Travel Photography

Story Behind the Image: 6

August 11, 2020

This image was something I had thought about before. Never thinking about ever having the opportunity to take this photograph though. The idea came back when I was catching up with a friend when he started sharing about his flight experience in a Cessna C170B. Of course this conversation sparked my interest and I had to ask for a trip around downtown Pittsburgh. So then we started planning, he created a flight plan and I started researching angles I could possibly get from 3,000ft within the sky. This photograph however was the main one I wanted to capture throughout the whole flight. So when we went past Point State Park and the rest of downtown, the plane roll was a perfect spot to be able to capture the wing and the city within one frame from the window. The reflection on the wing was completely unexpected but brought another amazing detail to this frame.

I went about taking this photograph as how I would any take any photograph, figure out exposure, make any more adjustments and make sure I’m getting clear photographs through any possible obstacles such as the window I shot through for this frame. Once I have all of that figured out I just buckled down and started photographing as much as I could as we were moving pretty quickly around the downtown area. Being comfortable while taking photographs is not a must but it sure helps, with my fear of heights it took me some time to get over being suspended in air with mild turbulence, but after 20min or so I was comfortable with the discomfort and was able to capture some of my personal favorite images and perspectives I’ve been able to capture of downtown Pittsburgh.

I hope you enjoyed this blog and I look forward to sharing another photographic story, of course ask any questions you may think of and I’ll be sure to get back to you! Thank you for taking the time to read about this Pittsburgh aerial photograph!

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California Trip - February

August 03, 2020

In February I went to California to road-trip and explore the National Parks as I enjoy them a lot. Their unique beauty brings something different every time I photograph them. I also wanted to go and have a chance at photographing the “Firefalls” in Yosemite, but Yosemite ended up being too dry. So upon finding out Yosemite was dry and had no snow I decided to leave the next day and go down to Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Parks 7 hours away. Before that though I decided to photograph stars the night before and then sunrise in Upon arriving to those parks as I needed to adjust my plan I quickly found locations to shoot while getting lunch on the way down. I then improvised and was able to photograph these locations in the light conditions I hoped for with the weather that was given. Of course I woke up for sunrise, in these locations and stars every night that the weather allowed. After visiting Death Valley and Joshua Tree I decided to drive back up north along the Pacific Coastal Highway. I stayed in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park and photographed stars before I continued the drive in the morning to return to San Francisco. When getting to San Francisco I touched on Daly City where I had always wanted to photograph for the repetitive and intriguing architecture and then some locations in San Francisco I had touched just yet. The West Coast is one of my favorite places I’ve had the opportunity to visit and explore and I can’t wait until I’m there again.

A shooting star over climbers on El Capitan with Half Dome looking in the background with more stars peaking through the cloudy sky.

Some deer within just outside of the Yosemite Valley

The Red sunrise light smacking the side of the Panamint Range

Amazing light spilling through coastline trees.

Daly Cities repetitive buildings and architecture.

The white architecture of San Francisco joining together for this calming shot.

Drone shot of streets coming together in San Francisco.

El Capitan being frame between pine trees on the Valley Floor with the Merced River running through.

Sand dunes during Golden Hour in Death Valley National Park

Sunrise with salt flats and the Panamint Range in the background.

Crazy cactus in Joshua Tree National Park

Milky way over a waterfall along Big Sur’s highway.

The lines of housing within the Bay Area / Daly City.

Neighborhood of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge overlooking it.

Transamerica Pyramid overlooking light trails.

Thank you for reading and looking at my photographs from my trip to California in February.

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Story Behind the Image: 5

September 05, 2019

This is one of my favorite images I’ve ever captured. Going to Iceland was something I had wanted to do for awhile to explore the country and see what I could capture there photographically. One of the things I really wanted to photograph was the Iceland Horses that roamed the vast landscapes. So, when I arrived to Iceland one of my first stops happened to be a farm where I was able to experience my first group of Horses. I pulled off the side of the road and started walking closer to get the photos I could only dream of capturing for years until this particular day. I was enjoying photographing these horses, they were so friendly (I assume because they thought I would feed them).

But little did I know that I would capture this welcoming, calming, and funny photo. At first I didn’t realize I captured this moment, I was so excited to get back on the road I didn’t spend time reviewing my images and knew i would see more horses as I traveled around the Ring Road. It wasn’t till I got back home to the United States and I was looking through what I had captured from this amazing trip, that I noticed this frame. Now, one thing I have learned from photography is if you see the action in the viewfinder, you missed the shot… I most certainly did not see this moment happen and it took me a couple minutes to comprehend what I had captured from the week before. I was planning to photograph the one horse in the middle, but the second one jumped in and photobombed my frame with his pearly whites!

Ironically the photograph I thought I had I didn’t capture, but I definitely like this moment more than what I was thinking I’d capture that morning. This photo makes me feel like I am being welcomed to Iceland every time I look at it. These horses seemed so happy to be photographed and have this friendly photobomb portrait captured. I feel this photograph also captivates my energy in Iceland. I was like a kid in a candy store and I can’t wait till the next time I make it back!

