Jumbo Gardens

I went for a very quick walk yesterday morning around the Jumbo Gardens area. I took my usual X-T1 and 23mm combo. I have done a couple portrait sessions here in the past, one taking place in the winter but I never really took the time to walk around the area aside from the trails. Since I was just capturing my usual random things, I explored the snow field with all the soccer nets. I took a mix of wide angle all the way to my standard up close and personal photos. I absolutely love focusing on the details and I think this carries through to my wedding photography. With that being said, I constantly challenge myself to take in the whole frame too.

Once I was done in the field I headed over the the playground on the other side of the tree line. There was a also the ring which was still set up, although the ice has long since gone away only to be replaced with a fresh sheet of snow. Whenever I see a playground, I know I will always be able to come away with at least a few good shots. I finished up at the rink and a small older playground by the parking lot. Aside from freezing my hands, it was a good brief photo walk. As much as I like the snow, I am ready for spring to finally arrive, that way I don't have to bundle up each time I want to take photos. Thanks for viewing!

Centennial Park

With the weather getting a bit better these days I am finding myself out a bit more taking photos. After seeing it snowed quite a bit I decided to head back to Centennial Park to see how it looked. I definitely wasn't disappointed. There was a ton of snow out there and all the trails were barely explored yet. As far as I could tell, I was the only one out there. Mind you, this was at 9:45 in the morning. There's something peaceful about walking through snow covered trails early in the morning. 

Anyone who follows this blog and sees these posts knows that I enjoy focusing on the details, and getting those close up shots. They are often almost abstract in most cases. This time around I used my Fuji X-T1 and 16-55 lens to try and capture some wider angle photos. I'm very much looking forward to using this lens this year for weddings. 

As soon as I arrived and made my way down the first part of the trail, I felt like I was being watched. Low and behold, I turned to my left and there was a deer checking me out. Of course I took a photo of him. I saw how close I could get but before I knew it, he was running off into the forest. Beyond that I walked around the snow covered cabins and then eventually up around the stable. I think the horses thought I was bring them food because they came right up to me. I saw they didn't have any hay yet so I'm sure they were quite hungry! It did give me the chance to get some great close up photos of them. 

I finished off my walk by heading to the top of the trail that overlooks Thunder Bay. Once there I got some great shots of the powerlines and overall view. And that was it. Overall, it was such a nice and relaxing walk. Hopefully we get at least one more snowfall before winter comes to an end. As long as it doesn't get too cold! 

Macintyre River Walk

This is just a quick post for some photos I took last week. I decided to walk around the Macintyre River area with my X-T1 and 35mm in hand. It was a chilly morning but not too cold where you didn't want to walk. So I headed down the trail along the river and once I got to the train tracks I did a quick check for oncoming trains and crossed. I was able to get a decent photo of the snow covered tracks which is included in this set.

Surprisingly, out of all the years I have lived here, I hadn't made it out to the semi abandoned building on the other side of the river. I honestly don't know what it's called or if it's even fully abandoned but I spent about 20 minutes photographing different angles. In the end I included my favourite photo which was looking straight up. 

The rest of the walk was just the usual in and out of back alleys and along the street. Instead of my usual post processing I decided to include some duotones in this set. I think I may incorporating this a bit more for a select few photos in my portrait and wedding photography. It gives the images a completely different feel. Of course, with anything, you just have to make sure you don't go overoboard. Unless that's your thing of course. 

As always, thanks for viewing!

Hillcrest Park

I'm getting a little behind on my personal blog but here is a few photos I took last week when it snowed again. Since then we have had some really great warm weather. These were all shot around 10:00 in the morning so as you can see it was very gloomy and somewhat dark. I thought the black and white treatment for most of the images was fitting. 

Thunder Bay really is a beautiful city and the thing I love about Hillcrest Park is that depending on the type of day it is and even the hour, the view can change drastically. I didn't photograph it today, but driving by, the sun was huge in the morning and it looked like something out of a movie with all the ships out on Lake Superior.

All images were show with the Fuji X-T1 and 16mm. As usual I used the RAW images and did my usual post processing in Lightroom. 

Mission Marsh in November

This will just be a short post but I wanted to share some photos I took on a cold November morning out at Mission Marsh. I noticed while driving how the lake looked so I immediately grabbed my camera and headed out to a good open area with a good view of the Sleeping Giant and Lake Superior. For these photos I used my Fuji X-T1 and my wide angle 16mm lens. 

I also stopped on the way back to see if there were any deer lurking around and there were about 7 of them. I didn't have my zoom lens so I made due with what I had. I included one of the photos here. Then I finished off with a couple photos of the city from the bridge leading back to Fort William Road. 

Braving the Cold Weather

I recently had to get my car serviced so I bundled up for the cold weather and brought my Fuji X-T1 along. It ended up being about an hour and half wait so I set out to explore the area and find some good photo opportunities. Since I grew up in this area for the better part of my life I knew it pretty well. But, my challenge was to explore a little deeper into areas I don't usually go. 

There is a retirement home near by so I decided to walk in behind there. I noticed a large field with footprints that eventually led to the apartment complex closer to my house. So off I went, later realizing that I wasn't supposed to trespass there. When has that ever stopped a photographer right? I ended up getting some great shots here with the tall grass and old run down fence. 

I then made my way to the off leash dog trail which I have been down many times before. As I got near the end though, I decided to take a shortcut through which I had never done before. I immediately saw an old abandoned shack. I stayed on the outside of it to take a few photos. I had no intent on going inside. I then finished off my walk by the police station where there is a garden area. The plants have long since died but there was still some great colours there. 

It was then time to go back to the car dealership to my car. I later ventured to Westfort yet again to take some more photos but I will save that for another post.