Photo of the Week 2026-08-31

 

Up at the cottage, I'd hoped to get sky clear enough for a full moon shot over the bay, or a night sky / milky way shot, at least a decent sunset shot for the last weekend in August ... but it was not to be.

 

Clear skies departed leaving grey overcast drizzle in their wake and aside from some quick shots around Little Tub this morning while walking Sully, there hasn't been much to point a camera at since arriving yesterday.

 

So it's back to the image library for this previously unreleased sunset image from Aug 31 2024. 

 

' sunset skies - shoreside pools '

 

DJE 

Photo of the Week 2025-11-17

 

Back for a month (already) and I'm just getting through shots from the first day of my 2025 Superior-Wawa photography trip. For this week's photo, I have chosen possibly my favourite and one of the last images from the day, as sun appeared through a gap in the distant clouds on the Lake Superior horizon.

 

' Stone Beach Sunset '

I spent a little over an hour working the right side of this crescent beach after arriving well in advance of official sunset. A first stop, earlier in the day had shown this to have potential with the rocky outcrop reaching out into the lake but it was this pool of water inside the rock that caught my eye with reflections from the sky and a small notch that I could align with the setting sun.

 

I made a number of small adjustments as the sun slid down and right in the sky, working to stay out of frame for my photographer companions, yet still get the alignment I wanted. The "sunburst" from selecting an f/11 aperture is subtle enough not to steal the show and the hint of golden light in the extreme foreground sets the composition off nicely I think.

 

DJE 

Photo of the Week 2024-08-26

For the fourth week, I'm presenting images selected from the sunset series captured  over a period of more than 40 minutes on 2024-08-02. The progression of colour and texture in the sky was sublime, subtle across the passing of seconds, dramatic overall.

 

In the final stages, the cloud structure softened as if by the touch of an artist blending bands and patches of pastel ...

' subsequent softening '

 

' subsequently softened '

I am obsessed with the sunsets over Lake Huron as seen from our shoreline. They are stunning from any location and so seductively available with just a short walk down to the water.

Here's a screen capture from my Lightroom catalogue of images illustrating the progression that always pulls me in.

 

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-04-08

 

Still working through the shots from sunset in the icy waters of Hay Bay just over a month ago ... 

 

' spring breakup '

 

Breakups are hard ... but saying goodbye to scenes like this for another year are especially tough ;-)

From a series of images made working the sunset on 2024-03-01

Photo of the Week 2024-04-01

 

Spring may have arrived and we may be entering April, but I am still working on late winter images. In particular, I have a set of images from Sunset on March 1st that have me remembering ... reliving ... a glorious display of fire and ice.

 

' sunset on the wing '

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-03-25

 

From a November sunset session along the shore of Hay Bay, Lake Huron ... and I perhaps a little photo insight into how I spend my time from arrival to conclusion of the shoot.

When it started ...

' 2020-11-07 17:32:20 '

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The end result

 

' 2020-11-07 17:37:13 '

 

 

While waiting for a final flourish, I worked the scene, zooming in to isolate the colourful horizon with and without distant shore references for context.

 

' 2020-11-07 17:33:16 '

' 2020-11-07 17:33:35 '

' 2020-11-07 17:36:03 '

' 2020-11-07 17:36:44 '

... and that's how it goes, for me anyway.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-03-18

 

' 2024-02-08 17:23:04 '

Just over 35 minutes of working this sunset resulted in 60 exposures of which I selected 9 to process and publish online. That's more than one might expect, but my recent mindset had been to create a series showing the stages and progression as I work through positional and compositional variations.

While some of the "old school" might approach such a shoot with one or two exposures in mind (hearkening back to their film days), I scout the scene and make note of locations that might present an interesting point of view and work through as many of those as possible in the time I have.

Above is a screenshot of the RAW captures out of camera. Some followers had previously commented that they enjoyed seeing the range of captures I get from a session like this. It began just before 5:00 pm local, and with official sunset at 5:42, I didn't even shoot until sundown :-/ Oh well, it was time for dinner and the warm comfort of the cottage.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2024-03-04

Wow! 

 

March already! 

Spring will arrive in just over two weeks and it seems like winter never really arrived here in Southern Ontario. That may please some, perhaps even many, but it causes me concern over what the summer may hold in terms of temperatures and water levels. I expect it will be hot, damned hot and dry, damned dry and that there will be complaints about that, likely from the same group that complains about winter, but I digress ...

 

...  I've not had as much "winter" to photograph this year. Though I've had both stints visiting Matt & Claire at their farm and many more at our cottage, it wasn't a "real" winter this year. Facebook has reminded me of that with memories showing deep snowdrifts along the cottage road and a deck drift from 10 years ago the blocked out view of the bay from the picture window.

 

That's not to say there were no winter photo opportunities, they just weren't as dramatic or intense as I would have preferred. Sunsets always provide opportunity for a striking shot. Not every one of course but I do have the fortune of having a place to see regular end-of-day displays.

 

' burning through the ice '

I submitted the image above to a monthly challenge for a photo group and it was selected as the March banner image for their home page.

https://guelphphotographersguild.com/

 

 DJE

Photo of the Week 2023-04-17

The Hour of Colour

 

' Main Event '

 

I've written about photographing sunset many times for this blog and yet here is another ...

 

Depending where you are, sunsets can offer over an hour of colour, perhaps even two hours for those intent on taking in the full show. It all really gets started just before the main event (official sunset time) and carries on for quite a wile after.

