Fields and Flowers in Gros Morne National Park

During our visit to Gros Morne this past summer, we often remarked on the colourful wildflowers along the side of the road, and in fields wherever we went.  These photographs were taken in Norris Point, and in Cow Head at the north end of the park.

House in Norris Point

Field overlooking Gulf of St. Lawrence in Cow Head

Another field in Cow Head

. . . Rob Williams http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Storms over Bonne Bay

One of the pleasures on our trip to Gros Morne National Park was sitting on the (covered) porch of our cottage, watching storms pass over the bay.  This photograph, taken on Norris Point, shows some of the dramatic cloud effects, as a morning storm started to clear.

Clearing Storm over Bonne Bay

. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Fishing Coves near Saint Paul's, Gros Morne National Park

North of Sally's Point, there are a number of coves that house fishing huts and stages.  Some are really houses where you can tell that fishermen stay quite some time.  The view of the Long Range Mountains in the background is spectacular.

 

Fishing Cove near Saint Paul's

Fishing Buoys in the Sunset Light

Fishing Stage Beside the Water

 

. . . Rob Williams http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse, Gros Morne National Park

Located just outside of Rocky Harbour, Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse looks out over the entrance to Bonne Bay from the Gulf of St. Lawrence.  This lighthouse has been operating since 1897, and it is still operated (automatically) by the Canadian Coast Guard.

Lobster Cove Head Lighthouse at Sunset

I happened to visit the lighthouse late one evening, as it was threatening to rain.  It did rain briefly, but then the clouds broke just before sunset, letting a shaft of light illuminate the grass beside the lighthouse. 

. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Sally's Cove, Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland

North of Norris Point and Rocky Harbour, about 2/3 the way to Great Western Pond, there is a small fishing community surrounded by the park called Sally's Cove.  It is made up of a bit over a dozen houses stretched out along the highway, but with two groups of fishing huts ("stages") at either end.  These photographs were taken at the north end of the village.

 

Three Stages at Sunset

Three Buoys

Dory

These photographs, and others from Gros Morne National Park can be found on this page on my website.

. . . Rob Williams http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Wild Cove, near Gros Morne National Park

Wild Cove is a small cove immediately adjacent to Norris Point, on Bonne Bay.  While it is not technically inside Gros Morne National Park, Norris Point and the local towns are entirely surrounded by the park.

 

Wild Cove

 Wild Cove cannot be seen from the main road, and it took me some time to find it from Norris Point.  It is home to a number of working fishing stages, and I was lucky enough to walk by just after some cod were set out to dry.  Quite a setting!

 

Drying Cod in Wild Cove

These photographs, and others from Gros Morne National Park can be found on this page on my website.

. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland

I have recently returned from a trip to Gros Morne National Park in Newfoundland.  This park is recognized as a World Heritage site for it's "exceptional natural beauty" and it's significance examples of the earth's history -- namely some of the fascinating geological features.

The Tablelands as seen from Norris Point

One of the geological features is the Tablelands, a section of the earth's crust thrust up during the separation of North America from Europe more than 600 million years ago.  It is an easily accessible section from the Earth's mantle, inverted so that the rocks get older as you go up.

Gros Morne is a truly beautiful place.

This, and other photographs from Gros Morne can be seen on my website, in the Gros Morne National Park page.


. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Daily Shoot #ds602: Make a photo that features stripes of some sort today.

Hosta Leaves

Today's Daily Shoot assignment was to photograph stripes of some sort, and Hosta leaves immediately came to mind.  This particular Hosta in my back yard grows very large, and it's leaves are huge.  I've always liked how they blend in together, but I have rarely tried to photograph them.  Today's assignment prompted me to try again.

Here is another photograph taken at a slow shutter speed:

Abstract of Hosta leaves

. . . Rob Williams
      http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

More Photographs of the new Ottawa Convention Centre

This is really a fascinating new landmark in Ottawa's downtown.  I returned to the new Ottawa Convention Centre in the evening to photograph the building in a different light.  Here are a couple of the results:

The Ottawa Convention Centre after dusk

The Convention Centre viewed from the National Arts Centre

. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Ottawa's new Convention Centre

Ottawa's downtown has a dramatic new landmark, the  Ottawa Convention Centre.  The front of the building faces the Rideau Canal, the National Arts Centre, and the Parliament Buildings, and is made of glass shaped to look like crystal.

Ottawa Convention Centre

The curves and dramatic shapes and lines of this building are quite fascinating.  I'm sure this building will be a focus for visitors to the capital throughout the summer.

Spring leaves in front of the Convention Centre

Even on a cloudy day, the building is fascinating to look at.

Reflecting the sidewalk

. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Mercury in hi-res

As well as being a photographer, I am also an astronomy enthusiast.  I studied Astrophysics in university as a 3rd year Physics course, not a small task when I was a full-time Mathematics student.  I don't own a telescope, but I've spent more than enough time reading about it and wondering if I could stay up past midnight watching the stars, and still be up at dawn for landscape photographs.

