Kam River Park - Last Days of Summer

I’ve been trying to get out more and more first thing in the morning when the sun is low. The one thing about Fall that is great for photography is that the days are shorter, which means you don’t have to get up as early to get potentially good light. When living in a place like Thunder Bay, it’s easy to get bored of taking photos because it is a smaller city and there are only so many things to photograph. That has never stopped me from going to the same location many, many times over.

The time of day, the camera you use, the way you walk a scene; all can change the way you shoot a place you have been to before. Honestly, this was probably my 20th time taking photos at Kam River Park. I just had my Canon EOS R and 50mm 1.2. One camera and one lens. When doing personal photography, that’s all I ever bring, 90 percent of the time. I do try to switch up lenses every now and again. But, 50mm has always been my favourite focal length.

It was an over cast day down at Kam Park which is my favourite type of weather. As always, I didn’t really have a goal in mind. I just walked around and captured things that looked interesting to me. I worked different angles and looked for interesting light, even though it was cloudy. There were a ton of seagulls out that day and I tried to get some photos of them in flight. I think I ended up getting a couple keepers.

I’m sure I’ll be back again before winter hits us, and even then, it’s a totally different look and feel in winter as well. Happy shooting!

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. 

Kam Park + Westfort

I decided to take some time to walk around Kam Park and eventually Westfort the other day to take some photos. I brought my XT-1 with the 16mm. I'm still somewhat getting used to this focal length because I'm so used to using 35mm and beyond. It's really forcing me out of my comfort zone a bit and making me see different angles. As a photographer, I think it's important to use different lenses as it really opens up your eyes and it obviously lets you capture images that you might not of been able to before with a different lens.

So, the first stop was Kam Park. After taking a few photos of the boardwalk I concentrated on the old Via Rail Train. What I like to do sometimes is just focus on one subject, in this case it was a large one, and document it. Just like I would do with a wedding couple. If anyone was actually watching me they would see me walking around the train, studying it, looking up and down, and eventually taking photos here and there. It probably looked a little strange. But, I'm well past that point. Hell, I even get down on my stomach sometimes just to get different angles. Although, with the Fuji XT-1 it isn't really necessary any more due to the tilting screen.

With the train, I looked for colours, details, angles and I even stepped back a bit and had some fun with the train tracks. I almost treat it as an exercise, seeing how many unique photos I can get of one single object. 

The next stop were the elevators off in Westfort. I've been here many times before but I figured I would visit them again and see what I could come up with. With the 16mm, which ends up being about 23mm it was wide enough to allow me to get some nice wide angle photos. I just came away with a few photos here but I spent about 30 minutes there. A train ended up coming and I tried to get some shots of the motion with the elevators in the background but it just wasn't working. An ND filter would have helped immensely and of course a tripod. But I rarely bring either of those things with me. Ah well. 

I finished off my photo walk drifting around Westfort. Instead of studying a single object or place for a while, here I just did my usual walking around, taking photo and moving on. All the time looking for interesting things or moments. 

The last few photos are around the downtown area, as I had to drive Noah to his dentist appointment. So while I waited, I walked around outside for a few minutes. And that's it. more random goodness. All photos in this case were shot in RAW and processed in Lightroom using my usual style. Thanks for viewing!

A Walk Around Simpson Street

So it was a relatively brisk morning the other day when I decided that instead of going home and sitting in front of a computer, I would go walk around Simpson Street and test out my new Nikon 85mm 1.8. I'm so glad I did as it was very refreshing and it has honestly been a very long time since I really just took some time and walked around to take photos. This winter has been brutal. 

For those of you who don't know, Simpson Street is a pretty rundown area of town. Honestly, that is why I like it. There is still a lot of history there and tons of old partially abandoned buildings. Don't get me wrong, there are some businesses on the street that are doing just fine, but overall, it's an area of Thunder Bay that needs a lot of work. 

I decided to bring my Nikon D610 and pair it with the 85mm 1.8. Once again, I mainly used Auto Iso and Aperture Priority. I rarely went above F8, and most of the time I was around F2.8. I would have gone lower but it was bright and sunny out and I have yet to purchase an ND filter. The only drawback I have encountered so far with the D610 is the max 1/4000 shutter speed. But, in the end, it is an easy problem to solve. 

Aside from the limitation with the shutter speed, the camera performed perfectly. White balance was almost always right on and the metering was great as well. There were no issues with focusing, but then again, I was only photographing static subjects for the most part. 

As for the lens, it's a dream to use. It's light, compact and focuses great. And of course, the bokeh is outstanding on it. So, for someone looking for a really good priced lens in this focal range, you really can't go wrong for the price. I can't wait to use it on my portrait and wedding sessions. 

Getting back to my actual walk, after I went up and down Simpson Street once, I ventured over to Kam Park. It's not always the safest area to walk around, but that is mainly at night. Seeing as how it was 10:30 in the morning, it was all good. Plus, once I got there, I was literally the only one walking around, save for a few pigeons. 

Kam Park has a really cool tugboat there which I just love to photograph. I didn't have my wide angle lens, but I managed to get a few landscape shots with what I had. Once I got to the end of the boardwalk, I got some cool shots of the bridge off in the distance. I processed these ones as black and white in Lightroom, simply because I thought they looked better that way. Plus, I find when shooting in overhead sunlight with no shade, black and white often softens the photos a bit so they aren't so contrasty. it all depends on the look one is going for though.

With fear of my meter running out, I started back to the car. By now it was at least a 20 minute walk. I managed to get some photos of some more old buildings and just random stuff as per usual. 

All the photos below were processed in Lightroom. I tend to start with a VSCO filter and then make it my own by tweaking it and just playing around with each photo. I love taking photos, but I would stay that editing them afterwards is just as fun.