This is How We Roll

I am sorry for the lack of posts! Lots has been going on with our business (check out the site if you haven’t already, www.deepsixphotography.com – and ‘Like’ us on Facebook!!).

Here is a behind the scenes look at what was going on when I got some shots the other night!

The main goal of the evening was me wanting to catch a cow-nosed ray. I suspected it would be easy to do this, since they are visible in the waves from shore right now (you can see them kind of surfing the break). I pretty much figured the second that I tossed my bait into the water, I would have one on the line. I wanted to be the girl fighting the huge fish on the beach while all the bennies watched.

Unfortunately, the rays weren’t picking up what I was putting down, and I instead decided to venture off and get some photos.

It was great, and I was getting some nice shots.

Here’s what our set-up looked like. Ray was staying pretty still, so I figured I’d try to sneak some HDR in and do something a little different.

That is pretty much our set-up. Camera bag, orange bucket, and two poles. It was such a gorgeous night, and the colors of the sky were so beautiful.

As I was photographing, I kept looking at my pole. There was nothing doing.

All of the sudden, I heard the tell-tale squeal of Ray’s drag, and it was fish on. I actually took a video of him reeling it in. It is not the best quality video (and I apologize for strange camera angles) – but you’ll get the idea. I’m going to try to embed it here:

Long story short – when he was done, he pulled in this cute little bugger:

Yes, they have stingers. I was a little nervous this thing would pull a Steve Irwin and stab Ray through the heart, but luckily nobody was injured, and this ray swims free.

Here’s just one more quickie. I made Ray cooperate for this:

A Word On Movement

I was going to write this post yesterday, because I had a few things to say about my HDR work and some recent subjects I was trying to capture. However, some other things got in the way. Those other things were (in order): 2 papers for my graduate coursework (they are still not done), cooking chicken, and watching ‘Crazy, Stupid, Love‘. I don’t have much to say about anything except the movie. I wanted to see it when it was in the theatre but did not get around to it. Then I had to wait a really long time to even get my hands on it after it came out on DVD. This is saying a lot from a girl who’s favorite movies include Jaws, Beetlejuice, Thelma and Louise, and An Officer and a Gentleman.

I’m not sure Crazy, Stupid, Love can stand beside Jaws – but it was good. It was actually able to capture in some small measure – something that felt like real life. It did include an obligatory ‘make-over scene’ which the movie probably could have done without, but aside from that I enjoyed it.

Anyway, on to what I was really going to write this post about.

The other day, after I got those bird shots, I got some beachy/sunset shots. I actually went down to the lighthouse when the sun was going down to see if it was going to be as epic as the other day, and it didn’t seem like anything was cooking – so I tried some other perspectives. I got a couple nice ones, but quickly became frustrated because I was dealing with this:

All the guys fishing makes for some cool photography in itself. You would have almost thought that they were giving out free $5 bills down at the jetty for all the crowding down there. But they weren’t. These are all just men after some good old Jersey Shore striped bass. The problem with all those guys fishing was that it was killing my attempts at HDR – because you can’t have people milling all around and trucks driving everywhere when you are trying to take the exact same shot at least 3 times at different exposures.

I managed to get 2.

This one is actually the nicer of the 2, although there is one truck that’s ghosting because it was driving. I’m sure you can find it if you look. The tidewater was so nice for HDR (the reflections always read really well) so I just had to give it a shot. Just after this shot, I looked behind me – and noted that the sky had begun to do crazy things. Unfortunately, the rush back to the jetty for a better view proved too little too late, and between setting up down there and rushing, the shots did not come out post-worthy.

Here is the lesser of the 2 shots:

It’s still cool, but I am a sucker for those reflections.

I guess I’ll just have to wait to do my thing until the beach is a bit less crowded, or get more creative.

A Bird in the Sand

Ok, so for the title of this post I was really trying to do something clever with the old, ‘a bird in the hand’ saying – but I really couldn’t come up with anything catchy or clever. If I do come up with something, I will stick it up there.

I’m not really what you would call a ‘birder’. I’ve seen real birders. They are often photographers, but sometimes they just have these wildly expensive telephoto lens-looking things that do not take photos. They love birds enough to just watch them and be happy. I like to photograph birds, but on most occasions I take seagulls (which New Jersey is overrun with, by the way) for granted. Now and again Ray and I will go down to the jetty in the winter, where there are more colorful waterfowl. In the winter, Jersey gets harlequin ducks (my favorite) and little buffleheads. I have not successfully landed professional quality shots of these guys yet, so you will just have to wait until January when they return.

