis): level
Distance to subject: about 600 feet
Weather: Partially cloudy
Blue sky/clouds ratio: 40/60
Cloud Speed: Medium
Filters: 17 stops ND filters ( polarizer + 15 stop Lee stacked)
Lens Type: Moderate Wide Angle
Aperture: f/8
ISO: 250
Focal Length: 28 mm
Exposure: 234 sec = 3 min: 54sec
Post processing involved mostly dodging and burning to emphasize particular areas.
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This is the original photo:
Here are two other views of the lighthouse:
Silky Flow and StoneBig Thompson River - Rocky Mountain National Park
This is the Big Thompson River in Rocky Mountain National Park during Spring runoff in May 2022. It is my first reasonably successful long exposure photo using a neutral density filter.
I think the image presents the dichotomy of smooth and silky flow through and around hard, fixed, stone boulders. Maybe it's a metaphor for life.
The exposure details were as follows:
Date: May 14, 2022
Time: 10:30 am
Subject: Big Thompson River Rapids
Camera Angle: tilted down
Distance to Subject: 6 to 10 feet
Weather: Partly cloudy (sun behind cloud)
Speed of Water Flow: rapid
Filters: Lee 10 stop Big Stopper
Lens Type: Wide Angle
Aperture: f22
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 24mm
Exposure: 54 seconds
I had been hiking to Emerald Lake earlier in the morning and was driving home when I saw this scene beside the road. The most tricky part of getting the image was managing to set up my tripod and camera on one of these boulders in the middle of the river without falling in. To do that I had to first climb through a barricade and then step or jump from boulder to boulder in the river. In my defense, I was not the first or only person doing that on this day, although I was probably the oldest (by about 40 years). Installing the Lee Big Stopper without dropping it was also a challenge while balancing on a boulder.
One thing that attracted me to this scene was that there weren't any large logs or other significant debris in the river. It seems that there usually is.
Putting aside for a moment the questionable judgment of even trying to get in position for the shot, there were a lot of mistakes during the exposure. On the first attempt I forgot to set the camera on Manual and Bulb. Also, I used the smallest aperture of f22. Now I know that it would be preferable to use a mid range aperture such as f8. In addition, this was using a DSLR before I switched to mirrorless, and I forgot to close the viewfinder. There was a serious magenta cast in the original that looks like it might have been from a light leak. I was able to remove the magenta cast in the conversion to black and white.
Here is the original image.
All in all, I think the image turned out well, and I'm pleased with it. Since taking this photo I've switched to Formatt-Hitech IRND filters.
This photo was recently awarded first place in the black and white category 2020 Best of the Best Competition at the Aurora Society of Photographers in Aurora Colorado. The judge for the competition was Russ Burden http://www.russburdenphotography.com
I took the photo in October 2012 at Caddo Lake near Jefferson Texas. In looking through old photos for images to possibly submit in the club's competition I happened on it and realized that I hadn't previously submitted it in a competition.
This image was awarded an honorary mention in the Club Scenic category at the Mile High Wildlife Photography Club on October 16, 2018. The image was made at Sprague Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park.
The image also was awarded First Place in the Photography category of the 2019 Denver Bar Association Docket Art Contest.
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This image was awarded 2nd place in the Club Scenery Competition at the Mile High Wildlife Club on October 16, 2018.
It's an image shot looking West from Mt. Evans on an August evening. The image was made using the HDR technique, converted to black and white and toned.
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