Fiddler's Green Looms?

Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia - photographed with Singh Ray Vari-N-Duo

What happens when you put two photographers in one canoe with only one paddle?

Well that depends.

A friend of many years, and fellow photographer, dropped by recently and we spent a few days shooting, travelling and reminiscing. I also convinced him he should model for me as a canoeist.

There is little doubt Brian can handle a canoe, having just completed a three week sojourn down one of Canada’s great rivers: the Nahanni system. Where I erred was not recognizing that Brian had paddled that fabled river in a 17-and-a-half foot canoe loaded with a total weight well in excess of 800 pounds. Brian was now in the stern of a thoroughbred weighing a mere 46 pounds and no cargo except we two and $5000 worth of camera equipment.

The Keji, manufactured by www.yukoncanoe.ca is a sleek and incredibly responsive Prospector design canoe. It is a treat to paddle, but Brian is used to long reaches on a big river with very stable and heavily loaded canoes. This same paddle style, with me facing backwards from the bow, proved to be a little more than what I am accustomed to. Suffice to say that the language got colourful on a couple of occasions as I looked over the gunwhale and into the water ... through the camera’s viewfinder!

Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia - photographed with Canon 14mm prime lens

Once Brian was convinced to shorten his stroke, we had some fun. Well at least I did, Brian was now complaining about the cold. Goodness, had we waited one more day to do this shoot we would have been doing so in a snow storm that dropped about six inches in the first snowfall of the season; then he would have had something to complain about.

All good fun aside, we had a hoot shooting as I tried a new toy from Singh Ray Filters, http://www.singh-ray.com/varinduo.html ,and a somewhat different approach to an old composition. This unique filter allows me to slow down the shutter speed up to a whopping 8 f-stops by rotating the Neutral Density component while also enjoying the LB Warming Polarizing filter that is the second component of this unique offering. It works, and works well when one is trying to create a sense of motion blur such as I was wanting to do with Brian as we canoed around the neighbourhood pond. As I was trying to find the right balance of acceptable blur and unrecognizable abstract, I wondered why it is that clients most often prefer the static and frozen still images rendered from high shutter speeds – goodness we live in a fast moving world, after all.

Another great toy on this shoot was Brian’s 14mm Canon lens. This was the first time I had shot with this lens and was really impressed with its sharpness, definition and incredible depth of field. This is one fun lens, and something tells me it might soon find its way into my camera bag. As a word of caution, however, don’t wade to the top of your knee-high rubber boots, squat down to get a really low camera angle and expect to stay dry. No, my boots did not fill with water but another part of my anatomy that is much less agreeable to cold water did get wet.

Oh wait, no, the water is not cold, Brian. That is just your imagination.

Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia - photographed with Singh Ray Vari-N-Duo

Canadian Air Force Saves the Day

True to form the Leafs are faltering and the leaves also are falling; unfortunately both faster than what one might desire.

The past week and a half I travelled through the easternmost portion of the province of Quebec, the Gaspe Peninsula, and northern New Brunswick. Let’s just say the torrential downpours and fierce winds, both quite common for this time of year in these parts, challenged not just ones fortitude but also skill set. Adaptability is a cornerstone of life as a freelance photographer.

For eight days I watched the leaves blowing away faster than fleas on a dog's back during a Raid attack. But on the ninth day when there was no wind and just a light drizzle, I was out looking for a tree that still had leaves attached. Note that I wrote tree in the singular – the plural “trees” just was not going to happen. I finally found a scene I was generally pleased with and captured a few frames before moving back to the coast where wind generally enhances the opportunities.

Appalachian Mountain Range, near Kedgwick, New Brunswick

As a stock photographer we generally try to identify and photograph scenes that offer a message, something that will move an image from a documentary to a suggestive metaphor. Keywords such as success, profit, reaching the top, and so on, are never far from the stock shooters psyche and their approach to income earning imagery. However, we must also have some fun as, after all, is probably why we became photographers in the first place.

Whereas the weather posed some frustrations, it also provided the opportunity to just go out and shoot for the fun of it. I donned a hat, found a salt marsh in Kouchibouguac National Park and went looking for the migrating Canada geese – now you know why I wore a hat!

Canada Geese, Kouchibouguac National Park, New Brunswick

The geese were coming and going in flocks measuring in the hundreds, nothing too awfully large but they were quite accommodating by feeding in a lagoon that was easily accessible. Knowing that if I positioned myself upwind from the geese and their “runway” would greatly improve my opportunities, I simply settled in for a few hours each day with no preconceived notions – I was just going to have some fun.

With the 400mm lens mounted on the tripod and the head “loosened” I was able to pan the camera as the geese landed and took off. Although the images will never find their way into a stock library I had a hoot ... or should that be honk? As a bonus, I didn’t even get bombed!

Canada Geese, Kouchibouguac National Park, New Brunswick

Leafs lead to Ice

Labrador Sea (2009)

Just like Toronto’s hockey team, the leafs are getting ready to fall.

I’m getting everything planned for that annual foray. If all goes well I should be able to start in northern New Brunswick around the first week of October, and follow prime colour into Cape Breton around the 2nd week; the whole time hoping we don’t get any wind.

Following my last post I had several notes from folks asking when the best time is to chase the colour. As is life in general, there is no definitive or hard fast rule; but, the above should provide a starting point.

Two others asked if I enjoyed autumn as the best season, what is my favourite subject to photograph? That is a much tougher question as I have been incredibly fortunate to have travelled around the world and photographed everything from endangered snakes to royalty – not that those two go hand-in-hand.

