Photo of the Week 2024-04-08

 

Still working through the shots from sunset in the icy waters of Hay Bay just over a month ago ... 

 

' spring breakup '

 

Breakups are hard ... but saying goodbye to scenes like this for another year are especially tough ;-)

From a series of images made working the sunset on 2024-03-01

Photo of the Week 2024-03-18

 

' 2024-02-08 17:23:04 '

Just over 35 minutes of working this sunset resulted in 60 exposures of which I selected 9 to process and publish online. That's more than one might expect, but my recent mindset had been to create a series showing the stages and progression as I work through positional and compositional variations.

While some of the "old school" might approach such a shoot with one or two exposures in mind (hearkening back to their film days), I scout the scene and make note of locations that might present an interesting point of view and work through as many of those as possible in the time I have.

Above is a screenshot of the RAW captures out of camera. Some followers had previously commented that they enjoyed seeing the range of captures I get from a session like this. It began just before 5:00 pm local, and with official sunset at 5:42, I didn't even shoot until sundown :-/ Oh well, it was time for dinner and the warm comfort of the cottage.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2022-05-30

 

Every sunset is unique - No two are ever exactly the same 

 

' a slice of pink '

This, from a couple of weeks ago ...

 

As I grow my catalogue of images, some, no many get overlooked, at least initially. Particularly when I enter a period of frequent outings and prolific shooting, but also when I make many exposures during a single outing.

 

It's always a question, whether I should process everything from a past shoot before moving on to more recent captures. Does it matter? My OCD left brain says it does, my right brain frequently speaks up and creates chaos. It's just one of the struggles on my 'photographic journey'.  

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2022-05-02

 

After a beautiful sunny end to April at the cottage, May started with a passing storm ...

' An approaching May storm '

With the storm threatening, I downed my coffee and donned the rain gear to take Murphy out for his morning walk before the downpour began. Certain that I would get drenched, the camera(s) stayed safely stowed in the cottage ... until we got back that is.

At one spot along the road, a lot has been cleared in preparation for a build. The clearing through the trees provides a great view of what is going on out over the bay to the west. This is where I began coaxing Murph to get on with things so I could get back and capture the heavy skies and storm approaching from the west across northern Lake Huron. He didn't seem to understand, but he did eventually respond to my urging and I made it in time to capture some images before the deluge began.

 

 

DJE 

Photo of the Week 2022-03-07

Purple and Gold, the colours of royalty

 

' Regal Pageantry '

When I photograph out over Lake Huron, I quite often used a longer focal length to capture at least one image without any of the headlands or islands present. Some time after I began this practice I was introduced to the Seascape photography of Hiroshi Sugimoto, his exploration of the boundary between sea and sky.

"Water and air. So very commonplace are these substances, they hardly attract attention ― and yet they vouchsafe our very existence. The beginnings of life are shrouded in myth: Let there water and air. Living phenomena spontaneously generated from water and air in the presence of light, though that could just as easily suggest random coincidence as a Deity. Let's just say that there happened to be a planet with water and air in our solar system, and moreover at precisely the right distance from the sun for the temperatures required to coax forth life. While hardly inconceivable that at least one such planet should exist in the vast reaches of universe, we search in vain for another similar example.  Mystery of mysteries, water and air are right there before us in the sea. Every time I view the sea, I feel a calming sense of security, as if visiting my ancestral home; I embark on a voyage of seeing." 

                                                                                                                       - Hiroshi Sugimoto

 

I've contributed a number of images to a flickr group "Following Sugimoto" dedicated to the genre, this is yet another.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2021-11-15

 

' sparkling waters - heavy skies '

Having a front row seat to a view like this is nothing short of spectacular. Whether it's a dramatic sunset or mid-day cloudless blue skies, subtle morning pastel hues or angry storm fronts, the horizon separating Huron Waters from Huron Skies always gets my attention ... 

