Natural landscapes: the angle of the canyon
SIFFLEUR RIVER CANYON, KOOTENAY PLAINS ECOLOGICAL RESERVE, ALBERTA
During my annual
sleep-in-the-van overnight photo trip, I was awake before 4 a.m. and started on the six-kilometre return trip to Siffleur Falls. This impressive view along the way highlights the angled wall of the river’s canyon.
Using a graduated density (darkening) filter on the mountains and sky was a key decision; without the filter, the sky would have been a bland, distracting white.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Rural landscape: A castle in its setting
MALAHIDE CASTLE AND GROUNDS, COUNTY DUBLIN, IRELAND
During our tour of the spectacular castle and 260 acres of lawns and gardens, I had just enough time to race off on my own to find some interesting perspectives. This scene appealed to me because the shadow on the grass and the silhouetted leaves served to frame the castle and clouds. Notice how the castle seems to lean against the upward tilt of the lawn? I like how that lends balance to the scene.
Malahide belonged to the Talbot family for more than 800 years. It was sold to the Irish Republic in 1975.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Rural landscapes: where the fences meet
FENCES AND PRAIRIE SLOUGH, WEST OF CALGARY, ALBERTA
Sweet morning light and still water made this photograph possible. I really like how the fenceposts and wires stand out against the darker water.
NikonD7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Natural landscapes: the clouds of morning
COMING INTO ST. PETER PORT, CHANNEL ISLANDS
As we arrived at this town in Guernsey Island (a British protectorate off the coast of France), I was on the deck of our cruise ship room and saw this dramatic scene of the sun trying to break the through clouds above some nearby islands. One of those rare photos made without a tripod. Nikon D7100.
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Rural landscapes: road to the mountains?
RURAL ROAD, KILLARNEY, IRELAND
Dug back into the archives to resurrect this picture from my 1993 trip to Ireland. Photographed on a Pentax 6×7 medium-format film camera. It was a bulky, heavy piece of equipment that required a tripod, but was still a joy to use simply to appreciate the large, high-quality slides.
Deciding it was too expensive to keep, I traded the camera in for used lenses that fit on my 35-mm. camera. Turned out to be a fortuitous move, since the advent of digital made film cameras mostly obsolete and those used lenses served me very well, on digital cameras, for a decade.
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Urban landscapes: morning in the port
INVERGORDON HARBOUR, SCOTLAND
Invergordon is a small coastal town, but because it services North Sea oil platforms, it has a deep port capable of docking the cruise ship my wife and I were on. The strong morning light and eye-popping colours on this ship caused me grab my tripod and telephoto lens and make this photo.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Wildlife: nesting under the leaves
NESTING COOT, ST. JAMES PARK, LONDON, ENGLAND
The dipping tree branches presented a problem because initially, I didn’t want them in the photo. But a fence blocked me from getting any closer to the nest and I’d extended my 70-300-mm. zoom lens as far as possible.
Then a solution presented itself: make the photo vertical and include the branches. I used the built-in flash to help illuminate the coot and add a highlight to its eye.
Nikon D7100, tripod.
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Urban landscapes: a convention of bridges
HUNGERFORD BRIDGE AND GOLDEN JUBILEE BRIDGES, LONDON, ENGLAND
It was a smoggy day when my wife and I went on the London Eye, a giant ferris wheel along the banks of the Thames River. This was one of the views we saw and I did a lot of work in Photoshop to bring out the best in this scene. The bridges run into Charing Cross Railway Station, which was featured in the James Bond movie Skyfall.
Nikon D7100, polarizing filter.
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Urban landscapes: the flags & the building
FLAGS ON GOVERNMENT BUILDING, LONDON, ENGLAND
This was a surprisingly difficult photo to make. As the breeze blew, the flags fluttered in various directions and each direction meant I had to quickly recompose the photo to maintain some sort of compositional balance. Even then, I still had to crop a bit off the left side while processing the photo in Photoshop. Captured during a whirlwind 2.5 days in London before leaving on a cruise ship vacation.
Nikon D7100, polarizing filter.
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Urban landscape: the harbour and the clouds
THE SKY AT ST. PETER PORT, CHANNEL ISLANDS
Thirteen kilometres off the coast of France lies Guernsey, the second largest of the Channel Islands and home to St. Peter Port, one of the prettiest harbours in Europe. It was the first stop on our Ireland-UK cruise vacation and I was able to take my tripod along to make photos like this.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Urban landscapes: the hillside view
ST. PETER PORT, CHANNEL ISLANDS
Thirteen kilometres off the coast of France lies Guernsey, the second largest of the Channel Islands and home to St. Peter Port, one of the prettiest harbours in Europe. It was the first stop on our Ireland-UK cruise vacation and I was able to take my tripod along to make photos like this.
