Oct
02
2020What is it about autumn, trees and the need to take pictures of the leaves?
The event happens every year without fail, yet people continually take and post photos of the leaves. I do too. Or at least, I thought I did. Looking through the archives here, I had to go back five years to find some pictures. Although I do look at the trees and think, I gotta get a picture of that, then never do.
It must be just the colours. We go from brown and grey of winter to lush green for the summer. The fall burst of oranges, reds and yellows, especially against a crisp blue sky, is just so inviting and fun.
So, here are my obligatory fall photos…so far….
Apr
30
2020I needed to take my son to the hospital for an appointment (nothing serious to worry about).
Since I didn’t know how long the appointment would be, I took along my Fuji X100T, should, you know, something interesting happen. I’m still riffing off the chess shots I took over the weekend, so I’m on it now – the photo thing.
Along the way, looking around, the tree line looked neat with the sun, obscured by clouds, looked kind of neat. So this picture came about. I always shoot in manual mode – I set the aperture and shutter speed and ISO, so I set the shutter speed to max and the shutter equally maxed out to get this look.
While it was shot at around 9:30am, it looks like a night shot in October.
Mar
17
2017While waiting for the train mentioned in the previous post, I had some time to kill (in the hopes I didn’t miss the train altogether). With camera in hand, one looks for interesting patterns, shapes or compositions. Thus, when looking up I saw the outline of wind-swept trees, giving a very northern Ontario/Canadian look. So I framed it up and took the shot. A little monochrome treatment worked well with the dark tones of the tree and bland sky background.
Shortly after the shot, I heard the train horn, and my attention was shifted.
Shot with the Fuji X100T.
Feb
20
2017Its been a nice few days. After last week’s snow storms and dump of 50cm of snow, this weekend was well above normal, and freezing temperatures was a happy change. It was Family Day in Ontario, which means a day off from work, so we went to the Jack Pine trail for a bit of time outside.
Others did too, so it wasn’t quite as quiet in the woods as one would like. But still, nice to see people outside and not sitting in their houses watching TV.
I brought along the Fuji X-T1 and wide angle lens to get some photos. I’ve been lacking in photos for a while. While I did get some good shots, a telephoto lens would have been useful for some bird shots. In this area, the chickadees will land on your hand for some seed.
May
14
2016During my excursion from my last post, I brought along my girlfriend’s red scarf. The main reason was because of the time of year. In mid-April, everything is pretty much grey and brown. Nature hasn’t woken up from its winter slumber. So I tried to be artistic by adding a splash of colour.
This was the best result. Of course the breeze that I had at the beginning dissipated when it came time to push the scarf around, so I had to drape it over the branches. Oh well, nothing ventured…
Interestingly, this area was engulfed in fire a couple of years ago. The conservation authority has taken the opportunity to run a path through the area with a number of information kiosks about the hows and whys of forest fires, and how the regrowth occurs.
Shot with the Fuji X-T1 and the 16-55 f2.8 lens.
Jan
06
2016For me, the best part about the new year is the days, or at least the daylight, lasts longer. I’m not a fan of it being dark by 5pm. Once the winter solstice hits, then Christmas, its all about getting more daylight! I especially like it when its cloudy for a few days. When then becomes clear, the extra daylight is like a little present.
This was my view tonight on the way home. I sometimes catch a bus that will drop me about 10 minutes walk away. The sun sets by this time, but the resulting deep blue in the sky with the silhouettes looks awesome.
This was shot with the Fuji X100T with the Classic Chrome film simulation. Its straight from the camera. No post processing other than a little crop to take out an unwanted element. The camera is awesome.
Nov
20
2015Over Thanksgiving, while visiting family, I went for a walk on the RailTrail. It was for many years, a railway ling for the Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway (TH&B). After a landslide washed away part of the track, the line was abandoned. In its second life, it became a trail. The rails were taken up, the roadbed resurfaced and is now a major exercise hub with people walking, jogging, biking and the occasional horseback rider using the line.
But I digress. This particular photo is a group of Sumac trees that have died off. The look of a group of tangled branches caught my eye, and I knew it was destined for a monochrome photo with my X100.
Oct
17
2015I went down to Dundas Ontario to visit my family last weekend for Thanksgiving. I decided well in advance (a rarity for me) to only take the Fuji X100 and the teleconverter, to make the 35mm a 50(ish)mm equivalent.
It was a beauty of a weekend, and although the fall colours have been slow to arrive this year, there was still a lot of colour in the trees. One Saturday, my son and I went up to the location of the old Dundas train station, now long gone. When I was his age, 14, I’d ride my bike up there on Saturday mornings to watch the trains before heading home for lunch. The station has long burned to the ground thanks to vandals, however, the area is still a great place to go for hikes into the gorge and walk up to Webster’s Falls. And to watch trains.
I haven’t used the 50mm teleconverter much in the last while since getting it. The X100 with the teleconverter is a great little kit that is light and makes great images. And mother nature puts on quite a show. With the beautiful weather, many of the shots needed no adjustments. What you see is what you get.
