Robert Williams Photography Blog

Fields and Flowers in Gros Morne National Park

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 15:20:00 +0000

During our visit to Gros Morne this past summer, we often remarked on the colourful wildflowers along the side of the road, and in fields wherever we went. These photographs were taken in Norris Point, and in Cow Head at the north end of the park.

House in Norris Point

Field overlooking Gulf of St. Lawrence in Cow Head

Another field in Cow Head

. . . Rob Williams http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Storms over Bonne Bay

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 00:12:00 +0000

One of the pleasures on our trip to Gros Morne National Park was sitting on the (covered) porch of our cottage, watching storms pass over the bay. This photograph, taken on Norris Point, shows some of the dramatic cloud effects, as a morning storm started to clear.

Clearing Storm over Bonne Bay

. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Fishing Coves near Saint Paul's, Gros Morne National Park

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 00:33:00 +0000

North of Sally's Point, there are a number of coves that house fishing huts and stages. Some are really houses where you can tell that fishermen stay quite some time. The view of the Long Range Mountains in the background is spectacular.


Fishing Cove near Saint Paul's


Fishing Buoys in the Sunset Light

Fishing Stage Beside the Water

. . . Rob Williams http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse, Gros Morne National Park

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 02:07:00 +0000

Located just outside of Rocky Harbour, Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse looks out over the entrance to Bonne Bay from the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This lighthouse has been operating since 1897, and it is still operated (automatically) by the Canadian Coast Guard.

Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse at Sunset

I happened to visit the lighthouse late one evening, as it was threatening to rain. It did rain briefly, but then the clouds broke just before sunset, letting a shaft of light illuminate the grass beside the lighthouse.

. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Sally's Cove, Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 23:21:00 +0000

North of Norris Point and Rocky Harbour, about 2/3 the way to Great Western Pond, there is a small fishing community surrounded by the park called Sally's Cove. It is made up of a bit over a dozen houses stretched out along the highway, but with two groups of fishing huts ("stages") at either end. These photographs were taken at the north end of the village.

Three Stages at Sunset

Three Buoys

Dory

These photographs, and others from Gros Morne National Park can be found on this page on my website.

. . . Rob Williams http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Wild Cove, near Gros Morne National Park

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 01:35:00 +0000

Wild Cove is a small cove immediately adjacent to Norris Point, on Bonne Bay. While it is not technically inside Gros Morne National Park, Norris Point and the local towns are entirely surrounded by the park.

Wild Cove

Wild Cove cannot be seen from the main road, and it took me some time to find it from Norris Point. It is home to a number of working fishing stages, and I was lucky enough to walk by just after some cod were set out to dry. Quite a setting!

Drying Cod in Wild Cove

These photographs, and others from Gros Morne National Park can be found on this page on my website.

. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 00:29:00 +0000

I have recently returned from a trip to Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland. This park is recognized as a World Heritage site for it's "exceptional natural beauty" and it's significance examples of the earth's history -- namely some of the fascinating geological features.

The Tablelands as seen from Norris Point

One of the geological features is the Tablelands, a section of the earth's crust thrust up during the separation of North America from Europe more than 600 million years ago. It is an easily accessible section from the Earth's mantle, inverted so that the rocks get older as you go up.

Gros Morne is a truly beautiful place.

This, and other photographs from Gros Morne can be seen on my website, in the Gros Morne National Park page.

. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Daily Shoot #ds602: Make a photo that features stripes of some sort today.

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 23:29:00 +0000

Hosta Leaves

Today's Daily Shoot assignment was to photograph stripes of some sort, and Hosta leaves immediately came to mind. This particular Hosta in my back yard grows very large, and it's leaves are huge. I've always liked how they blend in together, but I have rarely tried to photograph them. Today's assignment prompted me to try again.

Here is another photograph taken at a slow shutter speed:

Abstract of Hosta leaves

. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

More Photographs of the new Ottawa Convention Centre

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 02:25:00 +0000

This is really a fascinating new landmark in Ottawa's downtown. I returned to the new Ottawa Convention Centre in the evening to photograph the building in a different light. Here are a couple of the results:


The Ottawa Convention Centre after dusk

The Convention Centre viewed from the National Arts Centre

. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Ottawa's new Convention Centre

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Sun, 22 May 2011 14:08:00 +0000

Ottawa's downtown has a dramatic new landmark, the Ottawa Convention Centre. The front of the building faces the Rideau Canal, the National Arts Centre, and the Parliament Buildings, and is made of glass shaped to look like crystal.

Ottawa Convention Centre

The curves and dramatic shapes and lines of this building are quite fascinating. I'm sure this building will be a focus for visitors to the capital throughout the summer.

Spring leaves in front of the Convention Centre

Even on a cloudy day, the building is fascinating to look at.

