Pretty Amazing

At the LG competition, there is a fitness component.  Bring a 20lb brick off the bottom at 6 feet or more, then swim with it for 15 feet.  Sounds easy - but try it.  

I have been doing this activity for almost 20 years.  When I was at Rolley Lake, I was 'playing' by picking up rocks off the bottom.  It was fun to watch others try as well.  

Catching this on film was exciting.  Again I had to plan watching when she was going to break the surface and take the shot just before she broke the surface.  Having done this activity gave me an opportunity to have a good idea when she would break and the breath she would immediately take.

Catching the action

Catching the action used to be so much harder.  With my old Pentax Super ME, I could only take one image and then manually wind.  I never moved to an auto winder.

With the Nikon D60, I can take 3 to 4 snaps per second.  It is still not fast enough to catch action with unless it is planned.  You need to plan your shot, ensure your shutter speed is enough to not just make a blur, then breath out slowly and depress the shutter just before the moment you want.

Think Different

This image was taken at the Bear Creek LG Competition.  I said taken because I didn't take the photo for composition.  Rather the photo was made to look differently at the competition.  When all eyes are on the finish of the race, a different perspective.

I was told by a professional photographer to plan your photos by walking around without a camera.  Look for shots and plan before picking up a camera.  The beauty of the LG competition was that I got to see most things 3 times in succession.  I was able to plan several shots this way.

Yet another Powell River Sunset

As I have said, I spend a long time to get just the right photo.  Even with the right subject matter, you still have choices.  These two images are great.  At first I wanted to post the first one, then I saw the second again and thought it was better.  They both have their merits and the colour is amazing.

My mother-in-law claims Powell River has the best sunsets in the world.  It is hard to argue when I can capture the range of great photos in one night.

Another Powell River Sunset

Patience is important.  I hung around the beach for over an hour to explore different shots and make just the right photo.  I had decided I wanted to be out on the breakwater to get less foreground in the images.  Walking over, the sun changed a bit more and when I arrived this image was waiting to be made.  I could adjust the colour saturation a bit but I am happy with the shot 'au naturel.'  

Upon further looking, I see that I purposely decreased the aperture to expose the image less.  Here is an image taken moments before with 1/80 of a second versus the 1/200 of a second for the image above.

Wild Strawberry

I am always amazed at the way we have domesticated and changed plants.  More recently, concerns over genetically modified plants....  We have been able to 'naturally' modify plants such as this strawberry which basically produces a fruit the size of a pea covered in seeds to a fruit the size of a golf ball or more.  

Politics aside, I love the beauty of plants that are 'wild' versions of what I know.  This image was shot in raw so I was able to crop over half of the image out to frame a much nicer photo.

Catching Water

Something critical that I gained from listening to Vincent LaForet was relating to making photos rather than taking.  This series of images was intended to do just that.  I adjust the shutter speed manually from 1/500 of a second to 1/15 of a second.  At 1/500, the water appears to stop and is in close focus.  At 1/15 of a second the rock can be in perfect focus while the water becomes a white blur.

I am sure that there is a way as a science lesson to use the photo to see how fast the water was flowing at the time.