Photo of the Week 2025-12-15

 

An argument can be made that one should only show their best work and I understand the point in a professional context, in the context of presenting a portfolio for evaluation by galleries, clients and publishers. An amateur, in the literal sense of the word, I'm not motivated by obtaining clients, making an income from my work and though a gallery show or being published would be welcome, these are not my goals.

 

My pursuit is to continually improve my process of creating photographs and photographic art. I get an extraordinary amount of enjoyment and satisfaction from studying and learning all aspects related to capturing, processing and presenting images. It has become a very large part of my life these days. To call it a hobby no longer comes close to describing the place photography occupies in my life. It's a passion, an obsession, a large part of my daily routine, and while I try to share good images, I certainly do not limited them to my very best work.

 

That said, every once in a while it all comes together (or the blind squirrel finds a nut) and I come up with and get to share something that I consider truly special ...

  

' lone tamarack '

... an image that I would include in a collection of my "best work". One I give a 4 star rating (because to date I've never rated one of my images as 5 star, that to me is the pinnacle and 99.9% perfect). One that that represents what I saw, heard and felt, what made me stop, raise the camera to my eye, compose and press the shutter. One that will rekindle the experience of the moment whenever I see it. 

 

' lone tamarack ' might just make the grade to 5 star but I need to live with it for a while before I'd elevate it the final step. For that, I will be printing it large and framing it for the wall.

 

DJE 

Photo of the Weeek 2025-12-08

 

I guess my 'disappointment' with weather upon arriving at Coldwater Cove was unfounded because I managed to come away with some decent captures. Perhaps because conditions were not what I had envisioned, I had to put more effort into finding and making images there that day. In doing so, I realized that I had to switch off auto, me not the camera, and open up to what the location was offering.

 

Since last weeks post, I've managed to publish another 8 images from Coldwater to my social media steams and in addition there is this trio ... 

 

' Turtle Rock III '

' Turtle Rock II '

 

' Turtle Rock I '

... from some time I spend shooting an interesting rock formation that I've named 'Turtle Rock' owing to it's resemblance of a turtle's back as it submerges below the water surface.

 

I'm sure not everyone will agree with me but hey, beauty is in the eye of the ... in this case photographer.
 

DJE 

Photo of the Week 2025-12-01

 

December already ... and I still have more from my Algoma-Superior trip in October to share.

 

' Algoma Reflections 

My much anticipated return to Coldfwater Cove was overshadowed by dreary conditions the morning we made our stop. I had to work hard to keep my disappointment in check as I worked with what light we were given. What I did manage to find were some interesting puddles in the rocky shore that were stained red and offered an interesting reflection of the adjacent treeline.

 

Note: For the visually curious, this image is flipped 180* from the orientation in which it was captured to present the trees in a familiar orientation. Something I often do with my reflection captures is flip them during post processing to see what results. It doesn't always work but here, I liked the flipped version better. 

 

DJE 

Photo of the Week 2025-11-24

 

' Sand River Scene I '

' Sand River Scene II '

From a stop at Sand River on the way to Wawa ...

While my companions took to the riverbank, I made my way back to the highway and the short distance to the bridge for these views. The day was grey and overcast which made for very flat lighting. Off and on rain did wet the remaining yellow foliage and made it pop against the green of conifers. A bit of atmosphere from drizzle to mist up the background might have been nice.

 

As I often do, I framed both vertical and horizontal compositions of the scene, here using the leaning snag as an element of interest (if only there had been an eagle ;-). I prefer the horizontal framing that shows more of the boulders along the far riverbank. 

 

DJE 

POTW 2025-11-17 ... an Afterward

  

- - -  “too much of a good thing”  - - -

 

On this photographic journey, the idiom “too much of a good thing” often comes to mind. Whether I'm viewing images from other photographers or in the process of conceptualizing, planning, making and later processing my own image.

 

Such was the case when I was selecting an image for the most recent 'Photo of the Week' blog post. I mentioned there that I was still working through images from the first day of shooting on a 4/5 day late fall trip to the eastern shore of Lake Superior. Reviewing captures from the last location of that day, I had many to go through, as I had chosen a location and set up one camera on a tripod for a particular wide angle composition, and then made frequent exposures as the sun dipped lower and lower on the horizon. My objective was to catch a moment where the sun was revealed through the distant clouds. Using a small aperture, I could create a sunburst to catch the viewer's attention. Actually, I not only made frequent exposures, but had set the camera to capture brackets of 3 exposures and process an in camera HDR (cringe), but I wanted to get an idea of blended final results to apply exposure compensation as desired. Add to that, I was adjusting lens aperture between f/11 and f/22 for intensity of 'sunburst effect' and therein lies the thought of “too much of a good thing”.

 

It was not the number of frames I captured (which was considerable), or the number of variations in exposure and aperture, but the result itself ...

 

' superior sunburst '

... though I like the additional light spilling on the foreground in this version, I find the 'sunburst to be a bit much. Viewer opinions will vary and that, as always, is well and good. Ultimately the decision lies with the creator which will be seen, and I chose a less dramatic, my preferred version as Photo of the Week, but this version has some allure as well.

 

"Too much of a good thing" and "less is more" idioms can be applied to may aspects of photography and the final image. Again, the opinions of viewers will vary. They will either enjoy, like, comment or not. Which leads me to thinking about reacting to the creations of others in the context presented here. I find myself more and more ignoring images that are "overcooked" and in particular avoiding anything AI generated  ...   and that sounds like a topic for a future rant ;-)

 

DJE