Ingrid and Driftwood (Long Beach, Nova Scotia)

Digital infrared original

I normally have a real reluctance to photograph with bright sunlight, but in this case a) it was the only day Ingrid and I were both available at the same time and b) it was the last day in May, and the direct sunshine was a delight after months of Nova Scotian winter and spring.

Digital infrared original

Numerous times during this session I opted to work with my longer lenses (85mm & 135nm) to create tighter compositions, or permit me to move farther away from Ingrid and yet still focus the compositions on her. With both lenses, I took advantage of their large apertures (f/1.2 & f/2 respectively) to throw the background out of focus.

Digital infrared original

The sunlight shaped so much of this session, shifting my focus from shape and form to light. In the above image, I had to work carefully with Ingrid to get the angle of her torso just right to the angle of the sun, so her mastectomy scar was not highlighted. I realize it would be simple to retouch it out, but after witnessing Ingrid's victory over breast cancer, I strongly prefer to leave it in my images (all be it as a subtle element, as opposed to the focus of the image).

A Black & White Field Trip (Victoria Falls, Truro, Nova Scotia)

Digital infrared original

Victoria Falls is a striking gem located in Truro; a series of waterfalls on a relatively slow flowing river through a park that runs through a residential area - it is, for all of that, a stunningly beautiful place to photograph. The above image takes full advantage of the low contrast of infrared photograph to blend the sunlit trees and deep shade of the falls into a single, striking result.

Digital original

Part of what I love about Victoria Falls is how active the river is in many different ways. Just down from the falls, the riverbed is relatively flat, with small rocks providing interruptions to the river flow.

A Black & White Field Trip (High Head, Nova Scotia)

Digital original

One of the first things to catch my eye during this field trip was the overcast sky turning the sun into a glowing patch of sky; this is idea to reflect in water pools, and in the above image, I placed the sun behind a small rock, which created a strong glow in the water around it.

Digital original

Most of this field trip was spent exploring longer shutter speeds (the focus of the Summer Light field trip series). This small inlet between two larger rock formations was a perfect situation in which to use a 15 second shutter speed.

Digital original

The above image is by far my favourite of the session, by this time the evening sky had turned into a series of horizontal lines, which were a pleasing counter-play to the chaos of forms in the rocks below.

Spring...Colour (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

Digital origina

I have not seriously pursued flowers as a subject for a decade or so (apart from the frozen flower series, which ended in the Frozen Light Exhibition of 2010), but they are always present in spring, and never fail to catch the eye. Early in my experiments with florals, I came to the conclusion I preferred shallow depth of field over deep - which is at the heart of why I like the above image so much.

Digital original

Much of the challenge of a good flower photograph is making order out of chaos - individual flowers may catch the eye, but separating them from the riot around them is not always easy. In this case, a 150mm macro lens and large aperture combined to throw the surroundings out of focus, and keep the attention where I meant it to be!

A Day of Field Trips (HRM, Nova Scotia)

Digital original

Point Pleasant Park is a fabulous place to wander with a camera, and its the most seaward point there is a monument featuring the anchor from the HMCS Bonaventure. I made this composition as an example of how to use super-wide lenses.

Digital original

The Halifax waterfront is a shadow of its former self, with only a handful of working ships docking on a regular basis. Of these, the most numerous are the ocean-going tugs, which ave a wealth of weather on their hulls.

Digital infrared original

The final field trip of the day was on the Dartmouth waterfront at Sunset; during that adventure, I was fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of this striking cloud set in contrast to the silhouette of a tree.