Maryland the land of crabs, old bay, Natty Boh, and is of course my home state
Every year the massive sunflower patch at McKee Beshers in Maryland is a popular destination for photographers. Usually blooming in early July and lasting for about 2 weeks it’s quite the sight.
With over 30 acres of sunflowers in 9 fields you’ll have plenty of photo ops.
You’ll see many photographers with ladders; allowing them to shoot high above the height of the sunflowers. With most sunflowers around 6 to 7 feet you’ll want to get a higher angle on the sunflowers.
Since I live biking distance from the University of Maryland I took a quick trip to the campus to photograph the iconic mall. Using a 10 stop ND filter (see the rest of my gear) I was able to take a 36 second exposure during the day, giving the water a completely smooth effect for this shot.
I noticed a lot of Instagram users spinning steel wool on the West Coast so me and a friend decided to join in on the fun. For about $40 worth of parts we were able to build a metal rig using a whisk and metal wiring to achieve this effect. Read More
Driving home from a night out was intense in Tuesday’s fog. I could barely see 20 feet in front of my car, I knew it was the perfect time for a fog photo. I wanted to get a shot in the woods but didn’t think there would be enough light to showcase the fog. This was shot just in front of my house, I lined up the shot on my tripod with a ten second timer and ran into position to achieve this movie poster style photo.
Temperatures got down to around 9 degrees in College Park, Maryland on Monday. These freezing temperatures lead to the local Lake Artemesia being frozen over. I wish I walked around more but after photographing a bit of the lake I had to get out of the blistering chill. Read More
I recently picked up a new ND filter for long exposure photography and the results are stunning. When I had it in my hands I knew I had to try it out so I headed over to the closest body of water near me which is Lake Artemesia. Leading up to the lake is a few creeks and rivers one of which runs over a man made dam which was perfect. Read More
These rolling hills at National Harbor looked great with the sunset hitting their peaks. I was a little late to capture the sun actually setting but the color of the sky still came out fantastic with it’s orange highlights. Right behind this shot was actually where I captured the reflection of the sunset in the Gaylord’s windows.
The building in the background used to be the Engineering and Research Corporation which built airplanes by in the 30’s. Now it’s just a condemned building which I drove past everyday going to high school. I remember one day I walked 4 miles home from school because I didn’t have a ride and walked by this building while the principal drove by and waved at me (Thanks Mr. McMahon! ).
If I was a bit more adventurous I would have broke into this factory for some eerie shots but the construction equipment outside ended up turning out great. I tried to capture the dirt chips on the bottom right as the subject but that photo didn’t end up to interesting but here’s a shot of my tripod trying to capture the dirt chips.
I enjoy sharing tripod setups just because it’s interesting what positions it gets in while taking photos. If you think I should share them more or less let me know in the comments.
30 minutes of walking in the rain lead to this photo, I heard there was a sunflower patch in McKee-Besher’s hunting land and didn’t realize the sunflowers were visible from the road. Spending some time walking around a corn field in the rain (and seeing a Tesla) I knew I was in the wrong spot, I headed right around the corner in my car and there it was.
Directions to the Sunflower Fields in Maryland
I used my new Canon 16-35mm for this shot and had my tripod was planted in the muddy field. I just wish I got to the field a little bit earlier since the clouds got a bit crummy by the time I got here. There were surprisingly a few people there for being such a remote part of Maryland. It was also my first time having my Canon 6D in the rain, luckily I had my Canon backpack to transport the camera so it didn’t get too soaked.
While testing out my new Canon 16-35mm I hopped into a pool under construction in Hyattsville, MD. Right when I saw it I knew I had to jump it, especially with the sitting rainwater. I was trying to frame a shot with a view of town homes in the pool’s reflection but found the view of my friend sitting in the pool much more interesting.
Granted this isn’t one of my traditional HDR shots I still think it came out as an awesome portrait. The combination of the grunge feel with the blue sky gave the photo a gritty feel and my friend’s striking sunglasses added a nice touch to the final feel of the photo.
