Newsletter No. 36: July 2008

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CONTENTS

1. A Walk Around the House: Part II
2. A Journey in the volcanic Painted Chasm: Part II
3. Driving Home From Vancouver

Hi everyone,

Next week I’ll be heading out to the Itcha Mountains in the west Chilcotin for ten days. I’ll be shooting for British Columbia Magazine as well as for my next book as the Itcha’s are one of the three most important volcanic ranges in the region. Meanwhile, I continue to photograph volcanic areas closer to home, tourism contracts, and work on imagery at the gallery. Here are some recent photographs I’d like to share with you. Enjoy!

Enjoy the Newsletter, and pass it on to interested friends. Remember, our goal here at the Gallery is to share the creative process, and promote the arts; thus strengthening our artistic community. Thank you.

1. A Walk Around the House: Part II

Feeling inspired by the creation of my water droplet images (Newsletter #35), I headed out on another walk around the house – this time into a small forest. With only a macro lens on my camera, my dog Sandy and I set out to explore the forest floor. It wasn’t long before we found one of my favourite spring flowers, the Fairyslipper or Calypso Orchid (calypso bulbosa). Calypso’s name means ‘concealment’ which is very fitting for a flower that is often found in shady hideaways.

Fairyslipper

Canon EOS-1Ds MarkIII; Lens:100mm macro;
Focal length: 100mm; ISO: 400;
Shutter speed: 1/400 sec; Aperture: 4
Exp. mode: AV; Exp.comp: +1/3

When photographing flowers (or anything for that matter) in a forest, I prefer a light overcast day to saturate colours and eliminate deep shadows and high contrast. This particular day, however, was sunny, so I hung my sweater over my tripod to cast a shadow, and got down on my tummy to explore the delicate hues of purple.

When doing most of my macro work, I much prefer not to use a tripod in exchange for the freedom and ease to search for ultimate compositions. This means I use a high shutter speed and very open aperture (f2.8 – f4) for a shallow depth of focus. In the above instance I chose the beautiful golden-yellow hairs with the insect as my centre of interest. Everything else, except any part of the flower that happened to be on the same focus plane, was thrown gently out of focus. The two diagonal lines in the upper left and lower right are used to frame the centre of interest.

Fairyslipper II

Canon EOS-1Ds MarkIII; Lens:100mm macro;
Focal length: 100mm; ISO: 400;
Shutter speed: 1/600 sec; Aperture: 2.8
Exp. mode: AV; Exp.comp: +1/3

Another macro technique I love to use, is to just push my lens into the flowers and search for a very specific centre of interest. In this case the petals up against my lens are thrown completely out of focus creating a light wash of colour. Each of these techniques create a different mood and feeling. As I mentioned in my previous newsletter, the world of macro photography is a visually stimulating one with vista’s we will never see or experience with our naked eye.

2. A Journey into the volcanic Painted Chasm

Here are two more images I made at the Painted Chasm, an amazing example of volcanism just north of Clinton, British Columbia.

Dancing Light & California Bighorn Sheep

Canon EOS-1Ds MarkIII; Lens:35-70mm;
Focal length: 70mm; ISO: 400;
Shutter speed: 1/100 sec; Aperture: 11
Exp. mode: AV; Exp.comp: +1/3

What first grabbed my attention were the five bighorn sheep about a third of the way up on the right hand side of this beautiful and almost vertical volcanic wall. Firstly, it’s hard to imagine how they got there, and secondly, they are so well camouflaged, it’s hard to believe they actually are there. I started to photograph the sheep with a long lens when I suddenly realized there was an amazing display of shadow and light, dancing across the face of the cliff. The light was magical and the sheep being where they were was miraculous. Can you spot them??

Bleeding Vein

Canon EOS-1Ds MarkIII; Lens:100-400mm;
Focal length: 400mm; ISO: 400;
Shutter speed: 1/100 sec; Aperture: 9
Exp. mode: AV; Exp.comp: +2/3

Considering the scale of this landscape, my 100-400mm lens became my macro lens. In the above image, you can detect the layers or lava flows which poured liquid lava over the Cariboo-Chilcotin. In between some of these layers, beautiful red veins separate different flows – each with their very distinctive rock formations. With the expertise of volcanists from the Geological Survey of Canada and the University of British Columbia, this upcoming book publication will bring this geological story to life.

3. Driving Home From Vancouver

I rarely bring my camera gear on trips to the city for fear of theft, but this week I did. I never stopped once in my maniac attempt to quickly get there. However, on the way back, I swore to myself to relax, enjoy the journey, and stop when I saw something of interest. It was hard to break old habits but I did stop several times. Here are a couple of images I made on that trip.

The Little White Church

Canon EOS-40D; Lens:35-70mm;
Focal length: 50mm; ISO: 200;
Shutter speed: 1/200 sec; Aperture: 11
Exp. mode: AV; Exp.comp: +1/3

This little church has attracted my attention for years, but this time I made the effort to stop and I had my camera. It is situated across the Thompson River valley from Highway 97 just north of Spences Bridge, B.C. Situated in front of this magnificent background, it appears to be abandoned

 

Grasslands & Ranchlands

Canon EOS-40D; Lens:70-200mm;
Panorama of four captures
Focal length: 145mm; ISO: 400;
Shutter speed: 1/200 sec; Aperture: 16
Exp. mode: manual

As I approached Cache Creek on Highway 97, a passing storm cast shadows across the landscape. Keeping to my promise, I took my foot off the pedal, gathered my gear, and climbed up a small hill to overview this spectacular landscape. I made several images but sensing the magnitude of the land and the longitudinal length of the shadows, I decided to make an image in panorama format. This image is comprised of four captures which were later stitched together.

Needless to say, I think I’m over my fear of theft and I’ll be bringing my camera gear on all future trips to the city!!