Last summer, I visited the 21 Missions of California. The most remote mission was Mission San Antonio de Padua near Jolon, California. This mission offers a retreat center where guests may stay overnight. I took advantage of this opportunity and reserved a room several months in advance.

Mission San Antonio de Padua is located about 20 miles west of Highway 101. To enter the mission, visitors need to pass through a military base called Fort Hunter Liggett. If you ever plan on visiting, be sure to have proper identification or you'll be asked to turn around when you approach the gate. In my case, I carried both my driver's license and a passport.

When I arrived at the mission, I was welcomed and given a brief tour of the grounds and the retreat. I was shown to my room...a simple, but clean, room that reminded me very much of my dorm room from years ago.

Mission San Antonio de PaduaGlenn Nagel uploading pictures at the retreat center of the Mission San Antonio de Padua at 1 Mission Creek Road near Jolon, California on July 28, 2016 Once I got settled in, I explored the mission grounds. This mission is one of the oldest of the California missions. It was the third mission established in California and was founded in 1771. The large property appears very much as it did more than two hundred years ago. It's one of the only missions that allows visitors to get a glimpse into what mission life was really like back in the day.

As I entered the massive, old church, I was disappointed to see that it was dark. Fortunately, my host granted my request and lit the church to my satisfaction for a series of photographs.

Mission San Antonio de PaduaMission San Antonio de Padua at 1 Mission Creek Road near Jolon, California on July 28, 2016 One remarkable thing about my visit is that I was the only visitor on the grounds! When I arrived, two women were working in the office/gift shop. By 5:00 PM, they told me that they were leaving and wouldn't return until about 7:30 AM. At that point, I was on my own...at least for a while.

At first, I took advantage of having access to the grounds after hours. I had access to the dining room, courtyard and church. Without special access as an overnight guest, I couldn't capture many of the mission scenes in the best light--the colorful light that accompanies sunset.

Courtyard sunsetMission San Antonio de Padua at 1 Mission Creek Road near Jolon, California on July 28, 2016 I must admit that once the sun went down, things began to feel a little eerie. I was alone on this large complex. I didn't have internet or cell service on my phone. During my entire visit, the organ music continued to play from the church. Even walking down the long and empty corridor from my room to the restrooms felt strange. The only other living creature at the mission was Rosario, the black cat who lives there.

I prepared myself for a restless night. Like most of these very old complexes, this mission has a reputation of being haunted. It attracts ghost hunters. Just as when I was inside the abandoned Manteno Insane Asylum (which also attracted ghost hunters from around the country), I'm not nearly as concerned about the ghosts as I am about the people that the facilities might attract!

In any event, about 30 minutes after the sun went down, I saw a car working its way up the road towards the mission. The retreat now had two more guests--an author and a writer who were working together on a project covering the California Missions. Having a couple of more people occupying some rooms within the retreat put my mind at ease enough for me to get a good night's sleep!

A few years ago I visited a national cemetery. In an effort to compress the many tombstones, I attached a telephoto lens to my camera and created several compositions. I knew that it would be challenging to get enough of the tombstones in focus in a single image with such a long lens. But, until I actually experienced the photo shoot, I had little appreciation for how challenging this actually is!

The reason it is so challenging to get enough of the tombstones in focus is that the depth of field is relatively narrow, even at the narrower apertures, when using a lens with a longer focal length. Let's take a look at the 300mm 2.8 lens for a moment:

• If one focuses a 300mm lens at a distance of 100 feet, the depth of field for acceptable sharpness ranges from 86 to 119 feet when using an aperture of f/16. Even with this relatively narrow aperture, only the tombstones that fall with those 32 feet will be in focus. Any tombstones closer than 86 feet or further than 119 feet will look blurred.
• I usually avoid selecting an aperture as narrow as f/16. Lenses aren't as sharp at that aperture. A wider aperture, such as f/8, will generally produce a higher quality image. But at f/8, the depth of field for acceptable sharpness is narrower--from 93 to 109 feet, or just 16 feet!

The lesson here is that even when a very narrow aperture is selected, it's impossible to get all of the tombstones in a large portion of the cemetery in focus.

Last month, I visited the Chattanooga National Cemetery. This time, I used a different approach. For the photograph shown below, I used my Nikon 300mm lens and set the aperture at f/11. I took three exposures of the scene. I focused on a tombstone in the front of the frame for the first image, a tombstone in the middle of the frame for the second image and a tombstone in the back of the frame for the third image. During post processing, I blended the three images so that the tombstones throughout the entire frame are sharp! To accomplish this, I secured my camera to a tripod to minimize the chance of introducing camera movement between exposures.

Here's the final image:

Chattanooga National CemeteryChattanooga National Cemetery at 1200 Bailey Avenue in Chattanooga, Tennessee on November 10, 2016

Of course, not all images must be sharp from front to back. Sometimes it's desirable to focus on one section of the image while letting the rest of the picture fall out of focus. I used this approach for this next shot--which required just one exposure:

Chattanooga National CemeteryChattanooga National Cemetery at 1200 Bailey Avenue in Chattanooga, Tennessee on November 10, 2016

The more I shoot, the more I find value in capturing multiple exposures and then blending them during post processing to solve a number of challenges.

Nearly every time I return from a trip, I'm asked about which lenses I used to capture the images. At the end of a trip, I like to look at the distribution of shots by lens. Here's how it looked for my most recent road trip to photograph the Three Southern Cities:

I used just one camera for the entire trip--the Nikon D800. Nearly 90% of my photographs were captured by one of Nikon's "Holy Trinity" of lenses--the 14-24, 24-70 and 70-200.