Fascinating fact #1: the Channel Islands are a British Crown dependency, but they have their own currency and are not part of the British Commonwealth or the European Union.
Fascinating fact #2: the Channel Islands were the only British territory to be occupied by Nazi Germany. From 1940 to ’45, Germans used slave labour and deported more than 2,000 islanders. There’s a museum on Guernsey highlighting the impact of the occupation.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Urban landscapes: a view of magnificence
ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL, DUBLIN, IRELAND
Photographing cathedrals is always on my bucket list, especially in Ireland, a nation for which I feel a deep emotional connection. I was incredibly blessed to be permitted to use my tripod – which rarely happens inside cathedrals or any other public buildings. This enabled me to make crisp, carefully composed long exposures and you’re looking at one result. Even a wide-angle lens couldn’t capture all the magnificence that was everywhere I looked.
This cathedral was once Roman Catholic, until England dumped the Catholic church in the 1600s and created the Anglican Church. One result of this was Oliver Cromwell (a certified religious extremist, IMHO) swept through churches like this, removing all signs of Roman Catholicism. Still, this is a magnificent building that I was honoured to photograph. And in the end, it isn’t about Catholic or Protestant. It’s about Jesus of Nazareth. 🙂
Nikon D7100, tripod.
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Rural landscapes: sky, ocean and ancient rock
DUNLUCE CASTLE, NORTHERN IRELAND
I first saw this awe-inspiring scene of castle ruins and rugged coastline 30 years ago. Never thought I’d see it again until my wife and I did a cruise and went on this excursion that stopped at this magnificent spot. Once the home base of the Scottish clan MacDonald, Dunluce later served as the seat of the earls of County Antrim. Today, it’s simply an epic scene of cliffs, water and ancient stone.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizer, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Rural landscapes: clouds along the coast
SWEET CARNLOUGH BAY, NORTHERN IRELAND
I knew about this area from an ancient Irish folk song, but didn’t think I would ever see it. Then the tour bus my wife and I were on stopped in this picturesque village for lunch. Sweet! I had time to get down to the shore and stumble over rocks to find this perspective.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Natural landscapes: sunrise on the beach
SEA LIFE AND POOL, COX BAY, BRITISH COLUMBIA
The west coast of Canada’s Vancouver Island is a glorious place of eagles, crashing surf, star fish, fog and rainforest. Cox Bay, near the tourist town of Tofino is truly magical at sunrise. It would have been hard to make a bad picture here.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Natural landscapes: artistry of waves
MORNING WAVES AT COX BAY, BRITISH COLUMBIA
Cox Bay, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, is a stunning place of starfish, eagles, mist and endless waves. This combination of waves really works for me, as does the distant Lennard Island lighthouse. Capturing compelling wave combinations means endless clicking of the camera, then looking at the results later to see what truly worked.
Nikon D7100, tripod.
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Natural landscapes: the trouble with trilliums
TRILLIUMS, GREENWOOD CONSERVATION AREA, AJAX, ONTARIO
Well, there really is no trouble with trilliums, which are the provincial flower of Ontario. I just like alliterating. This little opening in the forest, east of Toronto (Canada’s largest city) allowed hundreds of trilliums to blossom and create a carpet of spring beauty.
Nikon D50, tripod, polarizing filter (I think….). Here’s another photo of trilliums, made thousands of kilometres away on Canada’s west coast: http://wp.me/p2ccTX-iA
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Urban landcapes: the calming water
GRAND RIVER, ELORA, ONTARIO
Elora, in the southwestern part of this Canadian province, is renowned for a deep and spectacular gorge carved by the Grand River. I spent lots of time there, but also enjoyed the picturesque village, finding scenes like this as the river calmly flowed. I imagine these were once supports for a railway bridge.
Nikon D90, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Wildlife: enjoying the waters of Stanley Park
WOOD DUCK, VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA
Stanley Park is one of the many jewels in this city on Canada’s west coast (which hosted the 2010 winter Olympic Games). All kinds of easily-accessible wildlife live in the park and I had lots of opportunities to photograph colourful wood ducks as they swam past or perched on tree trunks. I just made sure to make lots of exposures to ensure I had compelling, properly focused compositions.
Nikon d90, telephoto zoom lens.
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Natural landscapes: the strange, strange forest
COASTAL FOREST, PACIFIC RIM NATIONAL PARK RESERVE, BRITISH COLUMBIA
This is temperate rainforest on Canada’s west coast, but of the decided weird variety. Because it’s on the edge of sandy seashore, it’s buffeted by wind. The combination has created a decidedly different look and that’s what attracted me to make this picture. The winding, boarded trail provided a great way to lead your eye through the cedars.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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