Yesterday down on IBSP, there were a couple little guys that looked  bit like seagulls (but were not), so I got distracted and started to do some shots of them. I also inadvertantly got some shots of seagulls, but they were doing cool things so I suppose it was ok.

These were the prettier little ones. They were rather petite and adorable.

Look at his little face. I was really surprised at myself for getting such a nice flight shot. They were small and fast.

I just like the blue of the sky and the white of the seagull in this photo. This is just your standard New Jersey gull.

Ray and I spent a long time trying to set up a sand eel so we could get a shot like this. It finally paid off, as I was able to snap the moment this gull landed to pluck the tasty little morsel off the ground.

This may be as close to birding as I will come.

The Most Epic Beach Day. Ever.

So yesterday was one of those rare, amazing, random days.

Ray and I decided to head down to Island Beach State Park in the afternoon. It’s a little bit of a drive (which essentially means that it’s not within walking distance), especially since we wanted to go down to the jetty (which is the very tip of the island). So we packed up some subs, made some iced tea, and hit the road.

Immediately upon getting on the beach, Ray sensed that there were fish. He ended up being right. We each caught a nice striped bass.

Ok. So I can’t really lie. Ray technically hooked the fish, but I did fight it and reel it in. Please disregard that I look like death in this photo.

After my fish, Ray landed a really sweet one that made mine look pidde-ly.

Yes. Ray’s fish was indeed awesome.

At this point, you might wonder how things could get anymore awesome. Allow me to illustrate:

Yeah. So this woman comes galloping up on a horse. Ray senses that I am in desperate need of petting the horse – so he flags her down. I could not believe she actually stopped. So we ask her if we can take her picture. She says she looks like death, but that I can get up on the horse and get my own picture. I mean, I looked like death, too – but I had never been on a horse. Before I knew it – I was making friends with Montana. What a great name. To the woman who let me get on her horse: You made my life.

Anyway. By this point, you’re probably saying… ‘this day can’t get anymore awesome!’

I want to correct you and say that, yes – it can. By the time the horse shenanigans were over, it was getting towards dark and I wanted to catch sunset, so we moved on.

The photo I’m about to include may indeed be the most epic I have ever taken.

The glow! The color! The dreaminess! My little heart was just bursting when I checked this baby out.

This one wasn’t too shabby either.

I have to say, the only low point of the day was that Ray killed the bass I caught.

On the upswing, today we ate him deep fried – and he was really, really delicious!

Rougher Waters

Gone is the gorgeous summery weather! At least it was, this week. Ray still managed to get out and fish, but this colder weather really makes me depressed. I’m not exactly built for the cold, and as many will tell you – I do not dress for it! Frankly, I’ve never been happy bundled up like Ralphie in A Christmas Story. That being said, it wasn’t death-con five freezing just yet, but I know it will come. I took a few shots on the beach a couple days ago of Ray fishing in his new waders, so I’ll include one.

I’m just going to take a second to give a shout-out to LL Bean for being ultra cooperative when I had to return the first pair of waders I purchased for Ray’s Christmas present, because they leaked. They somehow managed to have a new pair to me just one day after they were off back-order. I also spoke with a rep on the phone, and she was very very helpful. Gold star for them, because they made the return process painless (which is pretty rare these days).

Something Fishy

So this weekend was a record breaker (temperature wise), and we enjoyed every second of it! There is less photographic evidence than I would like, but there are a couple nice shots. It was Ray’s birthday, so there was some celebration – and plenty of beach time and fishing. Both Saturday and Sunday were perfect beach evenings. Ray was more than happy because he got to spend his birthday his favorite way – fishing and being on the beach (there was also some sushi eating, but that was icing on the cake).

The beach was surprisingly crowded for October, and everyone was trying to get a piece of the (little) fish that were swimming by. I laughed when I saw that there were men in waders when Ray and I were in bathing suits. Really, folks? I had been swimming in the water before they got there. No need to overdo it just yet. I just want to take this moment to add that I caught fish too, though I am not included in these photographs!

 

Gorgeous skies! The lightening was so beautiful. It was warm enough to have our feet in the water (and not freeze!).