Today I came across a beautiful hi-res photograph of Mercury, a fantastic composite of over 30 photographs from the MESSENGER spacecraft in 2008.  Full marks to Gordon Ugarkovic who created this photograph.  Here is his Flickr stream, and here is the link to his Mercury photograph at 500x500, from which you can take a look at the hi-res version (5000x5000).

. . . Rob Williams http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Orchidophelia - the Ottawa Orchid Society's Show

I attended the Ottawa Orchid Society's show this weekend.  They thoughtfully invite photographers to bring their tripods on Sunday morning to photograph the show, and so I came prepared with my tripod and cable release.  Here are some of my favourite images.

Still Life with Orchids

All of these photographs were made without a flash.  The lighting was quite good this year.  It has been quite hard in the past to find a good background, but there were a number of good opportunites at this year's show.

A "Monster" Orchid

I couldn't shake the image of an alien monster when I saw this colourful orchid.

White Orchid

I love the variety of shapes and colours in the orchid family.  I have photographed a number of native orchids to this area -- Showy Ladyslipper, Yellow Ladyslipper, Pink Ladyslipper, Rose Pogonia, Grass Pink and Bog Candle, and it's fascinating to see some of their more exotic cousins.

. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

"Tilt Shift" photographs and photographer Tristan Greszko

I've been seeing a number of photographers using a technique that people are calling "tilt-shift", or "miniature".  Simply put, you narrow your depth-of-field dramatically to a narrow band in the photograph, putting both foreground and background strongly out of focus.  The effect makes the scene in the photograph look like a miniature model (like photographs of a model train set).

To be honest, I'm not a big fan.  Occasionally I see an interesting photograph, but most often, these photographs look more like a gimmick than a serious photograph.  I also dislike the term "tilt-shift" for this technique.  Yes, tilt-shift lenses can create this effect, but that's not why photographers use it. 

However, photographer Tristan Greszko has created a video called A Tiny Day in the Jackson Hole Backcountry, that is really fun to watch (use full-screen!).  Moreover, he has some great skiing, mountain and nature photography on his website.  It's really worth a visit.

So, maybe the gimmick works after all.

. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Ice Patterns

This weekend was one of the few weekends where we had predominantly clear skys for the past several months, and since I was awake early in the morning (well fairly early), I went out to a local conservation area to see how many Canada Geese I could see.  There were a number of geese and ducks, but I guess I was too late in the day to see larger numbers.

Instead, along the banks of the Rideau River, there was a layer of melting chunks of ice along the shore, along with sheets of flat ice with crystalline patterns and frozen bubbles.  Here are some if the photographs from my visit.  More photographs can be found on my website.

Fantastic forms and shapes

Ice melting along stalks of grass

Frozen Bubbles

Mountains of ice crystals (actually about 6-7 cm high)

. . . Rob Williams
http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Datamining last year's photos

Back Harbour, Twillingate Newfoundland,  July 2010

Recently, I found myself looking through some of last summer's photographs, and I came across a couple of photographs that I had overlooked when I originally processed them.  This image posed a number of difficulties during processing (for example, how to keep the foreground bright enough without blowing out the background), so I guess I passed it by in favour of some easier images.  

Although it's not the best image from Twillingate, it was fun going through the photographs, and pulling out some photographs that I had forgotten about.


. . . Rob Williams http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Blakeney Rapids in Winter

Winter can be very grey -- many days are overcast, with snow on the ground, and forests without leaves.  When the weather clears, it is often very cold, thanks to arctic air moving south.  So, when a bright sunny day comes around with tolerable temperatures, it's great to see some colour return.

The top of Blakeney Rapids in Winter

The Blakeney Rapids are well hidden on the Mississippi River outside of Ottawa (Canada -- not the US).  You can't see them from the highway, or from the local regional roads.  However, if you drive between Pakenham and Arnprior, and turn onto Blakeney Road, you will find a small parking lot where the road crosses the Mississippi River.  Walk down the path a bit, and you will find the rapids.

Pines on the Blakeney Rapids

It's a spectacular place in summer, and just as great in winter.  The path can be quite slippery, and the rocks at the edge can be get covered with ice, so great care is needed.


. . . Rob Williams http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca

Daily Shoot #ds454: Tell the story of a subject today in a photograph by photographing one specific detail of it.

                                                                            Guitar Strings

The daily shoot topic yesterday was to tell the story of a subject by shooting a specific detail of it.  I decided to use my son's guitar, sitting directly in the sunshine in our kitchen.  I liked the combination of the strings, their shadows and the curves of the sounding hole.  This photograph was shot handheld with my 105mm macro lens.

. . . Rob Williams http://www.robertwilliamsphotography.ca