photographer – Alicia Heaney

White Mountains Photography Trip 2018

A few years ago I took my first trip to the White Mountains to photograph and just generally take a little vacation. This year I went for a few more days then previously, hiked about 15 more miles, and stopped at many more places. I started my trip in the reverse direction from the time a few years before, by starting in Conway (eating an amazing dinner at the Muddy Moose!) traveling the Kancamangus hitting hikes and waterfalls, and ending with a couple days in Franconia visiting the Flume and what is left of the Old Man on the Mountain. Here are some of my favorite photos from my trip!

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Barn Owl Flight | Warwick Center for the Arts Juried Photogrpahy Show Winner!

photography

I’m almost still in shock and awe, just like I was when my name was the final one announced, as the winner of the Excellence Award at the Warwick Center for the Arts Nature’s Gifts Juried Photography Show! To photograph owls takes an incredible about of determination, patience and ability to withstand a lot of dissapointment and the cold while waiting to possibly spot an owl.

The juror, Jan Armor’s kind and humbling words about my photograph were: “I am in awe of this perfect image of a spectacular creature with wings spread wide. It is a lovely vision, so rare, so beautiful and so technically difficult to capture. This photograph took my breath away.”

Wow!

I first started photographing owls in 2013 when the massive eruption of Snowy Owls began appearing all over the United States, with plenty of Arctic visitors in Rhode Island. My first few trips out, trekking though the snow for hours at the crack of dawn, was finally rewarded one morning when I saw my first juvenile snowy owl perched on some rocks by the ocean. I was in awe of this beautiful creature and became owl obsessed. Investing in a Sigma 150-500mm lens to capture wildlife, I went out many times (sometimes unsuccessful) to try to capture these rare visitors. Pretty soon I was visiting almost daily and photographing tons of Snowys when rumors of an even rarer Barn Owl began to surface. The Barn Owl was apparently in a territory battle with the Snowy, and one sadly fell victim to the larger owl. It wasn’t until the year after, when a few Snowys returned, that I managed this image. I had heard of the Barn Owls return and spent the day waiting. Frozen and defeated, I got in my car and left. I decided to take a nearby backroad detour, and wooosh! Across the road mere feet from me flew my Barn Owl (lovingly nicknamed “Barney”). I pulled over in a ditch and in complete solitude and amazement watched as the owl fluttered and hovered, as it hunted its dinner. Frozen and enthralled I watched until dark, and thanked the Barn Owl for making it’s marvelous appearance to me. The Barn Owls are Nature’s Gifts in all their glory!

On another note, someone called me “The Owl Lady”, a title I’m completely not opposed to and probably was not the first or last time I’ll be called that! You can probably see my Barn Owl ring in this picture above!

Thank you so much to my bestie and photographer in training Kim, and my Mom for coming out on this amazing night and supporting all of my crazy ideas!

Let’s get out and see some owls!

Alicia (aka “The Owl Lady”!)

You can buy your owl print of “Barn Owl Flight” in my Etsy shop!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/269398094/barn-owl-flight-photo-print

DIY Flower Crown and Photoshoot!

Tutorials

I adore flower crowns, so when Kim and I decided to do a fairy tale style shoot at an abandoned building (think beautiful princess in a tower) I knew a flower crown would go perfect with her dress. I went to Michael’s because I didn’t have time to order one and figured they would have one. They didn’t. So I scoured the floral department in hopes I could come up with something myself. It actually came out pretty great and my client loved it as well!

Here’s how I did it:

1. Supplies:

Floral wire

Floral tape

Fake flowers and greenery

Simple right?

2. Cut floral wire into 3 lengths that fit comefortable around your head as shown above. They feel kind of flimsy alone so I braided them together to make a circle that was more sturdy. Braiding them was kinda tricky. I started by holding them together with one hand and awkwardly weaving them with the other hand.

3. Once the circle is complete, I wrapped one strand around the end of he other to hold it together, then used the floral tape to reinforce it and make it look cleaner.

4. Now the fun part, add flowers!!! Cut the flowers off their stems, but leave some stem behind (like an inch) because that’s how they will attach to the circle. I kept the leaves from the discarded stems too for additional fullness.

5. Get inturrupted by puppy kisses and snuggles!

6. Select a flower (I started with my big one because I wanted to nestle it with smaller ones around it) I bent the stem a bit right under he flower so the flower would be straight. Starting near the base of the flower, wrap the stem with wire (I guessed how much I’d need and trimmed it). It’s a little tricky to hold and start the wrap to be patient!

7. Next, cover the wire with floral tape so it looks nicer and elimanates the sharp ends.

8. Continue to add flowers and greenery as you choose! Be creative and have fun! When you’re putting flowers close to each other you have to weave the wire between flowers sometimes and it can be tricky.