Photo of the Week 2026-05-04

 

Randomly, but quite frequently, I delve into my backlog of images, either those marked as candidates for processing, or those processed and marked candidates for posting. The number of marked images keeps growing and this week, in an effort to not leave them all to languish in digital purgatory I thought to choose one from May of a previous year, 2017 in fact.

 

' roadside recollection '

A familiar location along the road on drives to the cottage. Sometimes it calls out a challenge for me to stop and attempt a print-worthy capture. This may have met the challenge, at least well enough for a trial print. We'll see.
 

DJE 

Photo of the Week 2025-10-06

 

Mornings in the forest are absolutely magical ...

 

' light to a stump '

' light to a trunk '

... with sunlight penetrating through breaks in the canopy.

 

DJE 

Photo of the Week 2025-08-18

 

I feel my increased awareness of scenes, subjects and the surrounding world around is a symptom of having caught "photographer's eye". 

 

' morning light on small spruce '

Just when, during this journey I caught it, I'm not certain. Though I am certain it is not fully advanced and likely never will be. There are assuredly stages of the condition, mine moderately advanced I think.

 

There is no clinical test to verify the condition. One must just accept the visual joy of distractions such as morning light on a small spruce.

 

DJE 

Photo of the Week 2025-05-12

 

This photographic journey has taken a turn as of late, a return to be more accurate. It's had me very busy reading, researching, remembering, reacquiring ... more on the "for what" in the weeks to come but for now, it has seen me more with book in hand, out checking resources or (mostly) at the computer rather than out with camera capturing new images. 

 

So again, I found myself without recent images ready for regular posting and dove into the archives. There I found a collection of images made back in 2012 on a foggy spring afternoon when I was experimenting with a then 8 year old 8MP camera. I had picked up a Canon 1D MkIIN to see if I wanted to make the jump to their top tier camera body for the integral grip form factor (I decided not to).

 

The resulting images have been marinating on the hard drive since then and I have no explanation as to why, but you can see a select set in recent social media posts on my FB, Insta and flickr. This week's photo is my favourite of the set.

 

' woodland mistery '

My decision to process and present the bulk of these in B&W is likely a result of my recent activities. Processing is not a simple B&W conversion of a colour file but includes manipulation of the bright and dark tones for a look I find reminiscent of orthochromatic films in the past.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2025-04-21

 

This week, a set of images from a winter walkabout through the southern section of Preservation Park, to capture some winter woodland character(s) ...

 

' fenzy '

' disarray '

' swoop '

 

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2025-03-24

 

Revisiting forests and woodlands that I've wandered over the years ...

 

' forest fog after a light snowfall '

 

Here, it's the Arkell Rd woodlands north of Starkey Hill on a very moody late fall morning with lingering fog after a light snowfall the previous day

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2022-02-21

 

This week, a departure from my foray into infrared, but still something showcasing the wonder of winter because regular followers of my photography know I love winter.

 

' Left at the Birch '

 

 

With every snowfall, a fresh canvas,

 

 on which nature will paint

 

Be it hard cold edged ice

 

or soft delicate flake

 

The beauty is there to be seen

 

You have only you look

 

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2022-02-07

While shooting some IR images on a forest trail recently, I also had my eye tuned for B&W scenes with a 'regular' camera.

 

' tracks in forest light '

As I entered the forest there were snowshoe hare and coyote tracks running every which way. At one point, in the middle of the trail, the coyote tracks circled round and round obscuring all others. I envisioned a scuffle and promptly looked and found hare tracks exiting the spot.

 

I spent a number of minutes standing still, scanning the area. Fresh tracks suggested at least one hare had been through not long ago. After a while I moved on down the trail and caught this image above, of track in deeper snow coming towards the main trail and heading off into the forest on the other side.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2021-12-06

 

' snow dusted trail '

It's a magical time when the first snows of the season freshen things up.

 

It seems I am in a minority ... I welcome the arrival of winter. There is nothing like a fresh touch of pristine white to lighten up the landscape and signal the beginning of another season of winter photography.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2021-11-22

 

Robertson Tract in the morning ...

It was nice to get together with photo friends for an outing to the Robertson Track in Halton. The myriad of trails there lead you through a forest of changing scenery near the top of the escarpment.