Reflecting the sidewalk

. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Mercury in hi-res

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Tue, 17 May 2011 00:58:00 +0000

As well as being a photographer, I am also an astronomy enthusiast. I studied Astrophysics in university as a 3rd year Physics course, not a small task when I was a full-time Mathematics student. I don't own a telescope, but I've spent more than enough time reading about it and wondering if I could stay up past midnight watching the stars, and still be up at dawn for landscape photographs.

Today I came across a beautiful hi-res photograph of Mercury, a fantastic composite of over 30 photographs from the MESSENGER spacecraft in 2008. Full marks to Gordon Ugarkovic who created this photograph. Here is his Flickr stream, and here is the link to his Mercury photograph at 500x500, from which you can take a look at the hi-res version (5000x5000).

. . . Rob Williams http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Orchidophelia - the Ottawa Orchid Society's Show

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 23:29:00 +0000

I attended the Ottawa Orchid Society's show this weekend. They thoughtfully invite photographers to bring their tripods on Sunday morning to photograph the show, and so I came prepared with my tripod and cable release. Here are some of my favourite images.


Still Life with Orchids

All of these photographs were made without a flash. The lighting was quite good this year. It has been quite hard in the past to find a good background, but there were a number of good opportunites at this year's show.

A "Monster" Orchid

I couldn't shake the image of an alien monster when I saw this colourful orchid.


White Orchid

I love the variety of shapes and colours in the orchid family. I have photographed a number of native orchids to this area -- Showy Ladyslipper, Yellow Ladyslipper, Pink Ladyslipper, Rose Pogonia, Grass Pink and Bog Candle, and it's fascinating to see some of their more exotic cousins.

. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

"Tilt Shift" photographs and photographer Tristan Greszko

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 14:52:00 +0000

I've been seeing a number of photographers using a technique that people are calling "tilt-shift", or "miniature". Simply put, you narrow your depth-of-field dramatically to a narrow band in the photograph, putting both foreground and background strongly out of focus. The effect makes the scene in the photograph look like a miniature model (like photographs of a model train set).

To be honest, I'm not a big fan. Occasionally I see an interesting photograph, but most often, these photographs look more like a gimmick than a serious photograph. I also dislike the term "tilt-shift" for this technique. Yes, tilt-shift lenses can create this effect, but that's not why photographers use it.

However, photographer Tristan Greszko has created a video called A Tiny Day in the Jackson Hole Backcountry, that is really fun to watch (use full-screen!). Moreover, he has some great skiing, mountain and nature photography on his website. It's really worth a visit.

So, maybe the gimmick works after all.

. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Ice Patterns

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 19:35:00 +0000

This weekend was one of the few weekends where we had predominantly clear skys for the past several months, and since I was awake early in the morning (well fairly early), I went out to a local conservation area to see how many Canada Geese I could see. There were a number of geese and ducks, but I guess I was too late in the day to see larger numbers.

Instead, along the banks of the Rideau River, there was a layer of melting chunks of ice along the shore, along with sheets of flat ice with crystalline patterns and frozen bubbles. Here are some if the photographs from my visit. More photographs can be found on my website.

Fantastic forms and shapes

Ice melting along stalks of grass

Frozen Bubbles

Mountains of ice crystals (actually about 6-7 cm high)

. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Datamining last year's photos

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 16:16:00 +0000


Back Harbour, Twillingate Newfoundland, July 2010

Recently, I found myself looking through some of last summer's photographs, and I came across a couple of photographs that I had overlooked when I originally processed them. This image posed a number of difficulties during processing (for example, how to keep the foreground bright enough without blowing out the background), so I guess I passed it by in favour of some easier images.

Although it's not the best image from Twillingate, it was fun going through the photographs, and pulling out some photographs that I had forgotten about.

. . . Rob Williams http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Blakeney Rapids in Winter

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 16:06:00 +0000

Winter can be very grey -- many days are overcast, with snow on the ground, and forests without leaves. When the weather clears, it is often very cold, thanks to arctic air moving south. So, when a bright sunny day comes around with tolerable temperatures, it's great to see some colour return.

The top of Blakeney Rapids in Winter

The Blakeney Rapids are well hidden on the Mississippi River outside of Ottawa (Canada -- not the US). You can't see them from the highway, or from the local regional roads. However, if you drive between Pakenham and Arnprior, and turn onto Blakeney Road, you will find a small parking lot where the road crosses the Mississippi River. Walk down the path a bit, and you will find the rapids.

Pines on the Blakeney Rapids

It's a spectacular place in summer, and just as great in winter. The path can be quite slippery, and the rocks at the edge can be get covered with ice, so great care is needed.

. . . Rob Williams http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Daily Shoot #ds454: Tell the story of a subject today in a photograph by photographing one specific detail of it.

