Photo of the Week 2025-12-15

 

An argument can be made that one should only show their best work and I understand the point in a professional context, in the context of presenting a portfolio for evaluation by galleries, clients and publishers. An amateur, in the literal sense of the word, I'm not motivated by obtaining clients, making an income from my work and though a gallery show or being published would be welcome, these are not my goals.

 

My pursuit is to continually improve my process of creating photographs and photographic art. I get an extraordinary amount of enjoyment and satisfaction from studying and learning all aspects related to capturing, processing and presenting images. It has become a very large part of my life these days. To call it a hobby no longer comes close to describing the place photography occupies in my life. It's a passion, an obsession, a large part of my daily routine, and while I try to share good images, I certainly do not limited them to my very best work.

 

That said, every once in a while it all comes together (or the blind squirrel finds a nut) and I come up with and get to share something that I consider truly special ...

  

' lone tamarack '

... an image that I would include in a collection of my "best work". One I give a 4 star rating (because to date I've never rated one of my images as 5 star, that to me is the pinnacle and 99.9% perfect). One that that represents what I saw, heard and felt, what made me stop, raise the camera to my eye, compose and press the shutter. One that will rekindle the experience of the moment whenever I see it. 

 

' lone tamarack ' might just make the grade to 5 star but I need to live with it for a while before I'd elevate it the final step. For that, I will be printing it large and framing it for the wall.

 

DJE 

Photo of the Week 2025-12-01

 

December already ... and I still have more from my Algoma-Superior trip in October to share.

 

' Algoma Reflections 

My much anticipated return to Coldfwater Cove was overshadowed by dreary conditions the morning we made our stop. I had to work hard to keep my disappointment in check as I worked with what light we were given. What I did manage to find were some interesting puddles in the rocky shore that were stained red and offered an interesting reflection of the adjacent treeline.

 

Note: For the visually curious, this image is flipped 180* from the orientation in which it was captured to present the trees in a familiar orientation. Something I often do with my reflection captures is flip them during post processing to see what results. It doesn't always work but here, I liked the flipped version better. 

 

DJE 

Photo of the Week 2025-11-24

 

' Sand River Scene I '

' Sand River Scene II '

From a stop at Sand River on the way to Wawa ...

While my companions took to the riverbank, I made my way back to the highway and the short distance to the bridge for these views. The day was grey and overcast which made for very flat lighting. Off and on rain did wet the remaining yellow foliage and made it pop against the green of conifers. A bit of atmosphere from drizzle to mist up the background might have been nice.

 

As I often do, I framed both vertical and horizontal compositions of the scene, here using the leaning snag as an element of interest (if only there had been an eagle ;-). I prefer the horizontal framing that shows more of the boulders along the far riverbank. 

 

DJE 

Photo of the Week 2025-11-17

 

Back for a month (already) and I'm just getting through shots from the first day of my 2025 Superior-Wawa photography trip. For this week's photo, I have chosen possibly my favourite and one of the last images from the day, as sun appeared through a gap in the distant clouds on the Lake Superior horizon.

 

' Stone Beach Sunset '

I spent a little over an hour working the right side of this crescent beach after arriving well in advance of official sunset. A first stop, earlier in the day had shown this to have potential with the rocky outcrop reaching out into the lake but it was this pool of water inside the rock that caught my eye with reflections from the sky and a small notch that I could align with the setting sun.

 

I made a number of small adjustments as the sun slid down and right in the sky, working to stay out of frame for my photographer companions, yet still get the alignment I wanted. The "sunburst" from selecting an f/11 aperture is subtle enough not to steal the show and the hint of golden light in the extreme foreground sets the composition off nicely I think.

 

DJE 

Photo of the Week 2025-11-10

 

Waiting for sunset, I worked compositions of the shoreline and rock outcrops at water's edge, Stone Beach, Lake Superior, Algoma District, ON

 

' formations '

It often happens after arriving at a location for a planned photo opportunity, there is time available to explore further. Whether waiting for others in the group, for a planned shot to develop, or quickly getting the planned shot, I try to make best use this extra time and opportunity.

The image above was captured during this "extra time", waiting for the sun to set across the vast Superior horizon. 

 

DJE 

Photo of the Week 2025-11-03

 

Working our way through the first full day of shooting for the 2025 Edition of our Superior-Wawa photography adventure, we worked our way back to Chippewa Falls before grabbing an early dinner nearby.

 

The fall colours were not as vibrant looking upstream to the upper reaches of the falls as I hoped. Standing on the rock outcrop to the south side of the lower falls, I liked this composition. 

