We arrived at the trailhead at almost 2pm loaded with all essentials; food, water, first aid kit, map, whistle, headlamp, bear spray, down and shell jacket and of course camera along with variety of filters, two lenses and tripod.

We walked for a couple of miles along the road and was happy to see the junction for the Gill Brook trail. It was a wonderful walk along the brook with mossy trail and scenic waterfalls/cascades to please the eyes and ears.

It was a clear sky which is not the best time to take photos, so we headed straight up to the Indian head lookout. Once we reached the second intersection marked Indian head, the trail starts to get steeper through the area with lots of trail work and stairs. We reached the third intersection where that leads to the Fish Hawk cliffs and Indian head.

Upon reaching the summit, we were in awe with the breathtaking views of Lower Ausable Lake and the slides of Gothics Mountain as well.  The colors were absolutely gorgeous in the fall.

Snowy and Vanderwhacker mountains mark the skyline beyond the deep lake cuts; Colvin and Sawteeth slope steeply into the Lower Lake.

Panorama view from Indian Head CliffPhoto by: Rollo Sicoco

It was already 4pm and the light was still too harsh. Though it was windy and cold, we took some cover under the trees and rested while waiting for sunset.

Photo by Rollo Sicoco. With Armstrong (elev-4,446ft), Upper Wolf Jaw (elev-4,203ft), Lower Ausable Lake (elev-1,950ft) and Lower Wolf Jaw (elev-4,203ft).

As the golden hours started, we begun shooting until twilight. We were the only ones left at the scene. After packing my gear, we headed back through the Lake Road trail. Going down was easy but not a scenic trail like Gill Brook trail. My right knee was already in pain but it didn’t stop me to keep going. This is probably one of the best trail I ever had, the Gill Brook trail going to Indian Head Lookout.

Lower Ausable Lake

Location:

St. Huberts Parking area  44.14976°N / 73.7677°W

Notes:

• Trail begins on private land about 3.3 miles. No drop offs or pick-ups are allowed at the trailhead area/gate.

• No dogs allowed and no camping. One must reach the legal areas to camp outside, where transition from private to public lands are well marked along the trails.

• Bear canisters are requirement from April 1 to November 30. If you don’t have one you will be asked to turn back by a ranger.

• Half of the walk is along Lake Road.

• Sign-in register is that large gate of Lake Road near the ranger cabin.

Check out What Does It Take To Get The Shot: Heart Lake and Lower Ausable Lake video

"Echoes Of Silence"San Jorge, Samar, Philippines "Pinipikasan Falls"San Jorge, Samar, Philippines "A Fallen Leaf"San Jorge, Samar, Philippines

Pinipisakan falls is one of the most beautiful waterfalls in the Philippines, it’s a four layered of waterfalls that serves as most convenient way to enter the Sulpan Cave. The Sulpan Cave has five-kilometer long underground cave chambers with huge stalactites and stalagmites. The cave has an underground river that serves as tributary for the Blanca River. 

Sulpan Cave and the Pinipisakan waterfalls can be better accessed through the municipality of San Jorge, Samar. However, getting there is not easy so local guide who is familiar with the place is needed.

We met our friendly and extremely knowledgeable guide, Jon Bonifacio in Catbalogan City, Samar. He is a cave master and speleologist who had been to numerous cave expeditions with international spelunkers. He runs Trexplore The Adventures who organized caving tours in Samar.

Breakfast with Rio Tudtud and Mickey Deutsch Photo by: Joni Bonifacio Photo by: Joni Bonifacio with Daryl Comagon, Rio Tudtud, Mickey Deutsch and Marlon Flores Habal-habal ride to Blanca Aurora with Rio Tudtud Photo by: Joni Bonifacio

After our sumptuous breakfast in Catbalogan City, we rode a van for hire to San Jorge town which is about 40 minutes away. In San Jorge we hopped on the motorbikes going to Barangay Blanca Aurora, we rode 30 minutes through asphalt road and constricted dirt roads.  Blanca Aurora is a small village known to its Blanca Aurora Falls. This is where we will have to get the permit and meet up with the porters and boat navigators.

While Joni was busy processing our permit and organizing the porters,  Daryl Comagon a fellow photographer who came with us, took me to Blanca Aurora Falls. It’s a small wide waterfalls just 5 minutes walk from the main road of Blanca Aurora. I just took some snapshots using my phone then we head back to where we will take the boat going to Duroongan.

