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 2025-11-03

 

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 2018-03-05

A recent client inquiry had me looking back through the image catalogue, an experience that I always enjoy, and one, as I've written before, that stirs memories and often results in (re)discovering some hidden gems. This time the quest took me to shots from the La Cloche area I had visited on a business trip to Manitoulin back in 2010.

La Cloche Reflections

It had likely been 40 years since my last visit to Manitoulin, then as a young hockey player travelling for a tournament. In 2010 the focus was on work with some personal time set aside to explore and photograph in the area of Willisville.

The few years of involvement with sites in Northern Ontario exposed me to the beautiful scenery that so many had already known, written about, painted and yes, photographed. Few opportunities to return have presented since ... and now as retirement approaches, I'm already thinking about how soon I can hit the road with a full complement of photo gear and time ... 

'the Road'

DJE

Photo of the week 2015-08-03

"Shore Songs" 

- a series of images depicting rock and water scenes that sing of northern beauty -

This series of images became a personal favourite instantly as I began making them one fall evening back in 2012. My satisfaction with the entire set (now 14 images) has not waned, actually, I like the set more and more as time goes on.

A print of one image sold a few years back to a local client for display in her home. I personally delivered the finished framed print and will never forget how please she was to see it hung. I love to create my images and prints but it is a special feeling to have someone appreciate them enough to purchase and display them for their own enjoyment. I cannot express how grateful I am to those who appreciate my work enough to have acquired a print for themselves. The creative fire burns and it burns a little longer and a little hotter when stoked.

Prints of images in the series can be seen and are available in the "Shore Songs" gallery on my Fine Art America page or as Signed, Artisan Crafted Giclée Archival Prints by contacting me directly.

DJE
 

Photo of the Week 2013-07-22

Recently, a discussion with a friend, who is also a member of our photo critique group, led to the subject of sketching and creativity. I mentioned that I really liked the look of sketches, particularly those done with pencil or pen and ink and admire artist who create works using  these media. He suggested some books on the subject and kindly lent me his copy of  "the Creative License" which I began reading immediately.

... fast forward to a warm summer evening, downtown cafe, espresso/lattes, 3 friends and some discussions on things photographic. We talked about many things including post processing images as "photographic art". I was motivated to go back to images in my library to process images in the style of a sketch. I ultimately selected 4 images from a 2012 trip and created a series entitled "Manitoulin Memories". I can see these hanging on the walls very soon. Here is just one from the set.

across the fields ... and far away

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
      

Photo of the Week 2012-06-11

The second leg of travel to Northern Ontario and facility inspections for work had me driving from Kenora to Red Lake to visit 3 sites. I set out at 7:00 am and it was early evening by the time I left the last facility to head back to the hotel. Although it meant that it would be after 10:00 by the time I was back at the hotel, there was the possibility of seeing some wildlife in the evening hours with good light.

Driving on Hwy 105, I expected the usual moose and deer, but hoped for something different. I had seen a couple of eagles soaring overhead during the day and was on the lookout for one perched in a tree. This Bald Eagle obliged me by perching near the ground on some recently cut brush of the roadside embankment. Luckily there was a place to pull over and I walked up the shoulder of the hwy about 50 m slowly getting closer and snapping off a few exposures. The eagle got skittish and flew off so I went back to the car and had just resumed driving when I saw it again just down the road. It was perched in a better position and this time let me get close enough to get some good images..

perched

Moments after I made the exposure for this image, the eagle spread it's wings and flew off having tolerated my presence long enough. What a great encounter.

DJE

More from recent travels to Northern Ontario

I couldn`t resist posting a couple of images I made while on my way between Manitouwadge and Marathon in Northern Ontario recently. With all the news of increased black bear sightings, I really hoped to be able to see and photograph at least one on the trip. With a little help and suggestions of a location from Mike (thanks), I managed to find this large sow. Her small cub was near by timidly running in and out of the bush so I was cautious not to get too close and upset her ... but with only a 24-105 mm zoom, I had to get quite close to get these ...

Big Momma

Yep ... she saw me, gotta go !

... not to worry, I was in my car at the side of the road. :-)

DJE

Photo of the Week 2012-06-04

A recent business trip to Northern Ontario provided some opportunity to explore the area from Sault Saint Marie to Manitouwadge. I had never driven the section of the Trans-Canada Highway from SSM to Hemlo and expected some great scenery. Although I`m certain it`s more dramatic in fall with the trees showing brilliant colours, the spring landscape still did not disappoint.
I lost cell coverage (on Bell) just 10 minutes north of ``the Soo`` and did not regain it until my last day when I drove back into SSM for my return flight. That left hours of driving completely free of the phone ringing or the Blackberry announcing arrival of a new email to take in the scenery.
With stops for business in SSM, Thessalon, Wawa, Manitouwadge, Hemlo and Marathon there were many sights along the way. I was travelling light as far a camera gear was concerned. I had just my 7D DSLR body with 24-105 zoom and my G12 as backup. This was more than enough to get some nice images and so far, my favourite location was Silver Falls just outside Wawa in the community of Michipicoten.

Cold Dawn at Silver Falls

The weather at home had been hot and humid, hovering around 30*C while I was away. Temperature up north had dropped to single digits after my first morning in SSM. On the last day I left the motel to find frost on the car, cold morning air and foggy patches moving lazily across the landscape. Immediately I thought of heading back to a scenic lookout over Lake Superior that I had visited the previous evening. On the way, again I passed by Silver Falls. The combination of warm water and cold air transformed the scene into something special. I stopped and enjoyed some time in the fresh air making different compositions of the scene capturing sunlight as it began to arrive.

DJE 

Algonquin Scenes

I wanted to put up some more images from my recent trip to Algonquin Park. I have not yet completed reviewing and cataloguing all of the images I made ... if I wait that long, I may never get them up to share :-)

rowboats reflected


Algonquin stump


Labrador Tea


calm & reflected (uncropped version)


Enjoy
DJE