Skala Evening

I am lucky enough to be spending some time in Greece with some time to do some photography.  I am working with Refugee Rescue as part of a boat crew that is doing SAR for migrants making the desperate boat trip across the strait from Turkey to Lesvos, Greece.   Last night I spent some time wandering one of the most photogenic villages that I have ever seen.  It is truly a beautiful spot.  I knew before I left Canada that I would want to be doing some night-time photography and in just about every circumstance that means a tripod.  International travel with a full size Manfrotto is never fun so I decided to give my Platypod a workout on this trip.  It’s an aluminum plate with some legs and a screw that accepts your tripod head, its an arrangement that is very compact and also offers a lot of flexibility and stability.   I really like low angle shots anyway so just setting the whole arrangement down on the road, quay, or low wall really worked for me.  I didn’t use an ND filter for any of these shots as I was working late enough at night that I could get 20-30 second exposures using ISO and aperture alone.

If there is a prettier place to sit in an outdoor cafe on a warm Mediterranean night I don’t know where it is.  Canon 7D Mk ii 10-22mm at f/10 22sec ISO 200

The church that forms the iconic centre of the Skala harbour.  Canon 7D Mk ii 10-22mm at f/8 22sec ISO 200

The low angle and the very wide 10mm focal length stretches some of the straight lines in the image but I think it emphasizes the dominance of the church.  There was a little boy playing at the top of the steps and he provides and interesting blur that increases the dynamic interest of the photograph.

-Russell Berg

www.seeingberg.com

Menace In The Sand

My wife and I were walking out on Duke Point when we came across this very interesting sandstone formation. EOS Rebel XSi, EF 50mm 1.4, at f/9.5, 1/90, ISO 200

On one of those beautiful spring days that we get in Nanaimo in late March my wife and I went for a walk in an area where there is a lot of sandstone.  The ocean has worn it away in a lot of interesting formations, some of which you can climb right into.  This one looked particularly menacing to me, like something very ancient and filled with the threat of an oppressive darkness.  It  didn’t really look that way on that sunny afternoon but the image was so monochromatic that I immediately felt that it would be best served in black and white.  I imported it into NIK Silver Efex Pro and darkened the background of the image to emphasize the face-like shapes in the foreground.  I then increased the size of the grain structure to emphasize the texture of the sandstone.  I was really happy with how it turned out.

-Russell Berg