Mount McKay and Abandoned Cars

I have been spending a lot of time lately trying to hone my 'video skills' and my personal photo walks have taken a backseat. Well, this morning I decided to take my X100F into the rain, even though it's not waterproof, and see if I remembered how to take photos. ;)

I joke about taken photos, as I have been doing a lot of professional work, but I have missed just walking around aimlessly and capturing still images. My first destination was the Mount McKay lookout, at the base of Mountdale Road. I'm not sure if I a lot of people know about this spot, because there is rarely anyone there, but it is quite beautiful. As soon as I got out of my car, I saw a cute little chubby rabbit hopping around. I swear it looked like a household rabbit. I did manage to get fairly close before it hopped off into the gloomy forest. As I do with almost any cat, dog, horse or bird I see in my travels, I had a short conversation with it. Sometimes I worry that I'm a bit crazy. I can't be the only person that talks to random animals though right?

It was already raining lightly when I got to the lookout but I still managed to get, what I think, are some good shots. Remember, the X100F is a fixed 35mm lens so you really have to compose with your feet. I like to get in super close to things but also appreciate the landscape type photos. 

The next stop after that was the James Street Bridge. By then it was raining fairly hard but I just made sure to keep the camera somewhat covered. The crappy thing about the bridge, is that it has been closed to traffic for quite a while now. Even though you can still cross it, the usual pedestrian walkway is fenced off and you can only walk on a different walkway, which has fences on both sides, so no clear view of the river etc. 

The geese were out in full force and I got a wicked photos of one of them perched on the top of the bridge structure. He didn't quite know what to think of me but luckily I didn't get dive-bombed. Not wanting to go home just yet, I went for a quick drive to Mission Marsh and this little partially fenced off area with abandoned cars. It is by far one of my favourite spots in town. There is nothing special about it, but if you let me know loose in an actual junkyard, I would probably spend days taking photos in it. I love old vintage cars and broken down things. 

I called it a morning after that and decided to head home and do some actual work. The Fuji X100F is such a fun camera to use and it really forces you to move and compose. But then again, my whole Nikon professional kit, consists of primes so it's nothing new to me. 

Thanks for viewing!

Quick Visit to Westfort

My last photo walk of the day in the fog took place in Westfort. I knew I had to at least go to one more location before I called it a day so I headed on over to the Westfort overpass. The bridge itself is just an awesome location but it also overlooks the entire train yard which I knew might look pretty cool in the fog. I actually spent a good 30 minutes photographing on the overpass, but I decided to only show a select few, my favourites if you will.

Since the day was dwindling down, and I knew I had to pick up Anne from work shortly, I walked a couple blocks to see what I could find. I actually came away with a few interesting compositions. All in all, it was a really fun day of taking photos. If I could do this everyday I would be in heaven. 

For those interested, I used my Fuji X-T1 paired with the 90mm 2.0. Thanks for viewing. 

The Back Roads of Westfort

Even though it was a bit of a chilly day, I decided to go for another quick walk after lunch. Whereas in the morning I was in Port Arthur, the afternoon brought me to the depths of Westfort. It had been a while since I took photos on the overpass so I decided to head there. After spending a short amount of time getting some photos in and around the overpass I walked all the way across and explored some of the road on the other side of the tracks. 

As far as I can remember I had never been back there so it was quite interesting. I immediately tried to get down to the river to get a photo of the big ship but it was sadly all closed off. Even an area where you could normally go down the water was also locked down. My plan for next time is to bring my long zoom lens and find an angle somehow. Hopefully the ship is still there. 

Regardless, I headed to the James Street Swing Bridge. Even though it's closed off to traffic, you can still walk across. I was able to get some decent angles from the bridge but I did have to shoot through the fence. Actually, one of my favourite photos of the day was of the old mill in the background, which was shot through the fence. It almost looks like smoke is on the outer edges of the fence but it's part of the fence which is blurred. I just like how it ended up looking, almost vintage, by accident.

Once I was done on the bridge I made my way back to Gore Street which would eventually take me to my car. Before I got there though, I managed to get a few more cool looking photos. Along the way, I was warned by a friendly neighbour that there had been a black bear roaming around the day before. So, I think I will take a break from Westfort for a bit. 

In case you are wondering, I took all these photos with the Fuji X-T1 and the 35mm 1.4. I shot in both JPG and RAW. Lately I have been using the RAW images mainly because they are more forgiving with the the highlights, especially with the bright winter skies. 

Boulevard Lake

I'm just getting around to posting this from last week but better late then never. Even since a week ago it seems like winter is closer then ever but I did manage to find some colour last week. Most of the leaves are gone now so I'm glad I got out when I did. It was also a very foggy day as well, so that helped create a nice mood to some of the photos, especially the ones by the river. 

The first few photos in this series are actually around Grandview Arena. Before meeting Anne for lunch, I walked around there for about 20 minutes. There is a really nice trail there and I came away with some great shots. After lunch, I then headed down to Boulevard Lake. I started by the park off Arundel Street and walked under the bridge along the water for a bit. Not being the sharpest tool in the shed I was wearing my dressier shoes the whole time so they ended up getting soaked by the end of it. Ah well. 