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 19:20:00 +0000

Guitar Strings

The daily shoot topic yesterday was to tell the story of a subject by shooting a specific detail of it. I decided to use my son's guitar, sitting directly in the sunshine in our kitchen. I liked the combination of the strings, their shadows and the curves of the sounding hole. This photograph was shot handheld with my 105mm macro lens.

. . . Rob Williams http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Barns

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 18:43:00 +0000

Barns outside Ottawa

I love the look of old barns around the Ottawa area. Barns in the immediate area of the city are disappearing quite quickly now -- I can think of two at least that have been taken down in the past year. I hope that the farming heritage won't disappear completely in our haste to build golf courses and houses. My house was build on farmland, so I can't say that all house building is bad, but at the same time I don't like to see farms and barns disappear.

. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

First Snow

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 22:01:00 +0000

Every year, no matter what era I've reached in my life, I still get excited at seeing the first new snow of the season. It happened again last night when the snow started to accumulate. For some reason, it's hard not to stop and watch.


Trees along Brophy Drive near North Gower, Ontario

When I woke up, the snow was still on the ground, so I took my camera out and drove some back roads around where I live, looking for some interesting images.

NCC Forest along Moodie Drive, Ottawa

The snow stayed around all day, and so it will be a chilly night for the ghosts and goblins.


Bushes at the Lime Kiln Trail, Ottawa

Fence post on Brophy Drive

Bush beside the road on Brophy Drive

. . . Rob Williams http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

How to remove a stuck filter

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 15:39:00 +0000

Earlier this year, I wanted to remove the polariod filter from my 70-200mm lens, but it was badly stuck. Filters are hard to grip, and doubly so for polarizing filters with the rotating ring. I tried everything I could think of, including putting a rubber band around the filter for better grip, but I could not get it off.

I tried searching the web for a solution but I didn't find any good suggestions for a polarizer other than a filter wrench, and I couldn't find them (they're available at B&H, but I didn't want to wait for the shipping). Eventually I went to a kitchen store to see if I could find a jar lid opener that would be kind to the filter. Most were metal, but I found one that was made from soft rubber, called "EasiTwist Jar Opener":

I liked this one because it had a wide opening at one end, and smaller openings closer to the end for different sizes of filters. It turns out that the widest opening was perfect for a 77mm filter. I tried it out, and it worked immediately and very easily:

Highly recommended.

. . . Rob Williams http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Cape St. Mary's Ecological Preserve, Newfoundland

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 18:27:00 +0000

On our family's trip to Newfoundland, a day visit to Cape St. Mary's Ecological Preserve was easily one of the highlights. The preserve is located on the tip of the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland, on a peninsula between Placentia Bay and St. Mary's bay. It is home to a massive bird colony, consisting of thousands of Gannets, Common Murres, Thick-billed Murres, Black-legged Kittiwake, Razorbill and other species.

Northern Gannets

To get there, we drove down highway 100 from Placentia south to the cape -- a very picturesque drive, not to mention very hilly. You drive through a series of small villages, each of which is in a cove at the bottom of a valley between two 250 to 450 foot-high hilltops. The road up and down these hilltops is quite steep, at least from my perspective, which makes for an interesting and occasionally exciting drive.

Cape St. Mary's cliffs

When you get to the site itself, there is a roomy interpretation centre with information and a model of the cliffs showing the locations of the various nesting sites. But the real fun begins when you start walking down the path to the cliffs. The first viewing location is a grassy slope that lets you see the cliffs as a whole. You can hear the birds as well as see the level of activity to and from the cliffs. It's almost like a futuristic movie where flying cars are going to and fro on an aerial hightway.

Bird Rock and many of the 11,000 nesting pairs of Gannets

As the path continues (for about a kilometre), there are a couple of other viewing sites, but the best site is at the end of the path. The path leads to the cliff edge, where you can venture out on a narrow rocky point to see Bird Rock, a rock about 20 or 30 metres away that is covered with Northern Gannets. This view is truly awesome -- you can see the individual birds and their young, and various gannets flying back and forth. I watched the birds there for quite a while, and took many photographs.

The Gannet superhighway

The whole experience was exhilarating. When I was finished at the main viewing location, I went back to the grassy slope and just sat for a while watching the hub of activity, and listening to the sounds of the birds.

These and other photographs from the preserve and elsewhere in Newfoundland, please visit my website.

. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

A Carpet of Daisies

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 01:42:00 +0000

Around where I live, there is a lot of new house construction going on now. When the land is being prepared, there are large areas of bulldozed earth that are left alone for months and sometimes years. The freshly upturned earth seems to be full of seeds waiting to grow, all at the same time. The results are quite spectacular:

A Carpet of Daisies

A gust of wind

Another view of the carpet

. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

The fun is back for Infrared photography

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Sun, 23 May 2010 19:59:00 +0000

I started making infrared photographs quite a while ago, using Kodak H1E infrared film. I shot black-and-white photographs while I was young, and I really liked the dramatic contrast and unusual look of IR photographs.

