Photo of the Week 2026-05-11

 

' Revolve Spring Morning '

From a morning walkabout with camera (after coffee of course) on our first visit to Revolve Farms this spring ... for Mother's Day. 

 

DJE 

Photo of the Week 2025-05-05

 

Too much time at the computer? Maybe. My wrist has been telling me to take a break from hours of daily online time as I work to reacquaint myself with film, 4x5 large format cameras, 120 roll film and my 35 mm SLRs through online resources ...

 

So I curtailed my processing time at the computer and this week I have an image that's been queued up since my last visit to Revolve Farms, when snow was still on the ground, a fire was in the wood stove and we were holding the fort while Matt & Claire had a well deserved vacation with her family.

 

' wood b' lovers '

This wooden sculpture, part of the decor around Revolve Farms, sits atop a shelf unit and catches morning light coming through a large sliding door in the kitchen area.

 

I was using a then relatively recent acquisition, the RF 85mm f/2 Macro, gaining some familiarity with it shooting details around the interior spaces.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2025-04-07

 

As I work through the trove of images from recent months, memories surface and in the case of these images, a special smile forms and pride swells in my chest.   

 

' Chef Matt '

' Intimate Dining '

 

Matt & Claire are living their dream, creating and living the Revolve Farms life. What they have built together is wonderful. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week's photo(s), capture Le Cordon Bleu trained Chef Matt doing his thing as he prepares dinner for an intimate family gathering, and the table atmosphere so perfectly crafted by Claire.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2025-02-17

 

Ever since Claire and Matt first led me here, I've been trying to capture the character of this special part of the woodlot at Revolve Farms. The area itself is not overly large, but there is certainly enough space to walk around. The area has no canopy overhead and vegetation is quite varied, large patches of reindeer moss, sizeable low junipers, soft ground. Here and there, these lovely scraggy, ragged, dark coloured trees with little to no leaves mixed with some other varieties of pine, maple and oak. It's a wonderfully soothing place to enjoy and I visit every time I'm at the farm.

 

I always take a camera on at least one walk through the area and have wanted to experience and capture it in a varietal of conditions, snow, fall colour, mist, fog, rain, early morning sun etc. So when we visited the farm last fall, of course it was one of the places I struck out for even though morning light was flat, there was a touch of mist in the air.

 

' craggy characters '

 

This image was captured in vertical (portrait) orientation and contained a fair bit of washed out sky. Thanks to a video on shooting woodlands I found (or rather YouTube found for me), I was provided with some inspiration to 'not look for trees'. I've always found myself trying to get the full tree in the frame when it's likely more about how the tree fits into it's surroundings.

 

In ' craggy characters '  I cropped out the sky and went for a square aspect ratio that shows the bases of three trees leading me off into the distance with moss, lichen and fallen oak leaves at my feet. I could lose myself for hours in scenes like this ... 

A bit of background ... 

This image and a number of others made at the location that day could have quite easily gone overlooked. The date was 2024-10-10, the day/night of the awesome aurora event across the northern hemisphere. After taking my walk through the woods, we departed the farm for home with some hope that I might be able to continue on to the cottage in hope of some dark sky captures of the northern lights. As things turned out, after arriving home another 3+ hr drive mostly in the dark was not in the cards. But I recalibrated and managed to get out to a more local dark"ish" sky area for what very well may be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. That outing spawned a collection of images that I interrupted my stream of posts from the trip to Scotland several weeks earlier. Fast forward to earlier this month when I finished posting the 300 plus images from Scotland 30+ from the Aurora and one or two from the New Year and I had a fair collection of images going back to Oct that I had not even really looked at other than to download and backup the originals. I had forgotten about my shots from the woods that day and were it not for instructions from the Dr. to rest and take it easy for 3 weeks following minor surgery to repair a hernia, I could very well have been out tramping around capturing lovely wintry scenes from home to the cottage. As it is, there has been a lot of time in front of the computer to review what I have and spend time online taking in photographic inspiration. Both led me back to this week's image  and the others from that magical walk in the woods.

 

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-02-05

 

' once upon a clearing '

' a place to meander '

 

On my Boxing Day foggy morning walk, I detoured to check out 'the clearing', a magical spot that caught and has held my interest since my first romp though the woods of the Revolve Farms property.

It's not an area cleared of all trees, but certainly it's character is very different from the adjacent woods.

The ground is soft, a considerable portion of it is covered in reindeer lichen and moss that feels quiet underfoot. Clusters of juniper dot the spaces between trees, suggesting that you meander your way around. 

 

 

 

 

On this day, the clearing was particularly mystical. Fog and barren trees combined with a limited colour palette to create something special that I attempted to capture in camera and bring to these images with some touches in post processing.
 