Blanca Aurora Falls Taken from my iphone

The banca (native boat)  ride was quite an experience for me. We had to go upstream that is against the flow of water and the river has a lot of parts that are too shallow where we had to go down and pushed the boat. Normally it will take two hours but since it was summer, the water is lesser so it took us 2.5 hours to reach the other end.

Photo by: Joni Bonifacio Pushing the banca against the river current. pushing banca against river current Photo by: Joni Bonifacio

Once we arrived at our jump-off in Duroongan, we quickly ate our packed lunch before we started our jungle trekking. It’s a two hour hike on an unestablished trail and rugged terrain and some parts we had to climb on rocks to get to the next trail to follow. 

Mickey Deutsch rock climbing Photo by: Joni Bonifacio Taken from my iphone Photo by: Joni Bonifacio

Before reaching the Sulpan Cave entrance, you will have to swim across the river, wade through the clear greenish waist-deep and chest-deep water, climb three mini waterfalls and walk all the way through mossy rocks.

Need a helping hand with Daryl Comagon Photo by: Joni Bonifacio

 
It was already late in the afternoon when we arrived at the last waterfall, so we decided not to climb the last one and spend more time on exploring the spot and figuring out how to get the shot on what I visualized. Otherwise it will be very difficult to hike back and ride the boat in darkness.

Exploring the site with Daryl Comagon and Marlon Flores Photo by: Joni Bonifacio Setting up for our shots with Daryl Comagon Photo by: Joni Bonifacio Photo by: Joni Bonifacio
At the spot I chose, there’s barely any direct sunlight reaching the bottom so there was no need for a Neutral Density ND filter. Polarizer filter was enough to suppress glare and slow the shutter speed, this will create a motion blur effect on the waterfalls.  

The cave entrance is humongous and the only way to measure it up is by positioning a model person on the photo. It is like a giant monster mouth with fangs hanging, its saliva spitting out and ready to eat us. I was in awe with it’s  massive entrance  and the rock formations are astounding  with its beautiful five meter falls flowing towards bluish waterpool. Its just serene beauty with soothing sound of flowing water and the splendid attraction of the falls. 

Tips and Info

Guide contact:
•    Joni Bonifacio of Trexplore the Adventures.
•    Address: Abesamis Store, Allen Avenue, Cabalogan City, Samar
•    Email: trexplore@yahoo.com. Tel. no: 055-2512301, Cell: 0919-2943865
•    Website: www.trexplore.weebly.com
•    1 day adventure trip inclusion: Permit, life vest, helmet, transportation, food (breakfast and lunch), boat rides, local porters, TREXPLORE  guide, certificates and photo documentations.

What to bring:
•    Backpack (daypack)
•    Drybag to store your camera, wallet and other items that you don’t like to get wet.
•    Quick dry clothing: Avoid cotton clothing, when wet it doesn't dry quickly.
•    Extra clothes
•    Strong water-friendly footwear with toe protection is a must.
•    Two pairs of lightweight wool socks. Avoid cotton socks.
•    Headlamp
•    Trail food like energy bars.
•    Water bottle
•    Hiking pole or hiking stick.
•    Waterproof portable camera:  Its hassle to remove the DSLR/Mirrorless Camera from your drybag along the trail.

Photography stuff:
•    DSLR or Mirrorless camera
•    One ultra wide zoom lens. Its more flixeble than ultra wide primes lens.
•    Tripod
•    Polarizer and Neutral Density ND filter. Polarizer filter is mostly used but will need ND filter if the sky is too bright.
•    Extra Microfiber cloth to constantly wipe off any water droplets on the filter or lens. Mist especially you are near from waterfalls will accumulate on your lens or filters very quickly.

Highly recommended to take a two days for photography activity.
Best month to go: April to May

"Frozen"

The park has visitor center, trails, boat launching area, dikes for fishing and environmental center. It offers a lot of activities for one you can do boating activities in the reservoir. There is also the second level observation deck where you can enjoy spectacular views.

During the winter, the reservoir is open for ice-skating, ice-boating and ice-fishing. However, these activities are permitted depending on the weather conditions.

There’s a special portion of the reservoir that is designated as wildlife reserve which protects certain faunas such as notable bird and land animal species of Swan, Osprey, Bald Eagle, Great blue Heron, turtles, Red Fox, Raccoons and White-tailed deer.

A swan looking at a frozen dead duck on the lake. Taken on overcast foggy day using 70-200mm telephoto lens.

Parking

 

The park opens daily at 6a.m. to dusk from April 1 to October 31 and 7a.m. to dusk from November 1 to March 31. Occasionally the park ranger opens the parking at Chestnut point before 7am on Winter.

