skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Rocky Saugeen Mill
Each of the past three years, photography has taken me on a trip up the Bruce Peninsula to Tobermory. Each year I pass this scene on the way up and the way back ... this year the light was magic.
On the way up this year it was greay and dull, but ...
...On the return trip, just as we were driving across the Saugeen River, sun was pouring through a break in the cloud onto the mill and tree lined river necessitating a quick left off the highway to park and walk back to the highway's edge near the bridge (not much room there to keep out of the way of traffic rushing along Hwy 6).
DJE
edge of darkness
... my recent obsession, trees. This image from a walk on a new (to me) section of the local trail network.
Whenever I am out hiking through or near trees I find myself stopping to look at patterns, textures, shadows and losing track of time ...
DJE
Merry Christmas
Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas
and
Happy New Year
winter's advancing grasp
With temperatures of -6*C at 7:00 am as we set out for a local conservation area, it felt more like winter than any day so far.
We decided to check out the west side of Mountsberg Reservoir in the hour or so before the gates opened. Wandering the trails as sun rose in the sky, I came across this scene and knew it had potential for an image. I moved around to examine different vantage points to get the best composition. Although I wish I could have placed the rock more off-centre in the frame, I think this works well with the cat tails in the foreground grabbing the viewers attention.
I particularly liked how the ice appears to be moving out from the shore to grasp the rock and envelop the open waters.
DJE
after the frost
On Saturday morning the first hoar frost of the season made for some great photo opportunities while hiking the Speed River Trail west of Guelph. I didn't end up hiking any significant distance but it did take me a few hours because of all the time I spent stopping to capture the landscape painted with a sparkling layer of ice crystals.
All of the images with the frost aside, my favourite from the outing came on the return trek to the vehicle. I was working hard to find images after the frost was lost to the growing warmth of the morning. Then I noticed the chaotic patterns of the wet golden grass in sunlight ....
DJE
This past Saturday, November 26, I had the privilege of working with a group of local volunteers trying to make a small difference in the lives of those in our local community.
Lead by my good friend and fellow photographer, Karen Brodie, the Help Portrait - Guelph event was held at Community Living Guelph Wellington on Saturday. A bunch of volunteers rocked the CLGW/ARC house taking portraits of those who would not normally have access or choose to have professional quality portraits taken. The event was sponsored by the Guelph Photographers Guild, a local group I have been involved with since it's inception.
All of the patrons received 2 5x7 printed portraits with a frame and DVD with all images taken of them so they could later print whatever they wanted. With 4 portrait stations and supporting make-up, editing and printing teams, over 100 patrons were photographed, some including their family members, friends, support workers and whoever else they wanted in the shot. Set-up began Friday night and the event ran Saturday from 9:00 am through to tear-down sometime around 5:00 pm.
Testing the setup Friday night ...
test one ..... test two
... three ....Four!
... OK I think we've got it ! Now we just need to go home, rest and get ready to rock !
Images from the event are all on a hard drive (or two I hope) somewhere and will be provided to all those involved as model releases were obtained for use of the images by the photographers ... for now all I have are a few images that were not erased form the rotating set of memory cards that my team were using. I'm anxious to get the images on disc so I can see how all of mine turned out. There wasn't much time to critically evaluate the results of my efforts at the time ... of course this was not about me the photographer, it was about much more.
A couple of samples from late in the day. The rest I have to wait for.
JR
Jim
My team members, and what a great bunch - thanks (cw form bottom left) Paul, Andrew, Dave, Milton, Mike and me.
The whole volunteer group
Local media coverageDJE
It's gratifying when someone new notices one of your images and goes out of their way to mention it. Recently one of my friends passed on a comment from someone he knows back in England that saw this one online. Apparently they thought that my aluminum canoes image was "corker".
I had to check and make sure a "corker" was a good thing, and according to my friend, a Brit himself, it is.
