Kam Park

I finally bit the bullet and got myself the Nikon d750 and I couldn't be happier. The main reason why I purchased it was for wedding season which is fast approaching. That's not to say I won't be using it a lot on my photo walks which is exactly what I did for my exploration of Kam Park this past week. If you have seen any of my previous posts, you will see I have been at this location a couple times before. So my challenge this time was to see if I could capture different perspectives and scenes. I think it accomplished that and more this time around. 

Admittedly, the first few photos of this series are from the downtown area in Fort William while I was waiting for Anne during lunch. After that, I headed on over to Kam Park and spent the next hour seeing what captures my eye. Luckily for me, the weather was awesome and there were plenty of birds out as well. It allowed me to put the d750 to the test somewhat which I had paired with the good old 50mm 1.8 lens. This still ranks as one of my favourite lenses ever. I don't think there is a better value out there for $200. Paired with a full frame camera such as the 750 and you can really achieve some great bokeh and depth of field. 

The colours coming out of the d750 raw files our outstanding and the focusing is instantaneous. Almost to the point where I'm not even sure if it focused since it happened so fast. I can't wait to put it to the test this wedding season. While at Kam Park I explored both tunnels, the VIA train along with the boardwalk. I also finally go the chance to head on over to the grain elevator to the point where I was right up against the no trespassing sign. Even with the the 50mm lens, I was able to get some great landscape shots. I'll definitely have to go back in the summer to get some sunset photos where the light is a bit better. 

As usual, all the photos were processed in Lightroom using the RAW files and my usual presets. Thanks for viewing!

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!