Something I’ve tried to do with my blog since getting my X10 a year ago is to show my most recent photos instead of looking back in ‘the archives’ for material.  It’s been a great way to keep me motivated to get out there and shoot but unfortunately with this cold spell we’ve been having today’s post is two shots from the recent past, both within the last month though so I guess that’s not too bad.  (Dec. 26, 2012 and Jan. 12, 2013).

The recently announced Fuji X20 certainly has my interest, but then again so do the X100s, X-E1 and X-Pro1.  As much as I like the XE1 and X-Pro1 I don’t know if I’d be able to go back to interchangeable lenses and a bigger camera bag but even with that said, if offered, I wouldn’t turn one down.

You can bet that over the next few months I’ll be keeping an eye on the X20 and how it stacks up against my X10.  Early indications online seem to suggest that the new X-Trans CMOS II sensor will provide 30% better noise reduction and 20% higher resolution.  If true, I may have to make the move to the new one.  In the meantime I’ll happily keep on shooting with the X10.

I started by exploring along the tree line at the back of the garden behind our house.  Here is where a number of spruce trees live who have stood still many times for my camera.  The two trees below appear as legs to me as if they’re beginning a long walk through winter on their way to spring.  I continued my walk through the garden stopping at some ornamental grass.  Instead of shooting it in focus I decided to move in close, switch to manual focus and create an abstract image with minimal depth of field.  On I went, stopping at a flower broken by our heavy maritime snow, onto a hydrangea that has managed to hold onto a few of its dried out flowers, and finally stopping at a beautiful birch tree rising tall through the freshly fallen snow.

For a while now I’ve been wanting to do a duck mugshot so today I snapped a few pictures of him and spent the last hour or so working in photoshop to design the background and get it looking the way I wanted.

Happy New Year everyone!

Almost a year ago I got rid of my SLR and went light with the Fuji X10.  For the most part I’ve been happy and have taken it more places and captured more photos along the way all while not having to lug a heavy camera and lenses around.  But it’s at times like these, when I’m in a rut, that I find it harder to get out of it and get shooting again because the smaller camera makes me feel like even more of an amateur.

While out walking the dogs today we came across a frozen pond covered with a light dusting of snow.  It made me happy to see that the next season, a new start, is not too far off.  I am hopeful that once the snow arrives for good, my batteries get recharged, and a new year begins that I’ll feel more inspired to capture the things I see in my daily life.

What can you expect to see from me in 2013????  I’m thinking mostly abstract (with and without nature), some macro work, and who knows…. maybe this will be the year I finally try some street photography.

After feeding the birds this morning and watching them for a few minutes I noticed that there was still one more flower in the garden.  Our black, metal sunflower which stood tall throughout the summer has not surprisingly kept every leaf and petal deep into Fall.  After pulling it out of the ground I thought the black would provide a good contrast against the blue sky.  I balanced it over the ledge of the deck, with a rock keeping it balanced, and got on my back underneath it.  Unfortunately there were a few wispy clouds in the sky so I left it as is and went inside to make some lunch.

A few minutes later I looked out and the clouds had drifted on so I grabbed my camera to shoot the flower against the now clear, blue sky.  A quick switch to black and white and a few other adjustments added to the simplicity of the image and gave me the look I was after.

I feel pretty disappointed though because during that time I missed out on a beautiful display from Mother Nature.  The Fall leaves were amazing these last few weeks but sadly the majority have since fallen and dried up as the days get shorter and the temperatures begin to fall.

Feeling good, and with the weather cooperating, I headed down to the stream this morning for a few pictures.  Since my last visit to the stream I picked up a 40.5-52mm adapter for a ND filter so I can get longer exposures but to date haven’t gotten around to actually buying a ND filter to go on the adapter yet.

That’s it for now.  Hopefully it won’t be another month before I post again.

Over the next 7-10 days we watched as your little house went from a lime green to become darker in colour, getting thinner as the days went on, revealing the pattern of your wings hidden inside.  Sometime through the day today you broke free and we were lucky enough to see you resting and moving your wings as if getting used to your new self, catching your breath for all that you’ve been through.

It began to rain quite hard tonight.  I was worried about you but when I checked you seemed to be doing okay.  I’m not sure how long you’ll visit with us.  Maybe you’ll move on tomorrow, maybe you’ll wait for your friends to emerge from their nearby cocoons, or maybe you’ll stick around and enjoy some of our flowers.  Whatever you decide, thanks for stopping by.  It was nice to see you.

I’ve been enjoying a bit of vacation this past week and we managed to get away for a few days to Saint Andrews, New Brunswick.  We used to live in New Brunswick from about 2000-2004 but haven’t been back in the years since we’ve moved away.  It was nice to visit again and in the couple days we were there I snapped about 400 shots, many of them keepers.   This little Fuji X10 continues to impress me!

It was nice to take some photos again and I’d like to share a few of them with you below.  I’ll save some others for the future when I might not have a chance to get out with the camera and create new material.

Despite being simple to prepare, this particular dish has become one of my favourites to make with my vegetables.

