Author: Kevin Raber

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Love Abstracts In Architecture

In my travels, I enjoy walking around cities.  I do this for a few reasons.  First, I love to do street photography.  This is a chance to shoot people and the environment to show spontaneous and candid life.  The other is looking at the architecture and trying to find abstracts in unique and beautiful buildings.

In this series of buildings, I found so much it was crazy.  This is the opera house in Iceland.  Known as Harpa it is an amazing building both inside and outside.  If you ever get to Iceland make sure you spend some time photographing this building.  Iceland is one of the most photo-rich lands you can visit.  It’s pretty easy to get a good photo there.

 

Please Visit . . .

If you are interested in seeing more work by Kevin Raber and purchasing his work for your own, please visit RaberEYES.com

Kevin also runs workshops for photographers all over the world at Rockhopper Workshops

Kevin also has. a major website for all photography enthusiasts with articles, forums, tutorials, community, and more at photoPXL.com

Kevin also shares his work daily on Facebook and Instagram

 

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Gold Leaf Indianapolis

The pandemic has slowed us down from going out and photographing as we used to.  Travel has been extremely curtailed and as such, I have been looking for new ways to expand my photographic art.

A number of years ago, a great friend who sadly has passed away showed me some prints he had made using gold leaf.  He learned this technique from Dab Burkholder, who is one of the best photo instructors I have met.  Thus, I saw a workshop online where Dan was teaching this technique.  I signed up for it, bought his kit, took the class, and quickly became addicted.  I now have over 100 images I have gilded, as it is called.  The procedure is a bit of work but the end result is many times unpredictable, but always satisfying.  I will feature all my gilded images in the near future with an album I am doing, but for now, please enjoy this 9×12 inch gold leaf photograph of downtown Indianapolis.

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Moonrise Over Antarctica

On a trip to Antarctica a few years ago we were sailing in a channel between two large mountains photographing feeding humpback whales.  It was a wonderful evening with photo opportunities of the starboard and port bows.  I was at the stern of the ship and heard a lot of shouts coming from the bow.  Something must be happening.  A few seconds later, as we moved forward, we got the glimpse of the moon rising next to this mountain.  The sky was pink, magenta and the snow had a special color to it.  It was a great look, and I got great shots.  You know it’s good when the captain of the ship comes out and turns the ship in a circle so he can take a picture with his point and shoot.

A month ago from this post I revisited my images.  I loved this shot and decided I needed to see it in BW.  Thus, I worked on the BW conversion.  This is what I got.  I tuned it for dark sky’s and subtle grays.  It kind of reminds me of an Ansel Adams photo.

Hope you like it.

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The Rock Stars Of Iceland

Iceland is a land of beauty in so many ways.  One of the special things is the horses in Iceland. They are unique to Iceland and they are just plain cool.  They are sturdy little horses that can put up with the harshest weather.  Their tales and mains are long and flowing.  You see horses all over Iceland and if you stop and visit with them, they will come right up to you and show signs of affection, especially if you have an apple or carrot in your pocket.

You cannot import any horses into Iceland.  If you export an Iceland horse that is fine, but that horse and/or offspring will not be allowed back into Iceland.  They are doing their best to keep the breed pure.

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Time For Breakfast

One early morning the year before the pandemic I visited Great Smokey National Park. It’s about an 8-hour drive from my home and I like to explore the Blue Ridge Mountains and surrounding areas.  This morning I enter the park way before sunrise stopped at a spot I was familiar with and waited.  I knew that every morning around sunrise the horses that have been out in pasture are called back to the barn for breakfast.  This particular morning it was foggy with a deep yellow sky as sunrose started.  Sure enough, like clockwork, the horses showed up.  I took my photos and moved on to the next location.  Shot on a Sony a7r iii with a 100-400mm lens.

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Something Small From Something Big

This is an image at the bottom of one of Iceland’s largest waterfalls, Seljalandsfoss.  I have been to this location dozens of times.  I have photographed from every angle.  Because it is so big as a photographer, I usually try to get the whole waterfall in.  I do my blurry time exposures.  I get it with morning and sunset light.  I go behind the waterfall and get low and sometimes climb the hill to get a high short.  But, am I seeing it all.

