All good things . . .

 . . . must come to an end.

Our last full day in St. Thomas, I find myself relaxed and a little sad.  We have had a great time yet again, I have lots of images to go over when I return home.  I should have several for my website http://www.brianshannonphotogaphy.com/ once I have processed them in Adobe Lightroom.

Here is an early morning sunrise, not quite the dramatic one I captured several years ago but still very nice and serene feeling

St. Thomas sunrise

It has been a great two weeks of shooting, all of my equipment has done its job and I needed everything I brought.  Here is another early morning shot overloooking the city of Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

Charlotte Amalie

Thanks for following along and when on vacation enjoy shooting!

Weekend Photo Shoot -- The Virgin Islands

Well the vacation moves along, slowly at least.  We spent the weekend trying some new things in the Virgin Islands.  On Saturday we took a fast ferry from St. Thomas to Tortola, BVI.  Lots of fun skimming the waves and the trip takes less than 50 minutes.  Get yourself a passport stamp and head into another country.

First stop is the iconic BVI store, Pusser's.  Pusser's outpost and bar, along with Pusser's rum are well known across the Caribbean.

Pusser's Outpost

Quaint bar and shop, filled with nautical themed items and memorabilia.  Looks like a fun place to just hang out.  Tshirts, nautical clothing, rum, mugs, shot glasses . . . really gets you in the island mood.

Pusser's Pub

Road Town was very small and many shops were closed.  We were hoping for more to see and do but the time for our return trip was at hand so we came back home to St. Thomas.  One day we will revisit here and look for more things to see and do.

On Sunday we visited another new beach, Lindquist beach.  Beautiful water that was emerald green even though the day was mixed clouds, a little rain and some sun.  The Magens Bay authority now owns this beach and hopefully one day it will be like Magens, with facilities, parking and chair rentals.
Until then, you rough it on the sand, which is well worth it.

Lindquist Beach

Hope you had a great weekend, thanks for reading and keep on shooting!

How many beaches are there?

Well I began to wonder that myself as I checked off the beaches that we have been to on St. Thomas.  This however is one of our favorites if not at the top of the list.  Magens Bay beach is long, calm and beautiful.  A perfect place to hang out for a few hours or an entire day.

I wandered the park looking for a few good shots, here is an empty picnic table by the sea.  Lots of room to spread out and relax.

Table for two

The beach front, over a mile long gives some incredible wide view shots, as seen here.  My Nikon D700 and the Nikkor 24-70 lens, fitted with a Singh-Ray LB Color Combo polarizer really captured the clouds over the bright emerald green water.

Magens Bay beach

Well it was alot tougher shooting that it looks, the temps were in the low 90's with bright sun.  Sorry but someone has to do it!  Final count, we have been to seven different beaches on St. Thomas.  More to see and more to do, keep shooting!

Sunsets and relaxation

Our first really nice sunset of the trip was on Thursday evening.  What started out as a bland and hazy overcast, suddenly turned into a wonderful creamy orange sky.  I grabbed my Sigma DP2s knowing that the Foveon sensor would deliver the super color that I was seeing.

Orange sunset in St. Thomas

Hopefully this wont be the last nice sunset and I need to get up and moving some morning to go after some sunrise photos.  I also want to work on some new compositions in some familiar places.  We are going to visit Magens Bay today, this will give me chance to shoot some new images with my Nikon D700.

Until next time, keep shooting!

It's 87 degrees

And we love it.  What is 87 degrees?  Well a short time ago that was the water temperature at Sapphire Beach, St. Thomas, USVI.  What beautiful water and view across the water to St. John.

Sapphire Beach, St. Thomas, USVI

As far as this shot goes, I loved the way the tree frames the water with its gentle curves.  The water turns from a brownish green over top the grass beds to the beautiful emerald green and then the deep blue.

Sunny, hazy and hot so the water felt great.  Very nice beach, Sapphire, we had not been there before.  So far all my equipment is working great, the D700 is fantastic and the small point and shoot cameras are all working wonderfully.  Both my Think Tank bags are also doing their job

Until our next new beach, keep shooting

Join us on St. John, USVI

What a fantastic day on St. John, USVI.  The water was perfect and the island as calm as always.  We really enjoy our time spent on St. John as it is so peaceful.  A brief rain shower as we walked down the jungle path to the little bridge that beckons you to shangri-la

Just a little further . . .



The Nikon D700 is performing flawlessly, I could not ask for anything more except better skills.  I hope to have some new shots fo my website, www.brianshannonphotography.com in the next two weeks.

