Five-Years Ago (12-June-2013) — Germany

Gone to See Europe. Semester at Sea Spring 2013 Enrichment Voyage on the MV Explorer. Day 47: Kiel Canal, Germany.

I was part of a team of six photographers that took ~30,000 images as the MV Explorer (Semester at Sea Spring 2013 Enrichment Voyage) transits the Kiel Canal in Germany.Howard Ignatius used the images to create this time-lapse video of the passage through the canal.

Five-Years Ago (10-June-2013) — Baltic Sea

Gone to See Europe. Semester at Sea Spring 2013 Enrichment Voyage on the MV Explorer. Day 45: At Sea between Stockholm and Copenhagen.

Late night or early in the morning (hard to tell this far north when there isn’t much darkness at night) I looked out my cabin window on the MV Explorer and saw the electric blue Noctilucent clouds. I read about them before (http://www.spaceweather.com/), but had never seen them.  The clouds are ice crystals that are very high that you can only see for a short time when the sun is below the horizon. One theory is the crystals are nucleated when micro-meteors pass through the upper atmosphere. We were in the Baltic Sea traveling from Stockholm to Copenhagen and the sun doesn’t set until very late I set up a camera in my cabin and started taking pictures.(Nikon D4 camera, 28 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 200 or 800, 28 mm, f/1.8, 1 sec)). The composite images were generated using Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum) the way I do generate star trails. I was impressed that you can see the star trails looking north, even though this is a composite of images taken on a moving ship at sea. The seas were pretty calm that night (early morning).

Noctilucent Clouds Over the Baltic Sea. From my cabin on the MV Explorer while traveling from Stockholm to Copenhagen. Composite of 99 images taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 28 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 200, 28 mm, f/1.8, 1 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, and Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)
Noctilucent Clouds Over the Baltic Sea. From my cabin on the MV Explorer while traveling from Stockholm to Copenhagen. Composite of 99 images taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 28 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 200, 28 mm, f/1.8, 1 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, and Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)


Noctilucent Clouds Over the Baltic Sea. From my cabin on the MV Explorer while traveling from Stockholm to Copenhagen. Composite of 33 images taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 28 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 800, 28 mm, f/1.8, 1 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, and Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)
Noctilucent Clouds Over the Baltic Sea. From my cabin on the MV Explorer while traveling from Stockholm to Copenhagen. Composite of 33 images taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 28 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 800, 28 mm, f/1.8, 1 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, and Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)


Noctilucent Clouds Over the Baltic Sea. From my cabin on the MV Explorer while traveling from Stockholm to Copenhagen. Composite of 27 images taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 28 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 800, 28 mm, f/1.8, 1 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, and Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)
Noctilucent Clouds Over the Baltic Sea. From my cabin on the MV Explorer while traveling from Stockholm to Copenhagen. Composite of 27 images taken with a Nikon D4 camera and 28 mm f/1.8 lens (ISO 800, 28 mm, f/1.8, 1 sec). Raw image processed with Capture One Pro, and Photoshop CC (statistics, maximum). (David J Mathre)


Five-Years Ago (09-June-2013) — Baltic Sea

Gone to See Europe. Semester at Sea Spring 2013 Enrichment Voyage on the MV Explorer. Day 44: At Sea.

Silhouette of a sailboat transiting the solar disk at sunset from the deck of the MV Explorer. Crossing the Baltic Sea from Stockholm to Copenhagen.


Individual images from the slideshow can be viewed here.

Five-Years Ago (24-May-2013) — At Sea, English Channel

Gone to See Europe. Semester at Sea Spring 2013 Enrichment Voyage on the MV Explorer. Ultimate Travel Photography Workshop IV with Michael Mariant. Day 28: At Sea.

It was a sea day aboard the MV Explorer as we traveled from Dublin, Ireland to Dover, United Kingdom. As the sun was beginning to set the clouds developed an intense orange color.  As soon as I got up to deck 7 at the rear of the ship, I could see a cargo ship may pass directly between us and the sun. One of nine images I captured during the Spring Enrichment voyage of a ship passing in front of the sun at sunrise or sunset.

Sunset on the English Channel. Semester at Sea, Spring 2013 Enrichment Voyage on the MV Explorer on the way to Dover, England. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 800, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec). (David J Mathre)
Sunset on the English Channel. Semester at Sea, Spring 2013 Enrichment Voyage on the MV Explorer on the way to Dover, England. Image taken with a Nikon D4 and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 800, 400 mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec). (David J Mathre)

Two-Years Ago (22-March-2016) — Atlantic Ocean

Gone to See the World. Semester at Sea Spring 2016 Voyage on the MV World Odyssey. Day 77: At Sea, Atlantic Ocean.

This was a classroom day (B19) as we traveled northwest off the west coast of Africa (Namibia). We were far enough at sea that we didn’t see land. Images of Dawn, Sunrise, Student Portraits including the Sunrise Breakfast Club, the Statues, and then Students and other Passengers “Viewing, and Holding the Moon”. Individual images from the slide-shows can be viewed here.

Catching Venus at Dawn. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens. (David J Mathre)
Catching Venus at Dawn. Image taken with a Fuji X-T1 camera and 35 mm f/1.4 lens. (David J Mathre)



Catching the Sun. Image taken with a Leica T camera and 23 mm f/2 lens. (David J Mathre)
Catching the Sun. Image taken with a Leica T camera and 23 mm f/2 lens. (David J Mathre)


Moon at Dusk over the Atlantic Ocean (Album Cover). Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (David J Mathre)
Moon at Dusk over the Atlantic Ocean (Album Cover). Image taken with a Nikon 1 V3 camera and 70-300 mm VR lens (David J Mathre)
Reaching for the Moon. Image taken with a Leica T camera and 55-135 mm lens. (David J Mathre)
Reaching for the Moon. Image taken with a Leica T camera and 55-135 mm lens. (David J Mathre)


 (David Mathre)
Google Earth Map of  the GPS Track for Day 77. Contact me for the Route Coordinates. (David J Mathre)