Digital Composite (2009)

I would have to offer that I have an affinity for icebergs. I have been chasing these Atlantic monoliths for more than 20 years. While I still don’t get as euphoric as I first did there remains an excitement about seeing a special berg, be it due to size or shape.

Gull on Berg (2006)

Over the years I have also had numerous folks ask why I don’t start a photo tour/workshop where I can lead people to the ice. Well, I’m thinking about it quite seriously and may start as early as spring 2010. The challenge is that icebergs aren’t migratory, they don’t always show up in one specific location on a tight schedule. However, there are several locations that certainly loan themselves to the photographer and I am now researching what infrastructure support is available. If you are interested, link through to my website and send me an e-mail. I’ll put you on the mailing list (and no, I won’t share it).

Labrador Sea (2009)

Now back to that hockey game ... err, I mean falling leaves.

Naturally Intoxicating

Richardson Mountains, north of Arctic Circle in the Yukon

A week-long assignment last week placed me in Kejimkujik National Park, in the southwest corner of Nova Scotia.

Putzing along a meandering gravel road leading to nowhere but a dead end, I gravitated to a familiar floodplain covered with a most impressive display of ferns; ferns of every description and variety found in these parts. Whereas the fern display is most impressive, the sweet aroma of autumn that first wafts through the air in these same locations can be intoxicating. It is a time to stop the car, find a stump and simply breathe in the surroundings reinforcing the notion that life just isn’t too bad after all.

While enjoying my sanctuary I thought of a question posed to me many times during my presentations and workshops: “Where is the best place to photograph in Canada?” My answer always remained the same and I have been undeterred: Wherever you happen to be at that time.

Should one ask what season I enjoy most, however, my response would remain as steadfast: Autumn.

Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario

In Canada it is possible to travel for two months shooting fall foliage by starting along the only public highway in the world to cross the Arctic Circle. The Dempster Highway navigates its way from Dawson City to Inuvik, and starts to show its colour in late August. By the middle of October you should find yourself at the crème de la crème for autumn shooting in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and specifically Cape Breton Highlands National Park.

These photos are a few teasers just to get us pumped and ready, wherever we happen to be.

Mary Ann Falls, Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Nova Scotia

Hurricane Bill – The Pussy

Well at least it was in my home territory of Nova Scotia. Then again perhaps that analysis isn’t fair, after all hurricanes are now compared to the devastating Hurricane Juan whose fury left death and destruction in its wake in September, 2003. That said, I will opt for the gentler version –such as Bill- any day.

As Bill whistled on by, it got me to thinking: Why would anyone name a hurricane Bill? Bill is for Cosby, Clinton and Gates, by all accounts mild-mannered men. Who could ever imagine Bill Cosby marching over the hill with the vengeance of Attila the Hun or Ghengis Khan while seeking a duel with King Neptune?

But ah, yes you might add, Bill is the abbreviation for William, as in William the Conqueror. English adaption of the name William can actually trace its beginnings to the Anglo-Norman language following the Norman Conquest. So it would seem, Bill, can indeed be a name of might and fright.

Regardless – hurricanes roll up along the shores of Nova Scotia every autumn. Two things can be guaranteed: 1. Testosterone driven young men arrive on the shorelines to prove their masculinity to their girlfriends while caressing their own egos allowing onlookers to question the depth of the gene pool, and 2. those same great waves provide fabulous photo ops.

Bill was no exception. At Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia, three young men are extremely lucky to be alive today, and nearby Cow Bay provided some great seascape opportunity.

With a large clear garbage bag firmly attached to protect my trusty Canon (yes, I stick my head right in that bag), and my cell phone wielding son away we went to the shoreline. A couple of hours later we returned home with a card full of William.

And I believe the best shot of the day is this one ... captured by

our 14 year old son.  

Evolutionary Process

 

Darwin said it best, and I paraphrase: Get on the turnip truck or roll off and be lost.

For reasons that are very clear to me I still prefer the smell and feel of a finely crafted coffee table book, its pages creaking with delight as if beckoning the explorer to slow down and enjoy. I’ve only placed my nose up to a monitor once to get a whiff of a new e-book, and that on an older CRT screen. The sound that evolved was me cursing and swearing as I got a zap of static electricity through my right nostril that fully embedded within the grey matter. The result was fatal and lasting – it would seem I have climbed aboard the turnip truck.

And so, with this first post I certainly want to make it clear that it will not be my intent to offer words of philosophical wisdom and meanderings as I believe we often take life too seriously. We should loosen up and smell the daisy’s from the topside, there will be far too much time to lament and correct the woes of the world when we view that same daisy from the bottom side.

Hopefully, as this blog evolves, I will be able to share my photographic experiences and locations with you.

First up is the annual aerial ballet that occurs every late summer, usually peaking around 20-25 August along the mud encrusted shorelines of the Bay of Fundy. Although several species of shorebirds will be intermixed, the star attraction is the semipalmated sandpiper that will appear on the horizon in a long defensive formation that dances, twists and turns it way across the sky as only a gymnast can make a length of ribbon come to life.

By the thousands, and indeed tens-of-thousands, they will gravitate to the receding Fundy tide and newly exposed shoreline to feed on the resident mud shrimp in preparation for their 4000 kilometre nonstop flight over open water to South America.

Key locations to observe and photograph this incredible natural attraction are Mary’s Point and Cape Dorchester in New Brunswick, and Evangeline Beach in Nova Scotia.

Now that I have shared these locations with you I have but several requests: Stay off the beach itself so the birds will land (feeding is crucial for their survival), don’t leave any garbage behind, and enjoy one of the most enjoyable and naturally natural displays to be found in eastern Canada.