Until next time, keep shooting

Paradise found, two weeks in St. Thomas

I have been away from my blog for too long and now that I have a well deserved vacation, my family and I are back in the Virgin Islands.  Our two weeks here will refresh us and I hope will give me the chance to produce some great images once again.  St. Thomas is one of our favorite places to vacation and is a real treat to shoot with a camera.

So far the weather is beautiful, here is an early morning shot of the view from our balcony.



Water view from the Marriott

 Going to start our day with some shopping and hit the beach in the afternoon.  I will be updating this blog and adding images and new entries over the next two weeks so stay tuned.

At Morning Star beach in the afternoon, I had a chance to see and shoot the Skim Caribbean 2011 competition called Skim Slam, it was lots of fun.  Visit http://skimcaribbean.com/ for more details, here is a shot of the competition.  For more shots of the competition visit:  Skim Slam 2011

Skim board competition at Morning Star beach sponsored by http://skimcaribbean.com/

Lots of fun and a great day on the beach, now where did I put the rum . . .

Springtime in Washington, DC

What a fantastic end to April we had in Washington, DC.  What started out as a cool, overcast day, broke into magnificent sunshine with temperatures in the high 60's.  Just the perfect weather for taking pictures and strolling around downtown.

Washington Monument

The Washington Monument was a great setting for the beautiful blue skies and the flags caught up in the breeze.  Lots of choices for interesting compositions, something that I still strive to work on with my photography.  As much as I try I sometimes still am not seeing what I should.  Then again, on occasion I do succeed.

John F. Kennedy grave site

The John F. Kennedy grave site is especially moving, set down the hill from the Lee Mansion on the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery.  I was fortunate to arrive between tour buses and was able to get a nicely framed shot with all the elements that I wanted in it.

Arlington graves

Finally as I rested I happened to notice the Washington Monument, where I had started my day, above the trees and felt this made a very nice shot.  All in all a very productive day photography wise.  My Nikon D700 continues to thrill me with the performance and capability.  I used my Nikkor 24-70 for a large part of the day, although my Nikkor 16-35 got me the shot of the Kennedy grave site.  Finally my Singh-Ray gold and blue polarizer continues to shine as my secret weapon for outdoor and landscape photography.

Hope the weather keeps us, I need more practice and more fun as I was so pleased to finally be out doing what I love.  Until next time, keep shooting!

Virginia Blue Bells

Waiting for spring, yet another cloudy dreary weekend.  We took a nature hike over to Bull Run Park to see if the Virginia Blue Bells were in bloom.  Typically these are early spring flowers that mass in large groups near to the banks of a stream or river.  They enjoy moist conditions and find the damp leafy areas to be a favorite habitat.

Aside from the overcast skies we proceeded on our hike down to the stream area.  I was very glad I had brought my Singh-Ray Gold and Blue polarizer as this filter is quickly becoming my favorite for landscape use.  It turns the bland and dreary into something magical.  A quick twist of the ring gives me just enough gold or blue or somewhere in between to really pickup the colors of the delicate flowers without looking artificial.

Virginia Blue Bells

It was interesting trying to shoot these little beauties as they hang down from their stalks.  Trying to get underneath a low to the ground flower made for some back ache inducing contortions.  I am told that when in full bloom (hopefully in a few weeks) that the ground looks like a blue haze across the landscape.

Field of Virginia Blue Bells

I tried to create that effect here although you can see that there are not enough blooms out yet. All in all a nice morning hike, although a bit more strenuous than I had thought it would be.  I was pleased that my new Think Tank Slingomatic 10 was more than up to the task, taking several lenses and filters while remaining on my shoulder very comfortably.  I am glad I now have a smaller bag for short hikes such as this.

The D700 continues to make me very happy and the Nikkor 24-70 is quickly becoming my workhorse lens.  Add my Nikon GP1 for GPS coordinates and the Singh-Ray Gold and Blue and I feel I can shoot just about anything.  Very happy with this combo, I hope to give a better workout soon.

Until next weekend, keep shooting!

Going to the Birds

Although I enjoy bird watching, I find that trying to take their picture is often an exercise in frustration.  Trying to keep my distance while still staying in range of my Nikkor 70-300 is sometimes tough since these little birds are very wary.  I managed to capture a few Downy Woodpeckers as they tried to get to the suet feeder.

Downy Woodpeckers

This pair spent a lot of time working their way up and down on the trees next to the feeders and then they would move to the food before flying off again.  Below is the female on the suet feeder.

Downy woodpecker on feeder

Here is the male (below) as close as I can get without scaring him away.  Hopefully I can improve my stealth skills before the weather improves.  Almost a 100% crop from my D700 and the image still holds together very well.

Male Downy Woodpecker

Perhaps spring is getting close, I am sure looking forward to giving my new D700 more of a workout soon.  Until next time, keep shooting.