Photo of the Week 2016-08-29

During a recent paddle on Hay Bay, we headed into Ragged Bight, an inlet at the head of the bay, to check out the cottages and summer activity from the water. You get a completely different impression from the water. Viewing things from roadside...

Roadside, the back, and there is a bit of a story around what is back and front at our place, so let me take a moment to set the record straight ...

When we were looking for a place a few years back, we looked in Southampton, Sauble Beach and other places where properties were not on the water. They weren't what I had mind when I thought "cottage". To me a cottage is a "waterfront" property, it has water "frontage", hence the front of the cottage faces the water, at least it does at our place ... in my opinion and what other opinion really matters right?

This of course is a regular point of of discussion with guests and of course Lynn. I don't get why everyone is confused. It's really quite simple (to me). Water = Front, Road = Back. That's all there is to it. So if you ever come visit, get it straight please.
 ;-)

... shows you a different side (the back) and I see that side on our drive in, on our drive out, on my regular morning walks with Murphy. Seeing things from the water (the front) is a fresh look and I found some interesting scenes that warranted breaking the camera out of the dry-bag to make a few images. The one below captures a dock that has seen better days and a property that I imagine doesn't see much activity, but it makes for a nice waterside scene with some character and invites you to make up your own background story. 

this old dock

DJE

Photo of the Week 2016-08-22

Sometimes it's the everyday sights that catch my eye, sometimes it's simply the light at that moment, often it's the convergence of a number of things at just the right moment.

Early one morning, after spending time on the lakeside deck to finish morning coffee followed by a bit of yoga to stretch out a tight back, I noticed the simple way dappled sunlight streamed through the trees to illuminate an old orange cottage chair.

I decided to apply some creative filter work and create a painterly ethereal feel for the simple scene.

old friend

I'm sure the sound of wind and waves accompanied by birdsong and the smell of cedar and spruce mingling with fresh air off the lake together combined to enhance the scene in a quieted mind's eye.

DJE    

Photo of the Week 2016-08-15

I tried something different for presentation of some images recently, gallery wrap canvas. Gallery wraps simulate the look of painting canvas wrapped over stretcher bars and can provide an interesting presentation for images, but I've found that it quickly became overused. Until now, I've avoided even trying it, holding it in reserve for an image that would benefit from the format.

Since it requires not only printing, but stretching and wrapping then fastening the canvas around wooden bars, I decided to let a printing service do the work for me. I sent ta set of four images to Posterjack because they're Canadian, they get good reviews and they had some great pricing.

All four images came our nice, but one in particular stood out and thankfully it was the one that I had chosen to to print the largest at 24" x 36" . It now hangs on the wall in our guest room.
 

SanGim Flower Shelf - on canvas

The trial confirmed what I had expected, certain images benefit from the format more than others. To my surprise, an abstract image did not benefit as I thought it might. That I will ponder as I sit and enjoy SanGim Flower Shelf.



DJE

Photo of the Week 2016-08-08

I've made better images of the night sky, but I hope the experience connected to this one will linger in memory for a time.

which one ?

The perseids meteor shower is nearing it's peak for 2016 and with a clear sky Saturday night, and some urging from Lynn, we headed outside around 10:00 to see what we could see. The sky was unbelievably clear and there seemed to be more stars than ever as we stood at the shore craning our necks to take it all in.

I had checked several online references to assist in locating perseids and after some time, found it rising in the N-NE sky just above the tree line. I went back to the cottage for a camera and tripod to see if I could capture any of the meteors. Coming back out, we looked up and realized that there was a better view from the deck so I set up there. Each grabbing a chair, we took in over an hour of quietly sitting under the Milky Way in the warm summer night air (free of bugs thanks to the breeze off the lake) before we called it a night.

As luck would have it, I was not able to capture a meteor in any of the images I made, but we think we saw one or two while I was getting set up.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2016-08-01

I didn't expect anything dramatic from sunset on Saturday evening so instead of heading out in the kayaks for another show, we decided to light a shore side fire and just sit and relax.

Not long after I got the fire started, some colour began to spread across the sky. That was enough for me to grab a camera and work my way as far offshore as I could on foot. Stepping from one exposed rock to the next, I managed to get out as far as our former fire pit (now under water with the lake level up) to get this view.

Hay Bay Sunset 2016-07-30

Now that we're well past summer solstice, the sun is setting further to the south and soon will drop below the horizon in full view from the location I made this image. Not just for the varied evening skies but for the position of the sun, these evening scenes are ever changing ... and I enjoy every one.

DJE