 

Arriving shortly after sunrise, we were treated to morning light filtering though a light mist, highlighting tree trunks, rocky outcrops and mosses growing on the exposed stone. For this image, I was drawn to the depth of the scene, with the receding verticals of the trees.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2021-09-06

The forest cycle ...

 

' down and decaying '

With COVID, crowding, controls and constraints, accessing the public areas of 'the Bruce' has become a "crap" show over the past few years. Parking reservations required weeks in advance at most BPNP locations now make impromptu outings impossible. Quick walks at Little Cove, Halfway Log Dump and Burnt Point now all demand parking and daily use fees totalling $20 per visit. And don't get me started on the annual passes. I bought a Family Discovery Pass last year before they closed the f'n park to visitors making my $130 pass fee a donation to the Federal Government since whey would not honour an extension into this season. 

 

This has had a significant impact on my photography. I now spend most of my time staying at our place or on local roads and secondary trails. Sunsets and skies with occasional wildlife is the usual subject matter around the England abode. Wildflowers, trees, forest light, with a critter now and then catch my eye on my modified treks.

 

The sights and scenes can be different and can require a different "eye" ... in this case B&W.

So this week I bring you 'down and decaying' ... like my hopes for a return to 'the Bruce' that brought me to the area. Will I find my peninsula muse again, or just 'move' on ... time will tell.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2020-09-21

 

obstruction

Always drawn to the darkness within, rough brittle branches make it difficult to penetrate the slender closely spaced trunks in this area of the woods without getting scratched or poked to the point of bleeding. 

 

As if to impede access through this family of small trees, one alone seems to block the way, obstructing access for all but the most determined. Up to now, I've only stopped to peer through into the shadows and photograph ... one day I will forge a path in.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2020-09-14

 

woodland spirit

I've long pondered a project that would have me presenting a collection of images  conveying the sense of spirit I sense in some members of the arboreal community. I'd started a working document to explore the lexicon such a collection would use to title and describe such images. Those that follow my photography may (or may not) know how I select a title for a particular image. This can come quickly and easily as I select a subject scene and prepare my composition or it can come from the sub-conscious working of my mind as I move on to other things. Sometimes it's a struggle and on few occasions it never comes.I've often wondered why one way one time and another way the next ... a exercise for perhaps another time, fuelled by a whisky or two.

 

The scenes and subjects of the forest, that I react to, regularly have a perceived persona or character. Anthropomorphism is long rooted in human culture and storytelling. Perhaps most frequently associated with animals, domestic or wild, it also has it's application to trees, so I am by no means alone in this.

This weeks photo, ' woodland spirit ', is a first addition to the collection and a good example. I'll be adding more as I re-discover them in my image library and out in the woods ...

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2020-02-03

This winter has not been especially inspiring photographically ... so far. That's left me searching for images to work on and post to feed the creative spirit. 

The archive is there and I've really enjoyed diving in over the last few weeks, starting with the blog post that showcased some of my images of the (now destroyed) Lion's Head Lighthouse. I've also connected with a waterfall group on FB and rummaged through some of the waterfall images I've made over the years. The exercise has had me looking at shots from 2009 to present and allowed me to find some previously overlooked files worthy of a second chance.

... but I've needed to get outside, breath some cool fresh air and give the shutter finger a workout, sot it was up and out on Saturday morning with a collection of kit, searching for worthy subject matter.

Winter - Spring Creek

It may have been the babbling water, it may have been the solemn silence, it may have been the raven's call ... there was a certain something seductive about this scene on a sideroad, off the beaten path, on the Bruce.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2019-12-16

fog in the forest is simply magical ...

tangled forest

DJE

Photo of the Week 2019-11-18

In wrapping up the series of images from my late October woodland outing here are a couple of images where I selected a tighter crop, either by using longer focal length or getting in closer to the subject scene. 

Sometimes it can be hard to see the trees for the forest, not just the other way around as the familiar adage goes. Keeping this (these) in mind while out in search of images gives the photographer yet another tool for the creative toolbox.

