AC the Mad Snapper

Just a little hubris for you this morning. I thought that I would post some pics of me taking pics. Most are Sue's phone shots.

But first, one of me not taking pics, but Sue is in the frame. It was also taken with her phone, but I can't remember by whom.

Early one morning, when I went out to shoot from the bridge by town hall, Nick was out also shooting, and he got this one. What impresses me about this shot was how he moved me to the spot that he wanted in order to get a good composition — see how he has framed me amongst the foliage and next to Roy Brown, the local hero credited with shooting down the Red Baron. Mostly, I and others just grab the shot ad hoc as the opportunity presents itself, but Nick really has the eye.

At Blakeney Rapids, where we took the kids for a little water play, I wandered about, and Sue spotted me. Partly, I was shooting the kids from a different angle, but I was also partly looking for other photo ops that I could return to in better light. I didn't find many.

When we visited The Mill for Tea on the Lawn, we wandered around a bit, and Sue got me taking a photo from the bridge.

Then at the sunflower field, Sue took two more photos.

That evening when Bob and I returned for the sunset shoot, Bob took this fine photo.

Being the one with the camera, I don't see many shots of myself, but Sue gets some with her phone, and I'm glad that both Nick and Bob chipped in.

Back Again in the Morning

Somewhat late evening, Bob texted me, wondering if I would like to go back to the sunflowers for sunrise. I wasn't sure and told him that I would text him in the morning if I was all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

In preparation, I did gather my stuff, and I set my alarm for the usual 4:15. It turned out that I didn't need it as I arose at 4 on my own. This is good as it doesn't break Sue's sleep.

It wasn't so much the sunflowers that were our prime objective, but we thought that we might get a good sunrise over the farmstead and adjacent cornfields. In point of fact, we didn't turn out that way, for as the sun got closer to rising the few clouds that had been there earlier just disappeared. We did get a glow, however, and it was nice enough. (There are a few clouds in the two earlier photos but none in the second pair.)

But there was a lagniappe awaiting us. The full moon was still up in the opposite direction. Moons are tricky business, especially if you're trying to get them in context, but I managed to some degree. What I did was take my best moon photo of the lot and paste it into the correct position in the other shots.

Perhaps, my favourite shot of the morning was the last-minute one sans tripod. Go figure.

Bob says that he wants to try for sunrise one more time if possible with clouds.

Yes! We Did!

Yes! We did return to the sunflower fields that evening. Left on my own, I would have skipped it because I was tired, and it jsut seemed like so much work to get my gear together and get out there again.

But I had made a date with Bob, and he was driving, so in not the greatest of moods, I got myself ready.

It was great.

When we first arrived, the backlight on the flowers was quite something, and I took close-ups.

And then the sun began to set, so I switched to the wider view.

When I have heard other photographers say that it was worth the effort just for the experience whether they got a photo or not, I have been rather skeptical. But on that evening, I understood.

As it happened, I did get a few photos that I like.

The earlier close-ups with backlight.

Later sunset photos.

Tea on the Lawn

The not-too-distant Mill of Kintail hosts a Tea on the Lawn on two afternoons a week through the summer months. We generally manage one visit each season. We also usually do coffee with Barb and Bob on most weeks but discovered that they had never done this tea event. That, of course, had to be rectified.

I took these two photos of Sue as we waited.

A bus from the seniors residence pulled in, so the tea was more attended than usual. I snapped this on the way out, For some reason it isn't in focus, but it gives you an idea of the scene. It'a all rather old-fashioned and quaint, but it is also quite beckoning.

We walked down the trail. it was thoughtful of Bob to wear red. 😊

I took another photo of Sue and her fine parasol as we ambled about.

We also paid a quick visit to the museum, which is the former residence of the Robert Tait McKenzie family. The ladies had been upstairs to visit McKenzie's sculptures.

There is a cloister, really an open chapel, on the grounds. It is often used for summer weddings.

Upon leaving we paid a quick visit to not-too-distant sunflower fields.

Bob and I determined to return at sunset with tripods. But did we?

