Photo of the Week # 216

My wife and I recently returned home from a trip to Shetland. Our second since Covid and all has been fine. This trip was a trip of a lifetime as they say. It was more for my wife but I ended up loving it. The landscape was more than I expected and the people were great as well. We did learn a thing or two on the actual traveling. If we were to go again, we could do it smoother as well as considerably cheaper. Experience is valuab;e, right?

This photo is from Eshaness, an especially dramatic and beautiful place we visited twice. I was literally blown away by the beauty here. The high cliffs, the constantly crashing waves coming in and out on the rocks far below. I wanted to capture the movement of the water so I used a 6 stop ND filter since it was quite sunny at the time. At the beginning, there was a bank of sea fog there, I embraced it and started shooting just the same. In the process of my shooting, the fog relented and gave way to sun.

The figure you hopefully can see on the top of the cliff is my wife, it is her “birthday portrait” as she calls it. I finished my shooting and packed my gear up but I didn’t leave. Rather, I sat on a rock and just soaked in all that was happening around me. For personal reasons, it hit me how beautiful this place was and how privileged I was to be there and photographing it. Emotions can be a funny thing.

This photo resides on our entry hall wall as a 20x30 canvas now and is quite possibly the highlight from our trip for me. I hope you enjoy, leave a comment or a like to let me know.

Photo of the Week #213

I’ve been playing around with older things again. I am blown away with some of the modern software I’m using now. I know many people who don’t want to spend the money for modern stuff so they are still running software from 6 or 8 years ago. This software has made some extremely large advancements in just the last two. This is a photo I made 13 years ago now!

Another World

Photo of the Week #215

I recently had the opportunity to go on a boat taking us to an area where seabirds with numbers in the thousands were nesting. One of my favourites were gannets. Some find them dull but I find them beautiful. Their subtle colours and beautiful markings make them a winner for me. We found their numbers were devastated last year due to Avian Flu but are bouncing back now. There is also found that you can tell who has had the flu. They have a black iris as opposed to the normal blue of a normal specimen. It is thought their vision is completely normal but you can still easily tell the difference.

Photo of the Week #214

I have said it many times over the years that you should revisit certain images as time goes by. You gain experience and know-how and so does the software we use for edits. Often you can breathe new life into an image and it is certain;y worth looking at. This particular image has been used in another form a couple of years ago but it didn’t do it for me in some ways. This re-work of the image is my final edit, I’m calling it done now, officially. “Feeling Blue”

Inspiration Without Travel

“If you can’t make a good photograph where you are, stepping onto an airplane isn’t going to make you a better photographer” - Richard Martin

I was recently speaking to a friend who is also a photographer. We were talking of our recent activities in the photographic world. I had been relatively busy with my music pretty much all the way through the pandemic but my friend shared that with not being able to travel, he hadn’t had the chance to shoot much. This got me to thinking about how many people have issues with inspiration without the luxury of travel. As far as my landscape photography is concerned, I also struggle with inspiration.

I got to thinking and realized that I’m the same way, I shoot little when I’m at home. Why? Largely because we don’t have mountains, deserts or oceans where I live. When I go out somewhere near home, I just don’t get the same inspiration. We recently went to Alberta and spent a few days in the Rockies and I was beyond inspired. I got to shoot in a few locations I have only seen photos before. I was in awe of the beauty and wanted to be out making photos all the time.

The logical solutions for me since I can’t afford to spend all my time traveling is to learn how to see things differently. I need to change my expectations. It’s fine to take advantage of those epic landscapes when I find myself in those places, but I also need to learn to see what I have available to me here in eastern Ontario and make the best of what I do have. I think we tend to take things for granted when we see it all the time but the truth is, we also have plenty of beauty in eastern Ontario and I need to take advantage of it.