Mason G's Photography Journal

 Today I spent a fair amount of time thinking, reading and wanting to understand ND filters. ND stands for Neutral Density and this type of filter seems to be a great tool for lowering the amount of light entering a lens. A good ND filter consistently limits all wavelengths of the visible spectrum equally. Now you'd think that for a guy like me interested in night photography I would not want to limit the light coming in for astrophotography... and that's true. But I've been thinking a lot about using ND filters with water and clouds and other things that move in a static field. So I would use a filter like this with day-time photography; golden hour and sunsets & sunrises too. For my upcoming trip to Iceland there will be opportunities to shoot ice on beaches, snow fields and snow caves! All of these things involve water in some form and for the liquids kinds I want to play with time using these ND filters, I think I am particularly good at understanding technology. I...

 I love going on trips. There are so many things to get excited about and once planned allows you to build anticipation while looking forward to departure date. BUT, When it comes down to planning large trips I work myself into such a frenzied state. It all starts with questions and spirals out from there. I love experiencing said trip in the moment while I'm stretching and warping actual time through photography.  In order to address my "planning fears" head-on I want this post to examine them and make them less of my enemy. I would say the biggest concern that gives me problems is dealing with flying and making hotel arrangements. For some reason committing to an airline and paying money out gives me super huge anxiety. I think it's the amount of money, but all I think about is if I'm getting the right thing with all the options or not-options that I feel I need in order to travel to a destination. I have a paranoia about appearing stupid or missing out on a dea...

I headed out with what I thought was a good chance to shoot the Milky Way hanging lazily above Echo Lake at the base of Mt. Evans. Leaving Denver I noticed a cloud bank, but the forecast promised clear skies up in Idaho Springs. As I entered Idaho Springs the skies overhead looked clear, but there was a slow-moving bank of clouds I could not see due to the mountains blocking my view. Once I got up to Echo Lake about 20 minutes later those clouds loomed heavily.  Those pesky clouds seemed to be clearing up slowly, but after a bit of time I could see that there was also wispier higher clouds that were gonna stick around. There were moments of clearness promising super clear stars at around 10500', but NOT tonight. While I was up there I watched the Moon setting across the lake and experimented with the Lumecubes and also hyper-focal distances.  I really like my Tamron 17-28mm lens. It works so well for astrophotography. Through the lens the mountain flowers up close remained in ...