I eventually headed back to the car and then drove down to the main area by the mini put course. I spent some time around the run down tennis court which I used to play tennis at back in the day. There were some great reflections due to the puddles on the court. I ended the walk by the playground. For the whole shoot I used my D610 combined with the 85mm 1.8. Such a great light combo and the colours that come from that lens are outstanding, especially for a lens that really isn't that expensive. Now I'm just waiting for the weather to get a bit better before I head out again this week...

Kam Park Portraits with Anne

This past Friday, after we had some great food and a drink at ExCuria in downtown Fort William, I  decided to drag my wife Anne for a quick photoshoot in the rain over at Kam Park. It has been so long since I did this with her that I figured we could walk off some calories and get some nice photos in the process. 

I chose to go to Kam Park because I thought it would be a nice atmosphere with the boardwalk and the rain. It wasn't raining to hard but enough where it was kind of cold, so we only spent about 15 minutes walking around and taking photos. She was such a great sport and even though it was raining, we both had a great time. Of course she is a pro by now when I take photos of her since I pretty much do it every day. 

We came away with some fun photos but one of my faves was the where I got her to run down the boardwalk, making some of the seagulls fly away. All the photos were shot with my Fuji X-T1 and the 35mm 1.4. 

East End

The other week I managed to walk around East End a bit and below are some of my favourite photos from the day. I even got some Halloween decorations in there as well. I just love all the old homes in this area as well as the train yard. It was a cloudy day so as you can see everything is kind of muted but I actually like it. It tells you that winter is definitely on it's way.

I also was able to walk to the overpass and get some great shots of the not only the bridge, but the view from the bridge. It's the first time I actually walked on the bridge and it's amazing what you can see when you actually stop to look. Every other time I have been on the overpass it's been in a car so obviously it is a bit hard to appreciate the view.

My camera of choice this time around was my Fuji X-T1 paired with the 35mm. All of the photos were shot as jpg's and edited in Lightroom. Thanks for viewing.

Last Minute Camping at Trow Bridge

It's been a busy week so I am just now getting to photos from the previous weekend. What a great weekend it was too! Anne and I decided to go for breakfast at the Hoito for some pancakes and were trying to figure out what to do for the weekend. Well, just like that we decided to go camping at Trow Bridge. It would be only our second time camping this year, the first being at our usual place, Happyland. 

So we quickly got some supplies from the grocery store, headed home, packed up and before we knew it, we were at Trow Bridge. Our usual campsite wasn't available so we 'settled' for a nice spot right next to the river. For the trip I brought my X100s and X-TI with the 16mm. Most of the photos below used the classic chrome setting with a few tweaks. They were then processed in Lightroom like I always do. But, they didn't need much work at all. The colours from the Fuji cameras never cease to amaze me. 

Just like most of my posts, these are all random photos. If something catches my eye, I photograph it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The photos below are my favourites. Of course, it helps to have some wonderful models. Both dogs and girls. 

I did have big plans to get some long exposure of the rapids, I even brought a tripod (gasp). I haven't used one in a long time. As I got ready to head down to the rapids around sunset I realized I forgot the plate for the tripod. So instead, I just propped the camera up on rocks and such. It wasn't ideal, but I managed to get a couple keepers. 

Until the next camping trip... 

Walking the East End with the Fuji XE-1 + 16mm 1.4

It was starting to get late last night when I got the urge to just get out and walk around and take some photos. Although it may not be generally known as the nicest part of town, I'm usually drawn to the East Side when taking photos. I guess I just love the atmosphere. The rain was slowly creeping in but luckily it held off long enough for me to really put the Fuji 16mm lens to the test. My camera of choice was a simple one, since it is currently the only once I can mount the lens to, the Fuji XE-1. For a while I was trying to sell it but I figured I would give pull it out of hibernation and start using it again. It may not be the fastest camera but over the past week of using it, it has taken some of my favourite photos of the year. 

So I set off into the East End with that combo and wandered around aimlessly, like I usually do. The first stop was the East End bridge to get a few expansive shots of the neighbourhood. The 16mm is probably becoming one of my favourite lenses, not only for landscapes, but just for general use. It is sharp all the way through, focuses extremely fast (even on the XE-1) and produces great tones. With a lens this wide, it's hard not to play with the angles a bit as you can see from the first image. 

After walking in and out of some of the streets I decided to drive on over to the long path that overlooks the Sleeping Giant. With the clouds rolling in and a hint of the sunset it made for some nice dramatic photos. All in all it was a fun walk around. It goes to show you that even if it is raining out, there are always opportunities to just get out there and create some good photos. Of course, make sure your camera is waterproof.

(The last image is of our dog Willow. I couldn't help but take a photo of her all curled up outside in the rain when I got home... such a hard life.)

All images shot with the XE-1 and 16mm 1.4. Enjoy!