A walk in the light

King of St. David's Harbour

2009-09-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

This is how you feel when you're on holiday, the wind's blowing and you're eight years old.

Yours, 'til the end of Tim

2009-05-06T10:48:00.000-07:00

I may have lost the taste for Tim Horton's coffee. After several years of drinking a large, double-double from Timmy's every day (the office complex I work in has no fewer than three outlets), I can no longer stomach the stuff.

Yes, I know this is tantamount to high treason.

But the thrill is gone. In its place is a faux-caramel aftertaste that threatens to make me gag with every swallow. I will now take my coffee dollars elswehere or hope someone near my workplace can make a decent cup of tea (not as easy as obvious as you might think).

I may have to turn in my Canadian passport.

Photosho-off

2009-04-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

There's no reason for this post... except to say how pleased I am that this image was selected to appear in Issue 5 of Photosho, a new Canadian photography magazine.

I made the image last year in Old Montreal, so it fits well in the gallery devoted to black-and-white shots of "Rural and Urban Architectural Grandeur." It was also nice to see that the photo made it into the online preview for Issue 5. If you're a Canadian photographer -- and even if you're not -- consider supporting the magazine by subscribing, advertising, or displaying your work in its pages.

Man the lifeboats!

2009-03-05T19:29:00.000-08:00

We've got a forecast high of 13C tomorrow for the National Capital Region? With all this snow still lying around?

Now, doesn't it feel good to panic about something other than the economy for a change?

Time for some warmth and colour

2009-03-02T12:16:00.001-08:00

There's no real reason to post this image, except that it is bright, and warm, and I feel like posting it.

We've had a long winter in the Ottawa Valley and, while it's not over yet, cracks are appearing in the snow's armour. Ice is hinting at receding and the accumulated yuck of the last few months is being unveiled at the side of the roads. We'll have weeks yet of cold and salt and sand blowing around -- and at least one end-of-the-world snowstorm -- but eventually rain will wash the anti-slip muck into our creeks and rivers.

It's March and spring will come. Even in Canada.

Bye, Gran

2009-02-12T16:08:00.000-08:00

My mum's mum died just before Christmas. I would never have called her that, of course: she was always "Gran."

Gran was the hub of our extended family. Mother of seven, grandmother of 16 and great-grandmother to 23, she was the queen of our clan and no trip home was complete without paying a visit to her. Besides, that was where you were most likely to run into the rest of your relatives.

As the eldest grandchild, I have many years of memories of Gran from before we left Scotland in 1966 right up until the last time I visited her in mid-November. She was always glad to see her grandchildren and was proud of every one of us. She was absolutely convinced that we were all brilliant and I lost count of the times that she told me "you'd be good at that, son." It wouldn't have mattered what it was, from flying an airliner to performing brain surgery, I'd be good at it. If I was cheeky when I was younger, Gran would threaten to come to my "backside wi' a teaspoon." It wasn't much of a threat, but I seem to remember behaving. If I was cheeky in fun when I was older, Gran would usually just laugh. She enjoyed a good laugh.

When we got older and had our own children, Gran was thrilled with every new addition to the family. Even though you might think some of the wonder had gone out of the business after raising seven kids of her own, she still loved babies. And it didn't matter how many of us showed up at her house or, later, at her apartment -- we could always order out or, as the minister reminded us at Gran's funeral, just "pit another tattie in the pot."

That was Gran. And it was typical of the woman who decided in her 50s that it was time to emigrate to Canada to give the children she still had at home a better future than the one they might have in Scotland. Over the years, her adult children followed with their own families until all my aunts, uncles and cousins were in Canada. Most located within 20 or 30 km of "Gran Central Station."

I'm not sure what will become of our big family now that Gran has gone. We'll all miss her, of course, but I think we'll also wind up seeing each other less. Perhaps that's inevitable when the centre of something big and growing finally gives way.

I know I'll miss her. Bye, Gran.

