Serendipity

Sometimes pictures just happen. They come to you in a moment of chance when luck would have it that you have a camera in your hand. Take for instance these two checking out what's happening at my daughter's birthday party. Their natural and innocent curiosity is nicely framed, and there are some interesting contrasts with the strong blue/yellow complement and round vs. straight lines.

It leaves the viewer wondering just what they're looking at with such intense interest.

Stacks (Ode to Dano Steinhardt)

I've mentioned Dano Steinhardt in a previous post. Dano is (was?) one of the Professional Products Managers at Epson. And he's a killer photographer with a very graphic style. Has a knack for creating something from nothing. Enter these huge, monolithic stacks pouring out from Nova Scotia Power in Halifax. These puppies tower into the air at the edge of Halifax Harbour. And when I saw them I thought of Dano.

They caught my eye while driving earlier in the week while there on business but didn't have a chance to pull over.

I forced my comrade into a parking lot a day later to capture a shot - the original idea was a black and white. Snapped and quite liked it.

Then I pass 'em a day later during the Golden Hour and just had to re-do it. This time I couldn't go away from the color. Looking through several shots I chose this one as the S-curve of the smoke added an element of interest. Pollution be damned I'm glad those stacks were pumping that day.

Jack Frost

Being a prairie-born Canadian it's a strange thing to be less than enthusiastic about winter. Particularly when almost half our time is spent dealing with The White Stuff. That said, there are some things I truly love about this season. And hoar frost on a crisp, clear morning ranks high on that list. Hoar frost is a tenuous thing. Too much warmth, too much sun, too much wind and it starts to flake off. But on this particular morning (following an unseasonably warm day) conditions were perfect and I just had to capture this after looking out my window.


Crisp, clean, pure. Ideally the sky would have been totally blue but there were some fine wisps of clouds up there. I experimented with this as a black and white where the contrast between the frost-covered limbs and a dark sky is very compelling. But ultimately I settled on the color version as it's the frost against the blue that really gets me. This may be reborn in B&W - who knows. As is this makes for a beautiful print on Epson's amazing Exhibition Fiber paper (a standout not only for its texture, feel, and unreal dynamic range but importantly for this picture its extreme bright whiteness).