Went to a Ringette Game (...and some pictures broke out)

Shooting sports and action is always fun. Do it for every one of my daughter's ringette games as well as most of the practices. This weekend deviated somewhat with venue and time. To start off with, we were at a local rec complex that is amazing for local sports with proper seats and lighting and so forth. Which opens up time for interesting perspectives off the ice. Such as this row of unoccupied seats. That plus a long lens (the absolutely sick Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 VRII) and a wide open aperture gives the following. Also of note are that a) this was shot through glass (rule: push your lens up tight and it disappears), and b) at high ISO on a Nikon D300. The otherwise very noisy shot cleans up beautifully with the latest RAW algorithms from Adobe. Like getting a brand new camera. Seriously. This was at ISO 2000.

Leaving the arena gave me another unexpected opportunity: a low, warm evening sun throwing great light against a clear blue sky. I've been looking for a solo tree to shoot for some time and here's one literally staring me in the face as we leave the arena. Out comes the camera and quickly framed again with the 70-200. Great warm light on that tree against the blue sky, and biting sharp with that lens. There were two unavoidable distractions (the tip of a tree over the horizon on the left, and a parking sign on the right) that had to be removed in Photoshop but other than some slight contrast and color enhancement of the RAW file this is how it came out of camera.

With the family anxiously waiting for me to get a move on I glance another opportunity at the arena entrance. The low sun burning in created this opportunity to capture some great shape, line and texture. I saw it in black and white from the outset, wanting to focus on those elements. The shadows of the stairs lead into the door. Such warm color blasting onto the walls only detracted from that. My conversion (via Nik's SilverEfex Pro) separated the yellows from the other tones to bring out the texture and shadow. Unfortunately I also had to clone out a pile of discarded cigarette butts. Nasty.

Turns out Sunday evenings are great for practice after all.

Gnarly

Was with a friend today scouting locations for pictures at his upcoming wedding. It's still early spring and the golf course is pretty threadbare, which lends itself to some great textures and really gnarly, naked trees. Take this one for instance. Screaming for black and white...

Kind Of Blue (but looking up...)

Returning from a recent trip to Seattle, or more specifically east of Seattle in the beautiful city of Bellevue. Lots of great modern glass architecture there that looks particularly nice in the fading blue light of dusk. These are three perspectives of one the ubiquitous Microsoft offices in town (the main campus is down the road in Redmond). Hope they don't mind this is being posted from a Mac.

Another highlight of the local Bellevue scene are the shops of The Bravern. A beautiful, high end open-air retail complex that is also home to some fine restaurants and big-cash condos. Conveniently across from my hotel! The architecture was apparently Italian inspired. It actually wasn't long before a security guard came by and asked (politely) what I was up to - apparently you need permission to shoot in there. I already had a few in the can so wasn't too concerned. This I like because of the color and shape contrasts. A perfect example (along with the windows above) where high-ISO noise averaging really saves the day - crank it up to get a sharp shot, and then overlay the images and (with some extra voodoo) you get essentially a perfectly clean but fully detailed file.

Winter Abstract

A quick peek outside this morning revealed another crisp, winter day complete with hoar frost aplenty. The other pictures I took from inside the house (read: couldn't get my lazy butt to open the door and go out) didn't turn out, but I thought this was interesting, the meeting of snow and rock contoured by the low morning sun. Basic B&W conversion courtesy of Lightroom.

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).