Photo of the Week 2012-04-30

Every now and then there is an image that really resonates with me, one that I keep coming back to in my mind, one that I know I want to craft into a fine art piece that I'll proudly display on my own walls. Forest Mist is such an image. Taken just about two months ago it's an image that I have envisioned for a long time. The vision was there, I just needed to place myself in the right condtions at the right time to be able to capture the scene.

I was pleased with the colour version that I had processed it with a slight vignette and a fair amount of dodging and burning reminiscent of work previously done in the "wet" darkroom. Several sizes and itterations of the work had been printed to scrutinize before committing to frame and hang the result. Still, it wasn't until I was studying images from another photographer with a series of warmtoned B&W landscapes that I considered processing this one in B&W.

I had been doing some some research on "intimate landscapes" as introduced by photographer Eliot Porter and came across the work of Guy Tal. Some time spent reviewing Guy's images and a few other references on warm toned B&W images and I knew what I needed to do to complete my work on forest mist.

forest light - monochrome

... it's already printed for my office, larger version for home to come.


 DJE

Photo of the Week 2012-04-23

                          orchard elder

I've wanted to spend some time photographing the blooming orchards in the Niagara area for quite a while. Something always seemed to come up to prevent me from getting there at the right time.

This past Friday, I had some appointments for work scheduled in the area and at the conclusion of the work day I decided to take a leisurely, circuitous, scenic route home.

The layers of colour and old on new backdrop grabbed my attention in this scene. Ideally there would have been a little more contrast to the light, but heavy cloud cover made it very soft. The image needed a little help from post processing to pull the colours out a touch.

I love the character of the old fruit trees. Pruned, contorted, and knarled they stand vigil over the younger crowd.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2012-04-16

evening dunes


A recent business trip had me back on Manitoulin Island and after checking out a couple of possible locations to make some sunset images, I decided to return to Providence Bay where I made one of my favourite images two years ago. I arrived well in advance of sunset and decided to kill some time by walking along the beach. I made my way along the waters edge walking into the sun for about 15 minutes before heading across the dunes to return on the boardwalk. When I started heading back I saw the golden light on the dormant dune grass and stopped to make a series of images including this one.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2012-04-09

Arboretum Morning

Getting out for a leisurely early morning walk in the UofG Arboretum was a welcome change from the events of the past week. With everything settling down at bit, I was able to head out early on Saturday in the company of a good friend through the arboretum grounds looking for signs of spring.

The sight of fresh green grass is a welcome sight from the dull tones of a retreating winter. In this image the low angle of morning sun is spilling into an area between the footpath and a rail fence at the edge of a meadow.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2012-04-02

Acoustic J


My son Jordan took a break from studying this weekend to play a bit of guitar and I grabbed the opportunity to set up a single light and make some portraits . It was good chance to try out my small octagonal softbox for speedlites.

I need to do this type of thing more often.

DJE