AP Gouge Photography: Blog

Polo - New Bridge 5/19/19

apgougephoto@gmail.com (AP Gouge Photography) — Tue, 21 May 2019 08:50:36 GMT

The town where I live has something of a horse problem. Well, maybe not a problem, but maybe an obsession. You can find just about any horse activity you can think of here in town: thoroughbred training, dressage, steeplechase, fox hunting, polo, eventing….etc.

But, that’s not a problem for me, because I’ve grown to love to take photos of horses.

I do like to shoot polo matches. It’s a bit challenging because the field is so large, but it's tough to beat the feeling I get when I hear the thunder of the hooves as the horses race down the field.

This past Sunday, I ventured out to New Bridge Polo Club here in Aiken to watch Crestview Genetics take on Icon Global in the Tommy Hitchcock 8 Goal tournament. As you can see from these images, it was quite a game!

Aiken Bluegrass Festival 2019

apgougephoto@gmail.com (AP Gouge Photography) — Sun, 19 May 2019 14:57:03 GMT

Last weekend I shot the annual Bluegrass Festival that is held here in Aiken. This event, in it’s 15 years of existence, has developed into a legend in the bluegrass community. They regularly bring in the absolute best in bluegrass with Grammy award winning Del McCoury and the Traveling McCoury’s, Billy Strings, Larry Keel, Lindsay Lou, and Horseshoes and Grenades being among the headlining groups this year.

Stay tuned as I'll be shooting more live music events over the next several months.

Backyard Hydrangeas 5/5/19

apgougephoto@gmail.com (AP Gouge Photography) — Sun, 05 May 2019 14:36:06 GMT

Have I told you my wife loves hydrangeas? Well, she does. 😉

Our backyard is full of hydrangeas. So, I went into our backyard for some quick shots this morning just after sunrise. (I did have an ulterior motive: I have a lens that I’m checking out because I’m thinking about buying it. Ha!)

I love the beauty of these blooms and the droplets that remained from the overnight showers only made them more beautiful.

Driftwood Beach Milky Way

apgougephoto@gmail.com (AP Gouge Photography) — Sat, 27 Apr 2019 12:38:40 GMT

While visiting Jekyll Island, my photo friends and I got up EARLY one morning (try 3:30 for early!) to hit Driftwood Beach to take Milky Way photos. We were hoping for clear skies, and the last bit of clouds blew out just after we arrived.

We had some amazingly clear skies and the tide was just right. Conditions were great and we got some great images. But just as the sky started to blue up from the approaching sunrise, we decided to ditch sunrise (which wouldn’t be so interesting without clouds) in favor of heading back to the AirBNB for a nap before grabbing breakfast and heading home.

This was the first time I’d really had a chance to shoot stars with my Nikon D850. I was pretty blown away with how it performed at the higher ISO (this particular image was shot at ISO 2500).

Cherry Blossoms DC 2019

apgougephoto@gmail.com (AP Gouge Photography) — Fri, 26 Apr 2019 13:03:40 GMT

Earlier this month I had a chance to visit Washington to photograph the Cherry Blossoms. I’ve spent some time in DC over the years and never made it down to truly experience and enjoy the event (but I do remember trying to dodge the tourists as they made their way to the event! Ha!).

The blossoms were beautiful. They really transform the Tidal Basin into a magical place.

But, the crowds! Even in the morning before sunrise, I was amazed at the number of photographers (and runners.) that would get up early and make their way down to the Tidal Basin to shoot sunrise.

Here’s a few images from my visit. I hope you enjoy them!

Snow Aspens

apgougephoto@gmail.com (AP Gouge Photography) — Sun, 21 Apr 2019 11:39:37 GMT

I'm finding that I have a backlog of images that I want to post, so I'm going to try to do better with getting these images up and reviving my blog in the process.

These images are from a visit to New Mexico back in February (seems so long ago, doesn't it? lol!). I’ve developed an interest in woodland photography (going so far as taking a woodland photography focused workshop from Simon Baxter in Scotland – and more images coming from that trip too!) and I love how the aspens contrast with the snow.

