Photo of the Week 2025-03-10

 

' Moody Skies at Burnt Point '

A Black & White treatment seemed appropriate for the moody skies over Georgian Bay ... well it did given I've been working to keep B&W as an option when shooting and processing.

 

As I work my way through captures from last year, I came across this image that I liked but lacked something in colour. I decided to flip to B&W and process to the moody feel that I had when viewing the scene in person.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2023-12-18

 

Something a little different for me, a black & white landscape image. What prompted this? Read on ...

 

' colourless beach '

One of my companions for the October Superior Photography retreat shoots almost exclusively in black & white. Leading up to the retreat, during discussions with Hersh, I commented that I would be interested to see his B&W interpretations of subjects I would undoubtedly be presenting in vibrant colour.

During my review and selection of image candidates for processing, I recalled the discussions with Hersh and selected one to process in black & white to see what I could create.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2023-09-11

 

' lace in a bottle '

An interesting empty wine bottle and a stem of Queen Anne's Lace backlit through the glass of our cottage door

 

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2019-08-19

Keady Trees IR - 2019-08-18

I've been out with my infrared converted camera lately, a Canon EOS M that I had modified by Kolari Vision in the US. They performed a 'Two Spectrum' Conversion that leaves the camera sensor sensitive to visible in both the visible spectrum and infrared spectrum.

With unsettled weather starting to move in and the building behind the trees now gone, I decided it was time to make another image of the 'Keady Trees' to add to the set.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2014-06-09

... back from vacation and after a week of picking up the camera to shoot multiple times a day, I have mot made one single exposure in the last 7 days.

On the bright side, I have been printing like crazy in preparation for displaying some images at Ancient Cedars Cafe in Tobermory :-)

Here's an infrared image taken on vacation during a visit to Halfway Log Dump. I lke the surreal, high contrast look of IR.

Halfway Log Dump - IR 2014-05-26

DJE  

Photo of the Week 2014-05-12 ... well, actually May 11, Mothers Day

Recently, in an email I received from a friend responding to my Photo of the Week Blog posts, there was some thoughtful feedback.  Plus someone I had not heard from in a while had taken the time to write and comment about a number of my images. In particular, there was mention of how she enjoyed my non-nature work, how she "would like to see what I could bring to everyday things" and the suggestion to maybe "get out of the woods for a while".

It's always nice to friends and I appreciated the sincerity of the email. It got me thinking and although I'm sure I won't be out of the woods for long, I did focus on something different this weekend.

Mothers Day 2014

I challenged myself to create an image from my Mothers day visit with Mom, that would convey the feeling of our time together and the relationship we enjoy. I'm satisfied with the result. 

Thanks for the suggestion Janice ;-)

Photo of the Week 2014-01-13

coming and going .... coming or going ....

I've been knocked on my butt with some kind of cold or flu bug since Thursday and it keeps coming and going to the point where I don't know if I'm coming or going ...

I've not felt well enough to go out this weekend for photography or anything else for that matter. So here is my image for this week, from an outing last weekend.

coming and going ...

DJE

Photo of the Week 2013-11-04

More and more frequently, in recent years, there is something that increasingly catches my eye, making me stop what I am doing, giving me pause, sending me deep into thought and personal reflection. The "something" is my hands.

What I notice are not the scars they have accumulated, the veins that have become more prominent or the knuckles that sometimes ache. What I notice is how they remind me of father's hands, or at least how I remembered his hands to be. I'm not sure what it was about his hands, they weren't particularly large although they were uniquely his. There are also other times when I look in the mirror and see some of my father looking back at me in my own facial features, but mostly it's about the hands. I find something calming and comforting in those brief glimpses.

Then a short while ago, after attempting to sketch my own hand in a drawing exercise, during conversation I mentioned how my hands were reminding me more and more of Dad's. I said that it would have been nice if I had sketched our hands together, or had them sketched by an accomplished artist. Continuing, I thought aloud and wished I was better at it so I could do a sketch my mother's hands. It was suggested that I go ahead and do it, just go ahead and sketch them ... or maybe photograph them.

Soooo ... on a recent visit with mom, we sat talking in her room as we usually do, catching up on things. At one point she laughed and reached out to grasp my hand with both of hers. That was my signal. I grabbed the camera I had with me and asked mom to "do it again" ... 

loving hands

DJE

Photo of the Week 2013-10-21

I've been busy over the past week, preparing images for two shows. The first, my photo group's annual Show 'n Sale, took place this weekend along with the Guelph Studio Tour. I've been fortunate enough to sell a large framed image each of the past two years but not so fortunate this year. I did sell a print of a recent image from Italy and a couple of greeting cards but that was it.

