A Train, a Tree and a Fence (Dartmouth, Nova Scotia)

Digital original

A side effect of teaching, and leading so many class-related field trips is I spend a lot of time with a camera in hand, in the same spaces time and time again. The down side to this is visual fatigue - finding it hard to see clearly due to having photographed the same place so often. The advantage is know when the train will be coming!

A Macro Photography Workshop (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

Digital original

When teaching a macro workshop, a large part of the process is providing hands-on experience, both to model process and technique, and from time to time, to capture something that really engages me. in this case, the very soft hint of purple on this flower bud drew me in!

Digital original

My favourite image of the workshop was also the simpliest - a small watch gear on a mirror. I used the Canon 65mm Micro lens for the image, set to a 3x magnification.

A Waterfront Field Trip (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

Digital original

The first field trip for the fall Photo 101 course saw me take the students for a jaunt along the Halifax waterfront. A space I know well, I always keep my eyes open for a new subject, perspective or composition. In this case, the harbour was really calm, and the sky, reflected in the water, looked very unusual - the perfect counterpoint to the warm morning light on the edge of the tire.

Digital original

Though I gravitate to ultra-wide lenses, there is a true pleasure in the simple reduction that long lenses can lend to an image - in this case, the chaos and riot of a docked tall ship is replaced with a graphic composition of the bowsprit.

Digital original

The last images of the field trip used my long lens (a Sigma 120-400mm) to make abstract images of the high-rise buildings that face the waterfront. An easy image to make in a larger city, Halifax is gradually becoming more "glass faced" as new and renovated buildings begin to mark the sky-line.

A Field Trip to the Dingle (Haalifax, Nova Scotia)

Digital original

A double-edged sword of teaching photography is that one ends up going to the same places for field trips time and time again. The down side of this is that, in repetition comes over familiarity - that which is interesting and engaging the first couple of times is simply overlooked at later periods. On the flip side, when faced with "nothing to photograph", I tend to fall back to practicing composition -simply making visual design with the world around me. This image of the door of the Dingle Tower is a great example of this.

Digital original

The other easy thing to do when at a loss for things to photograph, is fall back on macro; everything is different when close up, and often the familiar and mundae becomes engaging...the brass stud in this door for example changes completely when viewed close.

Digital original

An image like this always serves two purposes; on the immediate level, it is a really pleasing image of a rusty pole, but it also gets the "textures" keyword, which means it likely will appear in a digital composite image...someday.

Yarmouth Photography Club Talk (Yarmouth, Nova Scotia)

Digital infrared original, two image stitch

On the evening of Saturday, October 3, 2012, I will be presenting to the Yarmouth Photography Club. I will present an overview of my photographic journey, beginning with my work with the Nude through to my more recent explorations of colour and Gothic Architecture. In addition to the presentation (by projection) I will bring a number of original prints for the club members to view.