A Moving Painting

A pedicab parking lot hidden amongst graffiti covered walls. Canon EOS 7D EF-S 17-85mm at 66mm f/8 1/100 ISO 100

The splash of colour and shape is filled with movement and energy.  The images move so much it seems to belie the fact that they are painted on walls.  Monsters, and fairy’s, letters and words dance around the parking lot and every time I look I see more. 

I am always looking for interesting graffiti to photography but it is more interesting with something in the foreground.  I was driving around Victoria when I caught a bright flash of colour out of the corner of my eye.  I turned around and came back to see a very interesting pedicab parking lot.  The whole area was covered in graffiti.  I wanted an image that made the eye work a little to discover what the place was so I positioned myself to hide the front half of one pedicab and the back half of the other.  In the riot of colour and shape the viewer gets to discover what the image is all about and that makes the experience richer.

-Russell Berg

Tilting at...

Silhouette windmills in a blood red sky. Canon EOS 7D EF 70-300mm at 300mm f/5.6 1/4000 ISO 100

The energy of a whole planet originates in that flaming ball that slowly sinks towards the horizon.  It’s heat drives the wind currents that power these turbines feeding electricity into the wires.  The energy of all we do and all we become starts with the heat and light that travels all those miles of empty space and warms my cheek as I look up in the sky.

I am still out in the prairies and the other night I found out that there were windmills quite close to where I am staying.  I knew that I had to get out there to photograph them at sunset.  The main struggle was finding a decent location before the light disappeared so I was tearing up and down country roads to find a decent spot.  Of course I found the perfect spot after the light was gone but I am pretty happy with this one.  I knew that I wanted to underexpose to throw the windmills into silhouette so I took a couple of quick exposures in aperture priority to get a baseline exposure then switched over to manual.  The sky had a fair amount of dust in it I guess and when I underexposed I got this beautiful brilliant red.  I did not come up with this colour with heavy processing I did not even touch the saturation on the image, in fact I brightened it a little which lightened the red.  I love the way that the sun has a yellow band around it and the colours are so compelling even though the composition is a little off.

-Russell Berg

Sunset Over Canola

A beautiful prairie sunset over a field of ripe canola. Canon EOS 7D EF-S 10-22mm at 22mm f/5 1/250 ISO 200 -.67EV

I have returned to the prairies and although I love Vancouver Island and it has definitely become home for me there is something very special about the draw of these skies.  There is an openness here, a welcoming in the landscape that doesn’t try to overwhelm you the way that giant forests, towering mountains, or rushing rivers do.  You can simply ‘be’ here and there is a wonderful sense of self that grows in the solitude of those wide open spaces that helps you understand your place in the world.  You can pull in a breath, let it go and you understand a little more.

Getting an image that has a glowing sunset over a foreground that is not completely black can be a challenge and I am not sure that I have completely succeeded here.  I wanted a sweeping landscape that told more of a story than just the beautiful colours of a the sunset.  I wanted a sense of place and space that was evocative of the prairie in a special way.  I exposed for the sunset without letting the foreground canola go completely dark.  This is where the value of a RAW file comes into play.  I was able to use the dodge (lighten) tool in Aperture to paint in a lighter exposure and bring back the detail in the canola flowers.  In my experience it is better to expose for the highlights and then allow the software to pull the detail out of the dark areas of the photo.  They are there but the camera sensor cannot display them without a little help.  I then added a touch of the shadow tool to finish the job and increased the saturation to give the sunset a bit more punch. Below I have included a copy of the same image before I started doing any processing.

-Russell Berg

Wild Eyes

A white wolf's piercing stare. Canon EOS 7D EF 70-300mm at 300mm f/7.1 1/400 ISO 200

The gaze of a wild thing is something compelling and driven.  It pulls us back to a time only remembered deep in our hindbrain, to a world where our survival depended on understanding these eyes.  And now… now we live in a world that isolates us from the wild and to experience something so vital and primal can be a wonderful experience.

We sometimes forget to consider textures when we are working in a visual medium but textures, even though they are presented visually can have a significant impact on the ways in which the image is perceived.  As I was taking this photo I started with the contrast of the rough old log to the soft almost luxurious fur.  The textural contrast was enhanced by the contrast in colour.  I had never seen a white wolf before but it was very beautiful.  There was also the smooth texture of the tree trunk behind the wolf and the soft out of focus area to the right of the wolf.  There are a lot of textures going on and it helps to build interest in the photograph.

-Russell Berg

Bloom

Hosta's in bloom. Canon EOS XSi EF 50mm f/1.4 at f/1.4 1/750 ISO 800

The sunlight hits the green and filters down to that secret place at the base of the plant.  In that place where the smell of the good earth is rich and dark the light has a character and quality that whispers of life and growth.  It is a special place.

Getting a 50mm lens with a short depth of field can instantly transform your photography.  It will set you apart from the point and shoot crowd right away.  This is the first photo that I took with my 50mm f/1.4.  The short depth of field turns the background into a beautiful blur that focuses the eye where the photographer chooses.  The colours here are more subtle but the light splashes of purple make a wonderful counterpoint to deep rich green.

-Russell Berg