Author: MichaelStephenWills

My photographic style centers on the use of natural light to visualize emotion and evoke memory. The evolution of my style began early in the year 2002, with an imperative to capture personal and fleeting memories. My son and I traveled to New York City, to view the first Saint Patrick's Day parade after September 11, 2001. My work from that parade was so successful and satisfying (see "New York Fire Department, Saint Patrick's Day 2002") I just never stopped.

Bullet Dodge Series 2

Shroomed (Happy May Day)

May 1, 2020April 29, 2020 MichaelStephenWills8 Comments

One week before January 10, the dawning of the day photographed here, “the CDC Director Robert Redfield was notified by a counterpart in China that a “mysterious respiratory illness was spreading in Wuhan [China]”. Redfield notified HHS Secretary Alex Azar shortly thereafter, who shared his report with the National Security Council (NSC). According to The Washington Post, warnings about the virus were included in the President’s Daily Brief in early January, an indicator of the emphasis placed on the virus by the intelligence community.” December( and maybe October/November), 2019 through January, 2020: COVID-19 was spreading across the USA as visitors from Wuhan disembarked from planes.

The following images compare IPhone 7 to a dslr mounted on a tripod.

Click photograph for larger image. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

With a tripod it is simpler to achieve a level horizon….

I heard the word “shroomed” (as a verb) used in Episode 1, Season 6, of Bosch. As in “the Federal Government treats us like mushooms”: grown in excrement and kept in the dark.

Click to open video in a new browser tab for better experience.

Sunrise, January 10, 2020 Cocoa Beach, Florida

Want to see more? Click me to visit my Florida photography on Getty IStock.

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Reference: the quote is from the Wikipedia article “Timeline of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in the United States.”

Bullet Dodge Series 1

First of a looooonnnngggg series

April 30, 2020April 29, 2020 MichaelStephenWills4 Comments

One day after my “Sunrise Texture” series as the sun rose on Cocoa Beach I was waiting with the same photographic kit. It was perfect weather for a visit to Walt Disney World, planned for that day: unsettled.

This image couple demonstrates the effect of long / short exposure without using filters. I changed the ISO and F-stop to achieve these effects.

Click photograph for larger image. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

With a tripod it is simpler to achieve a level horizon….

I turned around to observe the colonies of shore birds…..

Click to open video in a new browser tab for better experience.

Want to see more? Visit this my “Sunrise Textures” series on Getty IStock.

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Cushendun Published

Photography accepted this week by Getty

April 27, 2020April 16, 2020 MichaelStephenWills3 Comments

Click me to visit Getty, my recently accepted Cushendun photography.

Correction

Eranthis hyemalis

April 21, 2020April 5, 2020 MichaelStephenWills3 Comments

A fellow blogger, Audrey Driscoll’s Blog, provided the correct and exact species name for the post “Wildflowers Late Winter / Early Spring.” The posts are updated. Thank You, Audrey.

Copyright 2020 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Kite Encounter

catching the wind

April 20, 2020April 18, 2020 MichaelStephenWills5 Comments

Awhile after encountering the hydrofoil the same north wind powered a large, eight foot wingspan kite high overhead. Cheri Down Park, my meeting point for lunch with Pam, was in sight as I took a detour to talk with the kite flier.

Click me to open video in a new browser tab for better experience.

Seated in a comfortable beach chair, he turned a one foot diameter reel pulling the kite in. Kite flying was a relaxation for this permanent resident. As the kite descended overhead I caught this short video. In retrospect the beauty is ominous, a metaphor for the approaching novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Click me to open video in a new browser tab for better experience.

Copyright 2020 All Right Reserved Michael Stephen Wills Photograph

Bright Surf, High Tide

Invasion

April 18, 2020April 18, 2020 MichaelStephenWills15 Comments

Morning walks through January 2020 were solitary events, more so on stormy morning such as this, January 23rd. Even the dog walkers stayed home. The surf surged to the dunes. Click me for my posting, “Rough Surf.”

Today’s photographs are a sequence of the surf’s high point. Click me for yesterday’s post including a video.

Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

The sun broke through between clouds to rake with light the beach scurf and wind scud. In the distance, a steady west gale blows surf onto itself as a white curtain.

Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

Click photograph for a larger view. You will open a gallery to flip back and for between images.

Copyright 2020 All Right Reserved Michael Stephen Wills Photography

Dawn Rough Surf High Tide

beyond belief

April 17, 2020April 18, 2020 MichaelStephenWills5 Comments

At dawn I walked on the beach from North 1st street to South 8th Street Cocoa Beach. Tide was at peak of high, the surf still high from gale winds. Click me for yesterday’s posting, “Rough Surf.”

In the first video, set the effect of a strong west wind pushing surf spray back onto itself, the ocean brightly lit across dunes. I was standing on a boardwalk access from South 8th Street.

Click to open in a new browser tab for better experience.

South 8th Street is my turnaround, walking back the squall clouds broke, releasing sunlight for this video.

Click to open in a new browser tab for better experience.

Squalls returned, forcing me to hide the DSLR (digital single-lens reflex camera) under my waterproof shell. Then, the squall broken once again, releasing sunlight for this double rainbow.

Click to open in a new browser tab for better experience.

Click this link to visit “Man O War Beach Wal k ” on my blog.

Beauty and Infection

Cutting Trees to Fight Disease in Glenariff Forest Park

April 13, 2020April 25, 2021 MichaelStephenWills9 Comments

White Hawthorne tree blooms grace hedgerows of the rural hillside facing Glenariff Forest Park. The other white is grazing sheep. The North Channel of the Irish Sea is visible at the foot of the glen, with the shore of Scotland just visible.

Foreground are the stumps of mature trees cut by the forest service to control the oomycete plant pathogen Phytophthora ramorum. We visited June 2014, the year before, October 2013, the Belfast Telegraph reported “Northern Ireland is close to the point where it will be impossible to eradicate a virulent disease from the forests where it has taken hold.” Glenariff Forest part was one of those forests and the tree stumps are victims of that struggle.

Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

Here is a link to this photograph on Getty.

Getting My Work Out There

A Blessed Easter to Everyone

April 12, 2020April 11, 2020 MichaelStephenWills8 Comments

Comparing this view with the first of this series, first glance, with the camera held steady on a Manfrotto studio tripod, it is identical but from the play of light and cloud. My model Pam walked a few feet to sit in quiet contemplation of the beautiful surroundings.

To produce stock photography I research the details of the image, to write an informative caption. For example, in the post “Another Glenariff View” my identification of the Rowan was from a two volume atlas, paging through page after page.

Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.

Here is a link to my Glenariff photographs o n Getty.

Glenariff Green

a closer look

April 11, 2020March 26, 2020 MichaelStephenWills9 Comments

Walking around the park trails with a handheld Sony Alpha 700 dslr, a Sony DT 18-200mm variable lens mounted. Sorry to say, I was selective and have only these three photographs to supplement the grand views of the previous two posts. Click me for the first post of this series.

These are from the upper portion of the Red Trail, we did not wander far from the car park. Such a funny term for a parking lot, a park for cars. The cafe offers pick me ups and we indulged.

Click photograph for a larger view. To do this from WordPress Reader, you need to first click the title of this post to open a new page.