Backyard Photography

I am a firm believer in the idea that one’s best photographs are made in places close to home rather than exotic and picturesque locals. I think is particularly the case for nature photography. It is simply a combination of more time to truly explore the photographic potential of your area, as well as a more intimate knowledge and understanding your personal landscape. I’ll take this one step further and say that the best place to practice photography is your backyard. Is there any other stretch of nature you know so well?

I’ve been thinking about this topic again because as a result of my recent move, my new backyard offers significant opportunities for photographic exploration. With a large partially wooded lot and lake frontage, I could probably wear out my K10D without going more than 2 minutes walk from the front door. For example, the image below was made at the lakes’ edge, late in the afternoon with ice just beginning to form along the shore. I used a Cokin Blue & Yellow polarizer to emphasize the blue and gold highlights of the reflections on the water and the rocks. I think the overall effect is nice, but I’m not really happy with the harsher blue & yellow highlights. This is a problem I’ve noticed when using the Blue & Yellow on a digital camera; it tends to make for some gaudy looking highlights. I’ve tried Darwin Wiggett’s suggestion to adjust white balance in the RAW conversion to compensate, but they don’t seem to work for me (possibly due to the fact he’s using the Singh-Ray filter not the cheapo Cokin version I have). Any one have any ideas?

Back Again

Three months between blog postings is not really a good record when it comes to keeping 'up to date'. Normally I would have some excuse that, in the end, would really be nothing more than a manifestation of an amazing ability to procrastinate. This time I have a rock solid reason for neglecting my online life, as the family and I spent the fall moving across the country from Alberta to Nova Scotia. Check your map; that's a lot of miles.


So with all the work of changing jobs, selling/buying houses, packing/unpacking and all associated hassles, photography and blogging have been on the backburner. But now that life is settling down to normal again, I hope to be able to devote some time to both ... assuming Christmas doesn't slow me down.