 

At our little vantage point along the shore of Hay Bay, I've noticed others who've come to watch the show. They often leave after the sun's orb disappears below the horizon, They are cheating themselves out of some of the best a sunset has to offer.

 

Next time hang around and enjoy the full show ;-)

 

DJE
 

Photo of the Week 2022-12-12

 

A corruption to my Lightroom catalogue file had me scratching my head trying to figure out what had happened and during the recovery process I found some unfinished work from early October of this year ...

 

' Tranquility Base is right here ... '

 

A three frame stitched panorama depicting the end to a fall sunset on Hay Bay, Lake Huron, Northern Bruce Peninsula ON, my 'Tranquility Base'

Oh ... the corruption issue, it's fixed. Thankfully I know my way around a computer well enough to fix most things like this. My backup process came in handy again, though now that it's fixed, I think I could likely have got by without one. However, having multiple backups sure helps me to stay level headed and focus on the fix rather than what I've lost.

Again I'm reminded to go back through my catalogue of images to see what I've overlooked or forgotten about as I continue to add more and more and more ...

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2020-12-07

 

Huron skies at the end of the day just keep giving and giving ...

 

shoreside sundown

I made a number of single exposures along with bracketed 3 exposure sets to process as HDR should the dynamic range require them to bring out some detail in the darkened foreground. As it turned out, raising the shadow exposure level in Lightroom was not significantly different that merging 3 exposures into an HDR image.I had already done the work on the HDR so I decided to keep it to include in the blog post for my Photo of the Week (POTW).

The sunset sky colours after sun had dropped below the horizon reflected on the boards of the wet dock and the water's surface to make this composition come alive.

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2020-11-23

I've made a lot of images at or from our neighbour's dock in the last while. With the late fall sun setting off Cape Hurd, it provides a nice vantage point and gives me a foreground element to work with. In this image, it's the reflection of the red sunlight on the dock side-boards in that foreground that make the shot ... in my opinion.

 

' dock ablaze '

 

Sunset arrives early these days up at the tip of the peninsula. To catch the sun's orb as it hits the horizon, I need to be out well before 5:00, earlier if I want to capture the sun higher in the sky with it reflecting off the water. Earlier on this day, a sunset image didn't seem likely. The sun was well behind a layer of heavy cloud and it appeared they might be no sunset colour to speak of. 

 

But when I went out to fire up the BBQ grill for dinner, a developing red hue sent me inside to grab a camera :-)

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2020-10-05

There are times when there is nothing recent that I'm moved to process and post. During such times I look to the catalogue and the collection of images I have accumulated for something to share. I have some candidates flagged for processing, some have already been processed and some flagged and ready for posting.

There are also times like the past couple of weeks, where I've captured a number of images I'm eager to review, process and share, and ... there is a bit of a backlog. I've been here before. I'm able to post new content frequently to my social media accounts. The number may dwindle over the coming days as the emotion attached to seeing, responding, capturing fades and the internal editor asserts himself. We'll see which make the cut and what hits the cutting room floor ...

 

At the moment, there are several sunset images in the queue, all from Hay Bay, Tobermory. So for this week, I'll share back to back sunsets from Sept 20 & 21 as summer 2020 slipped into history ...

Cloudless September Sunset

amethyst adieu

I'm contemplating a sunset calendar project ... thoughts?

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2020-07-13

Sometimes it's the right place at the right time ... fully prepared or not !

After stopping on an evening walk to use our friend's new dock as a different vantage point for some sunset photos I was underwhelmed with the show. Chilled from the dropping temperature and wind of Lake Huron I headed back to the cottage for the night ...

They call it Devil Island
(... and now I think I know why)

... but I had to head back out looking for the lens cap I had dropped somewhere along the route I had taken. I checked all of the places I stopped, including the deck and when I got to the end of the road I got distracted by the sky ablaze through the trees. Investigating a little further, I made my way a short few meters through the bush to what used to be shoreline, but the water level is up and now into the trees leaving no room for dry footing and a clear view out over the water.

Suffice to say I got my shoes and pants soaking wet ... but I got the shot !

DJE

Photo of the Week 2019-07-29

... such wonderful variety in the sunset skies over Lake Huron.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2019-07-15

Too many sunsets ... ?

Huron Horizon

Researching infrared photography recently, I came across a photographer by the name of A. Cemal Ekin  and while perusing his blog I found the post I've linked to in the opening line above (what? wait? that was a link? yup!). 

His take on photographing subjects that may have been photographed repeatedly by yourself and/or others many, many times, mirrors my feeling on the topic. I was particularly struck by how he used the example of sunset photos to illustrate his point. Those familiar with my work know that sunsets are a favourite subject for my photographs and each time I photograph one, I strive to capture what I see and feel and each time it's different.

To me, a sunset is not a sunset, is not a sunset. In other words, I find each one unique. Working to capture that uniqueness is the challenge and my goal. As Cemal writes (or as I interpret what writes), it is "reseeing” with a new eye", reseeing each sunset as a unique scene.

I'm sure some viewers might fail to appreciate the uniqueness and "see" just another sunset. In Cemal's words "That’s fine; somebody has not seen it yet".

Here's another of my other compositions from the sunset kayak outing.

Cemal has many informative and intriguing posts on is blog as well as some great photography on his website 'Kept Light Photography'. I'll be visiting regularly to be further inspired.

DJE