Photo Mojo

I've had an unusually busy year, with far more time spent at my computer than I'd like to admit. It's been downright tough to drag my butt out of bed for for early morning photo shoots. Office work stunts my photographic mojo.

The dull, rainy weather last weekend was all I needed to stay home, buckle down and finish a ton of work. When the skies cleared on Sunday afternoon, I had renew energy and inspiration to get out and shoot.

With big plans for Monday morning, I set my alarm clock and had the coffee maker ready to go. I woke up at 4:30am, drove an hour, then hiked in the dark for 20 minutes out to a favorite shoreline spot in Bruce Peninsula National Park. The predawn light was just getting good. For a few hours I was inspired by the morning light and found new angles at familiar places. I've barely been able to put my camera down since.

EOS 1DSm2; EF 17-40mm; Singh Ray warming polarizer LB and 3-stop hard edge ND grad (grad on first two only).

SOLD: Canon EF 600/4 L USM lens

SOLD

FS: Canon EF 600mm f4 lens (non IS).

$3400 CDN or best

Optically excellent.

Full details plus lots of pics of the lens can be found here:

http://www.ethanmeleg.com/600mmlensforsale.htm

Reason for selling... just bought a 500/4 IS.

Give me a shout if you have questions.

cheers,

Ethan-

Lake Huron sunsets

Sunset - St Jean Point Conservation Area

This small shoreline park is a rather obscure spot about 20 minutes from my house. Last night was my first time photographing there, and I was treated to a fantastic sunset.
I shot these using a Gold-n-Blue polarizer to accentuate the rich colors, 3-stop hard edge (4x6" size) ND grad handheld in front of the lens, plus off-camera fill flash (set at -3 stops) to show some detail in the boulders. The wind was so strong it was blowing over parts of my gear.

EOS 1DSm2, EF 17-40mm lens, Singh-Ray filters as mentioned above.
exposure top image 6s at f/18; bottom image 1s at f/20

kayak trip

Just got back from a couple days of kayaking and camping on the east side of Georgian Bay with some friends. Here are a few shots.
[all with EOS 1DSm2, EF 17-40mm lens. Singh-Ray warming circular polarizer]

1) Waterlilies - To get this shot, I hung over the side of my kayak and dangled the camera at water level. Unable to see what I was shooting through the viewfinder, I'd take a shot, review on the LCD, then try again. It took about 30 tries to get it right.

2) Kayaks - sunset on the shore of our camp. 3-stop soft edge ND grad.

3) My friends' dog "Gunner", a big, lovable bull mastif. Very rare to capture a moment where there wan't a long string of drool hanging from his mouth. Fill flash at -2/3.

sometimes you get lucky

I stumbled onto this scene a couple nights by sheer luck while en route to an engagement. With only a couple of minutes to spare, I setup and shot quickly. Two Singh-Ray filters were key to capturing what I saw: a warming circular polarizer to cut glare and improve saturation, and a 4x6" ND grad angled to hold back the bright sky and water.

I first tried the 3-stop soft-edge grad, but it wasn't holding the water back enough, so I opted for the 3-stop hard edge. I was worried the gradation of the hard edge was going to show in the image, but the gradation on the larger 4x6" sized filters is better than on the smaller versions - and it blended perfectly.
EOS 1DSm2; EF 17-40mm

Sunset over canoe on Cyprus Lake, in Bruce Peninsula National Park.

September landscape workshop plus latest pics

My apologies for the lack of postings lately - the weather has been far too good to be sitting inside at a computer!

Just wanted to give a plug for a landscape photography workshop I'm holding here on the Bruce Peninsula in mid-September (15/16). Check out my workshop webpage for full details by clicking here:
http:www.ethanmeleg.com/programs.htm

The first photo below is a a place we'll visit on the workshop - Indian Head Cove in Bruce Peninsula National Park. This is one of my favorite spots on the peninsula. The photo is a self-portrait from a few days ago.

Photo 2 is Piping Plover tracks through rippled sand. The pattern and late day shadows really caught my attention.

The last photo is from yesterday, at the wedding of my good friends Ron and Carrie. I was in the wedding party, tux and all, but still had my camera handy to shoot some candid photos of Ron & Carrie.
Hope you're having a good summer!
cheers,
Ethan-

Frogs to fields to birds.....

This is a great time of year for photography - so many things to shoot and so little time! I'm so far behind editing photos. Here are a few from the past week. All with EOS 1DSm2





About the photos:

1) My friend caught this Wood Frog and I shot it at a setup on my deck before releasing it. 70-200/2.8 lens with 25 + 12mm extension tubes.

2) Canola field in peak bloom, along Highway 6 north of the town of Ferndale. 17-40/4 lens with Singh-Ray warming circular polarizer LB (my favourite filter - I use it for 90% of my landscape shots).

3/4) Piping Plover adult and chick. 600/4 plus teleconvertors.

