November 18, 2010

Winter Reflections

Digital original
A gray, leaden sky looks quite different when reflected in a clear lake, rimmed with ice!
Digital original
Less than an hour after the first image, the sky had cleared, and a totally different appearance in the same lake.

November 15, 2010

A Sunset & Claire in the Studio

Digital original, 2 frame stitch
As I was preparing to head out to work with Claire, I caught sight of the sky outside my kitchen window, and paused just long enough to make a quick composition of the bands of gold and blue in the sky. A lovely look at the last light of the day!
Digital infrared original
This studio session was focused on working against a dark background, in contrast to most of the work I do with available light, which I set against white. I don't do a lot of studio photography these days, but with a model as confident and comfortable as Claire, it is deceptively easy to make striking photographs.
Digital infrared original
I just love the angle of Claire's shoulder in the above image - all through the session we had a running conversation, with pauses here and there when images came together. I forget what she had said moments before, but she was awaiting my response when I made this image, which goes some way to explaining the expression on her face.
Digital infrared original
For almost all this session I worked with a single light; in this case, I used it to light both Claire and the background, some 15' behind her. The rich shadows against the soft gray background are really pleasing, but I find the line up her other side, created by the light from the softbox falling across her hip, breast and arm, even more engaging.

It is no accident that while I intended the session to be set against black, I ended up working with gray!

November 11, 2010

A Vampire Bat Skull

Digital original, 9 frame focus blend
A while ago, I bought some skeletons and skulls online, for a photography project. That idea went nowhere, but recently, another digital concept has caught my interest, so I have returned to photographing the skulls. This time however, I was using a very different technique - lighting them with miniature soft-boxes illuminated by LED lights, and using focus stacking to achieve the sharpest, most detailed results.
Digital original, 20 frame focus blend
This image took a lot of careful camera work to make - it took three attempts before I got the spacing for the focus stacking right (if the difference between focus points is too great, there will be noticeable out-of-focus sections, which is very fake-looking). Now all I need is time to finish up the digital composites these are part of!

November 10, 2010

A Rain Swollen River

Digital original, 3 frame stitch
After two of the worst rains storms I have ever seen, this little stream, which I have worked with a couple of times lately, has grown to be a veritable torrent...there is no way I could have walked across the river, let a long have a model pose in it.

October 27, 2010

A Photographic Journey in South West England


On Wednesday night, October 27th, 2010, I will present an evening slide show sharing images from my recent visit to South-West England.

Drawn from one week spent working in Cornwall and Devon, and a second photographing historic Cathedrals and Abbeys, the show will explore both the beauty and heritage of South-West England.
Wednesday, October 27, at 7:30pm (doors open at 7pm). ViewPoint Gallery, 1272 Barrington Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia

October 24, 2010

A Dartmouth Field Trip

Digital original

Digital infrared original

Digital original, 2 frame focus blend

October 23, 2010

October 08, 2010

Digital original
During a photo session creating some stock images for a digital collage I am preparing, I happened across this wonderful composition! It isn't often I get to photograph a bear!

September 25, 2010

September 23, 2010

Micro Micro Micro

Digital original
The more I work with the Canon 65mm micro lens, the more respect I have for people who do micro photography...it is hard to get just the right point in focus, let alone get a good composition. These images of watch parts give some idea of how shallow the depth of field can be!
Digital original