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Iceland

May 25, 2019

January I finally had my breaking point with wanting to go see Iceland. I finally booked my plane ticket to force myself to make it to my dream destination. February came along and it was time to travel to Iceland. Originally I wasn’t going to go to Iceland as a Solo-Trip. I scheduled it so quickly, I didn’t have any extra time to organize any travel buddies. So I landed in Iceland early morning and ventured to my rental car. Was able to get the rental car reasonably fast and off I was towards Reykjavik. The point of this trip was to discover a new destination, see the culture, landscape, and to hopefully have a chance at capturing the Northern Lights. To get around the country I rolled around in a Nissan SUV. While living in the car, I had to listen to the roaring Iceland wind at night. About 4 days into my 7 day trip there were 180km/h winds that prevented me from driving for half the day. I also got to explore a cave that was used in a scene of Game of Thrones. Along with meeting a lot of pleasant travelers on the way exploring the country too. The Ring-Road brought a lot of unexpected landscapes, I absolutely was stopping the car every 5 minutes to capture something completely different than the last 5 minutes. Well, here are my photos from my crazy cross-country Iceland trip.

Thank you for reading!

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New York City

January 12, 2019

I had never experienced New York City on a sunny day in any of the times I’ve been there. So I made it one of my goals this year to capture the city in all of it’s glory in early Fall and finally capture a sunny day. I was able to accomplish this goal out of the weather giving me all the luck. Can’t wait to go back and capture more in New York, New York.

The trip started out with what looked to be a busted sunset. But I lucked out and was able to capture this beautiful red sunset from the Top of the Rock. The next day was a cloudy morning. So I went to the Oculus to capture the beautiful white architecture throughout the train station. After that the clouds cleared up and I was able to capture a beautiful sunset. Then on the last day I was able to capture a gorgeous Golden Hour after a cloudy Sunrise in DUMBO. After I went to Grand Central Station to finally capture the classic shot of the amazing golden Terminal. Then I ventured to Central Park to photograph the beginning fall colors around the Bow Bridge.

Let me know what you think about these photos in the comments or any questions you have about my travels!

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Upstate New York

December 27, 2018

At the end of the summer I decided to sleep and travel through central New York to North Western New York. Some of the most beautiful locations on the east coast are contained in this area. The locations I went to are Letchworth State Park, Chimney Bluffs State Park, and had a little fun of exploring in Rochester. While on this trip I wanted to sleep in my car so I found places to sleep each of the nights I was traveling. Many hours of driving and hard-work here are some of the images!

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San Francisco

December 18, 2018

After a lot of recovering and relaxation. I traveled back to San Francisco to enjoy the views and vacation there. Some of the cool locations were downtown San Francisco, V. Sattui Winery, along the Coast, and I met a sea lion. Here are some of the images!

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Washington D.C.

July 06, 2018

The Cherry Blossom festival is something I've always wanted to photograph since I was told it existed. This year was the year I was finally able to make it down to D.C. to capture the beautiful cherry blossoms all around the city. Arriving to D.C. I was able to explore around and see the blossoms the first time during a sunset near the Washington Monument. I then stayed out till 11pm that night to try and capture some images of the buildings and monuments around D.C. Staying out late put me in a position to not wake up for sunrise, but I did anyway to try for one last push for the image I wanted so bad of the blossoms. Before leaving the city I went around and I photographed some of the images during the day! With all that being said, I hope you enjoy the images!

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Aruba

April 04, 2018

Welcome to Aruba, I small little Island about 19mi long and 8mi wide with winds that average 18mph everyday. I was here February 10-18 of 2018 exploring and experiencing the Aruban culture and climate. One thing that stuck out most to me was the windy days combined with the heat created a great temperature to enjoy during the day. Aruba being a touristy destination has a lot to offer. You can quad around the Island, jet ski, sunset cruises, parasailing, snorkeling, you name it they probably have it. From the most northern part of the island to the most southern part of the island it is lined with hotel after hotel on the left side, and on the right it's lined with beautiful rocky scenery and a National Park. This small little island only being 6mi from Venezuela is apart of South America. Being this close to South America made me want to have an impromptu trip to Peru, but that would've been a little hard to do considering the time of year. The activities I was able to experience were the Quads, a couch type tubing in the sea, a sunset cruise, and then I watched wild Pelican's hunt for food off the beaches by the resort. This trip was filled with drama, I almost lost my drone to 25mph winds and the sea, I was thankfully able to bring it back; the wind also played a game of knocking over my camera and tripod every once and awhile. The landscape and the people were great and fun. Here are images I took from this trip!

The famous Divi Tree. This was a must have shot, I went during sunrise. Did not regret it, except this is when the wind knocked my camera and tripod over 3 times!

The rocky coast drew my eye when I saw the waves crashing and leaking through the cracks.

This image from my drone is a product of 25MPH winds carrying my drone to the sea and me fighting to bring it back.

The beautiful California Lighthouse during Sunset. With some Cacti in the foreground.

What is left of the Natural Bridge. Was fortunate enough to come go here for sunrise.

Beautiful sunrise shooting through stacked rocks.

Waves were shooting into this wall and jumping out taller than me standing on top of this. About a 10ft drop into the first level of this wave pool.

Thank you for reading this post about my trip to Aruba. If you would like to see more blog posts like this please check this trip out I'll be going on in May. Please do not feel pressured to donate, but it would be a great help and you get a free print!

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Drone!

March 01, 2018

Recently I got the DJI Mavic Pro drone. This thing is a beast for what it's been through so far. I flew it in the snow storm, sunny days, snowy days, and in decently fast winds. I try to not really test my equipment, but it's become a habit recently; you'd be surprised as to what this gear can do. I've been able to fly it in Maine, Pennsylvania, and Aruba so far. I will definitely bring it with me wherever I go to continuously look in different perspectives. This drone will be a great tool to have on this upcoming summer road-trip!

Here are some photos I've been able to photograph already.