So here you have it ...
aluminum canoes
I made this image while up north near Algonquin Park recently. Lynn and I had been out for a hike before breakfast and returned to enjoy some coffee and mid morning dining at the resort. It was on the way back to our villa that I noticed a number of canoes hauled up on a dock resting after what I suspect was a long summer of hard use. The way they were arranged caught my eye, as did the morning sun glinting off their bruised and battered hulls.
By the way, not made with my most expensive camera gear, just with the camera I had with me at the time. Although, I am glad that it was a high end "point & shoot", the G12. This camera provides a quality file that I can make decent size prints from. I need to find a spot to hang this one ...
DJE
gold 'n green morning
November may not be the time to head to Algonquin Park for "fall colour", but it was a good time to go for a few days of relaxation and some time away with Lynn.
We took advantage of great weather for early November in Northern Ontario and hiked several of the day-trails along Hwy60 through the park.
On the last day of our stay, we awoke to morning mist and I knew there were going to be some great photo opportunities. We headed out in thick fog and soon found that it was patchy, with some clear areas and others covered in a thick blanket. Driving east, we rounded a bend at Brewer Lake and there was a slight mist in the air with the sun just high enough to throw some diffused light on a stand of golden tamarack on the far shore. I pulled off into a parking area and got out into the chill of the gold 'n green morning.
DJE
cascading waters
It had been a while since my last visit to Everton, a favourite location for a short, relaxing photo walkabout. I last blogged about this enchanting little spot nearly two years ago.
Normally, I would approach a photo outing at Everton with my tripod, neutral density filters and the idea of making some long time exposures to show the water smooth and creamy as it rushes and flows over a series of drops to become the quiet river again. On this outing, I took a bit different approach and walked the area probing around into new reaches, looking for something new...
... but I found myself drawn to one particular scene that I photograph on virtually every visit to Everton. There is a spot where the translucent waters of the Eramosa plunge almost a metre into a pool rounded out by years of scouring. In order to get the view back up the narrow channel one must climb onto an outcrop of limestone that extends out and into the cascade. The colour of the water can vary from brown to green depending on the time of year and lighting conditions. On this occasion, I chose to capture the greenish hues with a short exposure to bring out the turbulent character of the cascading waters.
DJE
Murphy, our Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrirer turns 3 today.
It hardly seems that long ago that we brought an 8 week old, tiny, caramel and black coloured pup home. Murph is a great companion for Lynn and I as we hike the local trails, something we need to do more.
Yesterday we decided to hike around Rattlesnake Point. Murph enjoyed the fallen leaves and new smells so much he was a bounding handful on leash for Lynn at first. Eventually he settled down, as he always does and he sat in the dappled soft light filtering through what remains of the leaves for this candid portrait.
He'll be getting a haircut shortly so that he has time for some to grow back before the winter comes. In the meantime, Lynn is constantly combing the debris and burrs out of his coat. Yesterday was no exception.
Another hike next week ...
DJE
Sunrise at Lighthouse Lake
On the final day in Killarney, we decided against hiking the Chikanishing Trail because of an ailing knee belonging to my travel companion. There was enough else yet to see and photograph so we headed back to the area near the lighthouse in the town of Killarney.
A section of Lighthouse Lake near the car park was particularly interesting with pines along the shoreline and several contrasting areas showing fall colour. As I walked out onto a rock point jutting into the lake, the sun starting to break over some pines to illuminate trees along the west shore. I sat listening to the sounds of morning and waited for the sun to rise enough to reach the red leaves and made my image, or images to be more precise.
In order to show detail in both the shaded foreground and brightly lit shoreline in the distance, I resorted to High Dynamic Range processing. The image above is the product of 3 exposures (-2,0,+2) processed in Photoshop CS5 with NIK HDR Efex Pro. I think it conveys the morning scene quite well.
DJE
looking back
... another lesson learned.
It is important to have others look at your work and provide feedback. "Others" can mean friends, family, casual or experienced photographers. Each can provide their own insight into your images.
