At Gillies Bridge

Gillies Bridge, the little bridge, was the subject of the previous shoot. The next morning, I went to that bridge itself, hoping for good light to emerge downriver toward sunrise. But it didn't really happen. I added a warming filter in edit to the second photo, but it's not the real thing. It is better, though.

One shouldn't be too disappointed. Landscapes photographers have been known to travel far only to find poor conditions and get no great shots. This was just a mile away.

However, before I returned home, I took a couple of photos of the abandoned buildings adjacent to the bridge. I am much happier with these. That's how it often works, what you plan doesn't really work out so well, but something else comes to the rescue — at least partly.

Morning at the Bridge

Morning at the Bridge or I guess I should say Bridges.

Note: the water tower in the last post was decorative only. I do think they plan on putting time capsules in there to be opened at the 250th celebration.

Thinking that I might get an eastern glow shooting from the old rzilway bridge to the little bridge, I set me alarm bright and early — or dark an early as was the case. Yes, 4:15 is dark, but if I want to have a coffee and get to the site by 5:30 . . .

When the phone alarm rang at 4:15, I was undecided and lay back down for a few minutes, but I soon overcame my reluctance and arose. But I left my phone by the bed and, apparently, had only set it to snooze, so I managed to awaken Sue as well. Fortunately, she was able to get back to slumberland.

So, I headed to the trail bridge and set up shop as it were, and I was soon pressing the old shutter.

This was a 3 second exposure which did yield some softness in the water, which is what I was after. I am not to sure what I think about this. It might be better with less saturation and a different crop. I may have to have another go at this one.

And here's the second edit of the same photo. Different. Tighter crop and less vivid. The second version, below, is probably somewhat closer to what I saw, but, one again, nothing is exact in these kinds of photos.

Later, I took a vertical shot, but because it was lighter out, I couldn't do a long enough exposure to get the water the way that I wanted. So, I took 6 exposures and used a photoshop trick to smooth the water just a bit — a bit of a faux long exposure as it were. I think I like this one better overall with more sky and less saturation.

Finally, I took a shot looking the other way to the other bridge downtown by town hall with the dam on the right. I kind of like how it turned out.

The Raising of the Water Tower

In the midst of all the 200th anniversary events, we received notice that the water tower was to raised into place at The Junction.

The Junction is the name that has been given to the recreational area beside the old railway track, at the end (or beginning) of the the former railway or new walking trail.

Once upon a time there were two prominent railway lines that ran through this town. I am not sure when the first one (east-west) was discontinued, but the north-south line stopped running after 2008. At least we were in town for a few years before activity ceased.

So at The Junction there is now a replica of an old railway station complete with water tower, which would have been extremely important during the steam era.

To get back to the narrative, I showed up on a hot morning to witness the water tower being put in place. The photos will take you through the sequence from liftoff to securing the structure in place.

When all was done, I took a picture of much of the committee that was responsible for seeing to this park and construction along with the foreman of the crew that morning.

It was nice to have a little extra something to do on that very busy week.

Sue at the Anniversary Events

Sue accompanied me on most of the shoots although we were in separate spots for the celebration parade because she had to pick up the grands after dropping me off at my preferred location. You have seen some, if not most, already.

At the concert.

At the post-celebration parade gathering.

Waiting for the music to start at the street dance.

Summer Fest (Bazaar)

Picnic

The Vintage Look

I never concentrated on getting these shots, but some of the folk at the picnic, and at other events as well, dressed in vintage attire. As an afterthought, I processed some in b&w with just a tinge of sepia.

Morning Shoot

One morning last week, I awoke so early that I headed out to take some sunrise photos. Last year when we cycled through Roy Brown Park, I mentally noted that one might possibly get some sunrise shots. I haven't photographed a sunrise for quite some time, but I headed off on that morning.

This is my favourite type of photography, taking my own sweet time to shoot a scene in good light.

It wasn't exactly a grand vista, but it worked well enough using trees, foreground flowers, a path and a sunrise. Unfortunately, a few houses are visible in the background, but I think the photos still work well enough.

When I photograph such scenes, I look at the scene before my eyes, press the shutter, and then look at the image on the LCD screen. They never match exactly. With a little nudging in post, this one ↓ looks closest to the actual scene as best I can recall.

But I think I may like the next photo better, even though it's a little more saturated and more orange (I think) than what I actually saw that morning. But I am torn between photos 2 and 3 and would like to read your views. You can click to look at somewhat larger views.

It was sure nice to do my thing in peace and tranquility.

The End

It's over: the crazy 8 events in 10 days. And I don't even particularly like event photography.

There will be a few additional events later on, but it is time to rest.

The final event was the town picnic on Sunday. After the busy time recently plus having company for part of the weekend, we didn't hurry to the 4 hour event but showed up when it was more than halfway over. I can always rely on Bob to be there and get lots of shots. Here ↓ he is at the dance with a bit of his camera in the foreground..

We caught some of the puppet show. At the end the kids lined up to greet the puppets up close.

There was music by The History Buffs who were dressed in old-fashioned garb. The fiddler looks to be sleeping on the job in this photo.

This lady, a friend from exercise, kept time with drumsticks, and our mayor joined in on the tambourine.

The crowd shots were the best. I wish that I had taken my longer lens, but I managed. to get a few keepers.

When I say The End, I do have some concert shots to process. You may recall that I showed some night photos of the final two acts, but there were other daytime acts that I recorded but haven't gotten around to as events kept proceeding apace.