Reality: pre-, mid- and post-processing

2008-12-07T06:28:00.000-08:00

No one would believe that this image of the pond behind our house is a factual recording of an actual scene. Yet it makes me think about a question I often hear from people who are beginning to get serious about their photography.

Concerned about how much an image should be manipulated after it has been taken, they fret about the best techniques for "getting it right" in the camera in the first place. The idea is that there is a way to take a picture "as it really was." They often look back fondly at film-based photography as being more honest and less subject to manipulation than digital photography.

This concern is entirely misplaced -- and not just now, in the digital age. While there may be a popular understanding that photography offers a documentary view of the world in a way that other graphic arts do not, it completely ignores the fact that everything about the photographic process is an abstraction. From the photographer's choice of subject matter, time, place, lens and angle of view, to the projection of a three dimensional world onto a two-dimensional screen or sheet of paper, there is not a single aspect of the process that is not subject to interpretation and alteration. From the very first image on a light-sensitive surface until now, not a single photograph has escaped being fiddled with.

We could ignore this truth during the film years by squinting through our cameras with one eye and then entrusting our film to a lab -- thereby concealing the impact of the photofinisher's choices and our own selection of film type. The difference today is that most of those choices have become explicit and obvious as even rank beginners have access to powerful image manipulation software.

Manipulation has always been the norm. But it is now impossible for photographers to ignore the impact of choices they make between scene and finished product. And our understanding of the relative importance of camera work versus "process" is also changing. The job is not about creating a document in-camera that preserves the scene as it really was -- it's about capturing data that will best support the image we choose to present to the world. And it always has been.

So, perhaps we should stop talking about our time on the computer as "post-processing." There is no time when we are not processing.

In praise of monotasking

2008-11-30T14:01:00.000-08:00

As with many people I know, there is an unrelenting contest for my attention. From the moment I get up until the moment I turn out the light, someone or something wants me to listen, agree, react, spend, perform, change or press "enter." In my current job, I receive over 200 work-related e-mails a day.

A colleague asked me last week why I was attracted to photography. Although there are a number of reasons, the one he was able to appreciate fastest was the fact that using a camera lets me slow down and use a different side of my brain. As long as I'm holding my camera, I can view the world around me through a 2x1-shaped rectangle, one frame at a time. If I turn my lens this way or change my angle of view that way, a whole new vista comes into focus.

Time goes by at a different rhythm as I stop merely navigating my surroundings and start seeing and interacting with them. I can resolve complex scenes into their component lines, patterns, tones, textures and colours. I can isolate details and abstract them from their surroundings. I can see the world around me with fresh eyes.

Making pictures lets me concentrate on doing one thing at a time, because I choose to and to suit no one else but me. It's therapy and I'd miss it. So would the people who have to live with me.

Grudging appreciation

2008-10-05T19:29:00.000-07:00

One of the benefits -- sorry, the only benefit -- of having beavers in the area is that you're guaranteed to have a pond in short order. The pond in question here is on farmland immediately behind our place and the lack of an outlet for the water means that the creek is gradually flooding our yard.

We've had the City send trappers several times over the years to... uhhh... relocate the little darlings (hats and mits, I expect). It's always a struggle to get the City to respond, so I usually fall back on reminding them what would happen to the nearby road should the dam ever break. By the time I get done with the clerk on the phone, the fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse sounds suspiciously like a semi-aquatic rodent.

The beavers are insatiable pests, so I have to keep reminding myself not to admire their industry. And I have to further remind myself not to enjoy the pond they've created, especially when the sun shines through the clouds and my youngest son and I go to take pictures of the riot of colour reflected on the surface of the water.

No. Must...not...appreciate...beavers.

Bed of red

2008-09-28T09:02:00.001-07:00

I got up a bit earlier this morning to have breakfast with a couple of friends and then slip in to church.

After the service I went for a brief stroll to visit this pile of bright red leaves at the base of a nearby maple tree (I had spotted them on the way in to the parking lot).