In the last few years I have been putting on my 100-400mm Sony lens and now looking for the picture in the picture.  In this case, there was something beautiful going on, as the waterfall would turn into a mist and gently land on the tricks at the bottom of the fall.  There was a whole other landscape taking place here.  The delicate moss, the miniature waterfalls flowing through this moss, and amazing detail you could never see unless you looked at it through a long lens.

So, next time you are out, look at the big landscape and then start looking for the smaller landscape inside the shot.  Picture in a picture.  I have a 24×24 inch print of this hanging in my hallway.  It always stops people as they explore all the detail.  Print it out.

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The Nap

Napping Polar Bear - Svalbard Norway Trip
Napping Polar Bear – Svalbard Norway Trip

 

Seems that all animals like to take naps.  They might have something going in that department.  Who doesn’t like a nap?  My cats and dog as nap specialists.  Seems that Polar Bears are pretty good at napping, too.  This napping Polar Bear was found in Svalbard on one of my many trips there.  I was in a zodiac (rubber boat) and was safe.  These guys are big though and as always when tracking any kind of wildlife, being quiet is so very important.  Shot with a 400mm lens with a Nikon D810.  I have a ton of Polar Bear images from numerous trips there.  I have a sold out trip in September to do this trip again.

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Revisiting Iceland

Over the Thanksgiving Holiday, I shut myself in my office, asked Siri to play some classic rock and I started to explore my old files and refine them using the new tools in Capture One 22.  I started with Iceland in 2010.  I did two trips to Iceland in 2010 and, as always came back with way too many keepers.  Iceland is magic and a photographer’s paradise.  It serves as therapy for many of us as in surrounds us with its ever-changing beauty.

These two images are a good example of the specialness that this land gives us.  The one image was taken at sunset – dawn.  I was there at a time where it never gets dark.  The sun goes down and in 15 minutes it’s coming back up. As it dips below the horizon, the warm and sometimes odd light reflects onto the clouds and, in this case, the water of the Iceberg Lagoon.  (please don’t ask me to spell the name. ).  The second shot was made in the Highlands and once again nature and light played a big part in obtaining an incredible image of this canyon with waterfalls and a river that flows out to the horizon.

You can join me next year to explore Iceland again.  Visit rockhopperworkshops.com for information.

Please Visit . . .

If you are interested in seeing more work by Kevin Raber and purchasing his work for your own, please visit RaberEYES.com

Kevin also runs workshops for photographers all over the world at Rockhopper Workshops

Kevin also has. a major website for all photography enthusiasts with articles, forums, tutorials, community, and more at photoPXL.com

Kevin also shares his work daily on Facebook and Instagram

Kevin Raber
December 23, 2021

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A Day In Mayesville South Carolina

Prior to the pandemic, I was doing a lot of travel.  There is so much to see and photograph in this world.  My friend Miles from the UK had called and asked if I’d like to meet up with him in Charleston, SC, and do some photography.  I was already going to do a trip to the Smokies, and Black Rock, NC, so I added a new destination as well as continued on and make a trip to Naples, FL.

Miles and I had a fun time exploring many areas in and around Charleston.  We got some good images.  We heard there was an interesting town called Mayesville that might be worth visiting.  Mayesville, it turns out, is a town that time forgot.  Pretty much abandoned and falling down except for a cotton mill that is chugging along and probably the only business still there.

This image is just one of the hundreds I took in Mayesville and I intend to do a story on PhotoPXL about this trip soon.  I’ll post something here when I have it posted.

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Fall Colors

Wow, it’s been a while since I last put a post up on this site. My apologies.  Life seems to have gotten the better of me.  We needed to move our studio, which we did, and to a new space in the same building.  We have changed the direction of the business to more of teaching than gallery sales.  In short, we are adapting to the new times we seem to be in and continue to evolve with the changing and somewhat challenging times.

You can view our new studio and the direction we are heading HERE.

This image was made a few weeks ago while I was walking my dog.  I was looking for color and patterns.  It’s amazing what you can find if you just look down at the ground.  I shot it with the iPhone 13 MAX Pro and find the camera in this camera to be a big step up from the iPhone 12.

I hope you enjoy this image.