Two Days With the Kids

We had the kids for two days this week before they head off to Prince Edward Island for a week.

Day One was pretty well a reprise of their previous visit: a bike ride that included a stop at the bridge and shawarmas in the plaza behind town hall.

The main activity of Day Two was a trip to the Blakeney Rapids. The water is low now, but the kids were able to have a bit of fun.

Other than those outings, JJ busied himself working on a dragon version of the zodiac. He would find an image of the computer. I would print it out, and he would trace the outline.

Danica did some weaving of friendship bracelets.

She also spent a lot of time entering her pedigree (ancestry) into a database. She did mine too. I have done this twice in the past but lost both versions due to one software change and one computer death. Here's a screenshot of mine that it too tiny to read, but you can zoom in when you are in the actual program. I am the slightly bolder blue box in the bottom third; my ancestors are above and my descendants below. I think they lay it out really well.

It is a free online service at https://www.familyecho.com/ if you're interested.

Fourth Morning

One more time to the same location but deciding to try different lenses. I went a little later, and the sky was somewhat better too with the clouds slightly above the horizon leaving a gap for the sunrise above the land instead of obscured by low level clouds.

It was Sunday, so the weekend fishers were out bright and early: well maybe earlier than bright. There is a heron in both photos although I didn't know it at the time. monitor magnification does help one to see more. It's not sharp as I wasn't focusing there, but I still like its presence.

As the sun rose higher, I shifted my attention to the southern bank and the Boulton Brown Mill. My processing is somewhat painterly in this case.

Still focusing on the mill, I shifted my position to just capture the sun just peeking over the corner of the building. I squeezed the aperture to get the rays, but this, along with shooting directly toward the sun produced a lot of sun flares.

In the first photo I tried to minimize the flares, but I just went with them in the second image. They were processed on different days and in different ways, so the colour balance and saturation are not identical. In the end, I think I prefer the flares in the second version.

On the fifth day, I rested — a bit. The kids were coming over, so I needed to  preserve some energy. lol  I did awake at the same time regardless without the alarm, but I was also able to roll over and get a bit more sleep. Consequently, I didn't arise until the relatively late hour of 5:15.

Third Consecutive Early Rising

Yup! The alarm went at 4:15 once again, and although I didn't exactly jump out of bed, I did arise shortly thereafter.

I wasn't sure where I was going to head, but since I've had a bridges theme going, I thought I might as well head downtown to the Bridge Street bridge.

Although my plan was to shoot downriver toward the old railway (new trail) bridge, my first shot was of The Waterfront Gastropub with it's deck lights still on. I like how the water turned out in this 6 second exposure, which has to be one of the longest that I've ever taken. This was at 5:40am and is, I guess by far, my favourite photo of the morning.

I took several shots looking upriver, but the next one that I kept was 10 minutes later. I wanted the old mill (right) and the railway bridge in the same frame, but the lens that I was using made the shot too tight. I have a very nice wider angle photo from years ago that it better than this one. It is almost sunrise and you can see a decent glow on the horizon.

At almost 6 o'clock and the sun is just up although you can't see it from this vantage point. There are two fishers in the photo (lower right). They had probably been there all along as I shot various photos, but I didn't see them until I looked at this image on the computer. Actually, it was in a more exposed version than this in which I first noticed them.

I figured we were pretty well done with that sunrise view, so a few minutes later, I switched my attention to the other side of the bridge, looking upriver instead of down. With the day getting brighter already and not facing such a tonal range of light and shadow, these photos were relatively easy to get compared to the others. I do like them both but especially the first one, I think, with the river disappearing into the distance. However, the triangular shape of the trees and their reflection is fairly effective in the second image as well, and I think the two boathouses also balance the second photo nicely.

When I turned back around, the eastern sky was even a little better than before although I did decide to also add a warming filter in post because the colour still wasn't quite where I wanted it to be without a little bit of extra help. I do think it is much better than the earlier downriver photo posted three shots above, but as on the past two mornings, none of these sites are optimal for those quintessential sunrise shots that others have access to.