Photography

A Tight Composition

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BirchMaple

Last Fall I spent a couple of evenings looking for compositions of Birch Trees and Red Maple leaves. In previous posts you will come across the Birch and Maple theme. The Birch Trees have marvellous texture on their trunks. So this time I decided to find something that I could do up close. Strolling through a grove of Birch Trees I came across the above composition. I set up the Canon EOS 7D on the tripod for a vertical shot. There was a blackish piece on the white trunk where maybe at one time there had been a branch. It formed a V shape. Using this as a focal point and the red Maple leaves surrounding it, a composition was created.

Well that is it for this week so until next time happy trails.

Photography

One Enchanting Evening

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VermillionRiver3944

A beautiful enchanting even. The air is warm. Not a breath of wind is stirring. The moon has risen. The river is at peace. There is Fall colors in abundance. This is the scene that I came upon one evening last Fall on the Vermillion River. It is a wonderful experience to be part of nature when Mother Earth shows this side of her to you. To sit by the shoreline and absorb all this around you.

Well the holidays are over, it will soon be time to plan this year’s trips. I myself am looking forward to Spring. Thank you for stopping by and until next time happy trails.

Photography

Golden Light

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Westbranch802712

Happy New Year everyone. The above photo is a story of light. Take away that light and you just have an ordinary photo. The first thing that the lighting does is make the little pine tree stand out from the background. I purposely kept this shot tight so as not to have the lighting become too overpowering. There is just a touch of mist. The small piece of rock helps to add depth along with some darker evergreens. The background is as if a painter took a brush and painted the evergreens a golden yellow. All of this is reflected in the water in the foreground.

How does this happen? Mid November, the sun is low on the horizon. This means that it is late in the day before this side of the lake sees any sunlight. On the left side of the photo is a fairly steep hill covered in Pine trees. right down to the waters edge. The morning sunlight filters through the trees to highlight the little pine tree and create the above composition.

Well that is it for this week. So until next week happy trails.

Photography

The Nature of Light

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Killarney0059Print

This photo was taken on a small creek that runs out of Johnny  Lake in Killarney Provincial Park. My partner, Paul Smith and I were exploring along the creek. As we made our way through wooded growth to the shoreline , I suddenly noticed the strong glow of lighting on the grasses and trees. Now there was cloud cover moving overhead rather quickly. This meant the sunlight came and went. It was late afternoon so the angle of light was right. Moving quickly I set up my tripod and Canon 7D at the creeks edge. Due to the large amount of green and yellow I kept the reflections to a minimum. The dead wood broke up the mass of green on the right. There is shadow in the background and the creek takes a bend. It was a matter of waiting for the sun to pop out from behind the moving clouds. This photo shows you what the right lighting can do to your composition. Normally this would be just an ordinary shot.

Well that is it for this week. I thank you all who came for a visit. I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone and there families a Merry Christmas, especially the little ones. The campfire is beckoning and the tea is ready. So until next time happy trails

Photography

A Touch of Color

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OSALake4359

Winter is here in my part of the country. It is nice to sit back and go through my photos taken during this year’s trips. I selected the above photo from a trip into O S A Lake, Killarney Provincial Park. Paul Smith and I were sitting around the campsite one afternoon. It was a cloudy wet day if I recall. The wind was blowing a bit. We were talking about the Maple tree mixed in with the White Pine trees at our campsite. I decided then that I would attempt a composition of the colored leaves. There was one branch of orange, red leaves that crossed in front of a Pine trunk. I showed enough rock to break up the contrast. The rock had enough scattered reddish pine needles on its surface to add more color. There is some green color from the White Pine branches to create a more compact photo. Then there is the texture of the tree trunks that adds detail.

After setting up and getting the composition that I liked, it was a matter of waiting for the right moment for the wind to calm down. Well that is it for now. So until next time happy trails

Photography

A Unique Waterfalls

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McGeeFalls0045

Unique rock structure; Color and the sound of water rushing and splashing over the rocks add up to an impressive scene. McGee Falls on the Aux Sauble River North of Massey is such a place. There is not a lot to photograph here. But what there is  will delight any artist. When I was here it was a cloudy day with the hint of rain. This created even lighting and saturated colors. With the lighting good and the colors beautiful, it is time to set up.

I set my equipment up at an angle to the falls. This falls consists of a series of drops from elevation. The water flows into the scene from two different locations due to the rock cropping between the flow of water. There is so much depth here to add to the depth of the composition. There is a small plateau in the middle that the water flows over and around. The best part is the neat piece of rock sitting right on top of the plateau. It reminds me of some type of shell. Boy does this rock ever have character. The first thing you will notice about the rock formations in this composition is the many edges, shadows and color. I wanted to have rock in the foreground so I placed the river edge in front of me for that depth. This photo is about the rocks. I kept the water to a minimum, but it is still a integer part of the photo. I have water coming in on the left and exiting out on the right.

