Swan at Havens Beach – Panasonic Wide Converter DMW-GWC1

Back in January, Panasonic announced a new line of converters for their Micro four thirds cameras which included a fisheye, a macro, a wide converter (which modifies their 14mm lens to 11mm),  and a telephoto (which converts their 42mm to 84mm).  The only one that interested me was the wide converter because I already owned the 14mm.  At $130, the decision was a no-brainer. After the obligatory wait of four and a half months,  it finally showed up on Amazon this week. I bought one a couple of days ago and it arrived last night.

If you own Panasonic’s 14mm lens you’re getting the equivalent view of a 28mm lens on a 35mm camera. The DMW-GWC1 converter changes the view to 22mm. In the days of film, I frequently used the 903 SWC Hasselblad, so I’m already comfortable with a view this wide.

This morning I took my G3 over to Sag Harbor for some pictures with the converter. When I opened up my RAW files in Photoshop an hour ago I was pleased to see pictures that were surprisingly free of the artifacts that you might expect to find with a lens converter. This picture, by the way, was photographed handheld @ f5.6 at only 1/50 second. You can click on it if you’d like to see it a little bigger.

I’m not sure yet if the profile for the converter is supplied in the most recent ACR upgrade from Adobe, but you can easily correct for any vignetting, fringing or distortion manually in ACR.  With my first pictures (including the one up above), I didn’t find any of that was necessary. Of course it’s likely that under more challenging lighting or compositional situations, some correction would be called for.

Drawbacks to the converter?  Well…if you’re only spending a $130 for a 22mm field of view, you can’t demand perfection. (I used to spend about that much for the filters on my Hasselblad.)  To me, the biggest issue is corner to corner sharpness especially if you want to shoot wide open.   Stopping down isn’t a big deal for me since I already tend to do that with prime lenses. If you do find a bit of fall-off in terms of sharpness, you can compensate for it in Photoshop.

Once you take your converter out of its box, it easily twists onto an adaptor ring (supplied)–which then screws onto the front of the lens.  The converter doesn’t come with a pouch, but it does have the front n’ back caps.  Mounted on the 14mm on the Panasonic G3 the camera is a bit too large to be truly called a “point and shoot”. I’m fine with that because it’s ergonomic. Even with the converter attached, the camera is considerably smaller and lighter than any 35mm camera.

btw– you can’t screw a filter onto front of this converter…so be aware of your bare glass at all times.

Footnote: Despite the fact that I was able to order a converter on May 14th, it’s once again listed as unavailable at the Amazon website. My advice is keep checking if you’re trying to locate one. Mine, by the way, shipped from J&R Music and Computer World,  through Amazon.

For specs, pictures and more info about all four of these converters,  visit the review at dpreview:

http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/01/09/Panasonic_Converterlenses

View From Long Wharf, Sag Harbor

This image was found on the east side of Long Wharf recently, on a calm morning with unsettled skies. One hundred and seventy years ago (around the same time Fox Talbot was perfecting the photographic process) this very same wharf was the locale of Sag Harbor’s formidable whaling fleet.  Sag Harbor had notoriety in those days, both for its industry and for its multifarious collection of sailors. There are several references to the village in Moby Dick.

These days, the only thing being processed out on the wharf is restaurant orders and the data for an occasional photograph. From the northern end there’s about 300 degrees of water to take in, along with North Haven and Barcelona Neck (in East Hampton) which are visible beyond. Straight out past the breakwater is a prominent beacon.  There’s some rocks near there where the seals like to sun, and beyond that are several thousand acres of Mashomack Preserve.

For those in tune with the tides, Long Wharf still can still whet the taste for adventure.

Winter Trees – Barcelona Neck

Barcelona Neck is a peninsula in Northwest Harbor that is home to the 500 acre Linda Gronlund Memorial Nature Preserve. Linda was a Sag Harbor native who died in the Pennsylvania plane crash which occurred on 9-11. The park has a network of well-maintained trails that explore field edges, salt marsh, second growth forest and beaches. There are many water views. My picture above was taken there a few years ago around this time of the year.

The peninsula has historic ties with Sag Harbor, although the park itself is within the Town Of East Hampton. It’s been said that homesick Spanish sailors thought the bluffs at the north end of the peninsula resembled those in Barcelona. On a clear day from on top you can see the distant archipelago formed by Plum Island, Great Gull, Little Gull and Fishers Island.

