Cecil Holmes Photography

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Cecil Holmes Photography

Cecil Holmes Photography specializes in Landscape and Nature Photography

09/01/2026

Caught this lesser scaup mid-holler, bill wide open and those orange eyes locked on me. I was down low, right at water level, with the Tamron 150-500mm stretched out to 500mm and stopped down to f/8 to hold detail across the bird's back. Lily pad stems gave me a loose natural frame and a sense of environment. Ducks get overlooked because they're common, but that eye color and the light on it made this one worth the trigger pull.

Nikon Z 9 | Tamron 150-500mm F/5-6.7 (A057) | 500mm | f/8 | 1/2000s | ISO 1250

08/31/2026

Didn't have to go anywhere for this one. No overnight drive, no gear bag packed the night before, just walked out into my own front yard Thursday night and there it was.

96% of the moon slid into Earth's shadow that night, and for a while it just hung there, half bright white, half rusted orange. I've chased plenty of shots that took planning and travel and luck with the weather. This one just needed me to look up.

Funny how the moon in your own yard can humble you the same way a glacier in Iceland does.

EXIF: Nikon Z 8 | Tamron 150-500mm F/5-6.7 Di III VC VXD (A057) | 500mm | f/6.7 | 0.8s | ISO 1000

08/28/2026

My hands stopped working before the sky did.

I'd been standing at the edge of Jökulsárlón for the better part of an hour, staring at a ceiling of clouds that just hoping it was about to do something interesting. Went wide at 16mm and stopped down to f/11 to hold detail from the ice in front of me all the way back to the glacier tongue, then just waited. The color broke through, and the whole lagoon lit up like something out of a fever dream.

Patience is basically the whole job. Nobody puts that part in the highlight reel.

Nikon Z6 III | Tamron 16-30mm F2.8 A064 Z @ 16mm | f/11 | 1/20s | ISO 100

08/27/2026

This is Landmannalaugar. We pulled over on the road cutting through the highlands, and I scrambled up the side of this hill with the group for a better look at the crater below. I stopped down to f/11 for the depth I needed front to back, which meant a full second exposure, so the tripod came out fast once I decided the shot was worth it. When you realize you are standing on top of an old volcano, not just looking at one from a distance, it takes a second to sink in.

Nikon Z6 III | Tamron 16-30mm F2.8 A064 | 30mm | f/11 | 1s | ISO 100 | -1 EV | Landmannalaugar Highlands, Iceland | June 29, 2026

08/26/2026

Somewhere between watching the trail and watching the Tetons, I remembered I had a camera in my pocket.

This is the view from the horse's back at Triangle X Ranch, looking out over the valley toward the Teton Range. No tripod, no waiting for light, just whatever the Ricoh in my pocket could grab before the moment passed. Sometimes the shot you didn't plan for is the one you keep coming back to.

Ricoh GR IV | 18.3mm (28mm equiv) | f/6.3 | 1/250s | ISO 100

08/25/2026

This is the shot everyone said I needed perfect light for.

Kirkjufell shows up on every "must-see Iceland" list, usually lit up gold at sunrise with the northern lights doing something impossible behind it. I got flat gray sky and a mountain that spent half the time hiding in the clouds.

Turns out that's fine. The waterfall does the work in this one, three separate drops braiding together before the mountain even matters. Sometimes the conditions you didn't plan for end up being the ones that make the shot.

Nikon Z6 III | Tamron 16-30mm F2.8 @ 23mm | f/8 | 0.6s | ISO 100

08/20/2026

Found this guy at Circle B Bar Reserve outside Lakeland, giving me the "you're not supposed to be here" look, buried in Spanish moss like he was hiding from the whole world. Barred owls are good at that. You can walk right under one and never know it's there until it decides to stare a hole through you.

Ever walked right under one of these without noticing? Let me know.

📷 Nikon Z9 | Tamron 150-500mm | 500mm, f/8, 1/2000s, ISO 12800
📍 Circle B Bar Reserve, Lakeland, FL

08/17/2026

Spent way longer than I probably should've just standing at the edge of Jökulsárlón waiting for the light to do something. It finally did.

This lagoon is stupid photogenic. Chunks of glacier ice just floating around like nature's own props department, and then the sky decided to show off too. I didn't do much, honestly. Just point the camera and hope you're not messing up the shot.

Iceland has a way of making you feel like a much better photographer than you actually are. 🤣

📷 Nikon Z6 III | Tamron 16-30mm f/2.8 @ 26mm | f/11 | 1/13s | ISO 100

📍 Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, Iceland

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Huntsville, AL

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http://www.cecilsphotos.com/

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