A Wooden Heart

A small part of a large log that I found on the beach of the Juan de Fuca Trail. Canon EOS XSi EF 50mm f/1.4 at f/1.4 1/2000 ISO 200My hand runs along the softly weathered cracks, this giant of the forest has somehow come to rest on the rocky shore of the Juan de Fuca Strait.  There is a silver light that seems to glow from deep within.  It is as though somewhere deep deep inside is a wooden heart that still beats and gives the log a vitality that makes it shine in the dying light of a summer sunset.  Years of rocks and waves have pounded the surface so smooth that my hand wants to run along the surface, to find the secret of all those years, to discover a thing through which the wine of life pumped so strongly that it reached towards the very heavens and yet... it fell.

My daughter and I walked the Juan de Fuca Trail a few years ago and we had an absolutely wonderful time together.  One night on Chin Beach, after we had set up camp I discovered a very large log with a huge weathered stump attached.  The sun was going down and it was lit beautifully.  I pulled out my fast 50 because I knew that I wanted to play with depth of field on this amazing piece of wood.  I kep my aperture wide open and the light was low enough to manage all that light giving me some wonderfully flowing, almost water-like backgrounds.

-Rusell Berg

Life Finds A Way

Finding plants grow inside a water boiler was very neat. Canon EOS XSi EF-s 17-85mm f/4-5.6 at f/8 1/10 85mm ISO 800The last occupant of the hotel was an quiet man.  He had walked slowly through the front doors and paused with an appraising look up at the ceilings and down and around the lobby.  He picked up his valise and walked deliberately towards the front desk.  This was clearly not the first journey that he had taken, his coat was neat but worn, the leather valise bore the scars of a hundred different train carriages and had been set down on a hundred different platforms.  The mans hand stroked his beard thoughtfully, he knew that the hotel was closing soon, he didn't realize that he was to be the very last guest.  He nodded as he approached the clerk saying, "Hello, I need a room... I'd like to have a bath drawn."

My daughter and I were travelling across BC and Alberta and we spent the night in a campground in Glacier National Park.  We went exploring after supper and came across the ruins of an old hotel that had been built before the turn of the century as the railway had pushed through that area.  The Glacier House hotel had once been bigger and more luxurious than the Lake Louise or Banff.  The ruins were quite extensive and we found some old water boilers laying on the ground.  I took some photos and then circled around to the end.  One of them had a top that had rusted out and deep down inside of there was a little niche with some moss and some plants growing inside.  Sun could shine down through and rain as well.  I could see through the pipes that heated the water down to the plants and way down there the sun was shining on this little clump of life that had found a way to flourish in this very strange place.  I made sure I was focussin on the plants and let the depth of field blur out the edge of the boiler.  It was a very neat little find.

-Russell Berg

Below is a wider shot of the boiler.  I did not Photoshop the plants into the shot.  They were right there.

"We Are More"

Canon EOS XSi EF 50mm f/1.4 at f/13 1/250 ISO 800. Bruised in the pavement, I love the colours of this leaf.

It is a difficult thing to define a country. Such a big thing, an idea, a set of peoples, and perceptions. One starts and stops, begins again and finds oneself up against a barrier of language and expression. Lately I have been listening to spoken word artists like Sage Francis and Shane Coyczan and it is Coyczan's poem "We Are More" that I think comes closest to overcoming those barriers. It is joyously hopeful and very Canadian without being jingoistic.

I wanted a photo that said some of the same things. I wanted it to use Canadian imagery in a non-traditional way. One fall I drove around Nanaimo to photograph the change in colour and I found some beautiful maple leaves. I took some standard pictures then took one leaf home with me. I wanted an image that would go beyond the traditional pastoral landscapes and reflect the growing importance of urban landscapes in the Canadian psyche. I put the leaf on the pavement and drove over it a few times with my car, they are surprisingly tough, to bruise and mark it. This was getting closer but the pavement didn't provide the right contrast yet; it needed more punch so I brought out my hose and wet it down. This left me with exactly the right kind of colour and shine for both the leaf and the pavement and the textures just jumped. I was quite happy with the image, my only hesitation is that the end of the stem runs out of the frame.

-Russell Berg

The original leaf before I drove over it is below.

Comfort In The Silence

Canon EOS 7D EF 50mm f/1.4 at f/3.5 1/200 ISO 100 I found these wonderful rhododendron flowers on a garden tour in Nanaimo.The feeling that passes between a man and a woman who have lived a lifetime together is a wonderful thing.  There is a comfort in the silences that speaks to years of being able to anticipate the other's thoughts and feelings.  There is an understanding in the the half spoken sentences and unuttered remembrances that is far stronger than the passionate eloquence of young love.  There is a whole life etched in the silent lines that surround the crinkled eyes as they share a half told 32 year old joke.  My wife and I met this couple on a garden tour this past spring; they were vibrant and alive and in their 80's and they had the most wonderful garden.  These rhododendrons were in their garden.

The photo is pretty simple, I knew I was looking for a way to frame the flowers to one edge leaving the remainder of the frame to drift out of focus.  I knew that I had to leave enough depth of field to keep the whole flower in focus, but I did not want any detail in the background so I stopped down to f/3.5 and that produced the effect I was looking for.  I was really glad that I had my fast 50mm as it is the sharpest lens I own and that shows in the petals.

-Russell Berg

Winter Berries

I just can't walk past something as visually striking as berries in the winter. Fuji X10 28-112mm at f/2.2 1/600 ISO 200

I bought a new camera just before Christmas. It is a beautiful Fuji X10. I say it's beautiful because it's styling is very reminiscent of the Leica range finders from the 50's and 60's. This camera has clearly been designed by someone with and eye for the aesthetic, and how can that not appeal to a photographer. It is small, fast and light, and the image quality is excellent. I was walking past the hospital the other day and I saw these berries sitting on bare branches and the image was so evocative of the harsh realities of winter amidst which we have the joy of Christmas. I stopped pulled my new X100 from my purse and snapped off a few images. It lifts my spirit just a little bit to do something creative, even if it is just a small thing, in the midst of a difficult time. It is interesting to me to see the way that my creative impulses can affect my mood. Anyway, after I got home I pulled these images into my iPad and applied a very nice filter to them that helped to accentuate the mood i wanted to evoke in the image. I used a very good images editing app called Snapseed. I highly recommend it.

-Russell Berg