 

It is one of the places that I put into practice my winter photography in New Jersey. During winter I will wait when the lake has frozen, frozen enough to walk nearby the shore.   

 

 

Here are some tips if you want to take a photo in the reservoir during the winter:

"Frozen Log"

Where: Park your car on the roadside near the intersection of Georgia Tavern Road and Lemon Road, and then make your way to the Chestnut Point.  You should be extremely careful when walking on ice, it might be slippery or ice might be not thick enough.

When: A great spot for sunrise views is best during overcast light.

How: If you are aiming for a sunrise shot be sure to use wide angle zoom lens to get everything from foreground to background.  

Try vertical composition, it often accentuate the dynamic qualities of an image particularly when using ultra-wide lens. 

A solid neutral density filter is useful if you want to blur the clouds. For more information on how to use a neutral density filter you can check www.digitalcameraworld.com How and when to use ND filters

Check out my Winter Solitude Manasquan Reservoir Gallery:

 

 

 

 

Snow Domeview from Icefield Center

Toe of Athabasca Glacier

Mt. WilcoxA frozen pond with Mt. Wilcox on the background Going back to the trailhead, you can see on your left Mt. Wilcox also Lake Sunwapta and on the right you can see the Icefield Interpretive Center.

Mt. WilcoxTrail overlook view with Sunwapta Lake and Mt Wilcox in the background.

One fine weather weekend, I wandered alone along the serene shoreline. It was early morning around 2 am. Along the trail, I found a seemingly dead tree. It simultaneously spooked and amazed me. I thought it would be cool to shoot it with the cosmic Milky Way so I spent an hour trying to get a perfect composition. 

Raw

After edited on Lightroom

On the night of a thunderstorm forecast, we went out to Exchange Place together with my fellow photographers, Jennifer Khordi and Gary Feng. Our mission was to capture lightning streak that would hit the One World Trade Tower. On the road near Jersey City we can already see the thunderstorm clouds hovering New York. We all got so excited as we witness the cloud formation. 

Once we arrived in the spot, I immediately grabbed my camera and tried to visualize which lens is good to use and composition considering that I’m new to the place.I scouted a little further and saw that the clouds are getting darker. So I hurriedly put on my rain jacket and as well as my DSLR rain sleeves.

Now the wait: as dark clouds hovered over New York I was able to get some series of shots but no lightning yet. In matter of minutes since we arrived the heavy rain started to pour. Right away we took cover under a nearby shelter.

We all waited in the shelter until the rain stopped. For safety, I stayed inside and shoot from there. I used intervalometer to get series of shots. We waited for awhile for a lightning streak and there it was! But sadly it was on the side not on the One World Trade Tower.

It was tempting to move and recomposed on the side but I was determined to get a shot for One World Trade Tower. I convinced myself to stay put for a little longer and continued series of shot until --- there it is! Lightning streak.

"Power Charging The City"New York, New York Check out my friends work too Jennifer Khordi's FB page and Gary Feng's FB page

"Sailing Through The Sky"Island Beach State Park, New Jersey

Although it lasted for a few seconds before it vanishes in the deep Atlantic Ocean, this has been an awesome experience that I will surely hold dearly.

It is quite challenging to capture the meteors that appear in the sky but with constant observation I have a arrangement in mind. Using tripod to stabilize the camera, I then positioned it facing the north-eastern part of the sky to get higher chances to capture the falling meteor. In addition, I used intervalometer to get series of shots.

While the shots started rolling for at least an hour I comfortably lay down on the warm sand and enjoyed watching the twinkling stars. 

I have been scouting for months on a best spot for the Macy’s 4^th of July fireworks in New York. I wanted it to have a different perspective – a different view but to my dismay I couldn’t find one. As the event neared I thought of just going local or be early in Hamilton Park, Weehawken. Luckily, two days before the most awaited July 4^th, a friend of mine hooked us up with his fellow contact. I guess destiny has its own course of finding me a spot. 

The view is from the rooftop of a 22 storey-condo. The sight was just simply what I thought of --- it was breathtaking. As I enjoyed watching the fireworks, both my hands are busy clicking the triggers to capture the amazing fireworks display.

Yes, I used two DSLR camera bodies: one with wide angle lens and one telephoto lens for tight shot of Empire State Building.

When I got home, scanning through the pictures I knew I got what I wanted “The Empire State’s Magic Moments”.

Please share to your friends the "Empire State's Magic Moments". See more photos of July 4th Fireworks.

Special thanks to Fernando Trujillo for arranging the spot for us. You can see his awesome work here .

Here's some Iphone shots behind the scenes .