A Loon Feeding

It was a fine Haliburton morning. There was a slight mist on the lake, but the sun was up in the east and was shining its golden light intensely on our shore. It was very early and I was the only one on the beach. A family of loons was feeding inside the sand bar. The mother would duck under the water and swim around looking for a minnow. Her two babies would duck their heads under the water to watch her hunt. When the mother spotted a fish, she would put on a sudden burst of speed and I could see the wake travelling at an incredible rate until she caught the fish. Once caught, the fish would be presented to the two babies for a snack.

In this sequence of three pictures, the mother has caught a fat minnow and presents it to the nearest baby. Before the minnow can be consumed, the other chick swims like crazy not to be left out of the proceedings and, in the final picture, the two chicks share the minnow.

The Glory of Scotland

I recently had the good fortune to get involved in one of Sean O'Boyle's Scottish extravaganzas as a member of the chorus. Sean is a very gifted Australian as you can tell from this quote from his website:

"His latest recording for the ABC — a concerto for didgeridoo — which he wrote and conducted with the Queensland Orchestra, is his 108th album. Sean O’Boyle is second only to the great Slim Dusty in musical output."


Every few years, Sean puts a tour together and visits cities in North America to show off his arranging prowess with a Scottish show. The music consists of mostly Scottish standards like 100 Pipers and Highland Cathedral, but the arrangements are all Sean and all wonderful.

The show has a cast of thousands (well, not quite, but lots of people) including singers, pipers, dancers, fiddlers, an orchestra and a chorus. I got a chance to photograph the dress rehearsal. Here are some of the highlights:

Here are the magnificent soloists: tenor Lenard Whiting, soprano Suzanne Kompass, tenor Edward Franko and baritone Robert Longo

Suzanne in full stride

The Toronto Police Pipe Band

Colleen Rintamaki and dance partner. Colleen is a 10 time world highland dancing champion and is a Canadian!

Members of the Scottish Dance Company of Canada

The maestro, Sean O'Boyle, himself

Julie Fitzgerald, Canadian Masters Fiddling Champion and Ontario Stepdance Champion.

Brett Kingsbury, pianist extraordinaire, plays an original Sean O'Boyle concerto.

Charles Waddell, treble soloist

Another action shot of Sean O'Boyle conducting the orchestra and choir

Members of The Ensemble Tryptych Chamber Choir and guests

And last, but not least, the three tenors from the chorus with yours truly on the left and George and Alfred

My Fuji X100 is Here!

As many of you know, the hottest camera on the market is the Fuji X100. After reading umpteen reviews that raved about its features and picture quality (and complained about its firmware foibles) I decided to get one. Mother nature intervened in the form of the tragic earthquake and tsunami in Japan and X100 shipments dried up. I left my name on a list at Henry's camera and, lo and behold, they called me this week to say that my ship had come in!

So far, I love the X100. I won't bore you with the details - the camera seems to have more reviews on the web than any other camera every introduced (here's the authoritative review in dpreview if you're interested). However, here are some features that I really like:

First: silent operation. Here is Annie. This is the first time I've been able to get this close with a camera to our shy cat. Not only did she sit still for the photo, but she didn't flinch when I pressed the shutter. She usually takes off like a shot when I press my DSLR shutter. I think my Canon 20d started scaring her - it had a shutter that sounded exactly like the cluck of a chicken. A loud chicken.

Second: built-in ND filter. I wanted to take a photo of these flower buds ready to pop with a blurred background. The sun was still quite bright and at ISO 100, the shutter just wouldn't go fast enough to expose at F2. No problem with the X100 - just dial in the ND filter and shoot as usual.

Third: low noise, lovely colours. I un-boxed the camera and walked around the neighbourhood last night. It was garbage day today, so there were some unusual things being thrown out. This photo was taken at ISO 1600 virtually in the dark. It exhibits very little noise. The colours in the mattress are lovely and saturated.

I won't be selling this camera on Craigslist any time soon. It feels great in the hand. All the controls are readily accessible and the results and pleasing.

I must also say that some of the negative words that have been said about the camera are not warranted. Here's an example. People complain that the camera's autofocus has difficulties when you are looking through the optical viewfinder at close range to your subject. However, if you flip the viewfinder to electronic mode, the autofocus works just fine. There is a very simple reason for this. When you are looking through the optical viewfinder at a close subject, parallax enters the fray because the optical viewfinder does not look through the lens. You may be thinking that you've pointed the focal point at the subject, but you have probably pointed the focal point at something else (e.g. something behind the subject). When you see the result, you may think that the camera's focus mechanism has totally missed the boat, but this is not the case. It was focusing where you pointed it! If you switch into the electronic viewfinder, you are now looking through the lens, so you'll guarantee that the camera will focus on the right point. When focus is crucial (e.g. a close-up portrait), use the electronic viewfinder to be absolutely sure of getting it right.

Perils of Winter Photography

It was a beautiful, sunny winter day and I'd been up to the cottage in Haliburton for a quick day trip. On the way back, it seemed like a great opportunity to take a photograph of one of my favourite Haliburton landmarks, the old bubble car that sits slowly rusting away on the Drag River. I packed my snowshoes into the car and headed down Chandler Drive, a narrow cottage road that winds its way up and down several steep hills on the way to cottages along the river. Our Subaru wagon navigated the tricky hills without a hitch and I soon found a good place to park. I had a great hike from my parking space down to the bubble car and took some nice images like this one:

The snow really was blue, reflecting the sky!

After taking lots of shots, I hiked back to the car and started back to the main road. About half way along, the road descended a steep hill and curved to the left at the same time. The snow plow had cut across the corner on the side of the road, hiding the ditch and I accidentally put my left front wheel into the deep snow. As a result, I was suddenly stranded in the middle of nowhere:

As you can see, the sun was setting and it was pretty chilly. Fortunately, my cell phone had plenty of battery juice and I was able to call the CAA for help. About 45 minutes later, the tow truck showed up and winched me back on the road. The truck driver had interrupted his dinner and brought his kids along for the ride. I was thankful that he'd responded so quickly and so cheerfully.

It goes to show that you can't be napping at the wheel for an instant on cottage roads. Four wheel drive can only do some much!

Road North Image

A couple of weeks ago, I drove up to my cottage on a Saturday that was heavy with weather. On the way up, we went through snow, sleet, rain, hail and lots of wind. A sudden snow squall left a nice dusting on the trees and I stopped at one of my favourite wetlands to take a photo of the scene. Every time I drive by, I see this tree and say "some day I must take a picture of that tree". Well, that someday has arrived.

Black and White - Or Colour? That is the Question

I'm working on a project called Juxtapositions. The images in the collection present buildings in Toronto that contrast with their surroundings: old buildings juxtaposed against new, different architectural styles or even two similar buildings painted different colours. Many of the images work just fine in colour, but some of them seem better in black and white, especially if the image is all about form. Here is an example - see what you think...

First: the original colour version

And Now in Black and White

Thoughts anyone?

A Happier Story - Farmhouse Restored

On the way down to the city from the cottage on the same week-end that I photographed the abandoned log cabin in the last post, I saw a lovely isolated farmhouse on a country road that had been nicely brought back from the dead. Note the new metal roof and the satellite dish showing obvious signs of occupancy. The drooping window sill to the left of the front door and the missing shutters show that the battle has not been won yet, but at least the house seems to have found an owner who cares.