Photo of the Week 2024-01-08

A couple of months ago I decided to visit Halfway Log Dump in Bruce Peninsula National Park. The road in is not maintained during winter and is closed from early winter to late spring. I thought I would take the opportunity to go before the road was closed.

The shoreline along Georgian Bay at this location has provided many photo opportunities since my first visit over a decade ago. This time I would continue recent work on ultra-wide angle compositions, this time with my RF 14-35mm.

Though ultra-wide angle focal lengths can be used for stunning compositions, it requires practice to become proficient in their use, as I am experiencing while I work with focal lengths of 11mm and in this case as wide as 14mm. I made a number of successful images during this outing and in some cases worked a particular subject or view in various ways as I gain more comfort shooting this wide.

 

At one location, an old weathered cedar on a rock ledge caught my eye. My first instincts for a framing had me too far away, surprisingly so and I moved to the edge of a crevice using the lens zoom a bit to frame a shot (version A below).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not satisfied, I moved back a step, zoomed back out to 14mm and included a spruce standing above the background treeline as another point of reference. When I reviewed the images on the computer, this ended up being my favourite version.

' old cedar on ledge '

Before finishing with this scene, I moved even closer to the point where I had to remove and set my back pack and tripod down to step off the main cliff onto a ledge in the crevice. Even then I braced my foot on the other side of the crevice to lean slightly more towards the cedar (version B below). Upon review, this wasn't what I was looking for either.

 

' old cedar on ledge -B '

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm enjoying the challenge of working ultra-wide and have made some satisfying images but that first stand out image is yet to be made.

 

Oh yes ... as things turned out and real winter weather yet to arrive, Emmett Lake Rd. was still open when I passed by most recently. Perhaps I will change another visit.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2015-07-27

The Peace of The North

I used the phrase "The Peace of The North" recently in an email to a friend when referring to an impending departure to the cottage. Thinking about it more, there really is a different feeling to everything when I am up north. I've been fortunate to experience it regularly in the couple of years since we got the cottage.

Even simple morning walks along the cottage road hold a peace that makes them quite a different experience from my walks at home. Everything just seems ... well, different. The sounds, the air, the light ... particularly morning and evening light. And what a great thing that is for photography, when the golden hours hold just a little more magic.

A morning walk with Murphy is always a great start to the day. His eager, bouncy approach to walks can be contagious, no matter what the weather and the location. When it's up north, with sunlight cresting over the trees, I'm eager too. I know that in the fresh morning air and warmth of the sun there more of "The Peace of The North" ...

Morning's Peace

... and I'll take all I can get, though Murphy my prefer that I stopped a little less to make photographs ;-)

DJE

Photo of the Week 2014-04-07

Spring on the Bruce ... this weekend I wanted to make images showing the arrival of spring.

Driving north to the cottage after work on Friday, I could see that with the arrival of spring, the snow cover had begun to diminish. Large roadside drifts now seemed less uhhmmm ... large. Open areas of the landscape were laid bare from the warm stare of the sun and spring rains. The runoff waters had begun to flow.

Arriving near dusk, there was still enough light to see the frozen surface of the bay flooded from the afternoon rain, the setting sun reflecting off the still puddle surfaces. After unloading the car and getting settled in, I went back to have a look and it was gone, lost to the darkness, at least until tomorrow, I thought.

Waking in the morning, it was still gone. A fresh dusting of (April) snow had arrived overnight and with temperatures below freezing, spring's complexion had changed. Undaunted, I still had in mind to make images depicting the arrival of spring this weekend, so off in search of them I went, with Lynn and Murphy.

A drive down Warner Bay Rd. and Eagle Rd. provided some new roadside scenery that whet my photographic appetite.

Early Spring on The Bruce

DJE

Photo of the Week 2014-03-17

OK, ok ...OK Already !

A number of my blog followers have let me know that they are tired of winter and my persistent rambling about how I love it ...  LOL

Here's an image from this past weekend as the (almost spring) sun warmed the air and began to melt away winter on a local trail. The subject cedar, a veteran of many cycles through the seasons, provided a nice opportunity to create a star-burst as it partially blocked the rising morning sun.

;-)  
DJE

Photo of the Week 2012-02-06

morning light on trailside cedars


Each of the past three weekends now, I have taken my cameras along on successive sections of the the Cambridge Mill Run Trail. The weather forecast for Saturday suggested it would be less than inspiring for photography however a good friend was just getting over a bout of pneumonia and needed an outing that wasn't too strenuous. This relatively flat trail system had been providing some new scenery for my lens and as uninspiring as the weather may have been, new scenery is always good.

DJE

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