By chance, I was looking through images from my library when my wife shuffled up beside me to ask a question and noticed shots of my eldest son and his girlfriend that I had taken almost exactly a year ago. They were part of an exercise I had chosen to advance my skills by simulating a couples shoot. I had looked through the images many times and it took my wife to draw my attention to the image above. She saw something that maybe I had missed. There is a quality about the image that I like. It makes me smile ...
On a related note, this week's photo was taken 2010-10-17, exactly a year ago to the day this blog post is being published. There is a profound significance to 10-17 in my life. It was my father's birthday. Today he would have been 80. Those who have read the "About Me" section of this blog or my flickr profile will know that it was Dad that got me started on this photographic journey. Looking back, I have so much to thank him for and I'm glad I took the time to tell him while I could.
Happy Birthday Dad.
DJE
glowing leaves
DJE
This week I found it more difficult to pick a "photo of the week" with Canadian Thanksgiving and the spectacular local fall colours competing with my recent trip to Killarney Provincial Park and my library of images.
Why my library of images? Because I have been going through all the digital images and scans I have going back to 2002 as I prepare for a Photo Show 'n Sale with some fellow local photographers during the Guelph Studio Tour, Oct 14,15,16. Our group has arranged for a room in Dublin United Church, Guelph to show our work concurrent with the studio tour. I've been busy reviewing the library, preparing images for printing and burning through ink and paper to get ready for the show. It's always great to go back through the library and see what I have, where I've been photographically.
This aside, I simply cannot choose anything other than a Killarney image for this week. I've been planning for my trip to this location for almost two years and ...
... WOW, what a place. My main goal was to make the day-hike to "The Crack" and capture some sweeping landscape vistas of the quartzite white LaCloche mountain canvas painted with fall colours.
Autumn arrives at "The Crack"
I can hardly leave you with just one image from "The Crack" ...
This from the trail across the quartzite as we came out of the forest and had our destination in sight.
almost there
This showing the mystical white rock that makes the place very special.
cracked view
This at the edge of "The Crack" that you climb to get to the top, the view is the reward for your efforts.Guardians
In my mind, I'm still there ...
takin' it all in... 
DJE
mistical beast
I've written about this at least one before, and it is worth repeating again ... "the best camera, is the one that you have with you".
...no camera, no image ... that is why I travel virtually everywhere with a camera. Oh sure there are cameras in just about every cell phone available today but I'm talking about something a little better. Cell phone cameras a fine for the casual photographer and may even do in a pinch for those who are more serious. I travel with a G12 close at hand the majority of the time and I get some seriously high quality images with this high end "point & shoot".
... case in point, I was on my way to the second stop of my work day on Friday morning. It was a misty early fall morning with the rising sun obscured by a dense layer of fog gently moving through the low lying fields and ravines. Turning onto a local concession road, I noticed some horses on the side of a hill with the sun pushing through the fog behind them the scene was too good to pass by. A few moments later I was back on my way and looking forward to the evening when I could download the images and enjoy what I had captured ... "mistical beast" is my favourite of the bunch.
An interesting background note is that following my photo outing last week where I also captured images in the mist, my companion on that day remarked that he had always wanted to find a white horse in a misty field ... guess I scooped him.
DJE
misty morning farmhouse
A regular weekend photo outing usually produces something to add to my photo library but approaching this past weekend I was skeptical with the forecast for wet rainy days. Thankfully the meteorologists were wrong ... can you believe it?
Plans were for a drive along back roads between home and Milton. With the fall colours having just started to show, I was hopeful that I might find a lone brilliant red tree in the midst of a green sea.
The outing began as darkness gave way to reveal light mist patches lingering in the still morning air. Travelling along the road just out of Arkell, a farmhouse tucked back low and off the road caught my eye and we turned around to park, get out and check it out. Frequently when I catch a glimpse of a scene like this, a closer look reveals distracting details that I did not originally notice, like hydro wires along the road or something in the background. No so this time.
