Author Archives: Michael Summers

Through The Lens 72 – Shay in the Rain

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Taken a couple of years ago during a photo charter at the Cass Scenic Railroad, this shot of Shay #11 at the Bald Knob Wye has long been a favorite of mine.  The fog in the distance and the rain streaking through the shot create a great mood for the shot if it had simply been cloudy.

When the passenger train stopped to drop us off at this location, it was drizzling rain.  By the time we were in position under a dense canopy of spruce trees, the skies opened up and the rain started to pour down, which shows up nicely in this shot taken with a telephoto lens.  As soon as the runby was over the rain stopped again.  Couldn’t have worked out better if we planned it!

Through The Lens 71 – Woodturning

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For those that don’t know, my other hobby is woodturning. I make bowls, hollow forms and pens on my lathe.  I was taking photos of my recent work, including this wormy ambrosia maple form with holly finial in the photo above and thought I’d share it here.  After a lot of experimenting I’ve figured out a product photography setup that I like.

If you’d like to see more of my woodturning, please check out www.summerswoodturning.com

Through The Lens 70 – Vehicle Assembly Building

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As a follow up to my previous post about the Space Shuttle Atlantis Exhibit, I thought I’d share another from that trip. The main reason for that particular visit to the Cape was to tour the Vehicle Assembly Building. While the building isn’t fancy architecture, as an architect I still appreciate the technical challenges of creating the largest single story building in the world. Topping out at 525ft 10in, the VAB encloses 129,428,000 cubic feet of space.

Photographing the VAB was a challenge because of the size of the building. To best show it’s vastness, I chose a wide angle lens and placed my camera on a table top tripod on the floor.

Through The Lens 69 – Shuttle Atlantis Visitor Center

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Spacex’s successful launch of a reused vehicle reminded me that I haven’t shared my shots from my last visit to Kennedy Space Center.  The photo above is from the Space Shuttle Atlantis Exhibit. Seeing the shuttles in person is impressive but especially so at the Atlantis exhibit because of the way it is displayed. Instead of parking the shuttle on the ground, it is mounted at an angle at the 2nd floor level of the exhibit giving visitors the opportunity to see it at eye level and also from below.  Next time you’re in Florida, stop by and check it out.

Through The Lens 68 – Light City Abstract

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LightWave - Baltimore's Beacon - Abstract

After capturing the “Lightwave – Baltimore’s Beacon” installation last year, I started playing around with zooming the lens with the shutter open to see what patterns I could capture.  The ones where I opened the shutter while zooming in seemed to work the best.

Trip Report – Colorado Fall Color 2016 Part 1

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Last fall I had the opportunity to attend two photo charters in Colorado, so I extended the trip to allow time to visit a couple of national parks.  First up was Mesa Verde National Park. Created on June, 29th, 1906 by Theodore Roosevelt, Mesa Verde National Park was the first of it’s kind. All prior National Parks were created to preserve nature. Mesa Verde was established to preserve the works of man.

I only had one afternoon to visit Mesa Verde this time, but that was more than enough time to capture the two images I had in mind. First was sunset at Square Tower House:

Square Tower House Sunset

Second was the Milky Way over Park Point:

As a bonus I got a post sunset shot of the old Knife Edge Road that served as the entrance to the park for many years.  The went around the rock formation to the left in the image below, literally only one car width wide.  Thankfully they’ve built a wider road to replace it:

After finishing with the milky way shots, I headed north to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.  More on that in Part 2.

Through The Lens 66 – Square Tower House

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Square Tower House in Mesa Verde National Park is the tallest cliff dwelling in the park. It also is a great location to shoot at sunset.  Since the last time I visited was a cloudy day, I made a point to stop at Mesa Verde on my way to Black Canyon of the Gunnison on a trip last fall.  I’ll post the first part of the trip report on Tuesday.

Through The Lens 65 – B-29 Superfortress

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B-29 Superfortress - Fifi

FiFi makes a photo pass during the 2016 Mid Atlantic Air Museum WWII Weekend.

The B-29 Superfortress was manufactured by Boeing from 1943 to 1946 and was flown by the US Army Air Corps and later the US Air Force from 1944 to 1960. Of the 3,970 built, only a few remain.  Twenty-two are preserved in museums worldwide, a handful of airframes are in storage plus a couple of known crashes scattered throughout the world. For many years, FiFi was the only airworthy B-29 Superfortress. Recently a second B-29, Doc, completed its flight testing, earning a revised airworthyness certificate from the FAA, allowing it to travel without restrictions.  I can’t wait to see Doc out on the airshow circuit starting this summer.

Through The Lens 64 – Tank Creek

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Here’s one of my favorite photos from a private photo charter on the Durango & Silverton back in February 2011. 478 pulls a mixed train along the Animas River at a location called Tank Creek.  In the background just before the tracks curve out of the frame, you can see the water tank that gives this location its name.