Quick Visit to Westfort

My last photo walk of the day in the fog took place in Westfort. I knew I had to at least go to one more location before I called it a day so I headed on over to the Westfort overpass. The bridge itself is just an awesome location but it also overlooks the entire train yard which I knew might look pretty cool in the fog. I actually spent a good 30 minutes photographing on the overpass, but I decided to only show a select few, my favourites if you will.

Since the day was dwindling down, and I knew I had to pick up Anne from work shortly, I walked a couple blocks to see what I could find. I actually came away with a few interesting compositions. All in all, it was a really fun day of taking photos. If I could do this everyday I would be in heaven. 

For those interested, I used my Fuji X-T1 paired with the 90mm 2.0. Thanks for viewing. 

Kaministiquia River Heritage Park in the Fog

As I mentioned in my previous post which took place in the Mission Marsh, it was a very foggy day. This post contains photos taken in and around Kam Park. Seeing as how I ended up going to 3 different locations that day, I figured I would split the photos up, because I think I got a lot of great shots. I couldn't think of a better place to go on a foggy day then Kam Park. With the boardwalk, the tugboat and even the tunnel, it was a no brainer.

As soon as I arrived, I saw that the fog was very dense. So dense in fact, that I could barely see the bridge across the water. I ended up having to do some more intense Lightroom adjustments, but I really dig the more moody, artistic look. It's almost dreamlike. From there on out I walked down the boardwalk and I was able to get a good shot of the dock vanishing into the background and then of the tugboat and eventually the tunnels. 

I also wandered around downtown for a bit and even snuck in a couple candid people photos. One of my favourites of the day was actually a young girl riding her bike down the street with an angry bird backpack. Once I was done downtown, I made the walk back to my car at Kam Park, but I made sure to use the other tunnel. It's such a cool tunnel, I could literally spend an 1 hour there getting some photos. 

My camera choice was the Fuji X-T1 and the lens used was the 90mm 2.0. It's a surprisingly light combo and the compression from that lens is amazing. Of course, there is no zoom on it so you do have to make sure you move your feet to frame your shots. But that is my favourite way of shooting. Check back soon for the final shoot from this day which took place in Westfort.

The Back Roads of Westfort

Even though it was a bit of a chilly day, I decided to go for another quick walk after lunch. Whereas in the morning I was in Port Arthur, the afternoon brought me to the depths of Westfort. It had been a while since I took photos on the overpass so I decided to head there. After spending a short amount of time getting some photos in and around the overpass I walked all the way across and explored some of the road on the other side of the tracks. 

As far as I can remember I had never been back there so it was quite interesting. I immediately tried to get down to the river to get a photo of the big ship but it was sadly all closed off. Even an area where you could normally go down the water was also locked down. My plan for next time is to bring my long zoom lens and find an angle somehow. Hopefully the ship is still there. 

Regardless, I headed to the James Street Swing Bridge. Even though it's closed off to traffic, you can still walk across. I was able to get some decent angles from the bridge but I did have to shoot through the fence. Actually, one of my favourite photos of the day was of the old mill in the background, which was shot through the fence. It almost looks like smoke is on the outer edges of the fence but it's part of the fence which is blurred. I just like how it ended up looking, almost vintage, by accident.

Once I was done on the bridge I made my way back to Gore Street which would eventually take me to my car. Before I got there though, I managed to get a few more cool looking photos. Along the way, I was warned by a friendly neighbour that there had been a black bear roaming around the day before. So, I think I will take a break from Westfort for a bit. 

In case you are wondering, I took all these photos with the Fuji X-T1 and the 35mm 1.4. I shot in both JPG and RAW. Lately I have been using the RAW images mainly because they are more forgiving with the the highlights, especially with the bright winter skies. 

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!