Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Colorful Reflections ~ Telephoto Tuesday!

"Birch on Big Yurkie Lake"
( 1/6 sec @ F/18, ISO 100, 200mm fl, 55-200 mm Nikkor Telephoto zoom, overcast late
day, pattern metering, tripod, remote shutter release)

Last week I did a post about a reflection at an intersection, this week I thought I'd post about a natural reflection I photographed not that long ago, up near the Madawaskas area this past fall. I'll come right out and say... this is not a pristine image, it's not technically flawless by any means, but I love it for it's symmetry, colors, and the memories it brings back of that road trip. Well, some of them, as I ended up being sick as a dog this particular day. But I couldn't let that stop me, I had one chance to photograph  this beautiful lake. We were photographing all day, all the way home starting from the Ottawa Valley... a 6 hour drive I managed to lengthen to 11. And Big Yurkie Lake was on the way. It was a goal of mine to spend quite some time there, it's only entrance a jog at the side of the rural highway. Then you walked in. And you didn't know where to start pointing your camera!

I had my sights set on Big Yurkie because two years before I had gotten some quick shots of it while on the road with my family, but quick shots were all they were and I regretted not taking more time. You're forced to walk along the very narrow shoreline the entire time, and I hadn't used a tripod. And Big Yurkie always seems to be overcast, with dark, dark shores across the water, not a soul in sight, and usually within a half an hour it begins to lightly rain. Makes for a very mysterious spot.

This shot is from the opposite side of the lake, far enough away that I had to stand on an outcropping as far as I could safely go with my camera and tripod, and zoom in to the fullest focal length my telephoto lens would give me, 200mm. I turned off the lens' Vibration Reduction mode since I was using the tripod and remote shutter release, as this causes the lens to fight against the anchoring a tripod gives. There was such a dark sky that I used a long exposure to get enough light and the tripod was a must. Because of a slight breeze on the water, the trees are slightly blurred, giving a soft effect that I would have preferred more crisp at the time, but have come to terms with now. And the one thing that stood out, helping to divide the composition where reflections and nature met was a floating remnant of birch tree.

Shortly after this shot, true to form, it began a light rain, and so we went back to the car as I didn't need to be more sick than I already was. But I was happy... I'd caught a true representation of the moody Big Yurkie, beautiful and untouched. And that's what mattered.

I excited to share another image with you all today... this one comes from a good friend and someone I consider a mentor. After the post last week of the city reflection, he sent me his own reflection taken with a telephoto, in Boston and it's another perfect example of seeing a select composition within the enormity of the city. I particularly like the warm brick reflected back in the scene, the great contrasting lines, and the bit of tree coming into the frame adding to the perspective. Brilliant.


Thanks Dave Pratt for allowing me to post your wonderful image, and if any else has been following the different themes throughout the week and you'd like to send me your photograph to add to my next blog, give me a shout in the comments below and I will send you my email address pronto! Thanks for letting me ramble on folks, and have a fabulous day!

2 comments:

  1. Thanks Christine!

    Dave

    ReplyDelete
  2. Was thrilled to post it Dave! Had a lot of viewers in my stats for this one!

    ReplyDelete