Sunlight In Her Hair

The sunlight plays through her hair and dances in the whisps that have pulled out of her braids.  She has a whole wide world in front of her and it has suddenly gotten much larger.  Her mind is reaching for and pulling in all of the new things that dance into her field of view but no one thing can hold her for long there is too much.  Then, without warning, she stops, she just stops and thinks, and walks.

A few summers ago I followed my niece around as she played on Long Beach on Vancouver Island.  She is from the prairies and everything to do with the ocean was exciting for her; she was a whirlwind of activity; running to see something new, playing in the sand then up and running again.  I got quite a few good images of her in motion but for a moment she moved slowly away from me and looked down, her hands behind her back.  Her brilliant blonde hair stood out against the blue sky and she was for a moment, still and alone on the wide wide beach.  Sticking with a subject can really pay off, I got some pretty good images of her running and moving but this photo seemed to me to have more to say, she dominates the frame but is at the same so very small and seems to have something very serious on her mind.  Finding the instances in time where the image is evocative of all of these things is the photographer’s challenge.

-Russell Berg

There is  another portrait of one of my other niece's here.​

Goose Neck Barnacles

Goose Neck Barnacles on the west coast of Vancouver Island. Canon EOS XSi 50mm f/1.4 at f5.6 1/60 −1ev

I am a pretty public person, some are probably annoyed with the fact that I sometimes push myself into the spotlight.  I am often loud and assertive but I love the quiet of time to myself.  I was searching for this one day when I drove out to the west coast of the island.  I walked out on to Long Beach in the misty October morning and the rain stopped as I walked across the beach.  I remembered a colony of barnacles on the seaward side of a large rock on the beach and I had timed my arrival to coincide with low tide.  I found my spot in a gap between two large rocks that opened out towards the ocean and began to photograph the barnacles.  I loved the quiet solitude of these moments as I searched for  the right image.  The light wasn’t great so I set up my flash and put an orange gell on my snooted flash.  I wanted orange to warm up the light and give the appearance of sunlight on a very overcast day.  The snoot allowed me to focus the light in a smaller area.  I made my snoot out of cardboard folded into a sleeve that slides over my flash.  I liked the way it brought focus to the barnacle colony.

-Russell Berg

Time

Rocks and sand on the beach near Tofino. Canon EOS XSi 50mm f/1.2 at f/2.8 1/350 ISO 200

A year and a half ago I drove across the island to Long Beach to spend some time taking photos.  The day was grey and cloudy and as I drove up their was a light rain falling.  I took a few pictures of some interesting bits of drift wood but I was looking for a particular colony of goose neck barnacles that I had seen in the past.  I found a large rock that faced out on to the beach and though it wasn’t the place I was looking for there were some interesting images to be made.  I ended up spending almost 2 hours in an area of about 2 square metres.  I kept looking, and seeing more images and trying new lighting techniques.  I hadn’t ever spent such a concentrated time in one small place before and it produced some interesting images and I learned quite a lot about taking pictures.  I found that having a dedicated time to spend just trying stuff out is really valuable.

-Russell Berg