Photo of the Week 2012-10-29

I've captured a lot of images over the past couple of months and I needed to make some time to go back through the catalog and find the gems waiting inside. I decided to go back to my Manitoulin trip in mid September. I arrived late Thursday evening in the pouring rain and took the time to shoot Friday morning before my work day started.

When I left the hotel early in the morning, I was about to head for breakfast at a local restaurant when I noticed the mist lingering and sunlight just beginning to flow around the scattered clouds. A location near fallow fields caught my attention and presented some great scenic opportunities as daylight arrived.


... picking a spot along a gravel road, I set up to watch as sunlight began to warm the morning.

warming touch of sunrise

... still more to come from this period.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2012-10-22

reflected palette

I have so many images from recent trips filling my mind with the beauty of Northern Ontario. This week's image is another from my growing "intimate landscape" series that focuses on select areas within larger vistas.

I'm not sure how long this leg of my photographic journey will last. I will enjoy while it does ... 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2012-10-15

colourful voice

This past weekend I was very busy with a Photography Show and Sale along with colleagues from the Guelph Photographer's Guild. For the 2nd year we ran the show and sale concurrent with the Guelph Studio Tour.

It was a frenetic couple of weeks leading up to the show, trying to get all my work ready for display in addition to being the organizer of our event. This year I decided to showcase a recent body of work with images made in the Killarney / La Cloche area of Northern Ontario. The images are part of a new series entitled "voices of the land". I blogged about the experience that has spawned this new work in a post last week.

This Photo of the Week is the one of mine that attracted the most attention during the show and much to my pleasure, was purchased by a local Guelph resident to decorate her home.

DJE

Voices of the Land

I have been inspired by my recent Photography Workshop experience. Suffering the feeling of being "stuck" creatively ... I met a new friend and they helped me free myself.

voices on the shore

This image was captured as I explored  "Conscious Camera Work", an approach suggested by Doug Wilson during his Killarney Fall Photography Workshop 2012. I found an isolated place on the shore, sat down, set aside my camera, closed my eyes and meditated ... for a moment, a minute, or longer ...until an image spoke to me.

My profound thanks Doug. You have helped me allow myself to photograph what I sense, hear and feel.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2012-10-08

The first evening of my recent photography workshop included introductions, a light photo outing and a talk on Conscious Camera Work by workshop leader Doug Wilson. After determining that all of the participants were experienced photographers, Doug rejigged the schedule to have us set out early on the second day for Grace Lake, a much anticipated location on the workshop agenda . A 6:30am departure from the dock and 45 minute boat ride to the portage left plenty of time for photography ... in near dark. Never one to miss a unique opportunity, I cranked up the ISO on the 5DMkIII, set a manual exposure and set about making images of the approaching horizon. This image was made about 15 minutes into our voyage as we exited the narrows from Frood Lake to Cranberry Lake.

Early Morning on Cranberry Lake

The morning was brisk. Some were bundled up wearing gloves and had raised the hoods on their jackets. Me, I sat and let the chill of the morning air wash over my face and hands as I took in more of the scene with every breath. Daylight was approaching rapidly, the warmth of it's arrival brushing over the horizon with an orange hue. It was ... cool, very cool.

Later that day we were asked to select up to four of our images to share with the others during an evening review session. It was not difficult for me to choose this one. I can still feel the freshness of the morning just by looking at it.

DJE

This bucket is half full ...

I know, the "Bucket List" is all about the things you want to do and the places you want to go before you "kick the bucket" but what do you call it when you partially complete something on the list?

This past weekend I attended The Creative Landscape - Fall 2012 photography workshop lead by Doug Wilson. Part of my reason for wanting taking this workshop was to return to the La Cloche Mountain area in fall and photograph more of it's beauty. An unexpected  windfall was learning, after signing up, that part of the workshop would include a visit to Grace Lake. Members of the Group of Seven found inspiration on its shores and surrounding peaks and while planning last year's fall trip to Killarney Provincial Park, Grace Lake was added to my list of must visit locations. In particular I wanted to visit Carmichael Rock were Franklin Carmichael sat and painted the surrounding landscape.

Amongst our workshop group there was some question as to the exact location of Carmichael's vantage point and once we arrived at Grace Lake it became apparent that this would not be the day I experienced the iconic view. More planning and time dedicated solely to the pursuit of this would be required. However, our guide for this outing, Mark Murton of Charlton Lake Camp, and Lynda, Doug's wife who had accompanied him on the workshop, both took time while the rest of us were busy photographing, to scale an adjacent ridge overlooking the lake. When I heard this I decided to do it myself, but by this time I had only 40 min to get up and back down before our planned departure which would not leave much time to enjoy the view from the top.

I set out at a brisk pace through the low bush and was quickly greeted by the sharp incline at the base of the white La Cloche quartzite ridge. After a while of climbing I was on the first exposed outcrop and paused to catch my breath and enjoy the view. Standing there in the quiet and gentle wind I heard th-thump, th-thump, th-thump, th-thump and realized that it was the sound of my own heart ... exertion or exhilaration, likely both, had it pumping strongly.

The final climb to the top required a fair bit of picking my way and switching back across the fractured rock surface until I was there ... and what a view !

A View of Grace Lake

The peak off to the right in the photo is where Carmichael Rock is located. 

Is it any wonder this landscape has inspired so many over the years? This view, although not from Carmichael Rock, is a view of Grace Lake, my view.

... and as far as my "bucket list" goes, this bucket is half full.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2012-10-01

When this blog entry is automatically posted I'll be in beautiful Northern Ontario just finishing up a 3-day Photography Workshop led by Doug Wilson at Charlton Lake Camp near Willisville. It's the first in a series of workshops I intend to take as I push boundaries on my photographic journey.

I've written before about my love of Northern Ontario and it's beautiful scenery, particularly in Autumn. There were questions about fall colours this year given the extremely dry weather we've had. With the significant lack of rainfall, would there be any colour?, would leaves just turn brown and fall off?, would ...

A recent trip to Thunder Bay and Kenora provided some answers. The yellow and green colours of the birch and poplar are prevalent in the area but there are also reds and oranges from maples and smaller brush and bushes. I was able to make this week's image during my drive along Hwy 17 just west of Thunder bay. The bright colours of the bushes were popping with the back-light from the morning sun in contrast to the white trunks of the taller birch.

birch 'n colour

There are a number of compositions from this location that are being considered for a print series and framing for the home gallery. The colours in the scene are vivid but I find that they display horribly on some monitors and displays that are not colour calibrated. In fact the image looks washed out on all but the high end Dell monitor I use for image processing. It's quite frustrating when the colour is such an important component of this image.

Ahhhhh, but then there is the print.

DJE