Bob and I drove to Marysville, BC to photograph a small waterfalls. It is located on Mark Creek. It is just a short walk on a boardwalk path. Marysville Falls is a 30 meter waterfalls.
We did not spend much time here. The rain came, so I quickly captured the above scene.
Late evening at High Falls, Levack. A location that Group of Severn member A Y Jackson chose to paint many years ago.
Tuesday morning came as a wet cloudy affair. I spent the morning getting caught up with my work. Just before lunch I looked out the window to notice that it had stopped raining. There was a mist to be seen and the wind was almost non existing. With a quick lunch, I loaded up my gear and headed up to Paradise Lagoon. As I traveled the Matagamasi Road I stopped here and there to capture various scenes that attracted me. The humidity was high. It was a bright cloudy day. Everything was wet and there was a mist in the air. This made for some intense colors. The forest vegetation is changing color now.
As I was photographing by a lake, a truck came around the bend in the road. They stopped and I was asked if I knew the way to Wolf Mountain. Giving them directions I told them I was going to Paradise Lagoon. If they liked I would take them there. I loaded up my gear and off we went. We soon arrived at the side road and parked. Loading up my gear I lead the way up the bush road to the trail that takes you to Paradise Lagoon. Being so humid we were all soaked from sweat and the water coming off the trees. After our arrival and quick look around we parted company.
The above shot was a location that I wanted to capture previously. Due to high water I was not able to. I removed my running shoes and socks, but then after observing the rocks in the water I decided to put my running shoes back on. There was some pretty sharp looking rocks under the water. Using my tripod as a walking stick I cautiously waded the stream till I was in position. I now was knee deep in water. The intensity of the rock colors was vibrant There is enough greenery to offset that with the water being on the dark side due to the cloudy skies. The water felt good running around my legs and was not cold.
No matter how many times you return to a location there is always something new to find. The lighting is different. The water levels change and the various seasons have an effect.
Well that is it for this week. I am busy getting ready for the Anderson Fall Fair this Saturday. The Anderson Farm Museum is located in Lively Ontario. I will be set at the stable with my work from 10 to 4. So if you are in the area stop by for a fun time. My running shoes are still drying out from the episode in the river, but I got the photo that I wanted.
So until next time happy trails
The idea of this composition is to show the beautiful rock texture and the color of the water. With that in mind I have my flow in with the waterfalls in background. Flow out of the water at the bottom right corner of the composition. The tripod was set low to eliminate some water in the upper pool. On the left of the composition the rock in foreground gives added depth. I experimented with various shutter speeds to obtain character in the water. The water here is a wonderful turquoise blue. There is just enough green to give a final touch. There is also a little wildflower growing on the rock in the foreground. This location was in the Wolf Lake area North of Kukagami Lake region.
That is it for now. Thank you for stopping by. Until next time happy trails
The above location was captured on my first trip up the Matagamasi Road. This is the second waterfalls in this stretch of water between two lakes. Silvester Lake and Matagamasi Lake. The water is flowing quite high at the moment. Later in the summer there will be more rock exposures. The rock structures here are quite colorful in the low light.
The above composition is a result of taking two overlapping shots vertically. I placed some rocks on the left for my lead in. The forest vegetation in upper part of photo creates a partial frame for the waterfalls. There is a lovely green tinge on the water surface.
Well that is it for now. Until next time happy trails.
The past Saturday morning dawned cloudy with mist. I drove into Jan Winther’s driveway around 7:30. We loaded up our gear. First stop was Tim Horton’s to grab some coffee. Our goal was to travel up the Matagamasi Road to explore for photographic possibilities. We headed out of Sudbury travelling East on Hwy 17. In a short time we turned onto the Kukagami Road and headed North. It was not long before we reached the Matagamasi Road turnoff. The gravel road was in good condition.
As we traveled, Jan and I scouted out the various lakes we passed along the road. There were a number of locations that were worth while to come back to. As we drove further North the country became more and more hilly. It is very heavily forested here. There is also logging in progress up here. Being the week-end I had no worries about logging trucks. They do not operate on week-ends. We soon left the lakeside homes and were now traveling in wilderness areas. As we drove along a moose appeared in front of us. It ambled up the road and disappeared back into the bush.
