Tag Archives: Fine Art

Photography

Rugged River

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MordeauFalls0594

The Aux Sauble River has many rugged areas in its journey South. One such location is pictured here. This was taken in late summer and the water levels are very low. On the far shore is a cliff of granite rock. What is unique is the patterns that can be seen on the rock face. As I was setting up my tripod and Canon 7D, a beam of light lit up some trees in the background. Now this really adds character to the composition. It is early evening and the sun is low to the horizon. This allows for the beam of light to filter through the trees at a low angle to produce the lighting that you see here.

That is it for now. Thank you  for stopping by. Until next time happy trails.

Photography

Beam of Light

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Mile31051

Strolling along the riverbank of the Aux Sauble River, North of Massey Ontario. It was late afternoon. I saw this beam of light highlighting a clump of grass on the far shoreline. Keeping the composition tight and keeping the rocks on the left for structure. Looking behind that clump of grass there was vegetation being highlighted by the beam of light. I will also tell you that there are high hills on either side of the river. That is why you will get these beams of light in late afternoon. By evening this area will be in shadow.

The water is slowly moving here. A nice yellow reflection is cast on the river. I quickly set up my tripod and Canon 7D. In situations like this you must be quick. You do not know how long you have to get the composition. It could be a minute or ten minutes. So speed is of ultimate importance. I do not have to think how I will compose a shot. I do it automatically. Another factor when photographing along rivers like this is that the wind is not as much of a problem as opposed to being on a lake with a wide expanse of water.

Well that is it for now. Thanks for the comments and dropping by. Spring is just around the corner. Until next time happy trails.

Photography

Simple Effect

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untitled3a

I shot this composition for its peacefulness and quiet dignity. The stream took a bend here and there was some reflections. A cloudy sky with even lighting. I kept it tight so that the emphasis was on the stream.  You have the  around the bend effect. The water is blue from the sky even though it is cloudy. An overall lovely scene to look at. It was kept quite simple.

Well it has been quite a busy week for me. I have spent a great deal of time promoting my new book  A Wilderness Experience Through Photos And Poetry. I thank those folks who have purchased the book. You can view it here.

http://www.blurb.ca/b/4071212-a-wilderness-experience-through-photos-and-poetry

I would also like to thank those who stopped by for a visit. Until next week happy trails

Photography

The Oppurtunity

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Creek41b

I was on the road for most of the day yesterday doing business. On my way home at about 2:30 that afternoon I crossed a bridge over a creek. Glancing up the creek I took note of the patterns I saw along the water’s edge. I decided to head home and get my camera. I live only a couple minutes away. Once at home I enjoyed a cup of coffee first before grabbing my camera bag and heading out the door.

Yesterday was a cloudy day with lovely lighting. On the left side of the creek the shoreline had an interesting spot that really caught my eye. There was grass exposed under the snow. The snow texture was great with some neat patterns to it. On top of that the water was calm, allowing for great reflection to add to the pattern. Shot by itself was not going to create a good composition. I set up my tripod and camera and shot the above scene as a vertical. I used the right shoreline as a lead-in and placed my main point of interest in the top right hand of the photo. Of interest was the outline of a face made by ice on the water. As I processed the photo a touch of magenta showed on the snow that I had to tone down. The city of Sudbury has a far number of lakes and streams within its boundaries. Sudbury is also noted for its Nature trails that can offer photographic opportunities.

Be sure to check out my book A Wilderness Experience Through Photos And Poetry over at Blurb

http://www.blurb.ca/b/4071212-a-wilderness-experience-through-photos-and-poetry

Well that is it for now. Thank you for stopping by. Until next time happy trails.

Photography

In Search of Black and White

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OSALakeBW4339

OSALakeRidge4339

On my last trip into O S A Lake in Killarney Provincial Park, I was constantly on the look out for subjects that would make a Black and white composition. Waking up one morning the La Cloche Mountains were covered in mist. There was one ridge of white quartz rock that I had an eye on. There were stark black evergreens growing on this ridge. The season was Fall. The trees in the foreground were in their full Fall color. The mist was constantly moving. It was a matter of waiting for the ridge to open in the mist before shooting a composition. I wanted to have the mist behind the ridge for better effect. Thus the stark evergreens appeared as ghostly images in the background.

