Midway Blur

Last night I finally did something I have wanted to do for a very long time. I went out for a night shoot to a fair. Buccaneer Days has a Midway complete with twirly rides, cotton candy, games of chance, and lights. Lots and lots lights. Fun.

I had to wait until it was pretty dark before I headed out shooting, but it was worth it. It was too light when I first left, so I headed down to a lookout and shot some pics of the harbour, and the cruise ships docked at Ogden Point.

Digital is the way to go for night photography though. Easy to see and correct for exposure mistakes.

The key is to try and imagine what you are trying to accomplish, and develop a plan to make that image. Some of the pictures I took were up to 10 second exposures. With time like this, you can easily miss out on chances to reshoot.

Do you want to stop the motion? Get a slight blur of the lights? Create arcs of light? Can you even achieve what you want with the equipment you have on hand?

The prize at the end of the shoot is the images you have created. Definitely a good investiment of time and effort.

Pics are here.

Wind Fill

This past Wednesday I got out to shoot some pictures with the photo club. Sox and I had been in Saxe Point Park recently and had noticed the flowers, so that was where I decided the club should meet. The sun was out, but so was the breeze. Taking pictures of flowers in the breeze is always a difficult taks. You set up your shot, wait for the right conditions, then just as you squeeze the shutter release, the wind kicks up again. This can be incredibly frustrating.

Sometimes it is better to work with the conditions rather than fight them. Keep the shutter open a little longer, and aim for a blurry flower while the background is still. This can be an interesting effect.

I was quite happy with my shots. I even used my flash for a few of them to lighten up the shadows and to fill in the details.

Pics are here.

Beer Dreams

“Sometimes when I reflect back on all the beer I drink I feel ashamed – Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn’t drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, ‘It is better that I drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver.'”
-Deep Thought, Jack Handy

Save Hatley Park

This is an appeal to photographers in Victoria. As I wrote about previously Royal Roads University wants to put Hatley park behind a fence.

Some people I know are organizing efforts to stop this fencing. Please visit
savehatleypark.com and sign the petition and get involved if you can. As of this writing work on the fence has been halted pending a review by a federal heritage agency. It is important that we stop this fence.

From the pictures on a recent canada.com article, and savehatleypark.com this fence should be abolished. When I read a fence was going to be erected, I was thinking stone fence a wood fence or maybe some other nicety. Apparently a chain link fence looks good these days.

If I wasn’t against fencing Hatley Park before, I am definitely against it now. This is truly an abomination, and I just can’t imagine what the Royal Roads committee was thinking when they gave the green light to a chain link fence (regardless of it following historical fence lines). Royal Roads is a university, and really should not be in the tourist business. The gardens on the site cannot stand the traffic of tour busses. How disruptive to schooling will it be to have tour busses driving in and out of the grounds, and large crowds flowing across the grounds?

I just wonder why Royal Roads feels it necessary to embark on this? Before taking over the grounds they should have done their research and know what would be involved in the upkeep of the gardens. The gardens that are so beautiful and rich obviously cannot be kept in good order for free. Even I know that.

Please get involved if you can.

Single Gorgeous

This past weekend some of Sox’s family was visiting, and they noticed that a house plant of ours was about to flower. Apparently the bloom only lasts a single day.

Sure enough yesterday when I got home it was in bloom. Gorgeous. I snapped a few pictures. This morning when I got up the bloom was done. Very glad I was able to get some pictures.

All the pics are here.

Update: this is called an Apostle Plant or Neomarica gracilis. You can see from this University of Hawaii Botany page that their picture of a flower looks exactly like mine.

Upkeep Homework

I read Canada.com regularly, sticking to the Victoria Times Colonist stories. One article from Mar 15 got me a little riled.

Hatley castle is a wonderful place to take pictures, and it sickens me that they want to erect a fence around the castle and the gardens so that they can charge an admission fee. I understand that they want to recoop their cost of upkeep, but surely Royal Roads did their homework when they took over the grounds? Didn’t they do financial forecasts to ensure they could afford this?

I really have no sympathy for them if they did no homework. That is a pet peeve of mine when this happens. Who has to pay? The public? How is that right? Those park grounds have been free for as long as I have lived in Victoria.

Like I said, I am sickened by this change. Yes I have a vested interest in keeping it free. I have gone on photo shoots there a couple times now, and would like to continue to keep shooting there. Not sure how likely I will be willing to pay to do this.