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-01-29

Over the past week I've found myself enjoying memories from the final month of 2023. A few days at Revolve Farms in uncharacteristic winter weather proved a pleasant surprise. A rise in temperature following the snow dropped by a recent system made for some very "atmospheric" conditions. The resulting fog and mist on Christmas Day allowed me to capture a number of images of which I ended up processing a dozen in a set entitled "Winter For at Revolve". Below are the final two I'll be posting ...

 

' Winter Fog at Revolve - IX '

' Winter Fog at Revolve - XII '

... from that day. Of course, there were other days, at least one anyway ;-)

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-01-22

I know it's a month after but ... In addition to all the love and warmth we shared over several days during Christmas with family, hosted by Matt and Claire at their farm, I was able to get out with camera on a foggy Christmas Day morning and wander around the property ... 

 

'  Christmas Day Fog at Revolve - I '

 ...  while Lynn and I had Fortuna out for her morning runabout. It was a "let's see how 'Tuna is with recall when it's just Lynn and Doug" adventure before we were left in charge for a couple of days while Matt and Claire went to visit with her family.

I'm happy to report that 'little Tuna' was a wonderfully behaved girl from the get go. Fortunately I got to make a number of images that morning because it warmed up and rained for the rest of our time there keeping us indoors for the most part.

 

For the image, I decided to do a touch of colour grading and adjustments to enhance the ethereal feel of the scene out by the barn, looking back towards the house. As an added bonus, here's a collage of detail images I shot inside during our stay.

 

I hope your memories of this Christmas are as wonderful as mine ...

DJE

MERRY CHRISTMAS ! - Photo of the Week 2023-12-25

For the first time I can remember, I am not spending Christmas morning at home. I will not wake up in "my own bed". I will not make my way down to our living room and see stockings and wrapped gifts around the base of the tree. That is not to say I won't enjoy a Very Merry Christmas because I most certainly will ...

... at Matt & Claire's, Revolve Farms, where we will be blessed to spend time with family and enjoy holiday cheer in one of the most warm and inviting places I have experienced. We will spend some warm family time with our boys and their lovely partners. Fortune truly touches me.

' Merry Christmas from Revolve Farms '

A bit of the backstory on this image ... as we prepared for our visit to Revolve Farms, I had not been looking ahead to my next blog post and realized that Monday would be Christmas and I needed an appropriate image. With not much snow, nor opportunity for a seasonal vibe, I decided to leave it until we got to the farm and capture some of the lovely decorations I knew Claire would have arranged. Christmas Eve morning, I was setting up my temporary computer desk and the idea to capture the lit tree, reflection in the window and timber frame beyond came to my mind. The morning light was arriving and for the right balance I needed to work quickly. My cameras were out of reach and I grabbed the trusty phone for this image :-O

DJE

 

Photo of the Week 2023-09-04

 

I haven't felt like picking up a camera much these last couple of weeks. Oh I've had one in my had or over my shoulder but the desire to photograph anything has just not been there. I know it will return in due time, so until then here is something from several weeks ago when I visited Revolve Farms.

 

' Log Home at Revolve Farms '

' A place to sit and relax ... '

 

' faerie throne '

 

Lynn and I will be visiting again in the coming weeks and even getting to farm / dog / chicken sit for a couple of days. Maybe then there will be something to stir the photo - mojo and I'll get it back. We'll see ...

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2023-08-27

 

Revolve Farms has a new flock ...

' hen house '

There are a mixture of breeds that I can't recall the proper name of. Most will produce colourful eggs, blue, green brown are to be expected when they start laying.

We have a weekend of farm, dog and chicken sitting coming up and perhaps some of the first farm fresh eggs.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2023-03-27

 

As we enter the last days of March, spring is truly upon us. No matter what the weather may throw at us, the Spring Equinox has come and the season has changed. Sunny warmer days with the emergence of leaves and flowers is not far off ... but before I get there with my photography, I have one image from the frigid depths of winter that I'd like to share.

 

Back in January, while looking after the farm for the youngin's, with a major winter storm forecast to slam Eastern Ontario, an idea for an image came to mind. With a fresh blanket of snow, I had thoughts of a night shot with the lights of the house glowing in the pitch black of night. Well ... add in blizzard like conditions with extremely heavy snow blowing off the roof of the workshop and here you have it !

' on a dark winter's night '

And here's the backstory ...

 

In the weeks and months leading up to my time at the farm, I was hoping for wintry, snowy conditions as they would figure prominently in my plans for photography. As luck would have it, the snow came and in a healthy dumping starting earlier one day and continued through that night.

After dinner, with cousin Steve who had come for dinner and a first visit to see the place I had talked so much about, I went around flicking on the interior and exterior lights. Then we donned the warm winter gear, checked for a charged battery plus a spare, grabbed the camera, tripod and headed out. Trekking down the lane and around the garden area I wanted undisturbed in the foreground, we made our way to the corner by the cedar rail fence. I set up a couple of compositions I liked and captured a number of frames for each, varying exposure so they could be combined in post processing to control the dynamic range of the scene. Done, I picked up the gear and headed in to continue with the after dinner conversation and adult beverages.