I made several compositions of the farmhouse scene using trees or a bit of fence as a foreground, some including a bit of the grey overcast sky. It is the image above that most closely represents the scene that fist caught my attention. Wrapped in the thin mist of morning, the east facing stone wall catches the filtered light of morning's arrival.
So often it is that first instinctive composition that I prefer after making several alternates... and this time, it was also the first of several stops and locations that I shot. All in all, I'm please with the outcome.
DJE
Across to Chantry
Lynn wanted to take Murphy and explore the trails and beaches up around Southampton on Lake Huron this past weekend and of course it was an opportunity for some photography in a new area.
I find inspiration along the shores of the Great Lakes for my photography. This area was no exception. There are the sand beaches of Sauble with the kite surfing crowd and beach strollers, the marina and rock beach at Port Elgin and the shallow waters deepening to blue at Southampton.
For this week, I have chosen an image that I made shortly after arriving in Southampton. We found the formal beaches closed to dogs so we sought out a section of shoreline at the north edge of town with a view of Chantry Island that lies just off shore across relatively shallow water.
DJE
morning fours
While I was at Guelph Lake the other weekend, the morning sun rose over low cloud cover on the horizon, broke through to reflect off the surface of the water with two boats lined up for a practice run. I was struck by the serenity of scene and grabbed a couple of frames with a strong horizontal crop in mind.
A perfect addition to my Horizontal Element series.
DJE
morning gateway
A week in different surroundings with dramatic scenery like Vancouver Island can make it difficult to find interest in the scenery back home. Just getting out to shoot this past Saturday morning required some effort.
Meeting up with a friend to chat and catch up, we had no destination in mind, only a couple of vague ideas of where to shoot. While enjoying our usual from Tim's (coffee for me, tea for Alan) we noticed the sun starting to penetrate the clouds and headed off to a favourite spot of mine on the shore of Guelph Lake.
... serendipity rocks! The cloud cover was very interesting and changing rapidly as I stood on the shore watching the rowing club practice in the distance.
I have a landscape orientation version of this but it lacks the shore in the foreground with the rock in the reflected sky ... not as good an image IMO.
DJE
beach dragon
On our last day in Ucluelet there was a light mist in the morning air so I decided to head down to a beach at the entrance of Terrace Bay. I was hoping for a new vantage point for some misty sea side images. There was a set of access stairs leading down off the Wild Cost Trail, down the cliff to a rock beach.
... I had time to explore while the others slept or started their morning ritual and prepared for our departure later in the morning. I thought to hell with the wildlife warnings when using the trails early in the morning, I wasn't going far...
... then, reaching the bottom of the stairs and cleared the last tree I ran straight into the "beach dragon" - LOL
Well that's what I think it looked like. An interesting piece of driftwood was beached among the rocky shore exposed at low tide. I worked this subject for quire a while, stalking it from all around and all angles. Finally I moved on, there was so much to capture from this new vantage point. Some time later, I looked back at the dragon and started working it from another vantage point farther away. I stayed on the beach photographing for a long time, then realized that I had to get back, the others would wonder where I was.
... damn, I had to get to the stairs and that meant passing just within reach of the beach dragon ;-)
You know, as I walked by, I swear it moved !
DJE
I created this composite image in CS5 to be printed and framed as a gift to the "little girl" shown in her Grandmothers arms almost 90 years ago.
then and now
My wife's Aunt Veronica (Verna) turned 90 recently and family members gathered in Victoria BC to celebrate the occasion. The original B&W image is circa 1923 when Verna was photographed in the arms of her grandmother on the porch of the family home in Toronto.
I met Verna almost 30 years ago, not long after Lynn and I got together. I can't remember exactly when, but I do remember being told "you have to meet Verna", on more than several occasions. It was always communicated with such warmth and emotion that I new she was something special.
... special alright. So full of life and down to earth. I've always enjoyed the times Lynn and I get to visit with Verna. There have been far to few. It was wonderful to connect again and get my hugs from her and catch up. Here's to ya darlin'.
