2011-11-27

Photo(graphy) of the Week 2011-11-28

This past Saturday, November 26, I had the privilege of working with a group of local volunteers trying to make a small difference in the lives of those in our local community.

Lead by my good friend and fellow photographer, Karen Brodie, the Help Portrait - Guelph event was held at Community Living Guelph Wellington on Saturday. A bunch of volunteers rocked the CLGW/ARC house taking portraits of those who would not normally have access or choose to have professional quality portraits taken. The event was sponsored by the Guelph Photographers Guild, a local group I have been involved with since it's inception.

All of the patrons received 2 5x7 printed portraits with a frame and DVD with all images taken of them so they could later print whatever they wanted. With 4 portrait stations and supporting make-up, editing and printing teams, over 100 patrons were photographed, some including their family members, friends, support workers and whoever else they wanted in the shot. Set-up began Friday night and the event ran Saturday from 9:00 am through to tear-down sometime around 5:00 pm.

Testing the setup Friday night ...
test one ..... test two


... three
....Four!


... OK I think we've got it ! Now we just need to go home, rest and get ready to rock !

Images from the event are all on a hard drive (or two I hope) somewhere and will be provided to all those involved as model releases were obtained for use of the images by the photographers ... for now all I have are a few images that were not erased form the rotating set of memory cards that my team were using. I'm anxious to get the images on disc so I can see how all of mine turned out. There wasn't much time to critically evaluate the results of my efforts at the time ... of course this was not about me the photographer, it was about much more.

A couple of samples from late in the day. The rest I have to wait for.
JR



Jim


My team members, and what a great bunch - thanks (cw form bottom left) Paul, Andrew, Dave, Milton, Mike and me.


The whole volunteer group

Local media coverage


DJE

2011-11-20

Photo of the Week 2011-11-21

It's gratifying when someone new notices one of your images and goes out of their way to mention it. Recently one of my friends passed on a comment from someone he knows back in England that saw this one online. Apparently they thought that my aluminum canoes image was "corker".
I had to check and make sure a "corker" was a good thing, and according to my friend, a Brit himself, it is.

So here you have it ...

aluminum canoes



I made this image while up north near Algonquin Park recently. Lynn and I had been out for a hike before breakfast and returned to enjoy some coffee and mid morning dining at the resort. It was on the way back to our villa that I noticed a number of canoes hauled up on a dock resting after what I suspect was a long summer of hard use. The way they were arranged caught my eye, as did the morning sun glinting off their bruised and battered hulls.

By the way, not made with my most expensive camera gear, just with the camera I had with me at the time. Although, I am glad that it was a high end "point & shoot", the G12. This camera provides a quality file that I can make decent size prints from.
I need to find a spot to hang this one ...

DJE

2011-11-14

Photo of the Week 2011-11-14

gold 'n green morning

November may not be the time to head to Algonquin Park for "fall colour", but it was a good time to go for a few days of relaxation and some time away with Lynn.

We took advantage of great weather for early November in Northern Ontario and hiked several of the day-trails along Hwy60 through the park.

On the last day of our stay, we awoke to morning mist and I knew there were going to be some great photo opportunities. We headed out in thick fog and soon found that it was patchy, with some clear areas and others covered in a thick blanket. Driving east, we rounded a bend at Brewer Lake and there was a slight mist in the air with the sun just high enough to throw some diffused light on a stand of golden tamarack on the far shore. I pulled off into a parking area and got out into the chill of the gold 'n green morning.

DJE

2011-11-07

Photo of the Week 2011-11-07

cascading waters

It had been a while since my last visit to Everton, a favourite location for a short, relaxing photo walkabout. I last blogged about this enchanting little spot nearly two years ago.

Normally, I would approach a photo outing at Everton with my tripod, neutral density filters and the idea of making some long time exposures to show the water smooth and creamy as it rushes and flows over a series of drops to become the quiet river again. On this outing, I took a bit different approach and walked the area probing around into new reaches, looking for something new...

... but I found myself drawn to one particular scene that I photograph on virtually every visit to Everton. There is a spot where the translucent waters of the Eramosa plunge almost a metre into a pool rounded out by years of scouring. In order to get the view back up the narrow channel one must climb onto an outcrop of limestone that extends out and into the cascade. The colour of the water can vary from brown to green depending on the time of year and lighting conditions. On this occasion, I chose to capture the greenish hues with a short exposure to bring out the turbulent character of the cascading waters.

DJE