I exposed at 1.3 sec f22 with an iso of 100. At this shutter speed I was able to maintain the soft look of where it was needed, but allowed for definition of the water where required. Specifically the water that flowed off the plateau and the little falls on the left. There is just a spot of vegetation in the background to tell you that the river is in a forested area. There is enough water to tell you that over countless ages the flow of water has transformed the granite rocks to what can be seen today.

Well that is it for today. Until next time happy trails.

Photography

Bog Island

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BogIsland

I discovered this little bog island at the far end of a small shallow lake a few years ago. It is located  up the Westbranch behind Webbwood Ontario. I fell in love with the potential of a composition that could be had here. This little island had character. From the shape of the vegetation; some deadheads and a clump of small evergreens. The main problem here was to be able to separate the island from the background. The lake is nestled amongst  Spruce trees so everything would blend in. You would then get a bland photo.

With that in mind I needed good lighting. Luckily, were I was able to set up my tripod and Canon EOS 7d the shoreline sloped upwards. This allowed me to get some separation from the far shoreline. This shot worked best in November. The sun is low to the horizon. The vegetation on the island turns a orange, red color. That helps relieve a lot of green. Now the trick is to get the right lighting. You have to have that island stand out from the background. That is very important. I made many trips to this location until I got it right. Early morning did not create the required lighting.

Finally it all came together. It was a beautiful sunny November afternoon. It was 3:30 Pm. The sunlight lit the island up like a torch. The light was coming from the left which was good. I was now getting sun flares in my lens. I used my hat to block the sun flares and shot the above photo. What also helps this composition is the lighting in the background. You can see individual branches being lit up. This is what turns an ordinary photo into a dramatic composition. Lighting.

The above photo was accepted at the 119th Toronto International Salon of Photography.

Well I will close for now. So until next time happy trails.

Photography

Mystical

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Magical

I first noticed this composition on our last trip last Fall into O S A Lake, Killarney Provincial Park. It was located behind our campsite on a trail that led into the interior of the island. You had to duck under the evergreen branches to get through. So with that in mind I kept a close watch on the scene. One morning there was some beautiful backlighting on the scene. Between the foreground and background is open water. There is some mist over the water.

My goal here was too create a mystical affect. Like if you step through a door into another world which is the far shoreline in the background. The foreground is the entrance and ducking your head under the sunlit evergreen branches takes you into a magical land. The reddish pine needles add a lot of color and contrast. There was a small green fern tipped with yellow on the right that I included to offset the red in the foreground. I framed the photo with highlighted evergreen branches. I kept the far shoreline slightly darker to add to the effect. The background has enough misty effect just so that you can see the colors on the trees.

I have been having technical difficulties with the size of my photos in my blogs lately. They will not appear as large as they normally do. I have been in contact with the wordpress folks and the issue is still not resolved. Oh well there is always something new to learn.

I have redone my Fine Art Prints page. There is more info there and I have added a Paypal button. Unfortunately it says donate. Due to some weird ideas at wordpress I can not use a normal Paypal button. Please hang in there until the issues are resolved. Well that is it for this week.Until next time happy trails.

Photography, Poetry

Nature’s Spirituality

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Johnscreek

You have had a bad day

Your body is tensed

Nothing has gone right

It is time to relax

Off you go along the woodland trail

Following a meandering stream

Till you come upon a pool.

Scrambling carefully across the rocks

Made slippery by splashing water

You edge down by the pool

Unlacing your hiking boots

Slowly easing your feet

Into the cool pool water

The stream is cascading

Over water smoothed rocks

To drop into the pool

Close your eyes momentarily

Listen to the sound

Of the ever flowing stream

Splashing and bubbling

Every fibre in your body

Slowly loosens to the rhythm

Of the small stream movements

You are now part of the spirituality

That a person feels

When you let go

To the senses of Nature

That completely surrounds you.

This is one of my favourite photos. The color, texture and form of the rocks are captivating. The yellow and orange lichen. The yellow leaves can only add to the appeal of this scene. The scene was captured on John’s Creek at the ladder. This small falls drops down in elevation in a series of drops like rungs on a ladder. The hills close in fairly tight. While that is it for now. So until next time, happy trails.

Photography

Earth Tone Colors

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The point of land you see above, juts out into the Vermillion River with a bay in behind. What attracted me to this particular scene was the earthly colors of the grass growing along the shoreline. With tones of brown, yellow and green creating a wonderful softness. By using that shoreline for my lead in and keeping the water to a minimum, I made a tight composition. There was a lovely yellow leaf covered tree here that I just had to incorporate into this scene. It really adds to the composition. The sky has a unique band of clouds. The morning mist adds to the mood. There is Fall color on the far shoreline with just a hint of reflection

Well that is it for now. Thank-you for stopping