Snowy Spring Day at Boulevard Lake

It looks as though Spring is just not ready to arrive yet, seeing as how we got dumped on with snow briefly yesterday morning. As soon as I saw it snowing that much I knew I had to go somewhere to take photos before it all melted away. My location this time around was Boulevard Lake and the old LPH building. By the time I got to Boulevard the wind was basically blowing the snow horizontally which made for some pretty cool shots. So, after parking my car, grabbing me Fuji X-T1 and the 50-140mm lens, I set out to explore and see what I could find.

It was no more then 2 minutes into my walk where I wiped out hard. Little did I know that underneath that fresh coat of snow was a sheet of ice, essentially through the park. It caught me off guard and just as I was falling I was able to land on my side with my right hand outstretched saving my camera and lens. The price I paid was a pretty badly strained neck and back. But the show must go on and I shook it off and continued on my way, grumbling and moaning the rest of the walk of course.

The sad thing was that I wasn't the only one wiping out. About 2 minutes after my intimate session with the pavement, I heard some loud swearing coming from the parking lot. It seemed as though, a construction worker met the same fate as I. I didn't check, but he seemed to brush himself off and as I moved along I heard his faint swears echo in the distance.

Now, back to the photography part of my excursion. As always, I had no specific goal other then to shoot whatever caught my eye. Perhaps I should starting setting goals for myself during these walks, but until that happens, this is what you get. Randomness. 

In a way, I did have a goal, and it was to capture just how much snow was falling. I still find it amazing that all this snow was gone by 3:00pm. Once I finished walking around the Boulevard area I made my way to the LPH building, which I never really got the chance to explore before. The whole time I was taking photos, I was giving myself constant reminders not to fall. There were a few more close calls but I managed to stay upright the rest of the walk. I think the fact that my face was going numb kept me more alert then usual. One of these days, I'll actually dress appropriately for one of these walks. 

In the end, the fact that both my camera and lens were waterproof made this whole walk possible and they both performed flawlessly. I've really been digging taking the zoom lens on my walks lately as it has allowed me to get some completely different perspectives as well as shots I wouldn't have been able to get with my usual prime setup. Until next time!

It was downtown kind of morning

Instead of going to the gym as usual and hitting the treadmill, I decided to grab my trusty camera and brave the cold winter morning in downtown Port Arthur. Luckily, the weather warmed up slightly so it wasn't as bad as it has been all week. So I parked the car, bundled up and headed out into the unknown. Well, in this case, it ended up being Cumberland Street at first.

My first stop was the old Cineplex Theatre, which is just an old abandoned building for the most part. I am still amazed that they haven't torn down the signage. My camera of choice was the Fuji X-T1 and the 16-55mm lens. It's a great combo, and even though it's a bit of a bigger lens, I still don't really notice the weight. I usually shoot with my prime lens but I must admit, it's nice to have a bit of zoom. It allowed me to get some perspectives I wouldn't normally have been able to get.

The next stop along the way was the Shoreline Motel. For some reason, I'm always drawn to this building, for photos that is. It's not really my cup of tea as an establishment, but to each their own. I think I'm just a sucker for slightly run down and old buildings. 

Seeing as how I was right across the street from the Marina, I crossed the street and walked around the west end. There were some interesting cloud formations hovering around the Sleeping Giant so I waited a bit for the sun to be right and snapped a couple photos. I really need to start bring my tripod with me more often but I think I got a good enough shot hand held.

I was starting to get a bit colder, especially once the sun went away so I took the overpass back downtown and finished up by exploring some other streets and back alleys, before heading back to my car. The last shot of my walk was my favourite. I noticed that a whole bunch of pigeons were perched on the building so I gently approached, and because I had my zoom, I was able to stand a bit back and get a good shot. 

Thanks for viewing!

Fisherman's Park

Last week I found yet another great location that I had never been before. I may be the only one out of the loop, but just off Cumberland, on the way to the grain elevators, there is this small little park on the water called Fisherman's Park. I went on a very rainy day but seeing as how my camera and lens is waterproof, the rain didn't stop me! 

As soon as I got there, I headed underneath the overpass and got a few shots of the water. I will definitely have to go back and try another time-lapse as I think it would turn out great with the scenery there.

After that, I walked the short trail and took in the view of Lake Superior and the grain elevators. Before I was about to leave I noticed a loading dock for boats. I automatically assumed it was closed off but it was completely open to the public. I was still a bit hesitant as I thought at any moment some old man would come out of the bush and start yelling at me. That didn't happen so I explored a bit. There were three very old boats there. Only one was closed off. When I have more time I will be going back on a nice day to get some nice shots.

Once I left there I didn't want to go home just then so I went up to the boulevard dam bridge. It was getting more rainy can cold but I preserved and walked down the trail a little bit. Luckily I did as I managed to get a great shot of a whole bunch of birds flying into the sky from Boulevard Lake. I also managed to get some good photos of the bridge. I have mentioned this many times before but I love rainy overcast days. The lighting is so even and there are no harsh shadows. 

And that was it. I went home to warm up and anxiously go through the photos. 

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...

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!

View from Hillcrest at Sunset

It has a been a very long time since I have been able to get up to Hillcrest Park and get some sunset photos. Well, I finally got a chance to spend some time doing that very thing. I arrived at Hillcrest Park about 30 minutes before sunset. I absolutely love this time of day as everything gets a nice orange glow, and there are still some soft shadows among the buildings in this case. 

Admittedly, there aren't too many views from Hillcrest, with only a few being completely unobstructed. I managed to get a bit creative with some of the photos using the foreground to lead into the composition. I also converted some to black and white, well, because I love black and white. 

As usual I used the Nikon D610 paired with the 85mm 1.8. I find that lens gives that nice compression and offers a fairly wide enough angle for what I needed. I will eventually go back and see how it looks using my old 20mm 2.8. 

I am by no means an expert landscape photographer but the way I take photos like this is by focusing about 1/3 of the way into the scene and using an aperture of about F8 - F10. These are all handheld too, as I didn't feel like lugging around my tripod. As for processing, I used some VSCO filters with my own flair, then brought them all in my RAW sharpener program. Then, for the colour images I used Nik Vivesa to add just a bit warmth and Nik SilverEffex Pro 2 to enhance the black and white images.

As you can see they are all still kind a bit of muted and not too saturated. This is just personal preference. My next project is to actually get out and do a time lapse with the setting (or maybe rising) sun. Until then.