Lament of the Fallen

Canon Rebel, ISO 400, f 2.0, shutter 1/160, 50mm

This photo was taken about 3 years ago, while doing a photo shoot in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery.   The model wanted a few creepy images for her portfolio, as well as a few posed, more demure photos...I was happy to oblige.

Actually, here's a couple pictures of the model from that day, so you can get an idea of what we wanted to achieve:

We were pretty much finished, and I saw this bright leaf on the edge of an eroding tomb.  It was the perfect contrast, as well as one of the first signs of Autumn I had seen that year.  I actually wrote a little poem to represent it, but for the life of me I can't find it anywhere!  I looked in books and all the hard drives:/  Oh well, I'm sure I'll find it when it doesn't matter...then I'll update this post!

I can tell you it was called "The Lament of a Leaf in October", so you can get the idea of how the poem felt emotionally, anyways.

Solitary Raven

Canon Rebel, ISO 200, f 11, shutter 1/250, 55mm

I love the lines and balance of this photo.  It was taken while viewing the grounds of a feudal castle in Kyoto.  This photo was taken in colour, but because it was very sunny the contrast was so great that it looks black and white.  I did a small amount of post processing, highlighting certain colours like the leaves in the bottom left corner, but that's it.  I'm very happy with the way it turned out and I'm happy to say I displayed and sold this piece at my last art show.  Additional prints are available as note cards on my cafe press site as well.
cafepress.ca/johnstonephotography

Watercolour Spring

Canon Rebel, ISO 200, f 2.0, shutter 1/250, 50mm - Unedited

Another "experiment with flowers and plants in the garden" day this past spring.  Our first spring at the new house, as we moved in February.  The front area had been nicely planted with perennials, this wispy Japanese maple-type plant being one of them.  I really love how it turned out, with the background looking like a painting...just a spatter of colour here and there, with your focus being drawn to the light, airy leaves of this cool looking plant.

I think I'll make this one into a greeting card image soon:)

Konbanwa :)

Canon Rebel - somehow I lost the image data:(  I recall having it on a higher ISO, probably 400, and the shutter open for about 1/60.

This image was taken whilst strolling around a temple complex (Fushimi Inari Taisha) in Kyoto, Japan.  We had taken the a path which included many temples, and after walking around this area we were in a section that ended with a strip of temple restaurants.  Now, when I say "strip", I mean a cool stone-paved road lined with lanterns like the one behind the washing station in the picture.  And when I say restaurants, I mean small, ancient looking buildings with gardens out front, filled with tatami mat rooms and hosted by the humblest of owners.  From a website on Kyoto travel they describe the restaurants this way:

"Along the way, there are multiple smaller shrines with stacks of miniature torii gates that were donated by visitors with smaller budgets. There are also a few restaurants along the way, which offer locally themed dishes such as Inari Sushi and Kitsune Udon ("Fox Udon"), both featuring pieces of aburaage (fried tofu), said to be a favorite food of foxes"  http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3915.html


p.s I love Inari sushi...always have. Though the experience of what we ate at the restaurant that evening still stays with me and it was 3 years ago!  This calls for another picture:

I can't recall what everything was, but it was super yummy!!!!!  There were different types of tofu, including inari, a pickle selection and vegetables.  In the middle of the table was a burner with a hotpot of tofu and seaweed, which you served yourself using the flat metal spoon, then dipped in the sauce located in the middle of the plate. 

 

I almost wished we had been able to go back to this area during the day, but I really loved all of the lit lanterns and the fact that it was almost deserted, which also created a sense of being lost in time.  I imagined monks practicing their forms in the courtyard, the smell of incense lingering in the air, and villagers coming to cleanse themselves at the station before praying in the temples.

Kyoto.  It was indeed a magical place to visit, and I hope that I can make it back there someday.