This image is of the same scene, but a bit of a different perspective:

Both of these images were processed using Luminar (Luminar Website [full disclosure, I am a Skylum affiliate and I earn a little bit if you use the link there]). It was actually after sunset when I was able to find this scene and Luminar did a great job of improving the contrast and making the images pop a bit.

This last image was processed in Topaz Impression (Topaz Impression Website [full disclosure, I’m a Topaz affiliate also]) to give it a bit of a painterly look.

I hope you enjoy these images! Drop me a note at apgougephoto@gmail.com if you have any questions!

Jekyll Fire

apgougephoto@gmail.com (AP Gouge Photography) — Wed, 17 Apr 2019 02:58:42 GMT

Jekyll Fire

I recently visited Jekyll Island, Georgia, with a couple of photography friends. We made it out to the boneyard beach there (they call it "Driftwood Beach") for sunrise, arriving before anyone else. We started shooting and before long the sky lit up like it was on fire. It only lasted a couple of minutes, but it was long enough to capture a few frames before the color faded.

Wild Horses

apgougephoto@gmail.com (AP Gouge Photography) — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 08:22:52 GMT

Wild horses have been roaming the Outer Banks for hundreds of years. When I visited the Outer Banks in June, my friends and I wanted to take photos of the horses near Corolla (saying 'shooting horses' just doesn't sound right, even if I'm talking about using a camera) but weren't sure how hard it would be to find them. Not to worry, we hadn't traveled too far up the beach before we began seeing horses at the top of the dunes. Hope you enjoy this as much as I did taking it. Corolla Wild Horse

Botany Bay morning

apgougephoto@gmail.com (AP Gouge Photography) — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 11:00:00 GMT

I'm almost always up for a trip to the South Carolina coast. Sometimes I'll get up at 3am to drive there to catch a sunrise. I didn't have to do that this time. ;-)

I spent this past Saturday evening and Sunday morning with a large group of photographer friends in Charleston. We shot the Ravenel Bridge on Saturday evening, and then got up (still early, my alarm went off at 3:45!) to drive to Botany Bay, on Edisto Island, for dawn.

As we were walking to the beach in the pre-dawn, I caught an occasional bolt of lighting from a thunderhead to my right. Concerned that we might be caught on the beach in a storm, I checked the radar. It was clear that the storm approaching Hunting Island would not be a immediate threat to us, but we should keep an eye on it.

As we got to the beach, the mostly clear skies we had when we left Charleston were mostly gone! I was afraid that we wouldn't have much of a sunrise. But as I was setting up to start taking photos, I noticed the thunderhead again. While the sun wasn't yet up, the rich light from the approaching dawn was catching the top of the thunderhead, and reflecting back to the beach. The result was this photo. I hope you enjoy it!

Bodie Island Lighthouse

apgougephoto@gmail.com (AP Gouge Photography) — Sat, 19 Jul 2014 15:05:53 GMT

I was fortunate to be able to spend a whole week on the Outer Banks with a couple of buddies. One night we decided to go out and do some astrophotography on the beach. After about an hour of that, we almost decided to hang it up for the evening, but decided to swing by the Bodie Island Lighthouse on a whim. When we pulled up and saw this spectacular view, we knew we weren't heading back to the rental house anytime soon.

With a shot like this, two parts are important. First, you have to have a great shot to start with. I was lucky with the atmospheric conditions on that summer night, and we had been out shooting stars for about 2.5 hours by the time I captured this image so I'd had a lot of practice. ;-) Plus, the area was pristine, I didn't have to clone any trash off the grounds or any visual flaws. Second, the post processing is critical. Most shots of the Milky Way that I've seen are not that great straight out of the camera. Its the post processing that brings out the features that make a Milky Way shot. And for those of you that are wondering, this is a single shot. No compositing.

I hope you enjoy this. Stand by for more photos as I bring this website up!

Thanks for stopping by!