This part of the world is blessed most years with a brilliant display of fall colours. The still-mild days, coupled with the chilly nights, seem to bring out the best in the hardwood trees of the Ottawa Valley. Gatineau Park, just a few minutes away, is renowned for its colours and attracts thousands of people each year at this time. The display usually peaks around the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, when traffic and parking control become necessary. The park is there to be enjoyed, but it can be disheartening to see the hordes tramping down vegetation and idling the engines of their road whales.

The fall colours and the invading vandals bring another challenge: with all those shutters clicking in front of similar patches of foliage, is it still possible to say anything fresh or interesting? I continue to hope so -- because the leaves are just too great an invitation to pass up.

Holiday (noun) versus vacation (noun)

2008-09-15T07:13:00.000-07:00

We don't think much about the words we use to describe time away from our regular routines. Our holidays are rarely "holy days" to mark changes in agricultural or liturgical seasons -- even the ones that are holdovers from more observant times such as Christmas and Easter. (A few urban pagans still attempt to mark soltices and harvest and planting moons, but it all seems a little silly for people whose closest ties with the earth are forged at the produce counter.)

I'm guessing vacation from the daily world of work is closer to what most of us experience. To be honest, I shamelessly "vacated" at the start my annual leave this year. I abandoned work on a Friday evening and made a beeline for PEI with the family first thing the next morning. As I moved short-sleeved shirts, sandals and books into an unfamiliar closet, though, I could feel myself gradually downshifting into a slower rhythm. And it came with the smell of salt, the feel of wet sand and the sound of waves just outside. Perhaps it would be a holiday, after all.

In the End — The Beginning

2008-07-18T06:51:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine died a week ago today and I attended his memorial service on Monday. Bob was closer to my gran's age than to mine, but it wasn't until the last couple of years that I noticed he had gotten older. The death of his wife Mollie and a stroke took their toll on him.

I think I overlooked the passing of time because Bob's outlook was always creative and fresh. He didn't exhibit the rigid habits of mind that so many older people — and some younger people — seem to have. He was always ready to learn, to teach, to discuss, to argue, and to re-examine in the light of experience and Scripture. I think that is a great model of humility. Bob would just have called it being a disciple — a learner.

I will miss swapping e-mails with him and going down to Kingston for visits. Bob and Mollie always showed me great generosity of time, space and spirit. (I think the strongest reply Bob ever gave to one of my less-than-thought-out pearls was a quiet, "Extraordinary.") I wish I were more like him.

The great thing about attending the funeral of a disciple like Bob is the atmosphere of unfeigned hope and thanksgiving that hovers over the congregation. A few people had tears in their eyes, but the tears often went with laughter over some story of Bob's.

I don't have a photo to go with this post. Instead, the creation account in Genesis 1 explodes against a background that is "formless and void." It helps me to remember that creative people like Bob come from, and return to, the God who creates and who makes all things new.

Tango

2008-06-30T08:13:00.000-07:00

I'm stumped. I liked this image well enough to post it to my Flickr account, but didn't think it was any great shakes. It's just a quickie shot taken on an enjoyable summer's outing -- some nice blue-green bokeh and two sharp little ladybugs getting intimate.

(At least, I think they're getting intimate -- I know so little about insects that one of them might actually be devouring the other. Which is also an intimacy, I suppose.)

All that aside, I've been surprised to see the response this shot has generated on Flickr. In no time at all, it has made it into Explore and become one of my most "interesting" images. Now, I know that Flickr's "interestingness" has been talked to death and that gallons of pixels have been spilled on the Colonel's secret recipe of views, comments and speed of response that lie behind the index. The whole mess is sometimes dismissed as a perverse kind of popularity contest that rewards some types of images (puppies, kitties, babies, boobies) and ignores others entirely.

I know it frustrates many people on Flickr when they believe that their best work -- or sometimes all of their work -- is passed over by Explore. I understand that completely. So, when a shot of two amorous (or carnivorous) red dots gets the nod, I have to admit... it kinda bugs me.