Our goal for this trip was to locate a series of waterfalls further North. Paul Smith set me up for the location. We were now in the Wolf Mountain, Wolf Lake. This area contains the largest expanse of old growth Red Pine. This wilderness area is in pristine country. It has protected status. I will be journeying up to Wolf Lake in the near future. For now I will look for the waterfalls location. Using both map and GPS, Jan and I soon found our jump off point. As we loaded up our camera gear it started to rain. Hiking up an old logging road, the rain continuing to fall, we were soon drenched. Walking down the road, a marshy area came into view. This part of the road was totally flooded. Checking my GPS we discovered that we were now off course. Backtracking on the road, we soon discovered a trail heading in the direction we wanted to go. It was soon discovered that this was a well used trail. As we approached the waterway the sound of running water came to our ears.
Upon arrival we were enthralled by the beauty of this series of small waterfalls nestled among the rocks. The water was crystal clear. The rocks were colorful. The water flow was quite fast now. By now we were water logged from the rain. As a matter of fact it was now coming down harder. We elected to head back to the vehicle and have lunch. I tell you the mosquito population is quite heavy up here. Just before we arrived back at the Ford Escape the Heavens opened more and the rain was now deluging everything. There was water running everywhere and puddles were there was none before. About an hour and a half later the rain stopped. I headed back to the waterfalls and Jan elected to stay in the vehicle.
This is a very magical location. The photo above is of the upper pool. There is just a hint of a waterfalls cascading down through the rocks into a crystal clear pool of water. I used rocks for the foreground to enclose the pool. The boughs of the cedars are very lacy looking here. A hint of color by the red fallen pine needles on the rocks. Using this effect I hope to create that magical effect in a very special locale. You could close your eyes and hear elves and children of the woods splashing in the pool. These are locations were you can tune out the world. You hear the sound of water tumbling along. The quiet whisper of the wind in the cedars. There is no better place to be.
While that is it for now. Thank you for stopping by. I hope that I have created a magical moment for you. Until next time happy trails.
After discovering the stream mentioned in the previous post, Jan Winther and I returned late in the afternoon to photograph the series of small waterfalls that are here. When we arrived the sunlight was blowing the highlights on the water. It was a couple hours before we could commence shooting. The above waterfalls was the first location as the stream dropped in elevation making its way to the North River. At the base of the waterfalls it was a mess of downed trees and other junk. I set up to the left of the waterfalls to exclude the mess. Also I like to photograph these type of scenes at a bit of an angle. This gives the water depth and dimension. If you photograph a waterfalls dead on it becomes flat looking. You must create the illusion of depth in your work. I will also do creative sharpening on the foreground to enhance this effect.
Now I had protruding rock on the left along with a good chunk of rock in the foreground. I created a composition of one third of forest and two thirds water falls looking at it vertically. You have to know were the water came from, which you can see through the cedar trees and you have an exit point at lower right in the composition. There is a lot of structure detail in the rocks. The cedar boughs have a color range from light to dark green. Almost looks like light from the sun painting some of the boughs. This helps also to create a very nice composition.
As we progressed into evening a few black flies started to appear. Welcome to Northern Ontario. They mainly hovered around us but did not seem to have any interest in biting us. Well that is it for this week. Thank you for coming by. Until next time happy trails
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.
Waterfalls have always interest me as a subject matter.In my part of the country I am blessed with a fair amount of these waterfalls due to the rocky terrain in Northern Ontario. The trick is to photograph these locations when the right amount of water is flowing over.By utilizing the rock structures and the path of the water flow you can come up with some interesting compositions.The above photo I was able to create a S curve with the water by getting in the right set up to compose the shot.The rock structure was high in detail and the sun was filtering through the trees at the top left.The time is late evening.
In most cases I do a fair amount of climbing up and down rock and boulders to get the best shot.I will not do it on a wet days.The rocks can be quite slippery.
The photo above is the same as the black and white but in color.Looking at this one you with easily pick up the lighting effects at various locations.This is what helps make that extra detail in a composition.
That is it for this week.I had problems with my internet this past week, so was not able to check out all the postings of my fellow bloggers.Thank you very much for your comments.Much appreciated.So until next week happy trails.
Ken Bennison's Photography 