Photography
It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of my Sister-In-Law, in the Orkney Islands, Scotland.
Maureen Johnston was an amazing sister, sister-in-law, and auntie to our family here in Canada. She will be very missed by us, the family in Orkney and generally everyone who knew her. She had a true heart and she was the kindest person you could ever have as a friend.
We will be traveling home to Orkney to be with family, so there will be a small break in photos.
It was a beautiful clear night for the Orleans Christmas Parade of Lights. It was a bit chilly at -11c, but there were lots of people and the children were really excited to see all the floats and displays. Here are a few of my favourites.
We took a short 3km walk along the Ottawa River pathway in the late afternoon. I was really hoping to capture some more bird photos, but it was very quiet wildlife wise. The scenery and light were amazing though.
I have tried adding boarders to my photos for effect for the first time. They look good when you click on them, but kinda funny displayed below in the grid.
I treated myself to a new recliner chair and we had to go and pick it up from the stores warehouse located just off 10th line and Inness Road in Orleans. When we pulled out of the warehouse parking lot, I spotted a puddle and you know how much I love puddle reflection photos. So I stopped the car and took our my camera and shot a few photos. Here are a couple.
I submitted my photos to Ian Black who does the Weather for CBC Ottawa and he used one of them on his weather report. Here is a screen grab.
Thanks very much Ian Black and CBC for using my photo.
I went back to the Mer Bleu Boardwalk this past weekend to try and re-shoot the Chickadee’s with better camera settings. I used a smaller aperture setting and that extended the focal point so that I could keep the whole bird in focus. It was brighter out and it had snowed during the week, it really helped with keeping the birds fully lit with no shadows. All these photos were shot at ISO 200, F8, 160/sec with my 50mm prime lens.
I took my 50mm Prime Lens out to one of my favourite east end nature walks this past weekend. I brought some bird seed with me as I know the Chickadee’s are pretty tame. I learned some stuff on this outing about my lens. It was very cloudy and thinking that I wanted crisp photo’s of the birds, I kept my ISO low at 100. I had my F-Stop as low as I could go.. 1.8 and a shutter speed of 1/160 of a second. The photo’s all came out ok, but the focal point was so thin. Next time, I am going to choose a higher F-Stop and slightly faster ISO so the whole bird is in focus.
We had our first snow today, but last weekend I gathered a few interesting leaves from our back garden and I brought them in to photograph. I used my 50mm Prime Lens and my macro tubes. I also installed my Light Ring to light up the leaves. ISO was 200, various Shutter speeds and F-Stops. I have also included a couple of random garden shots from while I gathered the leaves.
For the second weekend in a row, Mother Nature cooperated weather-wise. I took my Camera down to the Ottawa River Pathway System and did a 12km walk (see route at the bottom). The leaves and skies were spectacular. I think we are so lucky to have pathways like this in our city.
For these shots, Nikon D5300, Kit Lens, and Fish-eye Lens, ISO 200
The leaves were at their peak this past Thanksgiving Weekend. My wife and I decided we would go out to a local favourite of ours for a walk and maybe take some photos of the local wildlife. Mer Bleu Bog boardwalk is a must do at almost any time of year. We knew we wouldn’t be be able to walk around this weekend as the cars were lined up 500 meters down each side of the road outside the generous parking lot. So we turned around and captured a couple of back country road shots and then we took a drive to the Aviation Parkway and we made our way down to Sussex Drive. We parked near Old City Hall and we took a walk around the building. We crossed the Minto Bridges (Circa 1900) and then along Sussex Drive. I used my Nikon D5300 and my Kit lens for all the shots. ISO 100, various F-stops and Shutter Speeds. Have a look below and let the spectacular colours speak for themselves.
We rented an AirBnB in Golden Lake Ontario, about 2 hours west of Ottawa. We have had a busy summer with family and traveling and a nice weekend away taking photos with friends sounded just like the kind of downtime we needed. Here are a few of my favourites from the weekend.