This image is a heavy crop in an aspect ratio using multiples of the 'golden ratio'. It's an aspect ratio I use for pseudo panoramas when cropping from the original file. The original capture was made while experimenting with my R5 set up in crop mode for wildlife with  my EF100-400L and 1.4x converter. I was making some test shots earlier and used the same setup to capture a very selective slice of the view out over "La Mer Douce".

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2021-02-15

 

Two different takes on what has become a favourite scene of mine over the past several years  ... 

 

Line and Curve

Curve and Line

... sunset from our shoreline on Hay Bay, Tobermory.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2020-11-23

I've made a lot of images at or from our neighbour's dock in the last while. With the late fall sun setting off Cape Hurd, it provides a nice vantage point and gives me a foreground element to work with. In this image, it's the reflection of the red sunlight on the dock side-boards in that foreground that make the shot ... in my opinion.

 

' dock ablaze '

 

Sunset arrives early these days up at the tip of the peninsula. To catch the sun's orb as it hits the horizon, I need to be out well before 5:00, earlier if I want to capture the sun higher in the sky with it reflecting off the water. Earlier on this day, a sunset image didn't seem likely. The sun was well behind a layer of heavy cloud and it appeared they might be no sunset colour to speak of. 

 

But when I went out to fire up the BBQ grill for dinner, a developing red hue sent me inside to grab a camera :-)

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2020-06-08

The view out over Lake Huron has many moods ...

adrift

I enjoy capturing those moods in a manner that excludes shoreline elements that provide scale, location and context. The results abstract the ambience that makes 'Ontario's West Coast' so very special.

See my series "HORIZONS" exploring the myriad of moods, the collection of colours and troop of textures out beyond Ontario's West Coast.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2019-08-05

In creating the series 'HORIZONS' I cannot help but explore a connection, an attraction, almost an addiction, that I have with including water in many of my images.

Drawn to water and calmed by my proximity to it, I have been wondering what it is about water that instills a sense of awe ...

singing horizon

... apparently it's my "Blue Mind'. 

And here is "The science behind our connection to water" according to Dr. Wallace J. Nichols. An interesting quick read that has assured me I'm not alone and has me thinking that I should pick up his book 'Blue Mind' and give it a read too ... maybe while I'm on the deck at the cottage ?

DJE

Photo of the Week 2019-01-21

Sometimes it the view just before the view ...

winter morning sky - through a gap

...  and you need to keep your eyes up and creative mind open while you're out photographing.

I almost missed the framing of this scene by the snow covered cedars as I kept my eyes down to maintain sure footing on the ice covered trail leading down to the shore.

Being mindful to keep a photographic eye open as you make your way on whatever trek you're on can be harder than you'd think. In winter, maintaining sound footing in deep snow or on ice challenges you to keep your eyes down lest you misstep, stumble and fall... the fascinating winter scenes challenge you to keep your eyes up lest your view is at your feet and you miss that "money shot".

What a wonderful challenge for those of us who love to photograph outdoors in winter. We can venture out to a wonderland of sights, sounds and sensations to behold and capture our vision, through the lens.

Eyes down and tread safely ... Eyes up to find that "money shot".



DJE

Photo of the Week 2019-11-26

Huron Shores - Huron Skies

While on reconnaissance in advance of visiting MacGregor Point for skating on their woodland trail this winter, there was time for a hike along the shoreline. The overcast day and placid waters contributed to the overall muted feel of this week's image ... so much so that I think the result is quite painterly without any "help" in post processing.


DJE

Photo of the Week 2018-07-16

quiescence

Listen,

silence,

  absolute silence,

  quiescence of thought

 ...

Floating on the calm evening water of Hay Bay, you can wrap yourself in a soft blanket of calm. When conditions are just so, the horizon softens, near blends into far, water mirrors sky and you lose yourself in glorious, sublime quiescence.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2018-06-11

Just wrap yourself in the magnificent blanket of evening's calm ...

mirrored magenta

Dinner complete, dishes done, kitchen tidied up ... we headed down to the shore and lit a fire. A canoe of animated youths returned home, shore-side activities came to an end, voices across the water faded. We let ourselves be wrapped in the blanket of evening's calm.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2018-05-28

Most images don't come to me, I have to go out and find them.