I am a big fan of Ansel Adams work. Thus when the opportunity to capture a good black and white image comes along I start photographing. I have uploaded both the black and white photo and the original color photo so that you can compare. That is it for now. Thank you for stopping by. 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

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

A Reflective View

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This past Saturday, myself and fellow photographer Jan Winters journeyed up the Westbranch,North of Webbwood. Our aim was to have a fun day as we travelled forestry roads looking for photographic opportunities, It started out cold,a chilly -5 C.The trees were frost covered.

On our way back down the Westbranch I had promised Jan we would stop at Gordon Chutes for him to photograph.Jan has a love for waterfalls,so this was a good chance for him to get some shooting in.It was now late evening and there was not much daylight available.I have photographed here many times.Whether for a day or just a quick stop in.The water level of the river was low.

As I was crossing the smooth rocks that are normally covered with flowing water I looked up at the rock face on the far side of the river.There was a beautiful glow from the setting sun.With not much time to spare,I did a quick set up to capture the scene before me.But as I looked ahead of me I noticed this beautiful reflection in a pool ahead of me.Wow this is really getting interesting.So now I re-aligned the camera and tripod to capture the reflection and the rock face.I also noticed that there was pink edged clouds moving in.I checked to see which direction the clouds were moving and waited.The clouds were coming towards me.Then it all came together.The result was the photo you see above.

It never seems to matter how many times you photographed a location,there is always a possibility for a shot. I have always liked that rock face but could could never do anything with it. Well low and behold it happened.The warm glow on the rocks did not last long.It was now getting darker and time to head home.It had been another lovely day in the backwoods.Jan enjoyed the experience.Jan has a great blog,so check it out here.

http://imagesbyjw.com/

Well that is it for now.Thank you for visiting.Until next time happy trails

Photography

Awash in Colour

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On my last trip into O S A Lake,Killarney Provincial Park the weather was cool,wet and windy.The above locations is one of my favourites for the structure of the La Cloche Mountains.This particular rock face had a necklace of Fall colours adorning it. It had stopped raining late that afternoon leaving the landscape wet and saturated.The cloud cover was heavy and grey.The sun had not come out yet.

I used the two points as my lead in, showing just a touch of reflections in the foreground.This should make my good friend Bill Whittaker smile in regards to water and reflections.This is an ongoing topic we have.Past the two points is more water.There is a pink tinge on the rocks that gives a unique feel to the composition. Two days later there was large areas bare of colour due to the weather.

I received an email that my artwork titled “Daybreak”  has been selected as an Honorable Mention of the 2012 Landscape Art Contest, an international juried art competition. Mywork will have a full page feature in Artist Portfolio Magazine Issue 10.

Bill Whittaker has a website you may like to check out.

http://billwhittaker.scarf.ca/

Well that is it for this week folks.Thanks for visiting and till next time happy trails.

Photography

Tamarack

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This is the time of year that the Tamarack are in their full Fall color before shedding.Tamarack are a species of Larch that is native to Canada.The name Tamarack is the Algonquian name for the species and means “wood used for snowshoes“.The leaves are needle like and turn bright yellow before falling in the Autumn.The Tamarack are commonly found in swamps, bogs, and other low-land areas.

Gerard Leduc arrived shortly after 7:00 A.M. and we were soon on our way to the Westbranch North of Webbwood in Northern Ontario. A quick stop for gas at the Espanola turn-off and a couple of Tim Horton‘s coffee to start the day,we were soon traveling up the Westbranch searching for Tamarack to photograph.There are lots of Tamarack to photograph but find a composition to work.

We stopped at Gordon Chutes at the 20 km mark and Gerard took a few shots of the waterfalls.The falls is part of the Wakanashing River.We continued North photographing as we went.At the 70 km area there are a few lakes to photograph by the road.The moose hunters were out in full force.That meant we had to wear orange jackets for protection.

Since the last rains the water levels of the various creeks had risen,but still not a normal levels.As we drove along we spotted a male Spruce Grouse doing his display.I pulled over so that we could observe this very pretty bird in all his glory.There must be a female nearby.A large creek was now running along the West side of the road.I spotted the Tamarack on the far creek bank. Pulling over Gerard and I set up the tripods and cameras to start photographing.It was a cloudy morning with the sun coming out now and then.I opted to do a close up shot of the bottom of the Tamarack and the resulting reflection to create my composition.There was a nice pattern to be had here.It was just a matter of waiting for the sun to pop out and light up the leaves,turning them a golden yellow.The sun would go back behind the moving clouds and one would wait once again for it to come out again.The thing is you do not want to much sunlight or you will blow out the highlights.

Well that is it for this time.Thank you for visiting and until next time happy trails