Taking Time Out

"Chipmunk Crossing"

Don't you love it? Took this on the Cherry Hill Gate trail down to the marshes last week with my friendly photography rambler Kelly. Someone working on the local bridge construction definitely had a sense of humour! And questionable spelling skills but I digress. We howled as we both raised our cameras...

How has your summer been friends? I hope it's been full to the brim with vacation days, dining out on patios with oodles of friends, quality time with the family, days spent pursuing a good book in the shade somewhere with a cold Dr.Pepper beside you. Well, something like that...

I get a week off next week and I find myself trying to decide what small photo project I want to set for myself as we take our family hiking, and on day trips into Toronto or Niagara... getting images of the family hanging out before one goes off to university and the other starts high school... and before my August bookings take over. I'm thinking I will keep my eye out for all things humorous... it lifts you up, giving you the chance to take a breath, and feel good. If the rest of my summer felt like that... I'd be laughin'! (Literally and figuratively... I know, I can hear you all groan...)

So enjoy your summer days... I'll be back with some new things on the blog in a week! Thanks for the ramble!

Fish vs Flowers: A Total Surprise

"Water Nymph"

Today's image was a complete surprise. It all started with a trip to the Royal Botanical Gardens located here on Ontario. They had two different features within the main greenhouses. Glass Under Glass and Chocolate: The Exhibition. Both a wonderful way to spend a winter morning to be sure. It's a delightful place anytime of the year! But out of everything I photographed, it was the fish in the Mediterranean Greenhouse that held a challenge and got my creativity going.

I was totally not expecting that. I was there to photograph flowers.

I had to work around extreme reflections, low light, darting fish, and moving water. I kept my camera on continuous shutter mode and just kept taking photos whenever there was a slight possibility the fish would approach me. It wasn't until an employee arrived with fish food that they really began to take notice. The conditions meant I needed my fastest glass, the 50mm prime, the ISO up to 400 to allow the speed I needed at 1/500 of a sec, and in order to keep the noise at a minimum and get the exposure I wanted I also bumped my exposure compensation up another +2.7. The aperture was F/3.2. Any smaller and the shutter speed was an issue, and any bigger and I wasn't sure just how much would be in focus.

This was one of the surprising results. And I love it for the watery patterns and motion it contains. It seems a little fantastical to me, like if you were to look away and then look back, the elegant golden sprite might vanish altogether.

I went for tropical flowers. I wound up with fish.

Who knew so much fun was waiting!

I can't say it enough. Be prepared for the unexpected when you decide to photograph your city and surrounding areas. Surprises are always waiting.

The Freeman Effect

"Dreamy Tulip Lights"

My post this week pays homage to a phenominal Canadian Photograher who's work I've found very inspiring and uplifting. Not only does he take some of the most fantastical nature images I've ever seen, but is also very serious about gardening and conservation. So needless to say, I'm a fan. And I'm refering to the one and only Freeman Patterson.

Was reading his book "The Garden" today and he was speaking about how when we submerge ourselves in something we're passionate about (ie gardening, photography) a part of us utilizes the best part of our imaginations... whether we realize it or not. All the things we dream about and imagine on a constant basis. And as a result, the effects of it can be found in the very things we pursue so passionately. It's the underlying current, behind how you compose and take a photograph, or how Mr. Patterson gardens.

This has really resonated with me. As a photographer who loves God's creation and is constantly amazed by it, I tend to see scenes and subjects through my lens that are somehow emphasized by my imagination at times. But I've been reluctant to showcase them for some reason. Because they're rule breaking? Technically flawed? Either way, with this revelation in mind, I've included the above image. I took this just this past spring at the Royal Botanical Gardens here in Southern Ontario... it was their annual Tulip Celebration. The practical side of me tried desperately to expose all morning long for the difficult harsh light that day... and was failing desperately. At one point though, I realised I should pop my portrait lens on the ol Nikon and let it naturally blow everything out with it's super wide depth of field abilities giving everything a less chiseled, more dreamy effect.... and voila. I stopped documenting everything, and started "capturing" the effects of all the sweet glowing light waiting to be seen. It brings to my mind what the gardens in heaven might look like, or a lover's bouquet waiting to be picked. I call it the "Freeman Effect".

Two quotes from Freeman gave me pause, made me reflect on what kind of a "box" I've put my photography in... perhaps they'll make you look differently at your photography too. The first one was, " ...I'm reminded that it's not really the eye that does the seeing, it's the soul". And the other refered to when a compelling image grabs your attention..."it's when the mood is the real subject".

Hope that gives you something to chew on today, and please, be sure to check out the incredible Freeman Patterson at http://www.freemanpatterson.com/

Thanks for letting me ramble on for a bit, and have yourself a good one!