DJE
Ucluelet Shore
This is what I had hoped for...
A recent trip to Victoria BC to visit Lynn's family provided the perfect opportunity for us to head up island and visit Ucluelet. This has been on my list of MUST visit photo locations for a few years now after seeing some stunning images online. The scenery did not disappoint. The coastline is absolutely beautiful and on the day I made this image, I was provided with the morning mist that I had hoped for ... This was taken from a beach, with the tide out, while I sat in solitude listening to the gentle waves run up the sand between calls from the resident pair of bald eagles ... so easy to get lost in the moment that I stayed more than a while.
shhhhhhh.........
... one to be printed LARGE and permanently framed.
DJE
from the shade of a tree
...sometimes you just need to take a coffee break in the shade of a tree. In this case I had been on the road since early morning making inspection visits as my work duties require. It was well after lunch and I just really needed to stop and grab a coffee and sit down for 10 minutes to gather my thoughts in preparation for the next item on my "to do" list for the day.
What better place than under the shade of a tree. One with a magnificent view that just happened to be close to where I had pulled off the highway. I had photographed this location before in the fall and knew it would provide shade in the heat and mid-day sun and temporary isolation from the buzz.
When I arrived, there were a couple other people there enjoying the location and as I exited the car, I knew I just had to take a couple minutes to make a few images looking out over the river. Times like these are exactly why I try to always carry a camera. Lately I have been making sure that I take both my G6 (converted for IR) and my G12 when I leave the house in the morning. The G6 and IR was perfect for this mid-afternoon scene in strong sun with fluffy white clouds and green leaves all around.
This is one to add you my own version of The Book of Awesome.
DJE
winery ware
My niece, had her wedding at Stoney Ridge Winery in Vineland this weekend and while I had chosen not to do the wedding photography, I could not go without any camera gear. Before the ceremony we were enjoying some of the Stoney Ridge libations and I had time to muck about with my G12 Point & Shoot.
Not looking to capture any traditional images of the proceedings I had my eye out for something else from the venue. A table full of wine glasses arranged in rows caught my eye and I took advantage of a low point of view and shot along table level. The repeating patterns and receding lines make for an interesting almost abstract image.
DJE
roadside dawn
The really good light for photography occurs early during these summer months, very early. With sunrise taking place just after 6:00 am, getting to a location for the really good light means being there by 6:30. Capturing the glow of the morning sun as it approached the horizon ... at least an hour earlier than that. Add travel time to the location and this can require departures while it's still dark.
I'm normally an early riser and there are many early morning images in my library ... but, as of late I've taken to "banker hours", or so a friend chided me recently. After meeting up to scout out a location that my friend had photographed many times before, the good light was gone. We were too late ... by a long shot. He had arrived early and made a couple of stunning images and I was left to snap off a few that left me wanting "the really good light".
OK, lesson learned. I need to start getting my sorry butt out of the house and off to the shooting location earlier ... as I did for this week's shot. As a matter of fact, this image was almost captured too late. The sun was over the trees and rising in a cloudless sky. The morning mist was beginning to burn off. Not to worry, we'd been out shooting for almost an hour and at least 30 minutes at this location.
I'm reminded why I love getting up and out early ...
DJE
tree & broken fence
On the hottest day of the year so far, the sun was intense and blazing down on the landscape as I made my way across the flat farmland of Southwestern Ontario. The day started with an absolutely clear sky, but clouds had formed and would provide some interest for the background in a scenic image.
A lone bare tree standing in a field caught my eye and I made a number of infrared (IR) exposures before noticing a broken section of fence to use as a foreground element. Knowing the bare tree and fence boards would render as dark, almost black in IR to contrast against the white grass and clouds, I moved to find a suitable composition including the fence and creating some depth to the image.
While setting up, I noticed the shadows from the clouds sweeping over the field and waited for a moment when their shadows were approaching the tree and sunlit fields were visible on the horizon.
