Not much photography this week. Partly because it's rained quite a bit and partly because I've retreated into other areas for awhile -- reading, music, and computing. Sometimes I need a break from things -- even something as wonderful as photography.
With so much rain (on the days I had for shooting) I was pretty well limited to taking rain shots of one kind or another. Not that I mind that much -- rain is one of my favourite subjects. I enjoy the challenge of finding some new way to capture it. While at the harbour I used my 50mm lens to shoot this closeup of raindrops on the pedestrian bridge rails with the harbour itself out of focus in the background.
Rain at the Harbour
(click on image for a larger, sharper view)My harbour walk takes me beside the Port Credit Public Library and its attendant park. When my son Trevor was small, we spent many hours on the play structures in the park. I still rather enjoy looking at the structures, but they're usually filled with a new generation of youngsters and these days being a photographer around children is a sensitive matter so I tend to give it a wide berth so I don't make any parents nervous. But on this rainy day the park was empty and the play structures afforded some good shots. I love the way the raindrops beaded on the slide.
Raindrops on Slide
(click on image for a larger, sharper view)Both the slide shot and the next shot of the "rocket" climbing structure were taken with an older Olympus Zuiko 24mm f/2.8 lens that I was testing on the Canon Digital Rebel. This lens has a good reputation for sharpness and it came through nicely on both images. I used selective focusing to put the background of the rocket into a soft out-of-focus zone to draw the eye to the raindrops and to emphasize the concentric circles.
Play Structure
(click on image for a larger, sharper view)The building behind the rocket is one of the local churches with a Montessori school attached.
Later in the week, housebound once again, I slipped out on the back deck to take some photos of the steady rain on our cedar deck. Trevor had just cleaned the deck the day before with a high-speed water spray and the planks had their fresh, reddish colour back. I liked the zigzag pattern between the cedar planks and the slanted tree reflections and the reflected sky, abstracted in the puddles.
Rain on Deck
(click on image for a larger, sharper view)It wasn't an exciting week, but sometimes it's wise to take what's given and be content.
(23-Apr-2004, Revised 17-June-2004)
www.NorthernJourney.com -- gene@wilburn.ca