Dave Daniel Photography

The southwestern US has such a diversity of landscapes and scenery unlike any other place on Earth. My fall 2011 tour is taking me through this rich area of the country to capture a new set of inspirational vistas. I planned on hitting some of the top photo destinations among many National Parks (thanks tax dollars), but am finding the best shots are coming from the drives between planned locations.

Here’s an example. This image was collected on Castle Creek road, south of Aspen, Colorado. As it happened, this scene opened up in front of us right when the sun was hitting a group of aspen trees in full fall regalia. Now, the picture really doesn’t do the scene justice, but it nevertheless looks amazing at full resolution. This is just one of those pictures that couldn’t be planned for unless you lived close by and could keep an eye on daily condtions.

Another example; I was Planning a full day at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Southwest Colorado, a location that makes the Grand Canyon jealous. An overnight rain-in-to-snow event totally obscured seeing anything beyond 30 feet, totally busting any images. I was really frustrated as I expected to get some really unique landscape images. Unfortunately, the snow and fog prevented me from taking a single shot. Discouraged, we left the location and headed for out next planned location, Arches National Park in Utah. Halfway through the drive a furious snow squall starting changing the landscape around us. I managed to find a safe spot to stop and capture this:

So, next time you want to “Plan” for that perfect image, don’t forget to look for those “Un-Planned” opportunites.

Our good friend and family member Yun Young recently completed a 5,000 mile road trip across the US, extending to the great Northwest where she took this fantastic panorama of the Seattle skyline and waterfront.

We printed it out on my Epson 2400 using 10-inch wide roll paper where it reached a whopping 36 inches. At full resolution, the image is breathtaking. Taking pictures in Seattle is always iffy, considering the frequent rain showers, but this one worked out beautifully. Contact me if you’re interested in a framed print.

Great image, Yun Young!

I had the fun opportunity for a collaborative shoot with newbie model Clairese at Muncie’s Minnestrista Center. It was an incredibly hot 90+ degree July afternoon, but the camera, strobes and people just kept on working perfectly. I always enjoy to shoot with models, as they are there to work and get results for the project, and Clairese was a tireless photo subject.

Later on in the afternoon, we took a quick run over to McCulloch park in Muncie, which boasts White River and some very old train bridges that made excellent backdrops for a large number of images. On this hot afternoon, the coolish waters were very refreshing. I’ll have a post with more of the location’s images later on.

I’m looking forward to the opportunity to shoot her again. Meanwhile, enjoy a small sampling of images from the shoot:

Thanks, Clairese

Surprises are nice. On a recent photo shoot with Muncie model Clairese, Hilary tagged along to learn more about the modeling, posing, and photography end of the process. It kept me busy in flipping shoots between subjects, but I hope you’ll agree the result was worth it.

Thanks, Hilary!

I’ve known Taylor for quite awhile, as she is the adopted parent of one of our Congo African Grey parrots. Among her other pet family members is her horse Arieat. Taylor has been riding for many years and now has Arieat as her own. The two are amazing to watch as they both have this giddy excitement once the riding gear comes out.

Taylor graciously obliged my request to shoot the two of them, and we coupled that with her need for a nice senior portrait set. After spending a couple of hours with them, I’ve found a new desire to shoot animals again. It’s extremely challenging as they have their own idea of what to do, along with being prodded by the errant fly biting their legs. But as you can see, the effort is well worth the effort:

Nothing is more fun than capturing pictures at a high school senior open house party, especially when the hot summer took a break, giving us a wonderful 80 degree day. Gracia asked me to take pictures of everyone at the party to put into a scrap book of the event. With a mix of portrait pics and candids, the day finished up with over 400 pictures to choose from. Here’s a very small sampling:

How can anyone not adore the beauty and innocence of a newborn baby? Katelyn was just home from the hospital, and we were honored to capture a few moments with her as she settled into her new environment.

Congratulations to Katelyn and her family!

I had the opportunity to do an enjoyable photo shoot with the Trimpe family this past weekend with some wonderful results. Originally intended as an outdoor shoot in wooded area, we had to move into a nearby business lobby due to Indiana’s great springtime rain. The lobby had a number of areas that made for some interesting photo settings.

Everyone was exceptionally fun to shoot with and ready with great attitudes. Enjoy the photos – click on any one of the following to go to a full gallery of images from the shoot.

Being a photo star is hard work

Motorists on I-65 are enjoying an interesting distraction just north of Lafayette as they enter the middle of an immense wind energy farm with wind turbines towering over 250′. The wind farm is home to over 600 wind turbines spread across 100,000 acres. The entire farm provides thousands of megawatts of clean energy to local energy users. Honestly, there really isn’t much of interest to look at on northern Indiana highways, but as I found myself looking around the countryside at the countless wind turbines, I began to wonder if the accident rate has increased on this stretch of highway.

After many trips through the area, I finally managed a short stop to get a handful of images. Pictures don’t do these turbines justice, as they are incredibly large with a total height of 372 feet, and there are so many of them. On the windy day I stopped, the 110 foot long blades made a low vibration as they slowly spun. Even though the blades turn at a seemingly slow speed of 15rpm, the tip speed is high enough to blur them in the photos.

I plan on returning to the area in the near future to take a number of night shots. It’s really hard to describe, but picture hundreds of red lights a couple hundred feet in the air, flashing on and off in unison well off to the horizon. The area truly looks like a sci-fi invasion. Meanwhile, enjoy these daytime shots of a very small fraction of the turbines in the area.

The Indianapolis Canal was a spectacular destination for this unusually warm spring day. With camera in hand, I spent the afternoon watching visitors to the canal take in the views, the museums, and memorials along the canal. I was also wanting to check out the canal length for candidate locations for some upcoming portrait shots.

In case you didn’t know, what we know as the Indianapolis canal downtown was actually part of the Indiana Central Canal. It was intended to connect the Wabash And Erie canal (which is partially intact today) to the Ohio River. The Indianapolis section roughly parallels White River and extends in pieces between Broad Ripple and White River State Park.

Although it’s a wonderful destination, I continue to be upset that the city allowed private construction along the canal, such as a tacky Residence Inn hotel, office buildings and condos. In my never to be humble opinion, the entire canal should be surrounded by park space and public venues. So much for the soapbox.

This was a chamber of commerce day – unusually warm at 84 degrees, slightly breezy, and mostly sunny. I ended up shooting over 200 images ranging from canal views to some families and pets along the canal. It’s clear that I need to make up some info cards so people know where to go to see some of the pics I took of them.

I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon and will be back with some photo clients to use the canal as a backdrop for some portrait shots. I easily found a couple dozen locations that should provide excellent results.

Enjoy!