While visiting Denver, I walked to two historic churches in hope of photographing the interiors. The first church, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (opened in 1911), is within easy walking distance of the Colorado State Capitol. I photographed this church once before, but I wasn't satisfied with the pictures because the church was dark inside. This time, I timed my visit to enter the church at the end of a mass. I knew the church would be lit for mass.

Once mass ended, I waited until nearly everyone left the church. As the scene cleared, I set up my tripod and prepared to shoot. Just then, the lights went off! So, I walked toward the sanctuary and hoped to find someone who might consider lighting the church for the photographs. Fortunately, somebody was there and granted my request to turn on the lights. They gave me about ten minutes.

Cathedral of the Immaculate ConceptionCathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception at 1530 Logan Street in Denver, Colorado on July 18, 2016 I then walked to the St. John's Cathedral (open 1905). To my disappointment, the church was closed. The doors were locked.

Fortunately, the office was open. I asked if it would be possible to take pictures inside the church. My request was granted. I had access to the church for more than an hour. And, the lights were adjusted to my satisfaction! It's always a pleasure to have an amazing site like this to myself for an extended period of time:

St. John's CathedralCathedral of Saint John in the Wilderness Episcopal Church at 1350 Washington Street in Denver, Colorado on July 18, 2016 Of course, I captured many more pictures of these two churches. I wouldn't have bothered if the interiors were dark.

This morning, my "Joshua Tree" picture won Imaging Resource's "Photo of the Day". CLICK HERE to view Imaging Resource's Photo of the Day page.

This image was captured during my last road trip at Joshua Tree National Park in California. I camped inside the park, so I had convenient access to this scene as the sun was rising.

This is the fourth picture from my last road trip to win a photo contest.

This marks the 36th time that one of my photographs was recognized by Imaging Resource as its "Photo of the Day". Click here to view all of the winning entries over the past few years.

Joshua TreeImaging Resource's Photo of the Day for December 9, 2016

During my recent trip to Las Vegas, I hoped to photography some of the impressive hotel interiors. One of those interior spaces is the lobby at Caesar's Palace. I assumed that I would have only a few minutes of shooting before security put the kibosh to it. I started with this image:

Three Sisters fountainThe Three Sisters fountain in the lobby of Caesar's Palace at 3570 S Las Vegas Blvd in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 21, 2016 To read more about how I eliminated all of the people from the frame, please click here.

Since I didn't encounter any resistance, I proceeded to move closer to the registration desk:

Caesar's Palace LobbyRegistration desk in lobby of Caesar's Palace at 3570 S Las Vegas Blvd in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 21, 2016 Eventually, a security guard approached me and asked to see my credentials. Of course, I didn't have any credentials. I explained that I was on a photography road trip and found Caesar's Palace to be an interesting subject. To my surprise, he started giving me ideas of other things to shoot inside the facility!

So, I worked my way to the Forum Shops:

Forum ShopsThe Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace at 3500 S Las Vegas Blvd in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 20, 2016 Once again, a security guard approached me. I explained that I already received "permission" to shoot. He immediately got on his phone to check this out. Within a few minutes, he confirmed my permission to shoot and apologized for bothering me. My experience at Caesar's Palace is not the norm. Later in the trip, I would be told many times (and even while standing on sidewalks outside of buildings) that photography is not permitted.

Caesar's truly was a palace for photographers that day!

The Missouri State Capitol Commission contacted me regarding a fundraising event it is holding in connection with the centennial of the Capitol's construction. The Commission in responsible for the improvement and restoration of the Missouri State Capitol building. The Commission will be using one of my photographs to create a special release of a centennial Christmas ornament. This is the photograph that was selected:

Missouri State CapitolMissouri State Capitol at 201 W Capitol Avenue in Jefferson City, Missouri on July 20, 2014 Here's the ornament design that was sent to production:

58091-2_Missouri Cap_Color I donated the photograph to the fundraising effort. My compensation will include a couple of Christmas ornaments!

While in Des Moines, I captured a variety of cityscapes from various locations. One of my favorite vantage points is from the University Avenue bridge:

Des MoinesDowntown Des Moines and the Des Moines River from the University Avenue bridge in Des Moines, Iowa on July 16, 2016 Capturing a picture like this required planning--particularly since I had never been to this area of Des Moines before. Here are some things that went into creating this picture:

• This picture was taken just after sunrise. Sunrise on July 16th is at 5:55 AM. So, I arrived at the location by 5:30 AM. To do this, I stayed at a nearby hotel. It was just a five minute drive from the hotel to the University Avenue bridge.
• I scouted this location the day before. So, I knew how to get to the location quickly, where to park, and where to set up on the bridge.
• Once I was set up, I had to time my exposure to take place when the bridge was still. Fortunately, traffic was light this early in the morning. When cars cross the bridge, enough vibration is created that it almost always ruined the shot.
• Another unusual challenge was that there were thousands of tiny birds flying in front of my camera. They were coming from underneath the University Avenue bridge and would swarm up into the frame--ruining the shot. So, not only did I have to time my exposures for a vibration-free bridge, but I also had to wait until the frame was mostly clear of birds. I was not able to get any pictures without any birds, so some had to be removed in Photoshop.
• Another consideration was timing the picture to minimize the traffic on the bridge included in the frame.
• This final image is a blend of a few exposures. The sky had a bit more color in it early on--so one exposure captured that. The buildings looked best when the sun first hit the horizon--so a second exposure captured that. And, the trees along the river lit up last. So, a third exposure brought those trees more into play.

So, a lot more goes into the seemingly simple shot than first meets the eye!