Be careful what you ask for...

Ontario voters affirmed that they wanted a change. 
And they got it.

Some of us said, "be careful what you ask for". I fully expect that over the course of the next few years, the words, "I told you so" will echo around the Province. If you are not straight, white, male, healthy and entitled, you will be feeling the pain.

Sadly, there was no viable choice offered this time. Hopefully, in a few years, there will be. Hopefully we still will have a place where people of all stripes will still be welcome, where we'll have clean air to breathe and water to drink instead of scorched earth and a vast gulf between rich and poor like we see in third world countries.

I have more in common with the basic PC concept than with the other parties, but could no more vote for Ford than I could for Adolf Hitler. Or Donald Trump. These three are (were) populist demagogues who imposed their own narrow, simplified visions on their parties with winning power and personal gain their only motives.

Watching Doug Ford is like watching a kindergarten kid grapple with theoretical physics. They know that if they drop an egg on the floor it's going to smash and make a mess but they have no clue why or how to prevent it or, to carry the analogy one step further, to clean it up.

Hopefully the people elected around him will manage to rein him in, but it didn't work for Hitler and it hasn't yet worked for Trump. I weep for what he's going to do to this province.

 I probably won't be around to see it. But my children and grandchildren will and I fear for them.

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I'm seeing a notice from Google about privacy and the European Union, etc on my blog dashboard. I read it, but call me unsophisticated or stupid but I don't get it. Or it just doesn't apply. As far as I know, I haven't enabled any cookies, I don't have any clue who visits my blog, I don't have any advertising whatsoever on my blog.

 That said, I do have links to both BH Photo and Topaz Labs in the right column. The former is arguably the most respectable photo equipment retailer in the world, and the latter makes superb photo post-processing software that I use and enjoy. I have no idea whether either of them tracks visitors to their sites that come through those links. Full disclosure: I do participate in their affiliate programs and sporadically earn some consideration when a visitor through those links buys something from them.

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Speaking of Topaz Labs...
Introducing "AI CLEAR"

Topaz has just announced a brand new adjustment for Studio called "AI Clear". This is a totally new innovative product, a whole new paradigm. It uses Artificial Intelligence to create the processing algorithm on your local computer rather than force you to the Cloud for this function.

"What function?", you ask. "AI Clear uses the insight of a custom neural network trained on millions of images to detect and reduce noise as well as enhance details in your images automatically".

This is going to be available on Tuesday, June 19th. You will be able to download a 30 day free trial and if you like it, it will cost $59.95 after that.

I admit I haven't tried it yet. No time, I'm packing for my trip: but hey, it's FREE to try, so give it a shot. Let me know how you like it!

Here's the link: https://topazlabs.com/ai-clear/ref/32/

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Newfoundland: 5 more sleeps!

I'm writing this on Sunday afternoon and departure is scheduled for Friday. I'm getting excited about the trip but not frantic yet about getting prepared! That will probably happen on Thursday night!

Amin and I are driving out, our first tourist destination is Peggy's Cove, NS. We've both been there before but it breaks up the long drive, the photo ops should be awesome, and besides I had the best lobster ever there last summer!

We'll be travelling in my 2011 Subaru Forester, all ready to go with the new (to me) cargo carrier on the roof. I have to be careful not to use underground parking!

Amin is driving out with me, spending a couple of weeks, then flying home and coming back again for a couple of weeks and the drive home at the end of August.

Here's a map summarizing the NL part of my itinerary:

Some notes:

Here's the big one: From July 12 through August 25th I will be in accommodations too big for just me and if anyone wants to come visit, let me know! Especially August, where I have a 4-bedroom home all to myself.

• On arrival, we're driving pretty well straight up to Coffee Cove where we'll spend 2 nights. Likely we'll drive back to Gros Morne for a day. 
• One little glitch (don't ask...) I was SURE the place we rented for June 27-July 1 was on Change Islands. Turns out it is not. It's in Twillingate. Where we're also booked until July 23rd. Oh well, day trips to Fogo and Change..., up and down the coast.
• July 23 I'm going back to Coffee Cove or to Trinity, depending how much we liked the place on the way out. TBD...
• Bonavista is the destination for the end of July. Puffins, whales... I plan to spend a lot of time seeking out these critters.
• The spectacular house in Torbay (just North of St. John's) will serve as a base for day trips as far away as Cape St. Mary's, down the Avalon peninsula and up past Bay Roberts, etc. 
• On the way home, a couple of nights in Stephenville, exploring The Port au Port/Cape St. George loop. We'll hit Codroy on the way back to the ferry.
• Back on the mainland, the plan is to head up to Percé in the Gaspé. There's a huge gannet colony there, hopefully the birds will still be there at the end of the summer.

