Chris Kayler Photography

I went back to Great Falls National Park, Virginia this morning with hopes of a spectacular sunrise thanks to a clearing storm (seems like a reoccurring theme for me). As I arrived, it began to rain! Deciding to stick it out until official sunrise time, I made long exposure images in early dawn darkness of overcast skies whipping past my camera, creating an ethereal look of blurred clouds. After that, I attempted to take some abstract images of the water. Nothing was really clicking, however … I couldn’t make a successful photograph. After feeling thoroughly bummed out, I noticed some pink glow on the land. As I looked upward, I was astonished to see a gorgeous sky full of menacing clouds of various shades of dark blue and magenta. While no light had gotten underneath the cloud bank, as the sun rose above the earth it cast its pink light onto the top of the thin clouds, lighting them from above! This light show lasted less than a minute, and within 15 minutes the entire bank of clouds had moved out, leaving behind a perfectly clear sky. I can’t stress it enough - one of the best ways to find interesting light is to be out there during the transition from stormy skies to clear skies and vice versa.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

This is another image from my trip to upstate New York this winter. Besides the irruption of winter finches this year, there were many rarer winter gulls in upstate New York as well. Among the most numerous of the rarer gulls were Iceland Gull and Glaucous Gull. This particular Juvenile Glaucous Gull was photographed at a lock along the Oneida River in downtown Phoenix, New York. While the conditions there for photography were less than ideal, I went back a few times and managed to get this photograph. Seeing these giant white gulls in the air is really something special.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

It appears that I’m out of fresh material from Virginia at the moment, so until I get more it’s back to some images from New York. This photo of a male Pine Grosbeak was taken on Damon Road near the town of Erieville in upstate New York. This winter there were numerous species of finches traveling down to upstate New York from the more northern areas of boreal forest that they usually inhabit in search of food. Some of these species of finches include Evening Grosbeak, Pine Grosbeak, Pine Siskin, White-winged Crossbill, and Common Redpoll among others. While male Evening Grosbeaks come in a close second to Pine Grosbeaks, I must admit that Pine Grosbeaks are my favorite winter finch. There is something about finding a magenta colored bird in the winter time that is just so magical. Additionally, I had always assumed that they would stick out like a sore thumb, but when found among a crabapple tree they actually blend in quite well!

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

I decided to head out to Great Falls National Park, Virginia again this morning. If the sun had risen 20 minutes earlier the entire sky would have lit up with color. However, the sun did not rise 20 minutes early, it rose exactly when it was supposed to, resulting in a mostly overcast morning. Such is the life of a nature photographer, and I really can’t complain - I love just sitting next to the water even if I don’t get a single image. Still, with the overcast light I turned my attention to close ups of the rocks, and managed to get the following photo.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

I added a new image to my Expressions portfolio today. The image is “Rainbow Water” and was taken on the Savage River in Western Maryland. You can see the image (and a link to my portfolio) below …

#1. “Rainbow Water”, Savage River, Maryland

To purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale or to buy a print of this image please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

In my previous post I mentioned that I was not able to take any scenic photographs that I liked yesterday morning. However, I may have lied a bit as I did find this image last night and while I don’t think it’s my best Great Falls photo I’ve ever taken, I do kind of like it. I would love to hear some feedback on this image - both positive and negative. As an aside, you may notice that these very cascades were the subject of my previous post.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

I went to Great Falls National Park in Virginia this morning, yet again, and was greeted by a decent sunrise. Still, I just couldn’t seem to come up with any interesting compositions or make any meaningful scenic images. Sometimes we just have off days I think. Changing gears, I focused my attention on a beautiful cascade reflecting the morning light. Nothing like some abstracts to get the creative juices flowing!

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

Yesterday morning, with cloud cover scheduled to move in, I decided to try to photograph the sunrise at Great Falls National Park, Virginia. The sunrise was almost spectacular, with some key light being blocked by a bank of clouds at the last moment. However, since we’ve had about 3 days of below freezing temperatures, there were many interesting ice patterns to photograph despite the sunrise being a dud. This particular set of icicles was formed as waves from the rapids of the Potomac River broke against a rock, and then dripped off… slowly freezing and adding length to the icicles. Using a mid-telephoto lens, I zoomed in on this set of icicles and tried to time photos with some interesting wave action below.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

Photographing patterns found in ice can be both rewarding and frustrating. One of the most frequent problems I encounter is reflections of the sky reducing the visibility of these patterns. Often times it will give images a soft, cool feeling that can be quite effective. However, in many situations, I wish to remove the glare and let the patterns of the ice shine through boldly. When I first began photographing ice this late fall, my first reaction was to use a polarizer to reduce the reflections. I quickly found out that a polarizer will usually have some effect, but never to the degree that I wished - there would almost always be stray reflections here and there that I simply could not eliminate. After struggling for some time, I realized that I could simply block the reflections of the sky with my body… and in doing so I had much success. All was not perfect, however. Trying to hold an awkward position for 5+ seconds while kneeling on ice was difficult at best! Enter the jacket. By draping my jacket over my entire tripod, I am able to eliminate all reflections quickly, easily, and with more strength than any polarizer ever could. Additionally, I soon plan on purchasing a 4 ft. x 4 ft. piece of black cloth to fold up and put in my backpack that will be even easier to use than my jacket. If you plan on using this technique, keep in mind that you will lose some light when placing the cloth over the tripod - so adjust your exposure accordingly. Below you will see an example of the technique.