Let the season begin

2008-06-01T20:27:00.000-07:00

The Aylmer Marina is still looking somewhat forlorn. But with evenings that are warm enough for an after-work stroll with the family, and skies like these, it won't be long before the docks are out and the basin fills with pleasure craft.

I don't have a boat myself, but it's at moments like these that I realize how other people having boats is still a part of my summer experience. I don't have the direct pleasure of edging my sailboat out past the lighthouse and buoys at the marina's mouth, but being able to see the boats and other people enjoying them becomes part of my enjoyment, too. Second-hand enjoyment is still enjoyment (minus the cost and sweat of maintaining a boat).

And, while we're on the theme of enjoyment, I'm still getting a kick out of my new Canon G9. It doesn't stand up to my Nikon D70s on close inspection, of course, but no one ever pretended it would. Instead, it promises to be a camera you can always have with you, that you can pull out on a moment's notice on an evening stroll. Like I did on this evening. And will again.

Bonsecours by night

2008-05-24T10:22:00.001-07:00

I'm really pleased with this picture, for a few reasons. First, it was taken during a rare weekend that my wife and I could get away to Montreal without the wee guy in tow. We both love the architecture in Vieux Montréal and are happy to spend hours walking around, visiting museums and galleries, and trying out new places to eat. I took this shot after we'd been out for a terrific meal in a restaurant that features live jazz (and tasty dead meat).

Second, I think it's a beautiful image. I haven't done a lot of night photography and this was largely the product of chance. It had rained earlier in the evening, leaving the streets wet and the sky cloudy. So far, so good. I didn't have a tripod with me, however, so I needed somewhere stable to sit the camera that would be above the level of the fence in the foreground. As luck would have it, there was a metal service box at just the right height. As even better luck would have it, the top of the box was also wet and giving off vivid reflections of the night sky.

Finally, this was the first weekend with my new toy, a Canon G9. I'd been reading about this high-end point-and-shot for a while and thought that it might be just the thing for those times when I don't feel like dragging around a backpack containing my Nikon D70s and lenses. I love my D70s, but the G9 is a little dream. Yes, it's as noisy as heck much above ISO 200 to 400, but I'll leave it set at ISO 80 as much as possible and will learn to work with the noise when I have to (when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, etc.). I'm extremely impressed with the quality of the 12.1 MP RAW images, the accuracy of the metering, the choice of shooting modes, the zoom range, and the sheer convenience of toting around such a capable little package on a belt loop.

It's a definite keeper: a picture's worth a thousand words.

Perth pano

2008-05-24T10:15:00.001-07:00

Another panoramic shot, this one composed of four shots taken a couple of weekends ago at Stewart Park in Perth. Perth is a beautiful town on the Tay River in Eastern Ontario, about an hour's drive from Ottawa.

Perth's Scottish heritage can be seen in a lot of the architecture in the town, as well as in many of the building and place names. It would be tempting to live there, but I think the hour-long commute along Highway 7 would soon lose it's charm, especially in winter. Still... how long until retirement?

Thrice thwarted

2008-05-10T19:16:00.000-07:00

This is a shot I took last summer at Dow's Lake in Ottawa during the annual Canadian Tulip Festival. I got a bit tired of looking at tulips, so I decided to turn my camera on something cooler and calmer for a break.

As I was walking by the pavilion, I saw this scene of a tethered boat right away as an abstract. It happens sometimes that you can visualize an image as you want it to appear, even before you lift the viewfinder to your eye. This was one of those times.

It may be cheating to go back to the archives, but I think I can get away with it because this image has just been selected for publication in the third issue of Photosho, a magazine highlighting the work of Canadian photographers. I'm pleased that the shot was chosen to help illustrate the theme of "Water" -- and it was an extra kick to see that it appears in the preview for the issue.