Wonderful Quote

Found via eclecticism

If you worry about equipment, you’re an amateur,
If you worry about money, you’re a professional,
If you worry about the light, you’re a master

– Herbert van Hulten

2005 Photography in Review

Last year I did a year in photography gallery. I chose my best/favorite shot from each month, and made a special gallery containing just those picture. I continue this tradition today.

This is my 2005 Year in Review

Taken at Thetis lake, this was one of the very few snow days in Victoria in 2005.

A Macaulay Point Park walk with Yoshi. Nice sunny February day. I had looked through these trees many times before, but the light, the sky, and the clouds combined perfectly for this shot.Taken at Thetis lake, this was one of the very few snow days in Victoria in 2005.

This is an unusual shot of cherry blossoms done in black and white. In the camera I bumped up the contrast to achieve this almost infrared effect. Beyond this and the resizing, there are no enhancements.

This is one of my most favorite pictures of the entire year. I saw this scene in my head as I looked at a slowly dripping fountain. I was able to achieve what I envisioned.

Taken days after I got married. I love the colors, I love the rings, I love the depth of field, I love my wife.

The was one of the most amazing plants I photographed this year. While on this shoot I neglected to double check my camera’s settings. I was shooting ISO 1600 the entire time. This shot wasn’t ruined too badly though. I corrected the white balance, and bumped the contrast to accentuate the white.

A craggy old tree up at Rathtrevor beach, a wonderful backdrop, and a slight spotlight tokeep the eye interested. For some reason I can stare at this picture for hours.

At a wedding reception for some very good friends the kids were entertained by clowns who did some face painting. E here was a ferocious lion. I can never get over how lucky I was with this shot. The right location, right timing, the right pose. I love it.

Sunsets can be hard to capture. What you see is hardly what you get. I took many shots this day, but this is one of my favorites. The setting sun, the textured water, the fading colors.

Taken in Ottawa during the fall, the colors were a little more muted that previous years (or so I am told). On the way to a walk we drove through this bridge. After the hike we stopped a few times along the way so I could take some pictures.

A smooth lake with a mirror finish, mist rising lazily, people out walking dogs. There definitely is an element of luck in photography.

This was the highlight shot for December. Tough month photography wise. I didn’t get out very often due to Christmas plans. For this shot I stopped down the aperture, and bumped up the exposure time. With the shutter open I took half the time to zoom in, and the other half to expose the leaf. This creates a somewhat dreamy leaf.

Season Genie

Busy time of year like always. Seems I haven’t made time for blogging, something I will try to do more of.

The last couple weeks are work have been extremely busy. I have worked hard for many long hours. The goal was reached though, so it has relaxed a little. The customer is happy with the product, management was happy with the effort. The worst day I worked from 9am until 4am the next morning. That is a long, tiring day.

This past weekend, Sox’s mom came over for a visit. We went and saw Walk the Line, the Johnny Cash movie. Excellent movie. I really enjoyed it. The focus wasn’t on his music, but about him and his life. It was very well written, well casted, and the actors provided a great performance. I don’t know a lot of his music, but I am more inclined to check it out now.

The Christmas season is most definitely upon us. I am happy to report that I am well into my Christmas shopping for this year. Maybe I will even finish early. That never happens for me though. We got our outside lights up this past weekend, and we are quite happy with them. We did something different that past years, and we quite like it. We bought our tree last night, and tonight it will be decorated. If we don’t run out of steam, then we may decorate the house. I am not counting on that one though.

Also this past weekend was Sox’s companies Christmas party. It was pretty fun, but the food was outstanding. They held it at Sauce (a nice restaurant downtown) again this year. Their prime rib was one of the best I have ever had. Tomorrow is my companies Christmas party at Laurel Point Inn. I am looking forward to it. I think it is going to be a very good time. We have a secret Santa exchange, which is different from the anonymous gifts of years past. Anyone remember the Christmas Cock?

Yoshi has been busy the past couple weeks too. He has yakked on the floor a couple times, destroyed the refill to the diaper genie, and generally driven us nuts every couple days. Who says neutering slows dogs down? They obviously haven’t met Yoshi.

The last thing to note is that I heard about a 1 day course being offered this month for learning digital image manipulation to get it ready for printing. There were only 5 spots, and I managed to get one of them. I am pretty pumped. I have learned from the instructor before, so I am quite excited about the course. Dec 17 is the day. Some of the topics:

Introduction to Photoshop CS
Workflow colour management
Basic raw image conversion
Common Photoshop tools used for image manipulation
Tips & Techniques to emphasize the best in your image
Image prep for print out
Printout of the final images

That will be my present to myself. Merry Christmas to me! 🙂

muddylaces

Spreading mud since 1975.

Tag: Photography