Photo of the Week 2025-06-16

 

A few days of the cottage at just the right time allowed me to capture some of the many spring wildflowers currently in bloom. I had planned to present a selection of those photos but there are quite a few and I chose to showcase just two for this post. Others will follow on my social media streams, but for now ... 

 

' lone slipper '

' slipper triplet '

 

I shot these (on morning walks with Lynn and Sullivan) handheld with the RF 85mm f/2 Macro on an R5 at fairly wide aperture for background blur and was very pleased with the results ... some of my favourite images of the Yellow Lady's Slipper so abundant in June on the Bruce.

 

DJE 

Photo of the Week 2023-07-10

 

Heading out for Murphy's morning walk, I had noticed the lingering fog and grabbed a camera ...

 

' misty morning pea '

... and I should have also followed my own advice to check / reset camera settings  when done with the previous shoot.

 

As it turned out, I was able to save this image (shot accidentally at ISO 25600) in post with Topaz DeNoise AI software. Given that there was plenty of light and a very well exposed (perhaps too well) image, the noise wasn't as bad as one might expect, but it wasn't good.

 

My morning walk about camera is usually one of my EOS M-Series bodies (M3,M5). The APS-C sensor technology in these cameras is 7-8 years old and not on par with the latest offerings. But it did produce an nice rendition of the ethereal scene that greeted us at the end of the driveway when we turned to walk down the road.

Morning mist was lingering between the trees on either side. Sun was rising and burning through the fog, quickly as a matter of fact. So quick that when I checked the exposure in camera, reset the ISO to 'Auto" and went back to re-shoot the image, mist had disappeared further don the road and the moment was gone. But I still had this ;-)

Note to self: follow your own advice :-O

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2023-06-26

 

' paintbrush season '

Summer officially arrived a few days ago but I still have a few images of spring wildflowers to share.

 

This "Indian Paintbrush" was isolated, using shallow depth of focus, from a rather large patch of them along the road near our cottage. It seemed an exceptional season for this bright scarlet flower, at least in areas close to our cottage. A large number of plants showed up in places I had not seen many previously and larger "patched" in areas where I had.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2023-06-12

 

I've been waiting for wildflower season on 'the Bruce' and it's here. In the couple of weeks since my last visit, Yellow Lady's Slipper, Indian Paintbrush, Blue-Eyed Grass and Gay Wings have come into bloom and I'm on the lookout for any opportunity to make unique compositions.

Though I haven't found anything particularly different, I have found the Lady's Slippers somewhat more sparse and Indian Paintbrush more plentiful. At least that's the case in the locations I visit annually this time of year. I also noticed an abundance of Blue-Eyed Grass in a couple of surprise locations, one right out front just off the shoreline. These little beauties close up for the night and in overcast conditions, making them hard to see so I'll have to wait for the sun to come out again for a photo opportunity. In the meantime, there are Lady's Slippers ...

' a bunch of beauties '

DJE

Photo of the Week 2023-05-29

Spring wildflower season is off to a crazy start on the Bruce Peninsula. The orchid bloom is still a while away but the Trillium are in bloom, and Wild Strawberry flowers are plentiful along roadsides. Another roadside wildflower making a grand presence during my walks along the cottage road network was Wild Columbine, Aquilegia canadensis.

 

The lovely red and yellow blooms were a surprise treat this weekend. The are common, and I regularly encounter them in small clusters but this year must they dominated the side of the road along a stretch near our place. Even so, my favourite image is of a single bloom against a shadowed forest background.

 

' Wild Columbine '

I told you they dominated the roadside

 

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2021-07-19

 

It might be a bit surprising how new gear with new features can inject new energy into the photographic journey ...

Oh I love new gear just because it is new gear, but my recent return to using macro lenses and wide apertures with shallow depth of focus has been aided by the availability of an articulating LCD screen on the back of my new camera. Previously, I had been required to perform some interesting contortions in order to be able to see through the camera viewfinder or view the rear LCD to accomplish the precise focus I wanted. This resulted in some laughable scenarios where my forehead could be planted in the cedar duff covering the forest floor as I worked to get an upward angle on a wildflower, or where strange grunting and groaning noises could be heard in the vicinity of a low slung tripod set close to the ground for that bug's eye view.

Things are much easier now. Oh, I still need to get down on my knees for a lot of the wildflower images, but other than a bit of additional hunching over to shade the articulated LCD and zoom in for that perfect focus, it's a new day, a new way for my nature macro photography and here is another example of the results ...

colourful viper

Until you stop and take a close look, Viper's Bugloss appears to be just another roadside weed. Actually, it produces very intricate, colourful and interesting flowers that bud pink amongst a hairy green tuft before turning purple and stretching their pink stamens far out where the bees and other insects do their pollination routine.

