A Visit With The Horses

The snow decided to come down most of the day today so I figured it was as good a time as any to get Willow some fresh air. So I packed up my Nikon D750 and the 85mm 1.8 and me and Willow headed out to Centennial Park. Since it had been snowing for a while, I had a feeling Centennial Park would have a fair amount of accumulation of snow. 

As soon as we started getting closer to the parking lot at Centennial, Willow immediately sat up in the backseat. To this day, I still don't understand how she knows when we are arriving at the chosen destination. Instinct I guess. I couldn't open the car door fast enough. She always takes forever to enter the car, but low and behold, she gets out pretty quick for an old girl.

For some reason I thought Centennial Park was off leash, but it obviously isn't. I brought the leash in any case, so I hooked her up and down the trail we went. I decided to walk to the over pass and then back through where the stables are, just in case the horses were out and the gate was open. 

Before we got to the stable area, Willow had plenty of random trees to smell and I let her for the most part. I did have to start pulling on her leash after a while, or else we would have been there all day. I did try and get her to pose for a shot against the wall at the overpass, but it didn't go well. As soon as I stepped back to take the shot she would start walking towards me. 

As I mentioned above, the ultimate destination was the horses and luckily, 3 of them were out and I was allowed to go in. Willow wasn't too happy about being tied up to a tree but the horses were off limits for dogs. 

The horses really didn't move at all, so I worked with what I had. Also, only having the 85mm lens, meant I couldn't get in too close, but I still came away with some decent shots. 

In the end, Willow had a good time and so did I. Aside from my hands partially freezing (dollar store gloves aren't that warm), I'm happy with some of the photos I got. And of course, Willow got to hang her head out the window the whole way back. Everyone got what the wanted.

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.