Photo of the Week 2025-11-03

 

Working our way through the first full day of shooting for the 2025 Edition of our Superior-Wawa photography adventure, we worked our way back to Chippewa Falls before grabbing an early dinner nearby.

 

The fall colours were not as vibrant looking upstream to the upper reaches of the falls as I hoped. Standing on the rock outcrop to the south side of the lower falls, I liked this composition. 

 

' Chippewa Upper Reaches '

But there was a bit more autumn on display over my shoulder, along the shore, where the river turned and I needed to zoom in to pick it out.

 

' where the river turned '

DJE 

Photo of the Week 2021-02-01

 

Unlike previous images from exploring Jones Falls with my son Jordan, at Inglis Falls we were not able to access the river below. I know there is a way, but it's not a journey to be rushed and I need to do some more research before making the trek. When we visited briefly, I did make a series of images looking downstream from safety, behind the stone wall near the brink of the falls.

 

Downstream of Inglis

Similar to the images of Jones Falls, I made several exposures hand held at high frame rate to combine as layers in Photoshop to create the flowing water effect.

 

 Downstream of Inglis II

 DJE

Photo of the Week 2021-01-25

 

Following last weeks post I continued with the review and editing of my images from the outing with my son Jordan where we explored above and below Jones Falls just outside of Owen Sound ON. There were a few sets of captures made as I detailed last week, high frame rate, same composition, for combination in post-processing.

 

That meant there were many similar frames, which I tend to rush through without giving much consideration while performing my initial review. Later, trying to clean up those images in the library, I began stacking images from the individual bursts and what do you know, I found a composition that I liked at least as much as the one I posted last week. Not only that, but when I was processing it, I decided that I didn't like the vignette I had used on the previous image and went with my standard small white border ... which I then applied to a version of the previous image as well.

 

Here they are ...

Jones From Below II

 

 

 

Jones From Below rev 1.1

DJE

 

Photo of the Week 2021-01-18

 

Having someone along who enjoys exploring as much as I do helped me get this week's shot. My son Jordan loves exploring outdoors and wanted to see some waterfalls on our recent trek to the cottage, so we made a stop at Jones Falls.

 

Jones From Below

Jordan was rather eager to try and get below the falls. I knew from previous visits that there was a way to descend into the gorge and signs led to a point that looked a bit sketchy covered with ice and snow. Exploring a bit further, we found a much easier option and without ice cleats and winter hikers, were able to get down to river level.

 

Getting an image from this vantage point had been on my list for some time. Although conditions weren't perfect for photography, I'll take what I got  and consider it a decent first attempt.

 

Notes: I did not bring a tripod with me on what was expected to be just a quick, short trek. As I do with HDR captures in cases like this, using the highest frame rate of the camera, 4fps for the EOS M3, I made a number of hand held exposures then imported some as layers in Photoshop, auto aligned the layers, stacked them as a smart object and set the blend mode to mean for a flowing water effect. The result was processed as I normally would with plugins (i.e.Topaz, Anthropics, or ON1)

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2020-02-10

Finding a waterfall group on Facebook recently has encouraged me to look back on the images I've made over the years ... and in doing that, I'm now thinking that I need to get back to some of these locations and recapture some of that magic.

Seeing images from past work travels to Northern Ontario, and closer to home from outings to locations along the Niagara Escarpment, brought back memories of discovering these locations for the first time. At one point I had thought to seek out many of the falls in Ontario, certainly those closer to home, to experience and photograph them. Along the way, other photographic subject matter grabbed my attention and it's been some time since I've photographed a new (to me) falls. Maybe this year will be a year to pick up the idea again ... and to go back to revisit some of my favourites.

Back in 2008, I had processed a different version of this image, from a slightly different point of view. Fast forward 10+ years and I think I prefer the composition of this capture and decided to process it for release. I hope you like it too.

falls & mill ruins

In digging through the image library, I've discovered additional images that now deserve consideration for processing and, those that require reconsideration, hopefully to improve processing that was applied those years ago.

I expect I'll be posting some of those on my Facebook photography page in future, so stay tuned.

DJE

Dawn of a second Decade ...

