Photo of the Day: Freedom
©2009 Latitude 38 Media, LLC
This weekend’s sublime conditions made for idyllic daysailing weather. Light breezes coupled with warm daytime temps lured scores of sailors from whatever chores awaited them ashore.
©2009 Latitude 38 Media, LLC
The docks at Ayala Cove were buzzing with activity and good humor. The young people on Dark Star were particularly cheerful as this was their first outing to Angel Island aboard their new-to-them Edson B. Schock-designed 1939 woodie. "We just bought her on Wednesday," said beaming co-owner Omar Elafifi, 29. In fact, Omar is the oldest of the four boat partners — the others are Scott ‘Gundo’ Gundersen, 27, Nick Niedospial, 26, and Alex Kleeman, 26.
©2009 Latitude 38 Media, LLC
The gang — who’ve owned three other boats together — plan to sail and work on the 40-ft Dark Star with the ultimate goal of entering her in the 2012 Pacific Cup. From there, Kleeman has set his sights farther afield: "Maybe a circumnavigation," he hedged. Now that’s the kind of freedom we all yearn for.
Show Us Yours
After announcing our World of Chartering photo contest last month, we received a bunch of pretty cool photos. But we want more before picking the winners!
We know that hundreds, if not thousands, of you take charter vacations as often as you can afford to. And we have to believe you all take along cameras. So don’t be shy, show us your best images. Naturally, we’d like to see shots of action under sail, or eye-popping nautical scenes. But you’re also welcome to submit images depicting any aspect of a sailing vacation, including underwater scenes, sights ashore, anchorages, beach bars, your goofy kids, whatever.
© Latitude 38 Media, LLC
Because we know you’re probably as over-extended these days as we are, we’ll extend the submission deadline to January 1. Email us up to five high-resolution JPGs, and you’ll have a chance to get your shots published in these pages, and also receive some much-coveted Latitude swag.
On the other hand, if our plea for stunning photos makes you realize that you really don’t have any, perhaps we can offer a few tips. Over the years we have, after all, shot about a zillion frames.
Since most sailing vacations are taken in bright, sunny places — and more often than not, in the tropics — getting evenly balanced photos can be a challenge. Polarizing filters can help reduce glare, but don’t try using old filters from your film camera on your new digital. New electronic cameras require specifically designed filters.
If you browse through a National Geographic you’ll notice that many of the most impressive shots have very warm lighting, with highly defined highlights and shadows. That’s because pros often shoot in the early morning or close to twilight, when colors are the richest.
When out on the water you’ll eliminate the chance of blurred images by choosing ‘shutter priority’ and assigning a shutter speed of 1000 or higher.
Another tip that’s especially useful in the tropics is to become familiar with your camera’s fill flash settings, which can brighten faces beneath hat brims without looking artificial, and also light a subject in the foreground (i.e. your sweetheart), while accurately recording the ambient light in the background (such as a sunset). Experiment and have fun. Fooling around with photography can be an added pleasure when vacationing in geographically dramatic and culturally rich places.