Another from the Holga files

I've got some pretty serious light leaks happening, though I'll probably be chasing that down over the next little while.

Bridge


I'm also trying to get a better grasp on both the way to shoot square and subject that are 'holga-appropriate'.

Have a good night.

Bjorn

Bird Sanctuary

Today I went to the George C. Reifel Migratory bird Sanctuary.

I'd stopped by there on a KLR 'exploratory' trip last year but never got to go in. It stayed dry, so once it warmed up a bit I drove out (thought I did have to check the map to remember how to get there :) )

I don't normally shot a lot of wildlife...

Hand fed


Choices


One of the big attractions right now are the snow geese. I didn't get very close, but they were definitely around.


I tried to get one of the nice V formations


Of course, I still looked for those non-wildlife photo opportunities.


Now that is a whole lot of snow geese!





Again with the non-wildlife. This is the far loop trail


The sanctuary is in between Ladner and the Container terminal, so there were plenty of ships in the distance


The highlight for me were the Sandhill Cranes. They were right next to the path at times





After the encounter with the first three it turned out that a larger part of the flock was just ahead.


Crane-Style Kung-fu!

Actually I really like that shot.

Crane Reflection


Dude, look down! They are right there! ;)


Ducks - there were many





Grooming


You did have to look around every now and then to make sure you didn't run off the trail. Or into this


Rest


You got any food? No? Keep walkin'


Mallard in black and white


Yeah, I don't have a lens like that...


Just before I left there was a duck feeding-frenzy


A good day and well worth the $5 admission :)

Bjorn

Borrowed lens test

I met up with Paul Friday night to borrow his 70-300mm VR lens because I'm thinking of 'making a change on the long end' and it's one of the options.

He was kind enough to let me play with the lens despite the slight drizzle (much appreciated Paul!)

The light was already fading when I left the house and I took a couple of quick shots with my 70-210 lens, for comparison:

That's 70mm f4.0 @ 1/40th sec hand held using ISO400. It was a not that easy to get a nice sharp shot :)

For you non-photographers, just ignore all the data after the images. I'm including it for the one or two people who look at this blog and shoot themselves :)


"Almost IR"

105mm f4.2 @ 1/50th sec ISO 400



Obligatory tin soldier shots to follow ;)

Chevrons

105mm f4.2 1/80th

After meeting Paul we swapped lenses, he wanted to try my Sigma 10-20mm and wandered around the Quay for a bit as the sun was setting.

Too many lines!

122mm f4.8 1/60th (VR was on in Normal mode for all shots with the 70-300)

Seeing double

270mm f5.6 1/320th

Portrait

70mm f4.5 1/125th

The man himself

70mm f4.5 1/40th

The Paddlewheeler at the Paddlewheeler

220mm f5.3 1/320th

River Adventures

135mm f4.8 1/320th

Cones

102mm f4.5 1/30th - railing supported, don't get too excited about VR performance or my hand-holding ability ;)

Sunset

122mm f4.8 1/640th

At this point Paul and I swapped back, I threw on the 10-20mm lens. Wow, that's a big change. Here is a photo from the same spot I took the one above from

10mm f5.6 1/30th

10mm is _really_ wide. I forget that when I haven't put the Sigma on in a while ;)

Not even looking

10mm f5.6 1/10th

Hand-holding at 1/10th of a second sounds wrong. Your brain rebels for a bit and goes "that didn't turn out".

After this Paul and I stopped off for some lasagna at Rivers Reach and a couple (ok a few) beer.

Good times!

Bjorn

Look...

... but do you really?

Why art books won't become e-books anytime soon, amongst a few other things, really got me thinking about how I look at photos.

Let me ask you: Do you blitz through photos online, taking barely a fraction of a second for each, or perhaps not even bothering unless some 'thumbnail' draws you in?

Have you ever bought a photo-book or spent some time looking at one? How much time did you spend with each image. Did you stop to really see what is there?

What about when you are looking at framed photographs. Perhaps in an exhibition. Does it change your behaviour? Do you move back and forth perhaps, trying to find the right viewing distance, especially for some larger framed art? Does the physical interaction with the image change your approach or appreciation?

Perhaps these are odd thoughts for a blog which I use primarily for sharing photos online.

But recently I found myself revisiting The Portfolios of Ansel Adams and noticed that I really looked. I mean I didn't just flip the pages. I stopped and allowed my eyes to really start to take in the image. Even ones that I'd normally wouldn't spend much time on.

Of course, it's easy to argue that the what what you see today online is mostly junk and not worth looking at. But I disagree. I think there are tremendous numbers of amazing images online. Perhaps we are all just tired of sifting through so much crap to get to them. Or maybe it's the fact that a computer just doesn't give you the same feel as something printed.

Does it matter? I'm not sure. I guess if your someone who takes snapshots, probably not. If you're someone who is passionate about creating photographs ...

Treestump

Some more film shots over the next little while.



And don't ask me where I took this. I have no idea :)

Michelle and Bjorn's roadtrip photo essay - Day 6

The final day has been overdue. I wanted to wrap the trip a bit.

First, not that much interesting happened this day in terms of photography. We stopped to shop a few times and drove North. But at least the weather was nicer upon our return ;)



Looking back on this trip, it was a great journey. I've not had the opportunity to photograph so much on any of my previous road trips. Big thanks to Michelle, who was always willing to stop and watch me shoot yet more images. It also helped that neither one of us had a specific destination, schedules or places we 'had to be'.

Not having to be places lead to some of the things that made the trip memorable. Like almost aimlessly driving and taking in the sights, pulling a U-turn to explore a small roadside park only to find it leading to an abandoned power station and dam, all of it well away from any interstates. Stopping in a small town and being the only customers in a diner and hearing stories from someone who's obviously glad to tell them. Driving and hardly seeing other traffic only to see a lone cyclists and exchanging waves every time you cross paths, which you do as you keep pulling over to take shots.

Traveling the way we did gives you a view into the country that many people will never experience. Which is a damn shame.

I am reminded of a quote from Charles Kuralt

Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel across the country from coast to coast without seeing anything.

Thanks for coming along on our journey. I hope you saw something. I know we did. :)

Bjorn

Redux

I wasn't quite happy with the shot of the pool. It wasn't quite what I saw. Which, when you think about it, isn't all that surprising given that I was shooting through a fence and couldn't really see the display.

So I decided to work on it a bit.

Closed for Winter - Redux.


What do you think?

Bjorn