On this particular October morning, I was in awe of the the grander scene, the sunburst through the sparse fall canopy and my compositions were wider, including broader look at the scene. Having already made a good number of this type of exposure, I began looking for something different, recalling my original intent to develop my woodland photography further, push myself to another level, my vision began to narrow in.

I had made a commitment to be somewhere else and my magical time in this place was approaching it's end as I focused in on an area of the forest between two larger trees where the sun's rays were streaming in through the mist.

framed in the mist - I

framed in the mist - II

I'm quite pleased by the results, although these are quite different from others in the Foggy local woodland morning 2019-10-28 series.

I'd be very interested to hear anyone's thoughts, likes, dislikes and comments on any of the images in the series (click the link above to a Flickr album of the complete set). The November 4 post is the only image that had made it to this blog before this post and not everyone may want to go to Flickr, so I'll conclude this post with a collage showing all of the images ...

DJE

Photo of the Week 2019-10-14

Capturing the feel, the true feel of a forest scene is challenging ... an understatement to say the least. 

Once their eye detects "something", that "something" that eludes description, a photographer must decide where to direct the lens and from which vantage point. They must choose whether to "go wide" and pull in an expanse of the scene before them, to "zoom in" and pick out specific details, or something in between. They must decide what, out of a myriad of possible elements to include, what to exclude, what elements work together to build that "feel". 

And, the photographer must make choices that are more technical, focal length aperture, shutter speed, ISO, exposure that align with their vision for the image.

fall forest shadows

Getting all aspects to come together, in harmony that moves a viewer to "feel" what the photographer feels is the ultimate goal. Success is elusive, seldom achieved, ever enticing ... for me anyway.

I will continue, undaunted, as time spent in the forest is something special in itself.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2018-12-10

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,.

But I have promises to keep,.

And miles to go before I sleep,.

And miles to go before I sleep."

                           - Robert Frost -

invitingly mysterious

There is a spot along the edge of the forest, an opening that calls to me whenever I walk by. Invitingly mysterious, it spurs me to imagine that which is beyond as the woods close in, darken and deepen.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2018-04-30

No traveler, whether a tree lover or not, will ever forget his first walk in a sugar-pine forest. The majestic crowns approaching one another make a glorious canopy, through the feathery arches of which the sunbeams pour, silvering the needles and gilding the stately columns and the ground into a scene of enchantment.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/tree

No traveler, whether a tree lover or not, will ever forget his first walk in a sugar-pine forest. The majestic crowns approaching one another make a glorious canopy, through the feathery arches of which the sunbeams pour, silvering the needles and gilding the stately columns and the ground into a scene of enchantment.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/tree

 

 

No traveler, whether a tree lover or not, will ever forget his first walk in a sugar-pine forest. The majestic crowns approaching one another make a glorious canopy, through the feathery arches of which the sunbeams pour, silvering the needles and gilding the stately columns and the ground into a scene of enchantment.
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/tree

"Between every two pine trees there is a door leading to a new way of life."

                                                                                                                     -  John Muir  -   

  

between the pines

Morning walks in the forest, no better way to begin the day ... after coffee of course. Yes, first coffee, then a walk in the forest ...

There are times when the it's the forest floor, other times it's the forest canopy and others when it's yet another aspect of the forest. Always, the forest is somewhere to point the lens. Capturing it's mood is nearly always a challenge ... presented here with a little help from artistic filters and textures in post processing.  

DJE

Photo of the Week 2018-04-16

Winter fights to hang on, spring fights to break through ... a snow and ice storm threatening historic proportion moves in to blanket the ground and throws a late chill into the forest.

snowy spring forest

Lousy weather? No worries, dress appropriately and go outside to get some exercise and fresh air, there’s always the option of a hot drink when you get home ... in my case a tasty matcha latte.

There's a very different feel to the outdoors when the weather turns bad. Gone are the usual sights and sounds. You could be surrounded by the hiss of the wind high up in barren trees and blustery waves that whoosh along side, the tick, tick, ta-tick of ice pellets hitting frozen trunks and your weather-proof jacket shell, and the unique crunch of 'sugar snow' under your feet as you work to find traction in the slippery granules.

Spring snowstorms attempt to blanket the life that has begun to emerge after the long winter. Signs of the new season can appear completely obscured in the 'snowy spring forest'.

DJE