My basic plan is to get up early, shoot sunrise/morning golden hour, come back and chill during the day, then go out for the sunset/golden hour/blue hour shoots in the evenings. I hope for nights when I can do some stars and maybe aurora. Rinse and Repeat. And there will be days when I'll put my feet up, pull out my sketchbook or my oil paints and do my thing. Maybe spend some time on my "Great Canadian Novel".

I plan to post here as often as I can. I'll put some stuff up on Facebook, but this blog will be the main medium for photos and the trip log, so stay tuned. If you are not subscribed to this blog, please click the "Newsletter" link at top right: no spam will come your way but you'll get a quick email telling you about a new post here. And a photo that will not appear anywhere else, each time. One click to unsubscribe if you must.

PS: I'm bringing two camera bodies, half a dozen lenses, two tripods, my macro gear, warm, cold and wet weather clothes, my Macbook Pro, two external drives, Wacom tablet, external keyboard and lots of connecting stuff. Even a wifi extender, three sherpas and a kangaroo. I stopped short of throwing my 27" monitor in as well!

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Photos

What's a blog from me without pictures?

First up are some guest photos by Leah Torres Springer. If you don't know, she's my 8 years old granddaughter, and with some minimal coaching (and a few "please don't drop my camera!" pleas), she took these shots. She was barely able to lift the D800 with the 105mm macro on board, let alone reach the buttons for back button focusing!

This is Leah 

Leah's sister Amalia.  

Her aunt Lori (my daughter!) 

Her father Jamie (my son!). I have the same dimples, nose and forehead. But I also have 30 years, 3 surguries and 60 or more pounds on him! 

So this is what you're going to look like in 2048 if you're not careful, Jamie! 

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and this is my photo of Amalia. Love that sparkling smile! 

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More Pictures!

I have a dilemma. I have so many pictures that I like since the last blog, almost all of them from Carden Plain. I tried eliminating some, I took out most of the more mundane birds and so on, but I'm left with WAY too many. So at the risk of boring you to death, and the promise that I'm done with Carden (Newfoundland next!), here they are. I hope you enjoy them.

They're more or less in chronological order.

American Robin in the rain. Not a happy camper!

Bobolink on a stick. 

A patch of Prairie Smoke, the same rainy morning. 

Blue-winged warbler, warbling

Another shot of the blue-winged warbler. I just liked the pose. 

Chestnut-sided warbler dining on tent caterpillars 

Virginia Rail. This was actually on Prospect Road, about 10 km from Carden Plain. 

Common Yellowthroat. He was being shy but came out for a second! 

Swamp Sparrow. I chose to show him in his milieu. 

Eastern Bluebird male with lunch. Also wet from the rain.

Female Red-winged Blackbird. Love the colours. 

Prairie Smoke bud about to sprout. 

Indian Paintbrush 

An impression of what the alvar looks like with the prairie smoke and the indian paintbrush in full bloom. 

Lilies just outside the viewing blind at Carden. 

I dunno. Some kind of flower-to-be 

Wild Rose impression.  

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Parting Shot

I saved the best for last. This is a pair of Wilson's Snipe exhibiting courtship behaviour. One of the best Nature stories I've been able to capture. I cropped the male only (the bird on the right) and printed a big canvas, proudly displayed on my living room wall. 

OK. Next time in the Maritimes! On the road on Friday,

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Busy Times

It's not supposed to be busy. It's mid-summer, I should be spending time sitting on the dock, going for a swim, mowing the lawn (yeah, well... this is the country, right? But when it gets too high and ugly...), sitting in the gazebo drinking a Marguerita, enjoying the festivals and activities up here in the Highlands.

I visited my friend Janie on Kushog lake last weekend. It wasn't the greatest weather but you don't need an excuse to go down to the boat! I think this captures her in a really great moment on the lake. 