Committed to continue and looking for the way forward on this journey, a return to the past seemed a good start ...

de' light at dawn

On a morning walk along the Eramosa River, west from Rockwood to the mill ruins and Rockwood Falls, the arrival of light filtering through a thin morning mist provided a wonderful tranquil atmosphere. 

My presence startled not one but two Great Blue Herons into flight at separate locations along the way, prompting me to take note for a return in stealth, prepared with gear that might allow me to get a decent GBH image or two.

Continuing along the trail, memories of past visits played through my mind as familiar scenes and presented themselves. Blissfully lost in the moment, I turned around to see this ... simply delightful scene.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2017-11-06

A brief preview of retirement ...

downstream

... on the way up north, I took my time and made several stops to take out a camera and make images of the sights and scenes along the way. It really was so very relaxing to get out of 'hurry mode' and enjoy the trip at a leisurely pace.

One of the primary activities I have planned for retirement (in the near future), . My cameras should get a serious workout, even more than they have in recent years. There are many destinations on my list. Some within a short drive, others may require an over night stop or multi-day adventure .... it will matter not. There will be no shortage of time and the desire to visit the many picturesque locations on my list.

On this 'practice run', one of my stops was at Inglis Falls. I hadn't visited in quite a while and always enjoy the many moods of Inglis. The wind was up and whipping the mist around and up out of the gorge. Without gloves it made for a chilly outing in the mist laden cool fall air. Close to the falls and a bit down stream, the camera lens would get coated with moisture requiring me to wipe it down.

As I moved back upstream to the brink of the falls I turned to shield the lens and looked downstream to see this view. The stone wall near the edge of the gorge provided the extra elevation I needed to eliminate some distracting foreground shrubs so I hopped up (with still a safe space between me and the gorge)


DJE

Photo of the Week 2015-01-12

Five years ago this past weekend, I met up with a small group of photographers and went on a hike to the base of Tews Falls in Dundas, ON. I had known it was possible to hike up the gorge from the point where it meets Hwy 8 in Dundas, but had the opportunity to have someone familiar with the route show me the way.

When we approached the base of the falls, there were intricate ice formations not only from the main falls, but from water seeping out of the rock for a wide area around the head of the gorge. Here I made one of my favourite abstract images.

Ice Formations

 It is difficult to get a sense of scale from the abstract image.

Here is an ultra wide angle view of the falls from near the base. At 41m, it is only slightly less than the height of Niagara Falls.

It was a memorable view, one that I want to experience again, perhaps later this year. But I need to decide if I want to see it frozen again, or in fall with the splendid colours in the gorge.

 DJE

Photo of the Week 2012-06-04

A recent business trip to Northern Ontario provided some opportunity to explore the area from Sault Saint Marie to Manitouwadge. I had never driven the section of the Trans-Canada Highway from SSM to Hemlo and expected some great scenery. Although I`m certain it`s more dramatic in fall with the trees showing brilliant colours, the spring landscape still did not disappoint.
I lost cell coverage (on Bell) just 10 minutes north of ``the Soo`` and did not regain it until my last day when I drove back into SSM for my return flight. That left hours of driving completely free of the phone ringing or the Blackberry announcing arrival of a new email to take in the scenery.
With stops for business in SSM, Thessalon, Wawa, Manitouwadge, Hemlo and Marathon there were many sights along the way. I was travelling light as far a camera gear was concerned. I had just my 7D DSLR body with 24-105 zoom and my G12 as backup. This was more than enough to get some nice images and so far, my favourite location was Silver Falls just outside Wawa in the community of Michipicoten.

Cold Dawn at Silver Falls

The weather at home had been hot and humid, hovering around 30*C while I was away. Temperature up north had dropped to single digits after my first morning in SSM. On the last day I left the motel to find frost on the car, cold morning air and foggy patches moving lazily across the landscape. Immediately I thought of heading back to a scenic lookout over Lake Superior that I had visited the previous evening. On the way, again I passed by Silver Falls. The combination of warm water and cold air transformed the scene into something special. I stopped and enjoyed some time in the fresh air making different compositions of the scene capturing sunlight as it began to arrive.

DJE