I gravitate to the park mostly to photograph fields, or more specifically to photograph the “gradient” of habitation as it fades gracefully into the woods. In some respects a lot of my pictures appear to be preoccupied with this, although it’s not usually a conscious function and is sometimes not successful.

Winter arrives in a week. If you live far enough north to have an ice rink in your birdbath then you’ll be enjoying a low angle of sun for another month. It can be a reason to plot an escape, perhaps to a warmer place with a sun on a higher perch. But on the other hand (if you stick around),  you can always grab a camera and try to harvest the light.

December Morning – Sag Harbor Bay From North Haven

North Haven, with it’s 360 degrees of shoreline, has endless opportunities for seascapes. On the east side beaches for example, the sun is currently rising perpendicular to the photographer producing beautiful light (especially if the seas are as calm as they were on Sunday morning).

From the north, there are a number of views of Shelter Island. From the southeast corner you’re looking at Jessup’s Neck in Noyack and from the northeast corner you’ve got a view of Southold. At the end of Route 114 you can watch the South Ferry making its endless rounds to Shelter Island.

This picture looks up along the east shore, and in the distance is Mashomack Preserve. The eastern part of North Haven is riddled with boulders and small patches of salt marsh; the other side is populated with high bluffs. Calm seas make either place the perfect locale for seascapes.

The best way to take it all in is with a sea kayak. From Long Beach you can circumnavigate North Haven in two or three hours. If you decide to paddle across to Mashomack you can stretch the trip to five. There’s also Genet Creek which is situated just to the west of the South Ferry launching area. Paddling into Genet will take you surprisingly far into the central part of the peninsula and much of the surrounding land is preserved. You can easily spend an hour or two poking around, slack tide being the optimal time for a visit.

This picture was taken with a normal lens which, in a way, is the least “obvious” of focal lengths. What interested me here was the repetition of shapes – the tongue of salt marsh being repeated by the shape of the largest cloud. Despite the placidity of the water, there is also a nice spiraling movement – clouds, reflections and the rocks in the foreground – something which I was hoping to capture more effectively with this lens.

Foggy Sunrise – Marine Park Waterfront, Sag Harbor

A recent scene – the sun battling with the fog for the better part of an hour… this one from Marine Park.

Sag Harbor Cove – Foggy Morning, Reflecting Sun

An image from last week looking east from Long Beach into Sag Harbor Cove.

Fish Traps – Long Beach, Sag Harbor

My 100th post. Thanks to all who have stopped by!

This photograph is of a group of trap stakes forming the leader for what has been called a “fish trap” here on eastern Long Island for as long as anyone can remember. The picture in my previous post will give you an idea what the complete trap looks like from the water.  My friend Brad Loewen, (a lifetime commercial fisherman in Springs) told me recently that the more proper name is pound traps — a term rarely used here unless it’s in an “official” conversation.

It was only after talking to Brad, that I gained an appreciation for the amount of work that’s involved in preparing these stakes. For years, fisherman have been harvesting young oaks and hickories and shaping them into twelve foot poles, shaving each to a pointed end. The final step in the process involves pumping them into the mud of shallow bays…a tiring job done from a boat (which sends the fisherman home with a ravenous appetite!)

Sometimes when hiking along the bay I’ve stumbled upon groups of freshly honed trap stakes lying above the tideline. The poles are ready to go, complete with rigging.  In a day or so, the fisherman will return to drag his stakes offshore to be installed in a fish trap. I’ve often noted how these poles (with their bluntly sharpened tips) seem to closely resemble the small trees felled by beavers.

Fishermen like Brad are maintaining an age-old occupation which has been carried on here since before the arrival of Europeans.

Incidentally, Brad’s wife Cyndi is an outstanding  watercolorist and stipple artist and we’ll be doing a show together at Ashawagh Hall on the weekend of February 18, 19 and 20 next year. More on that later…

Sag Harbor Bay Sunrise

On Monday morning, I photographed the sunrise from the Lance Cpl. Jordan Haerter Bridge. Even without a camera, the bridge is a good place to watch the morning begin.  Our most recent sunrises have been subtle events – clear, with only a smattering of clouds. That can be good especially for a more minimalist approach to the seascape.

Sunrise on Sunset Beach

Don’t let the name fool you.