 

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2021-06-07

Blue-Eyed Grass

On my late spring walks at the cottage, I'm on the lookout for Blue-Eyed Grass along the margins of the roadway. I first encountered this lovely little perennial wildflower in the years we were driving up to 'the Bruce' while considering if we might buy a cottage there. Now, I'm treated to clusters of these little purple-blue flowers along the road just a few hundred meters from our driveway.

 

Blue-Eyed Grass in Sun

 

This year in the first week of June, I was pleased to see quite a number of the little flower buds early one morning. These flowers only open for a short period each day, closing up again in the evening once the sun begins to set. This makes them somewhat elusive to spot, as without the flowers, they look just like the other grasses in the dirt and gravel bordering the road.

 

Blue-Eyed Patch

 

Blue-Eyed Roadside

 

I'm managed to find several more patches to visit and photograph in the coming years ...

 

DJE

Photo of the Week 2020-06-15

There are a number of forest scenes along the roadside that always catch my eye while on my morning walk. The light is always changing with time of day, time of year. I'm fascinated by the way it penetrates canopy to highlight areas below. Add to that the emergence of wildflowers in spring and it can be pure magic.

Slipper Patch

This particular area had a large number of Yellow Lady's Slippers out in full bloom. I happened to pass by at just the right time when morning light was spilling through an opening in the forest to wash over some of the patch.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2019-05-20

afternoon trillium patch

Every spring the trillium of Victoria Woods bloom in a magnificent patch extending on either side of the trail. There are Red Trillium sprinkled amongst the mostly white Provincial flower of Ontario.

This is a favoured location to enjoy and celebrate the true arrival of spring.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2017-06-05

Driving north for the weekend, I was eager to see if the orchids had begun to bloom since our last visit. Only a week ago there was hardly a suggestion of their presence. Even those leaves that had begun to push up, reaching for sunlight, precious few. With "everything 2 weeks behind", as Lynn frequently comments, I wondered if this year's Orchid Festival (June 2-4) on the Bruce would be a bust. Encouraging signs started to appear along Hwy 6 when we had passed Dyer's Bay Rd. Here and there, tiny splashed of yellow were visible along the road allowance. There was hope ...

Though seemingly not as numerous as in past years, at least yet, those familiar splashes of yellow became more frequent the further we drove. On a morning walk after overnight rain had freshened the vegetation making greens appear more lush, I encountered a number of yellow beauties including this bunch posing at the base of a stump (painterly effect chosen to present something a little different).

Posing Beauties

DJE

Photo of the Week 2013-07-01

HAPPY CANADA DAY !

Almost every day on my way to or from work, I pass empty fields where industrial buildings will soon stand. Not so long ago these open areas were just bare earth shaped and sculpted by heavy equipment in preparation for construction. Over time they have become naturally populated with field grass and wildflowers. In the morning they are dew laden and glisten in the rising sun. In the evening, it is the setting sun that provides a warm back light on these same grasses and wildflowers.

Every time I pass by I promise to stop and make some images ... finally, this weekend I made good on that promise and made some time to wander around, capturing some of the details bathed in warm evening light.

DJE

Photo of the Week 2013-06-10

While there have been periods where I have struggled and thought I would never make another good image, so far I've been able to work through them. I'm usually able to find inspiration in a location or in a subject from a weekend outing to produce an image for this weekly blog post. If not, there is always my library of images to turn to. Writing for the blog on the other hand is different. I cannot say that the writing comes easy ... ever. Sometimes it's easier, but never really easy ... so this week, lacking something insightful to say, I have just a little on the background to the photograph I've chosen. 

Lynn and I had been planning another day trip to one of my favourite places in Ontario, the Bruce Peninsula. With a forecast that looked promising we left early in the morning and as it turned out, the closer we got to the Bruce, the better the weather became. After stopping briefly in Hope Bay and Barrow Bay on the east, we arrived at Lion's head and decided to stretch our legs. Walking down to the beach, I pointed out the harbour lighthouse and mentioned to Lynn that it was the subject of one of my photos in last year's calendar and suggested that we pick up something to eat at the local grocery for a picnic at the marina facilities where we could look out over Georgian Bay.

As we sat and enjoyed lunch under clear skies, we watched and I made a number of images of some sailboats just off the harbour entrance and along the escarpment bluff. For the one below, I zoomed in with the lens on my 7D to isolate just one boat keeping the clouds and horizon dominant in the frame, creating a feeling of isolation. I softened the skies and water in post processing to create a serene effect

still sailing

Later as we made our way along one of the country roads to the west side, I noticed some wildflowers at the roadside and stopped to make a few images. For these, I used processing to give them a slight painterly effect.

roadside painting

 

Blue-eyed Grass

Enjoy your week.

DJE