Rice Fields, Indonesia

Yes I've been really busy over the last few days and have a house guest for the next week or so.  Hence my lack of posts:(  I really did want this to actually be a photo-a-day project, and life is just getting in my way! 

I'll definitely be trying to get a new post up every day this week, since so far I don't have too many things going on...

Today's photo portrays some of the amazingly symmetrical and fertile rice fields in Bali, Indonesia.  This is one of the most famous views of the sculpted and terraced fields, and it's easy to see why!  I've also featured this photo amongst the few chosen to represent Bali for a tourist website I recently helped update.  You can see all of the other photos at  http://personalbalidriver.com/ , and I can say from my own experience that this driver was great!

Canon Rebel, ISO 400, f 14, shutter 1 sec, 18mm

Eye to Snake Eyes

Canon Rebel, ISO 200, f 6.4, shutter 1/100, 55mm flash and softbox lighting

This picture was part of one of my first professional corporate shoots.  You can see more images from that session on my website and all of the images on the business website of Whimz:  http://whimzonline.com/

I was really excited to be involved with these photos of people (from children to adults) interacting with the animals.  All of the kids were great, and for the most part the animals cooperated as well.  I learned how to set up proper lighting on that shoot, having purchased a set of soft boxes earlier in the year.  The background wasn't the greatest, and I didn't have my own backdrops at that point.  So I had to utilize what little Photoshop skills I possessed at the time (and learned a lot in the process!) to make the images cleaner. 

Overall I was really happy with how they turned out, and so was the business owner...she has made me the official photographer of her advertising and I've done a few other shoots with her and the animals in the last couple years:) 

Anyways, this became the start of a great business relationship, and this specific image is still one of my favourites!  The snake was being held by an employee off-camera, and the little girl was perfect in how she reacted and interacted with the snake.  Love it!

Flowers!

Wow so apparently I'm really negligent on the weekends and fail to update my blog daily.  I'd blame my exciting social life, but...

So today I'll share a few photos, some cool flower pictures that I took a year or so ago.  I love experimenting with different angles when photographing flowers, and trying to capture the textures as well.  Enjoy!

Canon Rebel, ISO 100, f 7.0, shutter 1/250, 46mm

Canon Rebel, ISO 200, f 5.6, shutter 1/200, 55mm

Canon Rebel, ISO 400, f 5.6, shutter 1/60, 55mm

After the Rain

Canon Rebel xs, ISO 400, f 7.0, shutter 1/125, 55mm

May 17, 2011
Backyard, Lily leaves after a rain storm.

It had rained for three days in a row, which is something I'm actually wishing would happen this week (my lawns are suffering!).  I recall at the time, I was doing a lot of reading and internet searches on water drop photography.  I was, and still am fascinated by macro imaging.  So I decided to experiment even though, as I mentioned in my last post, I don't have an actual macro lens so I can't get as close as I'd really like to.

As soon as the rain stopped, I grabbed my camera and headed into the little backyard.  My eyes were on "terminator scan"mode, as I like to call it, as I searched every plant and flower for the perfect arrangement of drops.  I was very pleased with my first attempt at this type of photography, and I think I managed to take a fair amount of good shots!  It's all, you know, practice makes better (if you think you're perfect, you really have a lot to learn...) but my confidence surely went up a few notches.

By the way, if you like this image, it IS available for purchase (along with many others) from my online store:

http://www.cafepress.ca/johnstonephotography


Thanks for reading and sharing.  Remember, if you like this blog, please vote for me on photography-blogs.org to help boost my ratings!

:)

Alien vs. Maple

 Canon Rebel xs, ISO 200, f 7.1, s 250, 55mm

May 5, 2011
Backyard

I realize I haven't been as professional as I could be, so starting today I'm adding my camera settings as a caption to each photo I display.  I don't have a proper macro lens (yet), but I love taking close-up pictures so a fair amount of my "practice" photo days are spent wandering around either my house or backyard shooting various objects or plants.

