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Christmas 2010 - Jessica's Reach
Children are such great photographic subjects, just follow them around or watch them for a while and you are bound to be presented with a photographic moment.
Jessica was unsure of the me with my camera watching her during family Christmas celebrations this year. After a short while she went on with the things that young ones do at these gatherings, paying only sporadic attention to me. That's when the moment occurred ...
... no worries, all the decorations are fine, Jessica's mom was close at hand to watch over her, and the decorations.
DJE
... another image from my visit to the Bruce Peninsula.
Big Tub Lighthouse
Tobermory virtually shuts down after Thanksgiving, at least as far as I could see when I was there last week. The hotels, resorts and restaurants were for all intent and purpose "closed for the season".
After posting images, I received several comments from friends who were intrigued about photographing on the Bruce Peninsula in winter. Most had visited during warmer weather to capture the glorious sunrises and sunsets, and the scenic beauty of the Niagara Escarpment along Georgian Bay. I too was captivated by what this area has to offer ... a return in the heart of winter is in order.
DJE
I was doing some printing and framing over the weekend to fulfill some requests for images as gifts for Christmas and Lynn asked me to print another one of these. The first one I framed and it hangs in the house where it frequently reminds me of our wonderful trip to Quebec City in 2009.
Quebec Streetscape
Lynn and I were relaxing after dinner on Sunday and she remarked that her favourite images of mine are the ones when she was there and can recall experiencing the scene first hand. It's an interesting point. I guess that's why I love going back through my image library. There are thousands of images. Every one brings back the emotion of experiencing the scene when I first made the image.
That can be something easily lost with the medium of digital photography ... the images are archived to disc and not printed out or viewed after that. Whether it's by the photographer, a family member or friend ... images should be experienced and enjoyed. Unless the photographer takes the time to go back through the library ... or to load them to a computer screen saver ... or best of all to print and display, the joy from one's own images can be lost .
Photographers, make sure you go back through the library, digital or analog, enjoy your images. Print them. Load them on digital frames. Post them on the interwebs ... I do and I enjoy.
DJE
I've been living with this image for a week now and it still captivates my imagination. There is something about it that draws me in, the muted tones, the contrast of branches with a dusting of snow, their texture as they reach out as if animated, or ...
... is it the memory of a peaceful walk where I could hear the silence of a first snowfall ?
prelude to winter
I think I'm going to print this and hang on the wall for a while to see if my enjoyment of the image lasts.
DJE
This week it's a pair of images. Mostly because I can't decide between images from two separate outings over the weekend.
A friend and I attended the Rally of the Tall Pines in Bancroft ON on Saturday. I had high expectations of getting an image of one of the top class Rally cars coming off one of the jumps but we didn't manage to find the right location. I did however, capture several of the top cars in full 4-wheel drift around tight corners ...
Subaru Slide
Back at home Sunday morning, a hike on the Guelph Radial Trail started out just as snow crystals began coming down in one of the first snowfalls of the year, transforming the ground with a dusting of white ...
morning's dusting
DJE
misty mount
I stood beside the road and watched this horse and it's companions in the fog, early on a recent fall morning . The intensity of the mist would diminish and intensify in slow moving waves as it responded to the gentle breeze. The feeling was surreal ... the scene fading in and out in front of my eyes.
DJE
reflecting back
I'm going to try something different here and attempt to post a photo each week for the Photo Friday challenge. I'm hopeful that the need to come up with an image on a specific subject will push me to plan some images as opposed to just taking what a location gives me. As I get started, I may be drawing on my library of images to select entries.
Above is my submission for the current challenge ..... LIQUID
DJE
fall pleasures
I've been sitting on this image for a bit and decided that today's photo of the week was the perfect time to break it out.
Lynn loves taking trail walks when the cool fall weather arrives. As a matter of fact she loves to walk trails just about any time of the year but the heat and the bugs together in summer make her wish for the coming of fall. Even better is when she takes Murphy our now 2yr old Wheaten Terrier and lets me tag along.
A few weeks back we explored a "new" trail for us and were treated with magnificent sunlight streaming through the yellows and greens of fall foliage. I have attempted to recreate the feeling of that day by processing this image (with the Portrait Smooth preset in Topaz Adjust 4 for those interested) to represent the blur and glare I experienced while squinting into the sun to watch M'Lady and her dog take in the splendor.
Happy Birthday Sweets.
XO
DJE
fall farm
It may seem odd to present a fall image in B&W but to my eye it was the leaves that really stood out in the scene. The bright yellow on the branch overhanging from the tree in front dominated the small farm shed in back. I chose a focus point on the leaves to emphasize and present them sharp while leaving the shed in the background slightly out of focus. Converting the image to a medium contrast B&W helped to draw attention to the leaves as well.