So .... since I haven't had much time for shooting or processing anything ... here's more from Italy. I've chosen two candid street shots that I've processed in B&W.

lady in white

and ...

back alley romance

Ciao,
DJE

Photo of the Week 2013-05-13

Holding on to memories ...

... it can be a challenge for the elderly. Mom was always sharp mentally, that is until the last couple of years when her diabetes became too much for her to manage by herself. For more than 30 years, with help from Dad, she had managed her blood sugar level by strictly following diet guidelines, testing her blood and giving herself four insulin injections per day. Just over a year ago, living on her own in a seniors residence, things changed.

Her "brittle diabetic" condition got away from her and she was hospitalized with DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis), on three occasions. On the last, I just about lost her. She was in ICU for over a week and unresponsive for the first several days as medical staff helped her fight to stay alive. Her body chemistry was way out of whack and more than once I questioned what impact it would have when and if she recovered.

She did recover but it would no longer be possible for her to live on her own and she moved to a long term care facility. Sadly, she had lost some of that mental edge she always had. Now, when I visit, we do crossword puzzles together to help keep her mind active. We also talk a lot about what is going on with her grandsons and of things past.

On Mother's Day, I took some of my photos to look at so she could see what I've been up to. We talked about them and a reprint I had made of a portrait my Dad took of her a long time ago.
 

We talked about how much Dad enjoyed photography and taking her picture whenever she got dressed up. Mom said she remembered having her photograph taken wearing the blouse she has on in the the photograph she is holding. I posted that image and a blog post for Mother's Day yesterday. I also planned to make an image of her with that photo that would capture the mood as she relived the memories.

All visits with mom are special, but on Mother's Day this past Sunday, it was extra special.

DJE

GRACE - for Mother's Day

When Mom moved from the house back on '06, we went through Dad's darkroom and more photos than you can imagine. During the next few years she organized, arranged and culled the family photo collection down to albums from vacations and trips and a collection of shots from over the years. When she had to move into a nursing home last year, we had to downsize her belongings completely. I kept the family photo collection. There are three boxes of the photo albums that she had assembled and a bunch of loose prints, some small snap shot, some larger prints from Dad's darkroom. 

Mom was always a patient model for Dad through the years. This is one of the prints from Dad, I believe it is from the early '50's when mom was around 20 (scanned from a 4x5 print, frame outline and title in CS6)

Happy Mother's Day.

DJE 

Photo of the Week 2013-02-04

It was cold and blustery when I headed out Saturday morning. I had planned on exploring more of the trails around Silver Creek Conservation area but the blowing snow pulled me to Scotsdale Farm with thoughts of windswept fields rather than the relative protection of the forest.

Driving along the entrance off Trafalgar Rd., an old long abandoned laneway lined with pines seemed a fitting place to gear up and leave the warmth of the vehicle. A short walk back from where I parked let me size up the location for an opening shot of the day ... and sometimes the first is simply the best. I processed this image as high key B&W to emphasize the weather conditions at the time.   

fighting the wind

February Fence

There were a number of shots to be had in and around the area of the laneway. I spent some time walking around (with hands in pockets) sizing up the pines, the fences and the field grass before making this second image of the rail fence.

It was an unusual outing for me in the fact that I only made something in the neighbourhood of 20 images during the entire morning ... and I had these two, plus another from a roadside location on the drive home that I consider quite acceptable.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2012-11-19

Now that colours have disappeared in the throes of fall, this weekend I decided on an outing to Rockwood Conservation Area and to shoot entirely in black and white.

The day started out with fog slowly dissipating as we drove to the location but a light mist remained for most of the morning to add some atmosphere to the images. The trail along the north side of the river did manage to provide some some nice scenery and with the water level about a metre lower than normal, the area had taken on a different look.

Rockwood Study in B&W II

I enjoyed the outing so much that when I woke up to fog again on Sunday, I decided to head back before driving to see my mother. Together the outings produced a number of decent images and reminded me that I need to visit this location more often.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2012-09-10

For the first time in quite a while I did not have plans to go out shooting this past weekend. Plans to attend a McMaster Engineering Alumni reunion and later a round of golf with my former classmates all but filled filled Saturday.

