Category Archives: Nature

Landscapes, Nature

My Weekend in Deep Creek, Maryland

This weekend was spent with old friends at a lakehouse in Deep Creek, Maryland.  Besides reminiscing, photography was a part of the weekend too.  Having taken a half day off of work, I stopped first at Swallow Falls State Park with a bag of camera gear and plenty of time to wander around.

This park is a dream for waterfall lovers.  The main hiking trail is only a mile or so long, but it stays alongside a river for most of it and everywhere you look, there is either a waterfall or rapids.  It can be a short and quick hike if you want, but it can also last for hours should you decide to explore every nook and cranny of the abundant rock formations.

Once I finished my hike, it was off to the lakehouse.  The first night was greeted with a beautiful full moon that lit up the lake.  The pictures don’t do it justice.

 

Landscapes, Nature

Hiking in the Cold With a New Camera

This time last year I was posting about how I switched from the Fuji X series of cameras to a Sony Alpha full frame.  Needless to say, I’m now fully back into the Fuji ecosystem.  The short story is simply that while the Sony can deliver stunning  images, I just never got along with it.  So out with the A7iii and in with an X-E3.  My first hike with the new camera was chilly, but wonderful to be out in nature as always.

The locale was my usual Ohiopyle State Park and the surrounding area.  This offers many waterfalls, rivers, streams and as much hiking as you want.  I packed light this hike, an X-E3, Fuji 16-80mm f/4, Laowa 9mm f/2.8, a Freewell 6-stop ND/PL and a small tripod.  Everything but the tripod was packed into a small Domke F-5xb.  I didn’t hike very far, but the trip was more about just getting out and away and in nature.  With a camera of course.  I stopped by Cucumber Falls, the Natural Waterslides and followed that stream up for a little bit until I lost good light.

A new piece of gear that I very much enjoyed was the Freewell 6-stop ND/PL filter.  It’s a 72mm circular filter, but it attaches via magnets.  This is great for quickly swapping the filter on and off.  The glass quality seems to be quite good as well as I noticed only a very slight color cast when using it.

Using the Fuji X-E3 was like reconnecting with an old friend.  The controls and settings almost mirrored my old X-Pro2.  Picking it up was intuitive and gratifying, as if I never even left the system.