DJE
On the second day of my recent trip to the Adirondacks heavy rain deterred us from traveling NY-RTE 86 for the views of the Au Sable River we had seen the previous day. We decided to make the trek to Lake George area for some outlet shopping rather than spend the day inside hoping for the weather to clear.
The planned route would take us along NY-RTE 73, unknown to us at the time but called the High Peaks Scenic Byway. What a windfall, the scenery along this route was fantastic, even with the rain ... which by the way let up just enough for a stop along the road to capture this week's image. I could have stayed here and photographed for hours on end.
falls in the clouds
This image is of Roaring Brook Falls. I had not even heard of it or came across it in the brief bit of research I did on the area prior to our trip. Reported to be "over 100' high" by one source, it's just outside of Keene. As we drove the trees cleared along the left roadside and it was there right in front of us. We just sped by and I has to look for the next parking area to make a U-turn. I could not pass by without getting some shots of this falls.
When we returned to the roadside parking area there were others stopped taking in the view and making some images. The clouds were so low that the top of the falls were shrouded in mist to varying degrees as they moved by. I've since seen other images of this falls on the net, but none that I like as much as this one.
.. Oh, and on the return trip, the weather was even worse, rain was harder, clouds were lower, although we stopped and just looked then stopped again at a parking area just past the falls at the head of a trail leading to the base. A hiker returning to his vehicle (soaked through) told us it was about a 5 min hike to the falls but not worth it in the conditions. He also mentioned that the falls is actually 3 tiered and you cannot see all three tiers from the base, but that the trail continued to each of the tiers. I imagine this is absolutely gorgeous to photograph in better weather but I did not make any more images of it this day. I had the one I was looking for from our first stop.
DJE
A walk with Lynn and Murphy for the first time at nearby Burns Conservation Area in Halton provided a pleasant surprise. We were encouraged by some neighbour friends to check out the trails at this nearby tract. I find it refreshing to experience new trails, with their individual character and nuances, for the first time. With only 2 km of wide well groomed and traveled trails it was an enjoyable if short and leisurely hike.
Photographically, it was all about the soft diffused light with brief moments when light would intensify through a thin area of the cloud cover and spill on the subtle colours of early fall. The leaves of trees in the forest at Burns were mostly yellows and greens with the brilliance of fall read and oranges not yet arrived. Rounding a corner on the trail, the leaves of a lone bush amongst the dark trunks of larger trees seemed to glow in the light spilling form the clouds.
colour on forest trails
DJE
Early Fall Colour It started a few weeks ago with subtle changes and now the evidence is everywhere here in Southern Ontario. Autumn is a wonderful time for photography, bringing changes to the scenery almost daily.
The image I present here is from a photo trek to Belfountain on the weekend. While there were examples of more intense orange and red colours almost everywhere, I chose this from the first official weekend of Fall 2010. The yellows appearing while fresh greens remain speaks to me of early fall.
I expect to make a large number of images capturing the colours over the coming days. Come back here each week and you can see what I've been up to and where I have been.
DJE
dog fight ?
Photographing an event such as The Tiger Boys Annual Air Day can present a number of challenges and a number of opportunities. There were a several vintage aircraft on display and executing regular take-off, landings and fly-bys at the small local airport. The event provided great access to the to the aircraft, pilots and airport grounds.
The challenge for me was to make an image that presented a subject in period context. It can be difficult to eliminate the background elements that give away the present day scenario. I had considered paying to take a ride in one of the open-cockpit aircraft to get a similar image. As it turned out, I was able to get in position on the ground to align 2 aircraft and get this image. I'm pleased with the result ... even though someone may think that I get too close to the action.
lol
DJE
roadside morning
Making images on my previous trip to Manitoulin was easy compared to this one. The scenery and subject matter from Winnipeg to Kenora to Fort Frances to Red Lake and back is wonderful ... mostly the weather just sucked ! My expectations were high with the opening leg of my trip conducted in the best weather I would see. Sunset viewed from the 9th floor restaurant of the Best Western, Lakeside Hotel, Kenora on the first day was fabulous, but I was spent and the camera was in the room ... so much for the best chance for an image I would have.
This image is from the second leg of the trip, from Kenora to Fort Frances. I started out on Thursday morning and was able to catch a few images of mist on some of the many lakes as I drove 17 east then 71 south. There is a roadside pull-off just south of Rushing River Provincial Park where I stopped to make a few images including this one. A little adjustment in LR and some help from Topaz Adjust and it's almost acceptable.
DJE
