pureskill.ca

Back in late November, I volunteered, along with two of my brother-inlaws to perform some crowd control duties at the Rally of the Tall Pines.  One of the largest Rally events in North America, this year was it’s biggest yet with 60 entries.  I had been to a rally before, but one on a much smaller scale.  As you can guess, I definitely brought my camera with me

The weekend was great as we were positioned at one of the largest jumps the stages had to offer.  The spectators were friendly and everyone enjoyed the action.  To give you an impression on the difficulty these drivers had faced, only 19 cars were able to finish all the stages.

I have loved cars ever since my first dinky car and I’m pretty certain this passion will continue for many years to come.  What is now very cool is being able to combine my passion for cars and photography together.  Here is a shot I was able to take during the racing:

Yesterday evening I attended a presentation by Colin Smith from Adobe.  The main topic was how to use Photoshop to manipulate photos to achieve the desired result.  If you have reviewed my gallery, you can see in many images that some post processing (editing images with software) has been performed.  Some in the photographic world despise this and dismiss these altered images entirely.  There is a group that sits in the middle that approve of software for reducing noise or sharpening an image.  Then you have the group that I belong to – ANYTHING goes.  The idea is that a good image is a good image – and that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  When altering my images, the idea is not to deceive the viewer…rather the opposite.  It is to reveal a new perspective.  I respect all photographers and understand it can be easy to get carried away with editing.  Additionally the importance of taking a good photograph with the camera is not lost on me.  This is and continues to be my main goal.  To me photography is art and art is expression.

This is a small example of a photograph with the original and altered version side by side.  Initially I completed dismissed this picture.  Then, while reviewing some old material, I re-discovered its potential.

I was heading out to the hardware store last night and noticed a house on my street had its Christmas lights on.  Any other year I would groan that putting your Christmas lights on during the first week of November is just too early.   However, this year feels different.  Perhaps it’s the idea of celebrating Christmas with my daughter, who is hitting the age when she can begin to involve herself in the festivities.  Or, is it being back home after spending 6 years in Vancouver and getting to spend more time with family and friends?  Either way it should be fun times ahead.

This photo was taken earlier today from my garden.  The rain had stopped after a steady pour during the morning and by chance noticed the rain drops sitting on the roses.

Airports have always been interesting for me since my youth.  For a few years during college I worked at Toronto’s Pearson airport for Group 4 security.   I got to see first hand the diversity of people travelling to and from Toronto – one of the cities great attributes.  For many airports can represent the beginning of an exciting adventure or the final chapter of a long journey away from home.  Needless to say the opportunity to take an interesting photo abound.

While waiting for a flight to Germany, I walked around the concourse and equipped with my wide angle lens, captured one of the interesting art pieces that are new to terminal one.

What to do on a beautiful fall evening?  How about visiting one of Ontario’s many heritage places like Elora!  That’s what my wife, daughter and I did a few weeks ago and as an alternative to sitting on the couch, we were all glad we went.  The gorge at Elora is the towns most notable natural element.  However, Elora also has a very quaint main street with cafes, artisans and other unique shops.

Since the sun was setting and my photo opportunities fading as quickly as the sun, I composed the image below.  Taken from the bridge leading into downtown Elora, I managed to get the sun just before it hit the horizon.  I framed the image specifically to highlight the architecture of the bridge and the pattern against the blue sky.

Elora sunset