Hope you're enjoying summer!

cheers,

Ethan-

eastern Georgian Bay

Just got back from a shoot on the east side of Georgian Bay, in the outer islands area of Georgian Bay Islands National Park. The islands were beautifully scuplted granite outcrops, litearlly covered with orange lichens (Xanthoria elegans). Some of the islands had shallow pools with tadpolls (see 4th photo down) and a few lily pads (last photo).

All these were taken with an EOS 1DSm2, 17-40mm lens and Singh-Ray warming circular polarizer LB.

Blue Iris

I was trudging around in my hip waders last night in a small lake near my house. It's hard to manage all the gear when you're knee deep in water and sinking in mud. I was holding a reflector and pressing my cable release with one hand, and holding the ND grad in front of the lens with the other. My goal was an image of Blue Iris in a larger habitat/landscape context.

EOS 1DSm2; 17-40mm lens; Singh-Ray 4x6" 3 stop hard edge ND grad.
5 second exposure at f16; ISO 200

results of Bruce Peninsula Wildflower Workshop

I'm finally catching up on sleep after a great weekend for my Bruce Peninsula wildflower workshop. The weather was idyllic and the flowers spectacular (or is it pestacular Julie?) especially the Yellow Lady's Slippers and Indian Paintbrush, which are the best I've seen in years. The participants were fantastic - both enthusiastic photographers and just plain fun. We laughed almost as much as we shot. Thanks Julie, Glenn, Tracy, Dennis, Brian, Renee, Kiang, Phil and Vicky for making the weekend a success. Extra special thanks to my co-leader Ian Brooks (http://www.ianbrooks.net/), better known as "Mr. Nikon".

I managed to get in a few shots when I could.... all taken with an EOS 1DSm2

Photo Info (from top to bottom):

1. Yellow Lady's Slippers; 17-40/4L lens and Singh-Ray thin warming circular polarizer LB

2. Striped Coralroot orchid; 70-200/2.8L with 25mm ext tube and full flash (off camera) with Gary Fong diffuser (the thing that looks like a salad bowl)

3. Maidenhair Spleenwort fern in rock crevice; 17-40/4L with Singh-Ray thin warming circular polarizer LB light diffused, and supplementary light bounced in with reflector

4. Catamaran sailing into Indian Head Cove, Bruce Peninsula National Park; 17-40/4L and Singh-Ray thin warming circular polarizer LB

The spring rush....

Sorry I haven't had time to post! This time of year is truly crazy for me, with so many things to photograph - breeding birds, wildflowers and landscapes with fresh green foliage.... a great dilemna!

This is one of the best years I've seen for Indian Paintbrush. There are amazing patches of them along the sides of the highway up here on the Bruce Peninsula. I find them to be one of the most photogenic flower species.

Hope you're having a great spring!
cheers,
Ethan-

More Pelee birds

I've been having an outstanding week shooting migrants in the Pelee area. I just got back from 3 magical days on Pelee Island, where I was treated to cooperative warblers and was amazed at how few birders or photographers were there (the solitude was fantastic!). Now I'm back at Point Pelee National Park, and have been spending long days stalking migrant songbirds, with pretty good success.
I have a ton of photos to show, but I need to sleep - after trekking approx 10km per day with my 600mm lens /bird gear, I'm beat!

Pelee birds

Hey everybody,
Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but this is prime photo season for me. I'm shooting in the Pelee area right now, and am having some of my best success ever with warblers....
More to come!

a digital 'right of passage'

When I shifted to digital capture a couple years ago, I hung onto a couple of my film bodies just in case a situation came up where I would need to use them. But I haven't used them - not once! So on Friday I went into Henry's camera store in downtown Toronto, with my two EOS 1N film bodies in hand. I think I'd originally paid around $1500 each when I bought them, but they're not worth much now. The market is flooded with people dumping their film bodies, and the folks at Henry's said they're having a hard time moving them. I traded the two bodies for an 80GB iPod worth $400.

This made me think about how much I like digital capture. It's so easy to experiment, to be able to check the results immediately and to adjust the composition or exposure to improve the shot. I've never been a technical photographer who memorizes f-stops and hyperfocal distances. I'm much more interested in the things I'm photographing, rather than the act of photography itself. So digital has been tremendously liberating for me over film.

There are many people out there still getting great results with film, and I would be just as crazy about photography if I was shooting film today. But I'm loving digital capture, and making the most of the technology. A fond farewell to my film bodies!

close to home

My backyard is a rugged boulder-strewn slope that ends at a wall of sheer cliff face. The Bruce Trail meanders along the top of the cliff and offers some great vistas of Colpoys Bay. Weary-eyed, I trekked up there this morning to catch the sunrise. Here are a couple of the shots.

more Smoky Mtns...

... and a few big landscapes from the Smoky Mtns. Most of these were shot with the Singh-Ray gold n blue polarizer and ND grads - my favorite landscape filter combo.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

A few shots from my brief trip to Great Smoky Mountains National Park (Tennessee) over the past few days. The park far surpassed my expectations - and I can't wait to go back for some intense shooting!