I start by cooking the green beans, carrots and peas.  When they’re almost done I melt some butter in a frying pan and saute my green onions in it.  Then I add the green beans, carrots and peas….. give them a stir to get them covered with the butter and onions, add a bit of salt and pepper and then mix in some cooked brown rice.

It’s amazing how much better food tastes when it’s fresh.  In a few weeks the tomatoes will begin to turn red and then it will be time to make some spaghetti sauce.  Some of it will be enjoyed right away but the rest will be put away in the freezer for a mid-winter treat.

My workplace is close by car but parking is hard to come by and it’s too far by foot to get to and explore the waterfront on my lunch so I typically spend my lunch hours exploring the south end of the city.  It’s sad really.  You kind of take these things for granted and it’s not until you’re down there or seeing the city skyline from the harbour that you realize how beautiful it really is.

I normally don’t have to worry about watering my vegetable garden since Mother Nature seems to look after that for me every other day but I thought that I better this morning to help them through this heat and dry spell.  It’s inevitable though (this is Nova Scotia) that the rain will return and bring a nourishing drink for all.

Over the years I’ve become more attracted to simple lines and shapes in the frame than a wide angle landscape.  Despite still appreciating that type of photo for whatever reason I’m no longer happy with the pictures of those scenes that I take.  I think I need to stick with what is pleasing to my eye, and hopefully to yours as well, and concentrate on simple, structural, abstract, macro, and architectural shots that some may not enjoy but that I have come to find comforting.

Over the last 5 years I’ve done my fair share of manual labour around the yard; removing stumps, giant rocks, building pathways, etc…. but I can’t take any credit for the beautiful flowers and shrubs that fill the space.  That honour would go to my partner who has put a lot of time and incredible effort to get things looking the way they do, and in pursuing her hobby has provided me with the inspiration for hundreds, if not thousands, of photographs.

The first is a very large evergreen that dwarfs all of those around it.  It’s a beacon of sorts the way it stands out and clearly lets me know as we walk along the trail that I’m almost home.  I’ve watched it through several tropical storms and hurricanes bending under the heavy winds more than I thought it should be able and thankfully it stills stands.

The second is at the front of their property by the road.  I walk and drive past it everyday and it too is taller than all of those that keep it company.  Unlike those around it this tree has seen better days, but despite the hardships it has endured it continues to stand tall.

I’ve been wanting to take a photo of this weathered warrior for quite a while but haven’t until today.  This morning, looking up as I always do, the dogs and I walked past and I thought the white, featureless sky was a perfect backdrop.

Last weekend was spent between doing yard work and dodging rain drops, my lunch hours have been consumed with running errands or doing work, and my evenings have been consumed by sanding the back deck and building a bench.

This coming weekend is looking sunny so it’s my hope to make some time for some photography, hopefully some of which will be from the kayak, and I’m thinking it would be nice to take Monday off for an extra long weekend so I’ll have no excuses!

Until then, here are a few of the nothing special snapshots I did manage to take.

The years went by, I purchased a macro lens for my SLR, but I had forgotten about it sitting in the drawer.  Time continued to pass, I sold my camera, and purchased a Fuji X10 which if you’ve been following along the last while seems to have a pretty good macro feature.

When I arrived home from work tonight I was looking through the drawer and came upon the forgotten reflector.  While dinner was simmering away on the stove I grabbed my camera and headed outside for a minute to take a few pictures.  With each turn the light would change and present me with a different image.  For those of you that remember Atari games this image reminded me of Qbert.

I noticed that when I look at it up close that it still has some dirt on it so I’ll have to clean it up a little better this weekend and see what other pictures are hiding in there.

There are some moments in life you may like to forget but then there are others you will look back on and wish you could re-live all over again.  This was the latter.

On February 11, 2011 I enjoyed what will likely be the best sandwich I ever ate.  I call it the Bacogna Sandwich and layered between the delicious, toasted, homemade bread slathered with butter you’ll find a couple slices of fried bologna and no less than 8 strips of bacon, all topped off with a generous amount of ketchup.

Mmmmmm! 

There’s a place on campus I sometimes like to go.  It’s a wonderful green space that borders on some woods.  I’ve been told that sometimes there are weirdos back there but I’ve yet to come across any (I hope they weren’t referring to me).  Sometimes I don’t go in the woods but choose to enjoy the openness of the field, sometimes I follow the trails instead and sometimes I even manage to come back out where I started.  Sometimes I bring my camera along and sometimes I even take a few pictures, other times what I see gets captured in my mind for the next time.

I realize they won’t be around for long but will admire their beauty while they are.  They’ll all wait their turn, put on a show, and then go back to where they came.  They’ll go through their circle of life only to come back again next year, bigger and better.

I’ve somehow gotten through today, despite the pain that comes with 4 days of manual labour, but after 5 years now it’s nice to see things starting to take shape.

I have nothing against the beaver but have been sad to hear that fish trying to make it to the lake were being diverted by the dam and ending up on the trail to die.  It is sad as well to see a stream I often photographed reduced to a trickle of its former self and to think of what impact this might have downstream and eventually on the lake it flows into.