Huron Fog Bank

... returning from a midge fly and black fly shortened photo outing down the highway to capture roadside wildflowers backlit by the evening light, my eye was scanning around as I tried to think of somewhere else to suitably scratch the photographers itch.

It can be challenging when the itch strikes and nothing to photograph is at hand or immediately comes to mind. When I got the itch Saturday, I decided to wait until after dinner when the setting sun would backlight some patches of Indian Paintbrush that have started blooming along the east side of Hwy 6 about 30 km south of Tobermory.

While I was able to make some images there, I wasn't prepared for the swarming midge flies and black flies, so I made it quick and headed back somewhat unsatisfied. Rather than pack it in, I kept looking and thinking of where else I could go. The answer came as I approached Tobermory and noticed fog at the end of Hwy 6 (the Gap) and thought of the potential for an image over the water with backlighting from the setting sun.

... itch scratched.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2017-07-24

On a weekend of what others called so-so weather I barely even noticed as I managed to make a few images that passed muster. First there was my image of the cloud formation over Lake Huron approaching sunset on Friday night, then the morning light on a spruce as we started our hike to Burnt Point on Saturday, followed by an image of a perched Turkey Vulture shortly after we had arrived home after the hike.

All of these had already been posted online when I sat down to select an image for this weekly blog post so I went back through what I had captured to see what I could salvage ...

setting sun vista

 ... and it turned out to be one from Friday night where the colours of the sky were reflected on the waters of Bonnet Cove.

When will I stop photographing sunsets ... hopefully never ;-)

DJE

Photo of the Week 2017-06-26

Sunset over Devil Island

Sunday evening sunsets at the cottage are particularly soothing ... more often than not they signal a beginning rather than an end ... the beginning of an extended stay at the cottage, beyond simply a weekend.

"As the sun dips below the surface
silver waters gain a hint of gold,
their riches flow around my feet
giving me memories to be told."

from: Silver Waves Upon The Shore

              - Kelly Deschler -

DJE

Photo of the Week 2017-05-22

Dipping in to the archive ... from a few weeks ago at Bonnet Cove ...

Bonnet Cove Sunset 2017-04-13

I could sit and watch sunsets like these every day ... 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2017-03-13

Winter Morning Hues 2017-03-12

Instead of bemoaning the loss of an hour of sleep, I was up just after 5:00 am (would have been 4:00 am without the change back to DST) having morning coffee and puttering about on the computer when I decided I should open the blinds and enjoy the arrival of dawn.

Daylight slowly arrived and muted hues of pink, purple and magenta began to glow in the western sky as sun prepared to crest the opposite horizon. Gradually, the sun would top the treeline and direct light would begin to spill onto the iced waters of the bay. The magical transition wouldn't last long and I began preparations, donning some gear to keep out the -15*C morning air and readying my camera gear.

With spare batteries and anticipation, I exchanged the warm comfort of the cottage, for the icy chill of morning air, the crunch of the frozen shore and the otherwise sublime silence of a winter morning to capture the magnificent hues ... 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2016-12-26

... and for the last post of 2016, I almost missed it. With Matt home for Christmas and winding down on Boxing Day, preparing to leave for the cottage tomorrow, I didn't realize it was Monday until near dinner time ... and Mondays are Photo of the Week blog post days !

Since I've been preoccupied with thoughts of the cottage, the Bruce and Tobermory, it's appropriate to post the type of scene that frequently plays through my mind as I dream ... 

soft heavy sky

... along with my new signature photo logo thanks to PHOToLOGO. Watch for the new logo in the coming days as I prepare images to launch a new portfolio site on 500px to better showcase a selection of images available as fine art prints.

DJE