When I got around to processing the captured files a few days later, I was met with an unexpected challenge. For the composition I preferred, I had not captured an exposure where the brightness of exterior lights of the workshop were controlled. The lights and workshop wall were blown out beyond recovery in all the frames I had made. Undaunted, I grabbed one from another composition, fiddled for quite a while to manually adjusted the size and perspective to suit my preferred composition and meticulously aligned it as a layer with the others in Photoshop. Then I blended the portions of several frames together, adjusted exposure, highlights, shadows using a variety of steps in several work sessions.

All of this done, in the end I wish I had spent a little more time in preparation for the outing, paid more attention to the images as I was capturing them and confirmed rather than assumed that I had captured everything I needed. I normally don't spend as much time processing my images as I did for this one but  still, I'm very pleased with the result even though there is room for improvement.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2023-01-23

 

If winter won't come to DJEnglandPhotography then ...

 DJEnglandPhotography will go where there is winter

 

 

Snow had fallen and actually managed to stick around where I was going to spend a few days, and I was very pleased for a number of reasons, not least of which was the photo opportunities it would provide. It wasn't cold, real winter cold like it should be in January, but cold enough for me to get a 'winter photography' fix the first day ... maybe more, stay tuned.

' Revolve Farms In Winter '

I'd been looking for an opportunity to photography this place freshly blanketed in winter white, as pristine as it could be. When it snowed a day or so before my scheduled arrival, the anticipation started to grow.

I'd offered to 'farm sit' so Matt & Claire could have some time with her family. My duties were lessened thanks to an energetic ermine that recently took out 10 chickens, so no chicken duty, no fresh eggs. Just me and 'Fortuna the Great' for a week of adventure in and around Revolve Farms.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2021-12-27

 

From a morning wander at Revolve Farms ...

 

sun through the barn wall

 DJE

 

Photo of the Week 2021-12-20

More, from the new home of Revolve Farms  ...  a diamond emerging from the rough.

 

'The view that greets you as you enter '

 

' Front of the Log House '

' Side of the Log House '

' The sunny side and the Greenhouse '

' The garden had overgrown ... "

 

I know there will be many more photos to come ;-)

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2021-12-13

Just back from a visit with my son in Eastern Ontario and I realized that I had images from the previous visit to share ...

 

 

From our first visit to the new location for Revolve Farms and an opportunity for Matt & Claire to walk us around, sharing their vision for their new home ...

 

There was so much to catch our eye during the time we spent wandering and exploring this unique property. In particular, the building sections raised by the previous owner, with stone from the property, are one signature feature (there are a few others).

 

The stone house, workshop and outdoor kitchen area are without a doubt, anchoring elements of this special, special place.

 

' stone house and attached workshop '

 

 

' entrance to stone workshop '

 

' outdoor stone kitchen '

 

 

There is work to be done. Completing what the previous owner started, altering and adding their own touch, Matt & Claire are set to bring a dream to life ... and I can't wait to watch it all happen (and maybe help a bit where I can along the way)
 

 

DJE

 

Photo of the Week 2021-08-09

My photography covers a broad range of subject matter, I do not specialize, I do not limit myself. There is however one underlying constant ... I was there, I saw it, I photographed it because it moved me visually.

 

I recently had another visit with Matt (my son) and Claire at Revolve Farms, their CSA farm garden near Athens ON. It was a wonderful couple of days, sleeping in a tent under the stars, listening to the crickets, coyotes, farm dogs, owls and loons through the night before the rooster alarm clock went off (at 4am). Again I learned as they shared their passion for what they do and the knowledge of what they have learned.

 

I spent some time documenting what I saw in the garden, around the farm and as I explored the surrounding area and have a number of exposures to review and edit. One subject I was looking forward to photographing was the garlic crop that had been harvested and was hung to cure in the barn ...

Garlic Curing I

Garlic Curing II

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Garlic Curing III

 

Garlic Curing IV

 

 

 

 

Garlic Curing V

 

... though curing prepares the garlic for long tern storage, it can be used uncured in recipes. Thanks to Lynn, I can attest to how delicious that is.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2021-06-28

Hummingbirds of Revolve Farms

 

On a recent visit to Matt & Claire's Revolve Farms location in Athens ON, we were treated by an appearance of the local Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.

 

Ruby-throated Male

Ruby-throated Female

These two were in frequent attendance at the feeder outside the tiny-home window and I imagine provide much entertainment when Matt & Claire are taking respite from their daily work regimen.

feeder outside the window

It was challenging to get the sharp images I would prefer without my 'birding' setup of the Canon 7DII with EF100-400 L IS. The EOS M5 and Sigma 18-300 performed acceptably but I look forward to going back to see just how much I can improve my results.

The above images of the birds are crops from the frames below which include the feeder. The Hummers did land on the branches holding the feeder and I would like more time to focus on making better images without being a distracted, disrespectful guest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DJE