DJE
Ed - In the Light II
There is a lot more to making a Black & White image from digital capture than simply setting the camera to "monochrome" and accepting what it gives you.
First off, shooting in RAW rather than jpeg gives me considerable latitude when processing the image. There are more than enough online tutorials available on this subject so I'll refrain from being redundant here. Suffice to say that I have been experimenting with some processing techniques and programs for my B&W images lately and decided to invest in some fantastic software that works with both Lightroom and Photoshop.
After installing NIK Sliver Efex Pro 2 for my B&W conversions, I was taking advantage of their online training where one tutorial used images of performing musicians to show what could be done. This gave me the idea to go back to some work I did with my cousin's band, PKK, where the strong colour cast of the stage lights was quite distracting in the colour images. The tutorial instructor was suggesting the use of Silver Efex to convert to B&W, removing colour altogether when stage lighting just can't be made to look "right".
I feel that this image of Ed, one of the band's guitarists and vocalists, is much improved with the use of a sepia monochrome conversion. I like the slight warmth retained by the sepia tone and how all but the highlights just fall into deep black background and enhance the soulful mood.
Here is the colour version of the original image for comparison.
DJE
the lookOn the way home from the Listowel recently, I saw a young daughter and her father working at the end of the lane to their farmhouse. I had passed by but decided to turn around and grab a few images. By the time I got back they had moved quite a way from the road. My 70-200 did not have enough reach for the composition I wanted so this is a significant crop.
The heat haze and a bit 'o post gave me what I was going for ... of course the little lady provided "the look".
Opportunities like this are precisely why I always travel with a camera. It may not be my DSLR with a full range of lenses, but I can say that I never knowingly or willingly travel without at least a compact digital camera. As it happened, I had a photo backpack with some of my better gear with me on this occasion and as already stated, even that did not provide the framing I wanted for this image ... so I made use of the digital darkroom and cropped the portion of the image I visualized at capture.
I made few other exposures of the rural Ontario scene before me, trusting that I was able to capture what I needed in a couple of images. The subjects were retreating up the lane to the farm house and quickly, the moment of interest passed.
up the lane
DJE
jelly beans in the rain
Jelly Bean Row is not a specific street or block of houses rather a term used to describe the groupings of colourful houses in St. John's, Newfoundland.
There are ares in the city where they are sparse and others where they extend along the block on both sides of the road. Some are freshly painted, many are weathered and in need of considerable TLC.
With only a few days in St. Johns and many sights to see in the area, I left photographing these unique structures until our last day and as luck would have it, in the rain. We walked for blocks, turning corners, crossing streets enjoying the kaleidoscope of colour.
DJE
Durell, a small(er) community on the southern island of Twillingate boasts a local gem, Melvin Horwood. The locals all know him, so do countless others who have made the trek to visit Twillingate, Newfoundland and have stumbled on or received direction to his museum. After retiring from fishing in the '90's, Melvin continued to maintain his dock, stage and store and now shares with those who drop in ...
Melvin's Museum
Lynn and I had a chance encounter with Melvin when we stopped along Main St. during a morning drive. I had just parked the car to photograph another of the quaint houses perched along the shore when he just appeared ... I said "hello, you certainly have some lovely scenery here". Melvin said, "thank-you. Where are you from?" ... and it just went on from there. For the next 90 minutes we were entertained by a truly charming man.
Melvin Horwood
Stage Security
You just have to love the security system Melvin uses to "lock" the door of his stage museum, where all the goodies are. I should have known, when I reached for the keys to lock our car before heading down the dock, Melvin said "it's OK, you don't need to lock it" ...
'com on in
Among many other things, Melvin will show you how to throw the net to catch Capelin, the bait-fish used to catch Cod.
throwin' the net
repeat performance (new audience)If you are
ever in Twillingate, make the time do go visit Melvin, Durell's just around the corner, literally. It will be time well spent.
DJE
Rocky Saugeen Mill
