Windblown

Andrea stands wondering, her back is to the water as she leans against the rock.  She has the happy tired feeling of contentment in her bones and and a light smile plays at the corners of her lips.  This has been an incredibly difficult year but now everything that she has faced, well almost everything, is behind her.  There were moments when she wondered if it would all be possible, but now…  Now she smiles, looks down for a moment at her shoes and turns towards the water, her face into the wind.

At Neck Point in Nanaimo there is a wonderful tree that is clinging to a rock on the edge of the ocean.  It looks as though it has experienced decades of hurricane force winds that have forced it to grow sideways out of the rock.  I have photographed this tree several times but I wanted to produce something very moody and evocative that helped to tell the story of the trees struggle for survival.  I pulled one of my exposures into Nik Silver Efex Pro and began to work on it.  I used a high contrast filter and but that made the ocean and horizon almost black so I added control points to the water to increase the brightness of that area.  I also wanted a more dramatic sky so I darkened the top ⅓ of the frame.  I really like the way that the tree exists as a silhouette in a state of tension between the dark sky and the dark water with a band of light running through the middle of the frame.

-Russell Berg

If you are interested in more tree photography check here and here.  Or type 'tree' into the search bar.​

Into The Sun

A Great Blue Heron at Neck Point, Nanaimo flies off into the sun. Canon EOS 7D EF 70-300mm at 244mm f/11 1/200 ISO 100The great rush of air on the first downbeat of the wings pushes out past me as the heron lifts off.  It is a large gangly thing that it seems should not fly... until you see it in the air.  Then it is all grace and power full of life that not just lives in the air but belongs there.  Everything about it from the curve of its wing to the arc in its neck speaks of a supple elegance that belongs in the skies. 

This morning I went off to Neck Point with my notebook and my camera.  I could feel the day’s heat beginning to rise as I walked along the shore.    A lady who was walking by pointed out a heron standing  just off shore.  The sun was was already getting high and the light wasn’t great so I decided to expose for a silhouette instead of trying to get a standard exposure.  I needed a small aperture to put the bird into silhouette but I also wanted the sun sparkling on the water to go out of focus.  Fortunately the depth of field on a long telephoto lens is far more limited than on a wide angle so even at f/11 I got a sparkly out of focus glow from the water.  The tendency of a long lens to compress distances in the image also makes it look as though the water is rising up in the background. I was inspired to produce this image by an ebook which I am currently reading.  It is called "Finding Focus" and it is an excellent discussion of focus, depth of field, and the impact of focal length on your images.  Nicole Young writes it and she does excellent work; it is only $5.00 and there is huge value there. 

-Russell Berg 

Steel Orca

The curves of a steel sculpture of an orca in Swy-a-Lana Park in Nanaimo. Canon EOS 7D EF 50mm f/1.4 at f/2.2 1/640 ISO 100

The animal leaps forward with a surge of power that ripples down its muscular boday and pushes through the waves.  It's nose broaches the surface and the water pours off of it as it reaches for the sky.  It is all grace and power, and in that stolen moment where we see it join our world we know what true potential is.  We stop for a moment and realize we need to breathe again.

In one of the main downtown parks in Nanaimo our city displays the work of local sculptures.  One day as I was walking through Swy-a-Lana I noticed an sculpture of an orca.  As I got closer I saw that the piece was put together out of the old steel car parts.  Right away I realized that the prime photographic opportunities were going to be in the details as the background was not attractive no matter which angle I took.  I got in close and stopped down my fast 50 to f/2.2.  The lines and curves of the steel take on a life all their own at this scale and I love the way the cogs of the gear are visible through the blurred out piece of steel in the foreground.

-Russell Berg

Below is the whole sculpture.

New Day

Sunrise over Departure Bay in Nanaimo. Canon EOS XSi EF-S 17-85mm f/4.5-5.6 at f/6.3 50mm 1/100 ISO 200We spend so much time on sunsets, that the beauty and hopefulness of a sunrise is often ignored.  A sunset quiets and calms as it sinks slowly into darkness.  A sunrise invigorates and animates as we feel the light return to darkened world.  The tremors of the early morning light warms the edge off the night time cool.  The moist air rising off the water is pushed back against me as I walk over the pebbled rocks and uneven sand and I feel the possibilities of a new day.

I drive past the beautiful Departure Bay every morning and the sunrises are often spectacular.  One Saturday morning I went down with my camera anticipating a beautiful sunrise.  I wasn't disappointed.  I had enough time to get set up and ready as I anticipated the sun coming up over Stephenson Point in the distance.  The atmospheric dust was just enough to give the air a beautiful warm glow and to through the mountains on the mainland into golden silhouette.  I made sure that I had underexposed the image enough for the foreground to be thrown into silhouette and waited for the magical momen when the sun peaked over the the trees.

-Russell Berg

Twins

Black Oyster Catchers in the sun on Vancouver Island Canon EOS 7D EF 70-300mm f4-5.6 at f9, 1/250, ISO 200On a fine morning in the middle of May last year my daughter and I went out in our kayaks to do a little exploring around Departure Bay.  We were out interested to see if there were any seals out sunning themselves on the rocks as paddled by one of the small islands in the middle of the bay.  I was watching for birds and seals to photograph as we paddled out with my dry bag open between my knees I had my telephoto lens on the 7D ready to yank out and fire away if we saw something.  I place my cameras lens down into my bag in such a way that when I reach in to grab them I am holding on to the grip and it comes up to my eye ready to fire.  I have missed too many shots while I was fumbling for my gear.  This did require some careful paddling to prevent the water from dripping into my open bags but it wasn’t too difficult.  When I move out into open water or I am paddling for speed I close up the dry bag which holds my whole camera bag.  Anyway as I looked up two Black Oyster Catchers walked up over the rise.  The Island sloped up from the water so I was below them and I think this adds to the visual interest of the frame.  I snapped off a few pictures and then the one bird moved behind the other and I knew I had the image I wanted.

-Russell Berg