The whole process from storing and loading the film, to taking the photograph, and developing it was difficult, frustrating, and very often disappointing. Storing the film in the fridge wasn't new to me, but loading the film in the dark and having to use a virtually opaque 720nm filter was quite difficult. Framing the photography involved setting up the photograph without the filter, and then carefully screwing the filter on, trying not to move the focus or zoom rings. Not only that, but determining the correct exposure needed a lot of guesswork and bracketing. I normally had to overexpose by 2 or 3 stops, but it was not consistent. Even with bracketing by a couple of stops, I missed quite often.


Forest Scene, Shot using Kodak H1E film

When it all worked, the results were fascinating, and made all of the frustration worth the effort.

When I switched to digital with a Nikon D100, infrared photography became much easier. The D100 is quite sensitive to infrared light, as opposed to later generations of DSLRs. I no longer had to deal with H1E film, or with guessing the exposure. I could check the exposure right away, and adjust on the fly. My exposures (using f/11 or f/16) was on the order of a few seconds, which was okay unless there was a strong wind. I took quite a bit more photographs using this setup, and learned how to introduce colour to IR by taking an identical colour image, and blending the two images.


Mer Bleue Boardwalk, Nikon D100, Hoya R72 filter

The situation went downhill with my current camera, a Nikon D200 which is much less sensitive to IR light. The exposures now were over 30 seconds, and it was hard to find a good photograph with that long an exposure. I virtually stopped taking IR photographs after I purchased the D200.

The latest change in infrared photography is the ability to convert a digital camera to infrared. The IR blocking filter over the sensor can be removed, and a 720nm or similar filter can be fitted over the sensor to block visible light.. The sensor itself is quite sensitive to IR light, and so the converted camera lets you take photographs at normal exposures, and without any external filter. This is a huge improvement over anything available in the past.

Oxtongue River, Nikon D40x IR converted

The main problem now (for my limited budget) is the price. There are a number of companies that offer conversion services (LifePixel and MaxMax are two of the high profile companies) and the prices range from $300 to $450 for most cameras. To be honest, this is about the same price of an "external" infrared filter. A Hoya R72 filter costs around $350 for a 77mm filter in Canada. However, you also have to have a camera body to convert.

The Minto Bridge to Green Island, Nikon D40x IR converted

The price point is dropping, especially if you are willing to by a used entry-level DSLR. The market for these cameras is quite competitive, and the models seem to last only a year or two. I've seen Nikon D3000 camera bodies selling for about $250 on eBay. I recently bought an IR-converted, used Nikon D40x, and although it is not a sophisticated camera (only 3 autofocus points!), it is great as an infrared camera. It's a very light body as well, so it doesn't add much weight to my camera pack.

All of the barriers to infrared photography have been removed, and it's fun again to photograph in infrared.

. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

What a difference a day (or two) makes!

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 02:25:00 +0000

The weather around here can be a bit crazy in the spring. On April 27th, we had snow, and the few remaining tulips in my front garden had to put up with some cold weather.

Switch to today, the temperature got up to 15C (59F), with bright sun. The tulips look a lot happier now:

. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Orchidophilia -- the Ottawa Orchid Society's Orchid Show

noreply@blogger.com (Rob Williams) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 02:25:00 +0000

This morning I went out to a local sports arena where an orchid show was being held by the Ottawa Orchid Society. For two hours in the morning, they welcome tripods -- no doubt a way to avoid hassles caused by tripod-carrying photographers during the main hours of the show. I arrived shortly after the show opened, and had a short time with a few other photographers, but the event got much more crowded by mid-morning.

I've been interested in orchids since I started photographing wild orchids in local bogs and wetlands (Pink, Yellow and Showy Ladyslipper, Rose Pagonia, and Grass Pink). This show includes many cultivated varieties, but it's surprising how much most of the orchids resemble our local varieties. The variety of colour and shapes is amazing, and lots of fun to photograph.

The main problem I had was to get a relatively clean background. Most of the displays had some wood to support the orchids, but the backgrounds were still very busy and bright. I had to work quite hard to position my camera so that I had a reasonably dark, plain background. I also moved in for detailed images of the flowers.

The lighting was also challenging if you were not using flash (like me). It's a mixture of fluorescent and incandescent, so I had to do a lot of adjustment after the fact. Despite all of that, the results were quite good.

I want to thank the show organizers for accommodating the photographic crowd -- it was lots of fun.

. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca