Rob’s June 2009 Vacation

Hey friends,

For many years now, I’ve been taking a vacation during the first week of June. Not only does this coincide with my birthday, but early June tends to be very nice weather-wise and is great for nature photography. Coincidentally, this is the same week as the Green Mountain Nature Photography Workshop takes places, and for the third year in a row, I headed down to northern Vermont for 5 days to be co-instructor of the workshop.

I know, I know, many of you are scratching your heads about this. Why on earth would I want to “work” during my vacation? Why would I choose to get up at 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning for 5 days? Truth is that for me this is not work, and getting up early is worth it. I love to share my passion for nature photography with others, and I happen to have pretty good technical know-how regarding photography and equipment, so it is a pleasure and a thrill to help others in their photographic journey.

So on Friday May 29th 2009, my first day of vacation, I headed down to Vermont to hook up with my friend and photo partner Gustav. Sadly, my wife Johanne had to stay in Montreal, as our 13+ year Labrador Retriever, Gryphon, no longer travels well and gets too stressed when we are away. Many thanks to my darling wife, who did not make me feel bad about leaving her behind.

I’ll reserve a detailed day-by-day description of the workshop for a future blog post next spring… For now, I simply wanted to share a few of my favorite images with you. I’m deliberately choosing images that are different from my previous 2 trips to the workshop.

Four Corners Falls – Missisquoi River – North Troy, Vermont
Canon EOS 5D MkII
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L lens at 21mm
ISO 100, 0.5s at f/20
Filters: Singh-Ray Gold-n-Blue Polarizer
Gitzo GT3541LS Tripod with Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ballhead

On Saturday, we went to Belvidere bog in the morning to shoot wildflowers and practice low-to-the-ground photo techniques, and to Four Corners Falls on the Missisquoi river in the afternoon. In the above picture of Four Corners Falls, you’ll notice a golden reflections on the wet rocks and water on the left portion of the image. This effect is caused by the Singh-Ray Gold-n-Blue polarizer. I just love that filter!

Having polished our lucky horseshoes, a shower-filled Sunday had us visit two waterfalls, both named “Moss Glenn Falls”, one near Granville and one in Stowe. It was crazy – it rained, sometimes heavily, every time we’d get in the car… but we did not get a single drop on us while shooting the waterfalls! The Photography Gods were smiling at us!

This image below was composed to emphasize the beautiful latticework of the branches and leaves that frame Moss Glenn Falls in Granville.

Moss Glenn Falls – Granville, Vermont
Canon EOS 5D MkII
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS lens at 45mm
ISO 100, 0.5s at f/16
Filters: Hoya Moose Polarizer
Gitzo GT3541LS Tripod with Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ballhead

There was an annoying constant spray of water coming from the falls, forcing us to regularly dry and clean our filters and lenses. Sadly, I “lost” a few beautiful images to the excessive water on the front of my lens! Remember: when shooting near water or in a light rain, check your lenses and filters before every shot!

Here’s another composition of the same falls:

Moss Glenn Falls – Granville, Vermont
Canon EOS 5D MkII
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L lens at 28mm
ISO 100, 0.5s at f/16
Filters: Hoya Moose Polarizer
Gitzo GT3541LS Tripod with Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ballhead

In the afternoon, we headed to the Moss Glenn Falls in Stowe. Once again, the weather was cooperative, with mostly cloudy skies (perfect for waterfall photography) but no rain. In my three previous visits to these falls, I had envisioned this composition, but could not do this with my previous camera: my trusty Canon EOS 20D, with its 1.6x crop factor sensor, simply did not allow to get a sufficiently wide angle. Now, with my full-frame 35mm EOS 5D MkII, this is no longer a problem! Walking through knee-deep, ice-cold, fast-moving water was definitely worth it to get this shot!

Moss Glenn Falls – Stowe, Vermont
Canon EOS 5D MkII
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L lens at 22mm
ISO 100, 2s at f/16
Filters: Hoya Moose Polarizer
Gitzo GT3541LS Tripod with Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ballhead

I’m very happy to say that our participants got great moose images on the way to Stowe… But of course, the dumb-ass instructors never saw the brown beast on the side of road, and obliviously drove right past it on the way to the waterfall. What clued-out nature photographers we are!
Oh… Let me correct myself… Given the size of the moose, the animal only qualified as a “moosette”, as far as I am concerned… No wonder I did not see it.

By far, for me, the most stimulating and exciting location for me was Willoughby Lake, located in north-east Vermont. This beautiful lake was carved by glaciers a long time ago – these glaciers created high fjord-like carvings, with steep cliffs and a deep bowl where the lake formed. There are so many compositions here – I could easily have spent 2-3 days in this one place alone! I really have a hard time choosing my favorite images from this location, but here are two that I really like:

Willoughby Lake, Vermont
Canon EOS 5D MkII
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L lens at 24mm
3 exposure HDR image with middle exposure at 3.2s at f/22 and ISO 100
Filters: B+W Polarizer, Singh-Ray George Lepp 4-stop Neutral Density (to slow down the exposure)
Gitzo GT3541LS Tripod with Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ballhead

Willoughby Lake, Vermont
Canon EOS 5D MkII
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L lens at 26mm
ISO 100, 2.5s at f/16
Filters: Singh-Ray 3-stop hard GND, Singh-Ray George Lepp 4-stop ND, B+W Polarizer
Gitzo GT3541LS Tripod with Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ballhead

On my fourth and final full day in Vermont,  I had a fun in the morning teaching people about proper flash usage. In the afternoon, we headed to the Babcock Nature Preserve, where a pair of rare Pink Lady’s Slippers caught my eye:

Pink Lady’s Slippers
Canon EOS 5D MkII
Simga 150mm f/2.8 macro lens
ISO 400, 1/8s at f/8
Gitzo GT3541LS Tripod with Really Right Stuff BH-55 Ballhead

There were 4 participants in this year’s workshop: Roberta, Linda, Fred and Barry – all wonderful and pleasant people, and all made great strides in their photographic journey. It was an honor to share my passion of photography with them, and I was thrilled to see the progress that they made during these 4 dawn-to-dusk days at the workshop…

Oh, and before I forget, a huge THANK YOU!!! to our host, Deb Godin of Lake Eden Campground, who treated us to sumptuous meals and a wonderful hospitality. The clubhouse of Lake Eden Campgrounds is the home base of Green Mountain Nature Photography Workshop. I hope you see some of your at next year’s workshop.

If you interested in seeing more of my images taken during this workshop, I invite you to visit my online album: Green Mountain Workshop 2009

If you have any questions or feedback about any of these pictures, the post, or photography in general, please email me or leave a comment on this blog. I am always happy to hear from you!

See you in the field!

Rob

Posted by Rob under Filters,Landscapes,Macro,Spring,Vermont,Workshops & Tours | Comments (2)