KC Nicely Photography

Fine Art Photography Hello, I am Ken Nicely but many of my closest family and friends know me as KC. Everything I studied and worked on was technical.

In my early life I was a bit of a car and electronics enthusiast, a mechanical engineer, computer programmer, Information Technology director and Extra Class Amateur Radio operator. There was not a creative bone in my body; or so I thought. In 2015 I started having some issues when typing with my right hand and some stiffness in my right hip. As the issue with my right hand got worse over time I s

ought medical treatment for what I assumed was carpal-tunnel. To make a long story short, in 2017 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease and had to give up my career in Information Technology. In 2019, I pulled an old Nikon D5000 camera I purchased in 2012 for an Alaska vacation and decided to purchase a new Nikon 200 - 500 mm f/5.6 lens for some birding we had planned for an upcoming 2020 trip to Hilton Head Island, SC. During that trip I realized I could get some stunning shots of birds with my new lens. I was hooked. I spent the next 3 months learning everything I could about bird photography. I found that digital photography allowed me to use my technical brain to get the setting just right for a shot while allowing me to discover my creative side as well. Later in 2020 I started also getting interested in photographing the moon, planets, the international space station, milky way, star trails and night skies and night scenes. I have also grown to love macro flower and insect photography, landscape photography and architectural photography. I am now interested in any type of photography that lets the viewer see something the camera can capture better than our eyes or in a more compelling way. I like photos and time lapse videos that make the viewer say wow, that's incredible. In 2020, I also started the Facebook group, Lancaster County Photography as a place where "photographers from" and "photos from" Lancaster County can be shared and appreciated. I thoroughly enjoy being the admin of the group and seeing the contributions of the photographers in the group. It gives me new ideas and inspiration almost every day. In 2022 I decided to start offering limited sales of my photographs with all proceeds going to the Michael J Fox foundation and Parkinson's Disease research. If you see a photo posted on this page that makes you say, "Wow, that's incredible" please give it a like, love or wow and consider contacting me at [email protected] to purchase a paper print, canvas wrap print, acrylic print or aluminum print in many sizes. All proceeds go to Parkinson's Disease research.

10/05/2024

Tonight's 9% Waxing Moon Set in Lititz Reserve, Lititz, PA

09/14/2024

Dan Nissley spotted this historical structure with the three little pigs threatening to blow the house down and invited me to shoot star trails with him on the site.

I chose to try out my new Nikon Z8 camera instead of my Nikon Z6ii that I usually use for night shots. I am pleased with the results. I think the camera is just as good as the Z6ii, at least for star trails.

I made what I thought was a fatal mistake on this shot. In the original photo composition I failed to realize that I was cutting off the bottom corner of the building foundation. Thanks to AI I was able to generate the bottom of the photo to correct the composition.

I think it turned out pretty good. Thanks to Dan for inviting me to spend the evening with him shooting the stars.

BEST VIEWED FULL SCREEN

08/19/2024

I decided to do a moonrise shot last night as the full blue moon was rising during blue hour. Unfortunately the clouds had other ideas. I waited the clouds out and captured this shot of the moon peaking through the clouds about an hour after moon rise.

This is my first moon capture with the new Z8 with the 500 pf lens. This is going to be a great combination for moon photography. There was a lot of humidity in the air last night and I was shooting through the clouds. Even with those conditions this image is incredibly sharp.

08/13/2024

And here is the final shot. The train arrived after about hour of waiting.

I used a 10 stop ND filter to slow the shutter speed down to 1 second to add the motion blur to the train.

Photos from KC Nicely Photography's post

08/08/2024

I often take my camera with me when we are relaxing on the back patio to take pictures of whatever birds or insects show up in the back yard. Today a northern cardinal and a monarch caterpillar showed up. Here are a few images.

These were shot on my Nikon Z8 with a Nikon 500 mm, f\5.6 lens with a 1.4 teleconverter.

08/08/2024

Jaci and I walked up to the Siegrist Farm to check out the sun flower field today.

08/02/2024

I got up early this morning to capture a nearly new moon, 3% illuminated

07/03/2024

I am having issues posting images from the ship, but I just had to get this one out. Puffin at Vigur Island, Iceland.

06/03/2024

Friday night I was invited to shoot star trails with Dan Nissley at the home of Jeff Bauder. Jeff recently completed the restoration of a 1940 Ford 2 door and was kind enough to let us shoot star trails at his place with the Ford as the subject. What a beautiful job Jeff did on the restoration.

Jeff was kind enough to set up chairs in his warm garage for us. After an hour and a half of setup and taking several light painted shots of the Ford, Dan Jeff and I had a nice visit in the garage while we waited on our cameras to do the work of capturing the stars for the next 2 hours.

Here are the results...