January 31, 2010
In the colder North American climate, such as found in southern Quebec and Vermont, Mother Nature puts up an incredible display of colors in September and October. For many us landscape photographers, this 2-3 week period of fiery fall colors is the most productive, exciting and stimulating time of the year. This makes the arrival of November all the more difficult to accept: cold weather, gray skies, rain, snow, drab colors – probably the worst month for nature photography around here… In December, the cold weather arrives, and winter slowly settles, putting an icy grip over the regions.
At this time of year, many people imitate bears and head indoors to “hibernate” until the arrival of warmer spring weather. Nature photographers tend to spend more time in front of their computers, working on articles, preparing image submissions to Editors, while slowly packing on the pounds…
Ice Floe Sunset Over Lake of Two Mountains
Canon EOS 20D
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L USM lens at 17mm
1/13s (middle exposure), f/16, ISO 100
Hoya Moose Polarizer, Hitech 3-stop GND
3 exposure HDR image processed in Photomatix Read more…
Posted by Rob under L'Ile Bizard (Quebec),Landscapes,Musings,Quebec,Wildlife,Winter | Comments (13)
May 5, 2009
For those of us less cold-hardy than the Rob Servranckxs of the world, unless I’m sojourning somewhere south of South Carolina, the camera gear does tend to gather some dust between the time the frost is on the pumpkin and the woodcock returns to the meadow. (In case you’re picturing me supine on the couch reading model railroad magazines between November and April, I’ll let you know that I finished writing my first novel while the snow was drifting and the wind was rattling the windows.) Rarely, I’ll be in the field as early as mid-March, keeping vigil by an otter hole in the thinning ice of Belvidere Pond or in my blind on a clear morning hoping to intercept a courting gobbler and catch the light show of the rising sun playing on his iridescent plumage.
Wild Turkey (Jake)
Canon EOS 1-D Mark ll N
Canon EF300mm f/2.8 L IS lens
1/100″ @ f/6.3 at ISO 400, spot metering
Gitzo Studex tripod with Wimberley Head
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Posted by Gustav under L'Ile Bizard (Quebec),Musings,Seasons,Spring,Vermont | Comments (1)
December 28, 2008
G’day Everyone and a joyful, fulfilling, and positively memorable 2009 to all of you.
I read somewhere that the number of Christmas cards one gets every year can portend how many people might attend one’s funeral. Bah humbug! Cheryl and I don’t send out Christmas cards and what you sow, so shall you reap. If the number of cards hanging over our front doorway is any indication of the size of my future funeral, than I’d like to thank that person, in advance, for showing up and would they please make sure that the camera clutched in my cold hands is on aperture priority, ISO 400, and the flash is set to fill flash, -1 stop. That ought to be about right.
Sorry, I don’t mean to bring grim tidings but I’m turning 55 tomorrow and, well, mortality is bearing down on me. Now, when I pick up my guitar and sing Bruce (Utah) Phillips’s plaintive lyrics, “Each year is like a rolling freight train and cold as starlight on the rails.” I can actually feel the rumble of the train in the pit of my stomach. I trust it’s a distant rumble; I have many miles to cover and goals to reach before the fire in my boiler goes out.
B&O Centennial Slips Through Seal Cove Tunnel
on our ceiling layout. All but the sky and moon are real. As for the sleigh and reindeer, that depends on whether you believe.
Canon EOS -1D Mark II N with Canon 300mm f/2.8 L USM lens
4″ at f/16, ISO 400, 550EX Speedlight on full bounced off white ceiling
evaluative metering, aperture priority
Gitzo G1340 with Wimberley head & cable release
Quite frankly, I prefer to stay in touch throughout the year. I look forward to writing this blog as much as I enjoy planning my field work. Hearing from of those of you who receive these missives is as fulfilling as getting a good shot. Really.
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Posted by Gustav under Musings,Winter | Comments (7)
November 30, 2008
Paraphrasing Henry David Thoreau, one’s connection with the natural world is indirectly proportional to the amount of stuff one schlepps into nature. By that measure, a homeless soul sleeping in a city park is more connected to the grass and trees and earthworms burrowing under the leaf litter than any of us nature photographers for whom “being in nature” actually means capturing nature on film or a memory card. Certainly, any professional nature photographer, myself included, measures the success of a sojourn in the wild by the number of saleable images we extract from the locations we visit and, in order to do that, we necessarily have to bring along a lot of very expensive stuff. What’s more, if owing to bad weather or uncooperative wildlife we don’t get any useable images at all, well, it’s as if we were never there.
Green Mountain Boys
Nikon FE2, Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 lens
Polarizer
1/125″ at f/16, ISO 100
manual metering, sunny 16
handheld
scan from 35mm slide
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Posted by Gustav under Musings,Shows & Exhibits | Comments (1)