 

' Chippewa Upper Reaches '

But there was a bit more autumn on display over my shoulder, along the shore, where the river turned and I needed to zoom in to pick it out.

 

' where the river turned '

DJE 

Photo of the Week 2025-10-27

 

I don't use my cell phone for any 'serious' photography. They may be a large community of people using their phones as a primary camera but I prefer the form factor, creative control and quality of results from one of my cameras. That is unless all I have with me is my phone and the scene is so fleeting that heading back to the vehicle to unpack my R5 would make me miss the shot ...

 

' Mirrored on the Michipicoten '

After a full day of shooting on our way from Batchawana Bay to Wawa. We had checked into our accommodations, made a dinner reservation at a highly recommended restaurant and arrived to this scene from their outdoor deck looking over the Michipicoten River. Afraid the scene wouldn't last until I went back to the vehicle to grab my camera, I shot this with my phone.

  

DJE 

Photo of the Week 2023-12-11

 

Not long after last week's post, I completed my processing of a set of images that now comprise the series ' revealed '. The series features the magnificent Superior lake-bed colours and shapes at Coldwater Cove, as seen with the use of a polarizing filter to reduce glare and reflection on the water surface.

 

With these two images, getting close with wide angle zoom allowed me to create interesting abstract interpretations using the natural patterns, shapes and colours in the rock of the Canadian Shield. I was left to imagine rough water and waves crashing along this shoreline because on this day there were but ripples on the water's surface.

 

' revealed IV '

 

' revealed VI '

Calm, sunny conditions such as we had are something not too common for late October on the lake that is Superior. 

 

 

DJE 

Photo of the Week 2023-11-27

 

During last month's Superior Wild and Scenic Photo Retreat we visited several locations on Lake Superior. Most were known to me from previous travels in the area but one in particular was not and oh what a treat it was.

Calm waters were not expected but they did allow for some unique waveless images on the rocky headland at Coldwater Cove. I ended up with quite a collection showing the interesting and accessible rock formations. Sneak previews when I was downloading after they days shoot had me excited for one or two but with well over a dozen it was difficult to know where to start, so I'll just start.

' wave action worn '

I had switched out lenses to the 17-40 wide angle zoom in order to get more in the frame and include more of the interesting formations in the foreground. I also used a polarizer to tame some of the glare and reflection from the strong mid-day sun, both on the rock and the water.

 

This is certainly a location that I plan to get back to for some more shooting.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2023-11-20

 

' Fall Colour @ Sand River Falls '

' Sand River -  lower falls'

' Sand River Falls - detail '

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A return visit for shooting at the Sand River Falls allowed me time to make the short hike from the trailhead up to the lower falls. Apparently there are three falls accessible by the Pinguisibi Trail that starts from the parking lot N-E of the highway but I was with a group of photographers and only had so much time allotted for our stop at this location. Given that, I quickly set out for the nearest (lower) falls after telling the group leader where I was headed (safety first). Along the way I was getting glimpses of the water cascading through the relatively narrow channels of the river. I had been informed that during lower flow levels, much of the jagged and undulating river course is exposed and can be accessed. Not so when the water is high and raging.

Rather than stop on my way up, I chose to head straight to the top of the falls and work my way back, checking out vantage points on the return trek. I arrived at the top of the falls and explored the area, able to walk out on a fairly extensive network of exposed rock and look further upstream hoping for a calm, still water basin before the plunge for some reflection images.

 

There was no upstream still water and I started looking around for other photo ops finding a small maple in full red leaf at the edge of the river just as it starts to plunge. I removed by backpack and placed it away from the water with my tripod and took just my camera out onto the rock in search of a composition that would suit the dramatic red leaves. I found something that worked using my lens wide open at f/4 and zoomed out at 105mm to blur the background a bit and place emphasis on the red leaves in the foreground.

 

A short time later on my way back down, I stopped just below the main plunge and tried a technique to add motion blur to water, one we had discussed the previous evening. There are options in most of the new cameras these days to make and blend multiple exposures in-camera. That option usually outputs a jpeg image and while it may be of sufficient quality, my camera can shoot a maximum of 9 frames in this mode and has the option of keeping the RAW captures as well as the output jpeg which is what I selected. I used the output jpeg on my rear LCD to judge exposure and the blur of the flowing water and retained the RAW files as a fall back. Lighting conditions were rather bright and it was difficult to select a longer shutter speed to help with the motion blur. The water was not blending smooth enough for my liking and I ended up blending the results of 2 sets of 9 RAW images in Photoshop to get the results shown in the additional 2 images above. Of course you can use ND (neutral density) filters to obtain slower shutter speeds and blur water nicely but I wanted to try something new.

 

DJE