Before:

After:

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With the cold spell we’ve been having here in Virginia, I decided to check out a local park, Bull Run Regional Park, to photograph the various patterns of ice that I could find along the Occoquan River and in surrounding areas. Conditions proved to be excellent and I found many beautiful sections of ice. The following is one of my favorite photos from this afternoon’s session.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

I took this photograph on the 17th during our little Virginian snow storm at Manassas Battlefield National Park. At this point, there was barely a drop of snow in the air, and much of the snow on the smaller, finer branched trees had fallen off, making them look spotty at best. Knowing this, I decided to try and photograph a large tree in the middle of a field. I have always liked the way the branches looked - and with the cloudy, bright sky, and lingering snow on the larger branches, it seemed like the perfect conditions to take some photos to show this tree in the best light.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

I added two new images that I thought worthy to my online portfolio today. Both images are in my intimate details portfolio, and they are the following …

#1. Ice Abstract, Oneida Lake, West Monroe, New York

#2. Great Falls Detail, Great Falls National Park, Virginia

Enjoy!

To purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale or to buy a print of these two images please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

With hope of clearing stormy skies, I decided to head to Great Falls National Park to photograph the sunrise. Upon arrival, the sky was completely devoid of clouds. Disappointed, I attached a longer lens to my camera to photograph some patterns of lichen on the surrounding rocks. However, before I could even look through my viewfinder to begin photographing the lichen, a patch of clouds moved in quickly overhead, picking up a beautiful orange glow. I rushed to put back on my wide-angle lens and managed to get many nice photos of the surprise sunrise. One of my favorite parts about nature is its unpredictability!

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

I went to sleep last night with the forecast calling for less than an inch of snow. I awoke with the forecast calling for 3-5 inches of snow. Lucky me! Nothing like the call of a snowy hike to get me out of the house and making some photographs. I headed (slowly - people in Virginia can’t seem to drive well in the snow) to one of my favorite local haunts - the Manassas Battlefield. Stepping out of my car, I spotted this group of trees at the edge of a field and immediately went to work setting up different compositions. Using a faster shutter speed, I opted to try and stop the flakes mid-air for a different look from the norm.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

This image was taken late December around the same time as my previous Black-capped Chickadee post on December 30th. The photograph was a setup image, taken at my friend Eric Dresser’s bird feeders. I am always on the lookout for nice perches and will collect them for later use in situations such as this. In this case, I had found this beautiful lichen covered branch about a week earlier. By placing perches next to a feeder I am able to attain many photos of feeder birds such as Black-capped Chickadees on the perch of my choice, allowing me to add a bit more artistry and personalization to my photos.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

With classes starting up again and admittedly a bit of laziness on my part, I have not gotten out to photograph since arriving back home to Virginia. Hopefully that will change soon! For now, here is another image from my trip to upstate New York. This photo was taken the same afternoon as my first “Below Zero Frost” post. Since the sky was mainly cloudless, I used this tree to add some interest. I particularly like how the strip of wind blown snow has stuck to the tree all the way up its trunk.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

As I write this tonight I’m back in Virginia. It was a wonderful winter break with many good times had and just as many good photographs taken. I’d like to say thanks to Kari for such a great time together, to my grandparents for letting us stay at their house, and my cousins for always keeping things interesting.

This is another photograph from my sunset shoot a few days ago at Taft Bay Park on Oneida Lake. I liked the formations of the bubbles in the ice in this image, they remind me of photographs of nebulas taken by the hubble space telescope.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

I went out yesterday afternoon to photograph the sunset from Taft Bay Park on Oneida Lake. While the sunset was decent, I found myself engrossed instead in photographing the ice found on the edge of the lake. The strange patterns found in this photograph were quite unique from other ice that I have seen and I ended up taking only one sunset photograph. Colorful pebbles underneath the ice added the kaleidoscope of color. I believe it is often best to photograph what most inspires you. If the sunset isn’t your thing that night, don’t bother with it - the resulting images will likely be boring and uninspired.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com

In anticipation of the next five days being gloriously overcast and rainy, I headed out to Taft Bay Park on the shores of Oneida Lake for one last sunrise yesterday morning. The sunrise turned out to be beautiful with many layers and types of clouds, and many different colors as well. I found several nice foregrounds in the ice and used them to my advantage. The following photograph is one of my favorites because of it’s combination of foreground interest and intense color.

To order this print or purchase stock rights please contact me. To view additional photos for sale please visit my website at www.chriskaylerphotography.com