Photo of the Week 2010-01-25

This weekend’s photo trek was planned for McLeans Auto Wreckers, a familiar and normally inspiring location. I was eagerly anticipating a fair amount of snow partially burying the rusting hulks. Weather was not cooperating and the conditions I expected would not be. As Saturday approached with the forecast for overcast skies and higher temps, I decided to gear up with a couple of lenses that would allow me to capture something different. I went with my Sigma 150mm f/2.8 Macro for DoF effects and the Lensbaby Composer for that “Lensbaby” look. Both of these allowed me to capture the familiar scenes around McLeans in unique ways. It was a both a creative recharge and quite an enjoyable outing.

magic bus

This image illustrates the extreme narrow depth of field when shooting at larger apertures with the Sigma. I am pleased with the results I get shooting this way. Those that know my photographic eye, will recognise the style. I am drawn to the colours on the vehicle in this image as the layers of paint weather, fade and peel away.

Photo of the Week 2010-01-18

cast aside

There are times when I see in B&W during the creative process. At these times somehow the colour is completely filtered out and the vision is only of light & dark, black, white and shades of grey. This image was made during one of these times. As I walked down Peggy's Point Road, this abandoned and broken boat caught my eye. All colour drained from the scene before me and the textures of smooth rock, blowing grass, siding shingles and decaying wood spoke to me in B&W. I like this image more now than when I made it a few months back. Perhaps the images do improve with age.

Going back through the library

I was chatting with a friend recently about how some of his images simply get downloaded to the HDD and wait there, sometimes months, for him to come back to them and see what a day's shooting had produced. I remarked that I always check out my images from a shoot soon after I had returned and make some initial picks and deletes. He in turn responded that he was quite content to leave them there and get back to them ... whenever. I had been aware of his approach for some time and it has always intrigued me. Although I don't think I will change and stop looking at the latest images right away, I will go back through my library and revisit images from past shoots to see what might have improved with age or simply been overlooked in the initial rush ...
With this approach in mind I was moved to go back to my captures from a vacation in Nova Scotia Sept'09. I knew there were lots from those days, sitting, just waiting ...

path to enlightenment

Photo of the Week 2010-01-11

Tews - The Base - Winter 2010

I had an opportunity to join some photographers from the Hamilton area on a hike to the base of Tews Falls this past Sunday. I have wanted to hike to the base and shoot this falls from below for some time. It's reported to be a 30 min hike in, winter weather made it a tad longer.
An overcast day would be optimum for capturing this falls, but there was blue sky with little cloud overhead for our cold trek to the base. At 41m high this falls is 10m shorter than Niagara Falls and the flow is not much more than a trickle in comparison, but it presents a picturesque scene in any season.
This is on my list of locations to return to at different times of the year. Now that I have been shown the way in, I'm committed to going back to capture more of the beauty the area has to offer.

... more abandonment from Massey

I had promised more images from my shoot at the abandoned Massey Ferguson factory in Brantford, ON. Here they are ...

going in


it's coming from down there ...


silenced


dormant


industrial grime


I find exploring abandoned places very interesting. They sit silent, yet they speak of the past and the activity that once took place within. Some of the story, I try to tell through my images. I hope you enjoy.

Photo of the Week 2010-01-04

the Crypt ... what the hell is down there?
I was recently fortunate enough to be granted access to a large abandoned industrial facility along with some fellow photographers. Access was provided legitimately by a person responsible for the facility and it's management, so there were no clandestine operations here ;-)
I came away from over 6 hours of shooting in bitter cold and wind, with so many images that have potential. This type of location offers up unique, gritty, moody subject matter from the little details to sweeping scenes. This image is straight out of the camera with no post-processing. Many of the other images scream for some PP to enhance the gritty feel of the location. This one spoke of darkness and mystery with no PP required.

Stay tuned for more, or if you can't wait there are more posted on my flickr photostream linked above.

Welcome to 2010

Happy New Year Everyone.

It has become something of a tradition, if you can call the past two years in a row a tradition, to capture “first light” of the New Year in an image. It began with a challenge from an acquaintance, Alan Norsworthy, that I had just met through photography, more specifically flickr. Alan had suggested that I join the local flickr group and threw out a challenge to the group to capture “first light” of 2008. With the New Year fast approaching no one had taken up the challenge. I decided to answer the call.

I had been mostly been a “lone wolf” when it came to doing my photography. The act of joining the flickr community and activities like Alan’s “first light” challenge have helped me advance my photography in terms of technique, photographic vision, creativity and technical knowledge well beyond anything I would have accomplished as a “lone wolf”. In addition, Alan has become a good friend and we enjoy many photo outings together and with other friends that I have met through my reacquaintance with photography.

Here is my response to Alan’s 2010 First Light Challenge.

First light 2010, taken at sunrise, 7:58 AM in Galt, ON