Just a few fun macro shots, reminding me to zoom in and explore the world "at small."

My good friend John Moran has inspired me to do more night photography, using long exposures and various artificial lights to illuminate the scene. Here are some quick example photographs from a recent camping trip to coastal Georgia.

Pure moon light reflects off the ocean and silhouettes my friends, one of whom is using a cell phone that lights up his face.

My head lamp lights up part of my face, while the other part remains dark. It is my movement that allows the stars to shine "through" my body.

A distant town glows yellow-orange after a minute-long exposure. This snag is illuminate by my LED headlamp on the front and an incandescent headlamp from behind. White balance was set on daylight, giving the scene an overall warm tone.

The same snag as above except at a 45 minute exposure. The town lights are so bright that the branches of the snag are silhouette. No front lighting. Only ambient light and a brief back-lighting from an incandescent headlamp.

A 30 second exposure as a q-beam spot light with an amber gel is blasted from directly behind the tree, rim-lighting the tree and marsh grass.

I used a 4:52 second exposure to bring out the sky behind this majestic live oak, while John Moran bounced the q-beam spotlight off the ground and his own body to light the tree from all angles. For this shot I used tungsten white balance, rendering the sky a deep blue.

I lit these lives oaks by myself using John's q-beam and amber gel. The only difference was that this image was shot just before dawn.

Timing is everything in photography. Sometimes, having good timing comes totally by accident.

Consider the two recently photographed images from coastal Georgia. One image is somber, almost scary. It features a looming storm and foreboding horizon; the silhouetted snag appears like a trap waiting to be sprung. The ebb and flow of the waves pull you in, reluctantly. The other image is the exact opposite: A cloudless, sunny sky, gentle, undulating sand, long captivating shadows, and a snag that is revealed harmless. I photographed the stormy scene as a the tide was coming in during a rainy afternoon. The second image came 36 hours later right after sunrise during low tide. The stark contrast happened by accident. Thankfully so. It is a striking example of how the same scene can carry completely different feelings given different timing that the photographer finds the scene.