Coulonge panorama

2008-05-04T09:24:00.001-07:00

This panorama of three stitched images gives a good view of the main drop of the Coulonge Falls during the spring runoff. This is my first attempt at a stitched image and, while I'm fairly happy with it, there are a number of things I will do differently for the next one.

For example, I can see how a panoramic head, or at least a spirit level, would be very helpful. I took the component shots on a tripod with a ball head and estimated by eye how to line up the images. I didn't do too badly, but it could have been better (as you can see from the edges of the image that I've left in place).

What else did I learn? Umm... always remember to wipe the spray off the lens between shots.

All that said, I think I may be developing a taste to do some more panoramas. Stay tuned.

Coulonge begins its fall

2008-04-28T08:08:00.000-07:00

Given that we had a near-record snowfall in Western Quebec this year, I thought it would be a good idea to see what the spring runoff looked like at the Coulonge Falls. And why not? The falls are only 110 km from where I live, after all.

This is just one portion of the top of the falls, which are divided into three sections. The middle section is a very impressive drop, and the third is a 100m log slide that was used during the days of the lumber boom on the Coulonge and Ottawa Rivers.

I took plenty of shots, included some of my first attempts at HDR and panoramas, so I'll make an effort to get them up in the next few days.

Old buds, new sky

2008-04-14T18:31:00.001-07:00

We're emerging from a winter with a near-record snowfall in the Ottawa Valley. The snow began at the end of October and stayed. And although there is still plenty of snow on the ground around our house, winter's back is truly broken for another year. Days are longer and warmer, streams and rivers swollen. We're seeing birds in the yard that we haven't seen for months and the ducks and muskrat have reappeared in the creek that runs through the backyard.

Spring.

Jackson Poll-rock

2008-04-06T19:32:00.001-07:00

If the Flintstones could have Stony Curtis and Cary Granite, I can be forgiven for the title of this post.

I am always struck by the range of colours that can be found in seemingly-dull rock, tones and hues that are brought out by water and good light. Today we had both.

It was a beautiful day in the Ottawa Valley and, even though there is still plenty of snow around, it is clear that winter is losing its grip. Just as well, since many of us feared losing our grip, too.

Developing Vision and Style: a review

2008-03-29T17:04:00.000-07:00

I've just finished reading Developing Vision and Style: A Landscape Photography Masterclass, and I'm not entirely sure what to make of it. Edited by Eddie Ephraums, the book's images are uniformly beautiful and reproduced very well, even in the paperback edition of the book I bought.

After a dozen or two images, though, all that uniformity starts to grate. It seems to me that there is a certain sameness to many of the landscapes, and it shows up right on the front cover: rocks in the foreground, dramatic sky, optional body of water. The images that don't follow this formula stand out by comparison.

This is a little odd in a book that is meant to be about developing vision and style. Although the authors and other contributors talk at length about their unique visions and styles, there isn't always a lot of uniqueness on display. I was also struck by how little insight was to be gained on the photographers' vision and style: very few were able to articulate what characterized their own work, never mind offer readers useful direction on developing theirs.

The book is beautiful and the notes on how individual images were made are often interesting. The text is not nearly as interesting, though, and the title promises more than the authors deliver. I'll open it again, but I think I'll just look at the pictures...

Window on Wellington

2008-03-29T13:04:00.000-07:00

This is the view from an upstairs room in the St. Lawrence Market building in Toronto. I was hoping to visit the small art gallery in the building, but it was shut. Instead I poked around a bit and found this view on Wellington Street.

That all men may know His work

2008-03-23T11:58:00.000-07:00

This is the ceiling of what used to be the main entrance to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. I always remember being impressed by the beauty and workmanship when I visited as a schoolchild. Now that the ROM sports a "crystal" as its entrance, this ceiling is probably seen by fewer people. The legend at the apex suggests that, whatever one's culture or religion, there is a common source to life and wisdom. The new entry is at once much flashier and much less bold: all awkward geometry and no attempt at a context for the museum's treasures.