Sunset Beach Road (in North Haven) can also be a good place to contemplate the sunrise.  If you’re on the beach here at dawn in November you’ll have the opportunity to observe the peninsula of Jessup’s Neck as it becomes illuminated in the first rays of morning sun. Jessup’s Neck is completely within the boundary of Morton National Wildlife Refuge and separates Noyack Bay from Little Peconic Bay.

Sag Harbor Photographs – The Old Burying Ground

Following my inspiration for a photography project timed for Halloween, I decided to move on from Southampton’s North End Graveyard to Sag Harbor’s Old Burying Ground.  The cemeteries are similar in some respects but there are significant differences. Both have burials that date from the first half of the 18th century along with many from the 19th century. Whereas the terrain is more or less level in North End, The Old Burying Ground is draped around a hill complete with twisted trees. If you always wanted to visit a cemetery that looks like an illustration from a children’s book about Halloween, this is the one.

Both cemeteries contain the remains of at least a dozen veterans of the American Revolution, which are noted by metallic plaques. Aside from the soldiers, The Old Burying Ground possesses a much wider diversity in terms of it’s occupants. There are a number of free African Americans buried here dating from the first half of the 1800′s, as well as Portuguese sailors from the days when this small village on eastern Long Island  was an international whaling port. There’s a tombstone for a young woman named Hamutal Horton who is described as the “amiable consort” of her sea captain husband. Over at the North End cemetery I stumbled upon a similar deceased bride, described as a “virtuous consort”. After a bit of research, I discovered that Puritans had a habit of chiseling such underhanded compliments onto the tombstones of their well-behaved wives.  Thank goodness we’ve moved on.

Another headstone recalls a freak accident which took place almost two hundred years ago. In 1814 there was a celebration in Sag Harbor marking the end of hostilities between the United States and Great Britain. During the festivities, two young men were accidentally killed when a canon inadvertently discharged. What an incredibly sad day that must have been in Sag Harbor.

By the way, if you’re visiting The Old Burying Ground, there’s a sign at the entrance that helps you figure out which stone goes with which person.

In terms of the pictures, my goal here was much the same, shooting at mid-day in order to amplify the effect of relief. Broad sunshine is required to accomplish this. It’s quite amazing to watch what happens as the sun moves over the tops of the stones. It gets even better if there’s plenty of lichens. Shooting at high noon in color is not usually my thing, but tombstones are a notable exception.

In both cemeteries I wanted to be close to the headstones for all the photographs, so much so that some of my images were set for macro. In this sort of photography, you’ll often find a spot where a collection of details says “this is it”.

Below is a link to the Southampton series:

http://johntodaro.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/southampton-photographs-walking-the-north-end-graveyard/

If you’d like to see the rest of the images from The Old Burying Ground, leave me a comment and I can post them in a slideshow.

Sag Harbor Photographs – Round Pond

Round Pond is a part of the Long Pond Greenbelt – a woodland and wetland corridor of over 1100 acres that extends from Mashashimuet Park nine miles south to Sagaponack. Much of the area has been preserved over the last 40 years and there’s now an excellent network of trails including one of Long Island’s best rail to trail conversions. Because of the presence of so many wetland plants, this is also a good place for photographs particularly in October. For these pictures, I  focused on Round Pond with it’s shoreline ringed with Red Maples and Black Tupelos – trees claiming the most intense fall colors in these parts.

One morning last week I joined a friend of mine there for some photography. Our timing was good. It was cool and windless with a slight fog evaporating off the pond. This hazy, almost spring-like effect was most apparent on Round Pond 1 (top of page) and on #4 (at the bottom). We got to work snapping pictures and conditions remained good for an hour. On the reddish piece just above(#2), I played with the idea of leaving a “ragged” tree-line in the reflection, a look which suggests a picture with gently ripped edges. For me, both this picture and #3 (to the right) evoke 19th century landscape photographs –  a period when Round Pond was home to an ice house on a rail spur which ran through the woods south to Bridgehampton. The former rail bed is still in the woods and may be hiked in its entirety. In the last image below,  I created a fraternal twin sister of sorts to the photograph at the top of the post – this time done as a horizontal. As was the case with the other photographs, my aim with this one was to keep things simple – by pretty much avoiding the sky altogether and by presenting the values and textures of both the water and the woods as seamlessly as possible.

Round Pond and the rest of the Greenbelt can be seen up close and personal once you get out on your feet. For more information about the trails, preservation and natural or human history of the Long Pond Greenbelt be sure to visit these links:        http://longpondgreenbelt.org/http://www.southamptontrails.org/index.html