Visit the US Virgin Islands!

After being on assignment for several long days, Cami & I spent some time enjoying ourselves.  I mean if you’re going to fly all the way there, why not, right?  🙂  We’ve done quite a bit of international traveling.  But I have to say, visiting the US Virgin Islands is one of the least-stressful places to go if you’re not akin to international travel.  As our taxi driver so kindly reminded us, the US Virgin Islands ARE part of the US afterall!  So things like language bariers and exchange rates are a non-issue.  I would have included driving on that list, except even though the islanders sit on the left to drive their vehicles, they do drive on the left side of the road like the British!  In spite of its few quirks, we highly recommend the lively St. Thomas, the remote St. John, and the largest island of St. Croix for your Destination Wedding or Caribbean vacation! 

Many thanks to Erik & Julia Loesch for introducing us to these islands when they hired us to photograph their gorgeous wedding at Bolongo Bay Resort last year…

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High-Flying Camera

While we were shooting for Bolongo Bay Resort in St. Thomas last month, one of our tasks was to get some updated images of the “Heavenly Days”. This sleek catamaran sets sail for evening sunset cruises and other chartered trips by resort guests. Well, I got the usual shots from shore…then rode along side the sleek vessel in a speedboat to photograph it skipping across the turquoise Caribbean water. But that wasn’t enough! For a truly unique image, I had a crew member hoist up the mast and clamp my beloved Nikon D3 plus 14-24mm f2.8 super wide angle lens to a cross beam with my Bogen Super Clamp. I used a pair of PocketWizards to wirelessly trigger the camera. Not only did it make for a cool shot, but I actually got to be IN the final image. Can you tell which one is me?!? 🙂 100102-0304100102-0307100102-0312100102-0325

Panoramic Stitching

From time to time I get asked how in the world I create my panoramic images.  Our home is full of these pano’s, stretching as big as 6-feet wide…the rolling green hills of western Ireland…the Grand Canyon at sunrise!  To get the resolution needed for such enlargements, I simply take several images and then use a software program to merge them together.  There are many ways to do this.  I find Panorama Maker by Arcsoft is strait forward, easy to use, and yields great results.  Give it a try sometime!

 Here’s my Sunrise in St. Thomas

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