Moss Branch

A bright piece of moss caught my eye as we were walking down Giant’s Head Mt. Canon EOS 7D EF 70-300mm at 300mm f/5.6 1/400 ISO 250

There is a wonderful world outside your front door.

The sun was setting through the trees as we walked down Giant’s Head Mt. and it was lighting all kinds of interesting little moments  on the path.  I glanced to my left and glint of golden green against a dark background caught my eye.  It was off in the distance and I wasn’t sure that I had any kind of decent image until I brought my camera up to me eye.  Normally my 17-85mm zoom is my carry around lens, the lens I take when I want to carry only one.  Today it was in the shop to be repaired an I had my 70-300mm with me.  This branch was probably 500m away but having a lens this long pulled it in to me and allowed me to make it appear at eye level.  The branch was probably 3m up in the air and if I had had to walk up to it to get the image I would have been looking up at it.  I am sure that I missed other shots because I did not have my wide angle zoom but focusing on maximizing the equipment that you do have can yield interesting results.

-Russell Berg

Looking Down

An amazing intersection of canyons near Summerland, BC. Canon EOS 7D EF 70-300mm at f/7.1 1/400 ISO 200 −2/3EV

The top of a mountain is a special place. It is a place of reflection and thought; of quiet observation. It is a place of humility where we get a chance to look at the world around us writ large and we get a more personal sense of our own little space in it. It is a place of accomplishment and satisfaction. The sky only shows it's true colour to those who climb the mountain.

My daughter and I rode our bikes to the top of Giant's Head Mt. twice on our trip to the Okangan. We went back in the evening because I wanted to get a photograph with the depth that a low setting sun would provide. I took the photo from probably 2 or 3 km away from the subject and from that distance everything gets compressed. The light slanting across the landscape helped to preserve the depth of the ravines, the definition of the orchard rows, and the texture of the trees. I did the B&W conversion in Aperture this time by adjusting green and red filters as well as contrast instead of using Nik. The results I wanted were more global across the photo so I didn't need the fine grained control that Nik provides.

-Russell Berg

The Power of A Photograph

This isn't my work but it is an amazing statement of what a photograph can be.  Watch it twice, once listening to the narration and once to read the captions.

-Russell Berg

Heron

A great blue heron grabs some lunch. Canon EOS 7D EF 70-300 at 300mm at f/5.6 1/2000 ISO 640

Boat

The curve of a rowboat’s gunwhale. Canon EOS XSi EF 75-300 at 90mm f/6.3 1/200 ISO 200

Stanley walked down to the edge of the dock. He knew that the decisions had been made and that his life was going to have to change. But the things that tore at his heart where still there, the fear and the loneliness that stretched out in front of him was still there, waiting for him. Abigail skipped along the dock in front of him, her little pony-tail bouncing as she moved. She turned and smiled back at him and then looked down at the boat at the edge of the dock. "Is this the one daddy? Is this the one?"

Living in an ocean city there are m any opportunities to take pictures of some very photogenic boats. I was wandering down at the marina and I wanted a different approach, something almost abstract. The curves and lines of boats, driven as they are by their life in the water, are beautiful and interesting so I got down low and found a perspective that forced the eye to examine the lines, to follow them in their sweep and curve. We don't always have to take a photo of our whole subject to get and interesting image. In fact quite the opposite. Leaving some of the subject out of the picture or shooting it from a non-traditional point of view can end up producing a far better image.

-Russell Berg