This image is from a series I shot of the Japanese Maple tree in our backyard at the time.  We've since moved, and although our backyard is at least 10 times bigger, I do miss that tree sometimes.

It was the beginning of spring, and the leaves were just starting to unfold.  Unfortunately with a regular kit lens, there's only so much detail you can achieve, but I love the way the new leaves glistened in the sun.  The tips of the leaves, how they are furled around each other, also made me imagine an alien mouth with sharp teeth.  I know that a lot of writers and designers achieve inspiration through watching nature in progress, so I'm sure a creepy science fiction story will crawl it's way out of those red jaw-like leaves.

I'll leave you with those thoughts...sweet dreams tonight!

E-roaded

 Sept 4, 2011

Nusa Lembongan

This is another favourite of mine from our time on this little island.  We were going for a little walk along one of the roads, and ended up walking past this road and into one of the local villages.  The weather while we were there was very dry and hot, so our walks didn't last as long as we wanted due to, well...unbearable heat!  We had just turned a corner and suddenly it seemed like half of the road was gone, having been claimed by time and saltwater. 

The next day we rented bikes, rode past this area and a small lorry drove by.  We watched in amazement as it was actually able to negotiate around this section of road.  My time both in Bali and on Lembongan gave me a new appreciation of properly paved roads and a smooth ride.  Obviously these places have different priorities, with boat repairs, seaweed farming and maintaining family homes being more important than fixing up a road.  But it added to the feeling that we were indeed far from home..

Walking along there at that moment, it seemed like we were alone in a desolate place.  There were a couple of boats off in the distance, but otherwise there wasn't a person or animal in sight.  It was so quiet, almost eerie.  I knew it was a moment I would never forget.

Dark side of the...

Dec 21, 2010

The Eclipse

I had just purchased a telephoto lens.  What opportunity could be better than testing it out by photographing the moon!  I'd never attempted such before, but I stayed up until the eclipse happened, which was I believe 1-2am.  It was really cold, being December...though with the way our winters have been going, it wasn't that bad.  Maybe a couple degrees below zero.  Regardless, I couldn't really wear gloves as it affected the way I could work with the camera, so I kept darting back inside to warm up my hands every few minutes.  The eclipse lasts about an hour so it was a lot of back and forth for a half hour until the moon was fully in shadow.

This was the clearest and best exposed shot that I took that night.  It took a bit of experimenting with the settings until I had them correct.  I had looked up setting examples online earlier that day, to make sure I could adjust correctly when I needed to, having very little experience working with the telephoto lens.  I typically find it pretty easy to adjust my settings now:)  A few years of working strictly with manual settings, even in the most common of photographic situations, has definitely increased my confidence.

I love how you can see all of the craters and shadows on the moon in this shot:)  Overall, I'm happy with the results and hope to find some time again soon to practice taking these types of photos.

OOoops

So I kinda missed my deadline for today's photo.  Is having company in the evening and having to clean and cook all day a good excuse?  I made awesome food, if that helps!

Here's a random photo from my collection...tell me what YOU think:

Playtime at Low Tide

Nusa Lembongan

September 2011

Imagine a little island so small you can bike around in practically two hours (if you don't mind the badly paved roads). There's a small boardwalk, with a few casual places to have a drink and watch the sunset, or find a room for the night.  We stayed here for 4 nights, in some rooms just a short walk from the beach (a few dollars less than right on the beach).  An air-conditioned room was $25/night.  Amazing.  Also, it's only about an hour or so (cost effective) boat ride from the main island of Bali.  