I'm doing some of that stuff, but I find myself in front of the computer for too many hours every day. There's weekly trips to Toronto, weekend visitors, stacking firewood... but I owe it to my faithful readers to post to the blog, so here I am!

I don't want to bore you
with family pictures 

...but I have to post a few! I was in Toronto last week when my son and family came to visit. There are 3 pictures I'd like to share here, if you don't mind!

Amalia is the latest addition to the family. She has bright eyes, a captivating smile and her father's dimples. She's 5 months old and the most beautiful baby in the world! 

Her big sister Leah is going to be 5 years old in a month or so. She's happy, friendly, really smart and inquisitive, and of course loves chocolate chip cookies (who doesn't??). I have a bunch of shots of her but I think this one captures her best! It goes without saying that she's the brightest, most beautiful almost-five-year-old in the world...

No doubt, my mother's going to call me when she sees this picture and say, "how could you put such a horrible picture of me up on your blog?". I know you're not smiling, Mom, but that's only because you didn't want me to take your picture! The little 'gator in the foreground is worth  a comment: most of the residents at Thorne Mills have walkers and to distinguish them, they put ribbons or flowers or something on them. Mom's had this little guy who I call "Sebastian" (family joke) for quite some time. Anyway, the picture does capture who you are, Mom!

As most of you know, I'm not a great "people" photographer, but I'm trying. I took this casual portrait of Janie at the same time as the boat shot above, I kind of like the treatment and again I think it captures her essence well.

High key portrait, with some Topaz Simplify painting effects. I love Janie's hair even though she complains about it! BTW I did NOT use Topaz ReMask on this shot because it didn't need it, but I tried the new version and it's really slick. Her hair was a challenge, Topaz handled it easily! Go to my previous blog posting for a link to the plug-in and where to get it for half-price for the next few days. Oh, OK, here's the link, and use the code "julyremask" when ordering. 

Workshops

In the last few weeks I've done a couple of different workshops. The "Stars" one had two parts to it, one a technical classroom seminar and the second part will be a field trip at Oh-Dark-Thirty (which is when the stars are out, duh...). The problem is, you can't shoot when it's cloudy. We were actually intending to go out tonight but the weather forecast changed so I cancelled it. Hopefully next weekend will be better. There's an interesting website called cleardarksky.com which has links to some 1900 observatories and observing sites in North America, with a wealth of information. Unfortunately their forecast only goes out a day or two so it's hard to plan ahead.

This was one of my classroom sessions this month. I'm willing to do more of them if anyone is interested, drop me a note and we'll see if we can work out a good date.  

This is one of the spots I picked out for the field session. As you can see, I'm facing East. There's a nice view to the North and West as well, South is not so good.  This looks like a dandy sunrise location as well, I'll check that out in the upcoming days if I can get out of bed early enough!

While we were there, we saw some cool dragonflies. I REALLY have to get a macro lens. If you see dragonflies, BE NICE! Remember, they eat mosquitoes!

People who regularly shoot macros will poo-pooh this shot because the back wings and the head are not in focus. I can do better... but this was shot with my 70-200mm lens with the 1.7x teleconverter mounted (no question about sharpness!). Handheld, 1/640 second at f/8, ISO 400.  I'm not sure of the species: I Googled it but didn't find the exact same markings anywhere. 

Don't try this at home, kiddies!

This was shot in Toronto, it was a hazy sunset, otherwise I wouldn't have pointed the camera directly at the sun.

I don't know if you can see the foreground detail on this internet version. Again, the same lens/teleconverter combination. You can ALMOST see the corona, certainly there's some detail at the edges. 

Some street photos

I'll close with some street photos I took this week. I have a tough assignment from the Minden Times to shoot what's going on in Minden: not much! It's a pretty sleepy town...

Cliff's big ole dawg is a common sight on Minden's main street. Nap time! 

These two guys were hanging out in front of the Dominion Hotel on a hot summer afternoon. I was trying to get their pictures without them noticing... I guess I failed! 

This is actually cropped from the same photo. I like the character lines in his face. The reflection of the other gentleman in the window adds balance and this shot has gathered some pretty positive comments on a few street photography forums. 

See you next week!

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