During the remainder of the weekend my photo related activities were limited mostly to selecting and preparing images for the 2013 edition of my calendar. I quite enjoyed going back through the full year of images from 2011 identifying possible candidates and then making the final selections.

One of the issues with making as many images as I do is not having enough time to enjoy working on more of them. During the time I spent looking through images for the calendar I was reminded of many good times and great places.

This week`s image is one that I had processed heavily to have a graphic sketch-like quality. There is something about it that continues to hold my interest.

The Gathering

DJE

Photo of the Week 2012-08-20

Where do all the photos go?

Thanks to attending a 50th Anniversary Celebration where there were boards filled with photos of family moments, family snapshots if you will, that have resided in albums, shoe boxes, photo lab envelopes and lord knows what else for ... well decades, I have been stirred to make a committment to print one such snapshot from my digital libraries each week as a 4x6. Although I print my more "artistic" work often and even frame and hang a lot for personal display, I have not printed the more family related images with any regularity.
Today I started with an image of my youngest son, Jordan, taken while we were visiting my mother on her birthday recently. He was just sitting there listening to the conversation and I said " ... just sit there like that, now look at me ...  ".

"J" 2012-08-06

Click! And there you have it. A little more than a snapshot, but family moment for the archives, printed and now I need to find a shoebox ...


DJE

Photo of the Week 2012-08-06

No commentary necessary, just a peaceful scene from my early morning walk that speaks for itself.

morning light beckons

 DJE

Photo of the Week 2012-05-28

... time to break out the infrared camera.

backyard stairs - IR

I haven't been satisfied with much of my photography in recent weeks. At times I've really just been going through the motions hoping I'd end up with some respectable images. 

When I get into a creative slump like this, it's time to change things up a bit. The change can be going to a new location, switching up subject matter or any number of other things that force me to see differently. In this case, I broke out the camera that I had converted to infrared (IR) and headed out with some friends to add to my portfolio of Guelph images. Working in IR removes the influence and familiarity of colour in my images putting the emphasis on form, line, tone and texture even more so than regular black and white.

Our destination was St. Patrick's Ward and some of the grand old properties of the neighbourhood. Aside from the relaxing morning walk, I actually made a few images that show some promise and I may have broken out of the slump ... we'll see
DJE

Photo of the Week 2012-04-30

Every now and then there is an image that really resonates with me, one that I keep coming back to in my mind, one that I know I want to craft into a fine art piece that I'll proudly display on my own walls. Forest Mist is such an image. Taken just about two months ago it's an image that I have envisioned for a long time. The vision was there, I just needed to place myself in the right condtions at the right time to be able to capture the scene.

I was pleased with the colour version that I had processed it with a slight vignette and a fair amount of dodging and burning reminiscent of work previously done in the "wet" darkroom. Several sizes and itterations of the work had been printed to scrutinize before committing to frame and hang the result. Still, it wasn't until I was studying images from another photographer with a series of warmtoned B&W landscapes that I considered processing this one in B&W.

I had been doing some some research on "intimate landscapes" as introduced by photographer Eliot Porter and came across the work of Guy Tal. Some time spent reviewing Guy's images and a few other references on warm toned B&W images and I knew what I needed to do to complete my work on forest mist.

forest light - monochrome

... it's already printed for my office, larger version for home to come.


 DJE

Photo of the Week 2012-04-02

Acoustic J


My son Jordan took a break from studying this weekend to play a bit of guitar and I grabbed the opportunity to set up a single light and make some portraits . It was good chance to try out my small octagonal softbox for speedlites.

I need to do this type of thing more often.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2011-11-21

It's gratifying when someone new notices one of your images and goes out of their way to mention it. Recently one of my friends passed on a comment from someone he knows back in England that saw this one online. Apparently they thought that my aluminum canoes image was "corker".
I had to check and make sure a "corker" was a good thing, and according to my friend, a Brit himself, it is.
So here you have it ...

aluminum canoes


I made this image while up north near Algonquin Park recently. Lynn and I had been out for a hike before breakfast and returned to enjoy some coffee and mid morning dining at the resort. It was on the way back to our villa that I noticed a number of canoes hauled up on a dock resting after what I suspect was a long summer of hard use. The way they were arranged caught my eye, as did the morning sun glinting off their bruised and battered hulls.

By the way, not made with my most expensive camera gear, just with the camera I had with me at the time. Although, I am glad that it was a high end "point & shoot", the G12. This camera provides a quality file that I can make decent size prints from. I need to find a spot to hang this one ...

DJE