Apparently this island only started to get popular as a tourist destination about 10-15 years ago.   This has certainly helped the two local villages, in that they now have more efficient water and electric services.  The main industry of the villages is expanding, which is seaweed farming (I believe they export most of what they produce to Japan).  Therefore the majority of the beaches are like the one you see above, littered with seaweed bits and, well, litter.  What's the phrase?  Flotsam and jetsam.  These little islands (Bali included) don't exactly have a proper recycling program in place, though I know there are groups out there dedicated to cleaning up the beaches.  There are tourist beaches...ones that have been cleaned and are maintained for swimming, but they certainly don't have the same feel or energy.  The time when I took this photo was close to sunset, and I believe it was our first day on the island so we wanted to do a bit of exploring.   For the locals, all the work of the day was completed, and it was time to relax.  Kite-flying is really big on these islands, and you can see a family in the distance with their bat kites in the air.  The little girl was proudly walking along like she was on a special errand, though it could have been simply that she was headed home for the day.  I recall that she smiled at us as she passed by. 

I find that I think about this little peaceful island more often than the rest of Bali, when I remember that trip.  It was so relaxing, we did some amazing snorkeling (and diving for the person with us who was getting his certification), and met some nice people.  Did I mention it was relaxing??  The area on the island where we stayed was the most "popular", as it's where the majority of home-stays and resorts are, called Jungut Batu.  Even so, there weren't very many tourists there, and it was perfect timing for us as we had just spend a busy few days in the popular town of Kuta, in Bali.

When I go back to Bali (and I will be!), another little trip to Nusa Lembongan will definitely be on my list:)

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Close-up Bike parts

Taken in April of 2010, this is one of an experimental series I took one lazy afternoon.  The bikes were hanging out on the deck as we were moving things around in the garage, and I was in "the zone".  You know what I'm talking about.  No matter what your profession or interests, there are moments where you are simply completely involved.  When I look at this picture, I actually almost feel the same way all over again.  Caught in the moment and lost in the image.  I started taking pictures of whatever was within 20 feet of where I was standing, basically setting up each shot in my mind.  The image above is unedited.  It was a good day to practice.  I remember one day not too long ago where I spent an hour taking photos of one dried flower, placing it in different positions and lighting...I kind of get absorbed that way at times.  I prefer "absorbed" rather than "obsessed", although that's like the difference between being fussy and simply liking things done in a particular way.  Not very different.

Plus, as soon as I saw this picture whilst sifting through photos today, I was reminded that I haven't ridden my bike in a long time.  I should get some air into those tires and start riding again!  I'm also reminded that I'm quite the procrastinator, as I've been saying this for a while.  I think that's the biggest challenge for me in doing this blog.  I actually have to write something every day in order to remain honest in my goals.  I'm truly excited about this venture!

So, ummm, tomorrow I'll look for the tire air pump...

Burning on the Beach - A Canada Day tradition?

I decided to look through some older photos today, and I chose this one from a weekend spent at a friend's parents' place in Sarnia.  It was the summer of 2006, and the place we stayed at was very cool as their property had it's own little private beach area.  I didn't realize until just now, when I checked the date of this photo, but it was actually taken on July 1st!  So without even knowing, it turns out I chose the perfect photo for today.  

I was up quite late last night, and most of my day was spent trying to forget about the all of the wine I drank...so that's why I'm posting today's photo just an hour before the day is over.  Oooops!  But it's the long weekend, so I'm sure I'm not the only one who's been in that state today.

So back to that weekend 6 years ago, where we decided it was not only a good idea to have a fire, but we should create an effigy (infused with all of our troubles) and burn it away.  I'm sure there was drinking involved in making this decision, and it was certainly fun!  I was experimenting with my camera settings, using slow exposures to try and create ghost-like images.  Sometimes I get entirely too involved with my camera and taking the right pictures that I forget to actually enjoy the moment as it is happening.  True, the image captures the spontaneous yet dream-like mood that we were all in at the time.  But I'm glad I can still remember the smell of the beach, the water, and the stillness of that night.  We were literally the only people around, and having the private beach section was amazing.  It was a very fun weekend with great people who are still close friends, so seeing this photo truly does make me smile.  Plus, I really love how it turned out!