Entries Tagged 'day trip' ↓

It was a very rainy day when I headed down to the City of Waterfalls, also known as (legally…) the City of Hamilton, Ontario.

The photography club* that I am a member of planned this outing. The president of the club told me she had actually found this spot by accident. Wonderful! Sometimes they make the best places to shoot.

My mum came along for the day with me, and we arrived at the waterfall (Sherman Falls) at 9am. A bit later than I had expected, but it was nice to see that a few other club members were still lingering.

Despite the rain, I managed to capture quite a few great images. The rain actually brought out the colours much more vibrantly than any adjusting in photoshop could accomplish. I think I might actually get out more when it’s raining to shoot nature, just for that vibrant effect!

So, I thought with this post I would also include a simple trick to capturing waterfalls and acquiring the blurred, misty, heavenly waterflow. It’s simple: Slow down your shutter speed!

I am always in Manual mode. I had on my #3 Neutral Density filter (which lessens the amount of light entering my camera. In the case of slowing shutter speeds during the day, too much light can ruin the shot you’re aiming for). The settings I used were:
f/14, 0.6 sec, ISO 200, at 18mm.

This leaf was near another waterfall we visited that day. It was the only leaf on the ground with raindrops that large! It was just waiting for me to take it’s picture.

Click on the images or click this link to view the whole set from that day on my Flickr page.

*If you are in the Waterloo Region, or farther, you are welcome to join our photography club! All experience levels, all camera users (film & digital)… check out our website: www.gripskw.ca

Over this past weekend, Henry’s (Digital Camera Centre) held their annual Photographic, Digital & Video Show in Toronto. I’ve only been once before but didn’t have much time to spend, so as soon as I found out about this year’s event, I made sure my schedule was cleared!
Henry’s has a part of their business dedicated to teaching anyone and everyone about photography, videography, and digital imaging skills. At the annual show, they hold 45-minute versions of these classes - free with your admission. (I looked online when I got home to see how much each three-hour class is, and they average $70. Not bad, but free is good too!)

My friend & I each attended about 4 classes over the course of the day. We arrived at 10:45am, just when the first class was starting. However, we decided to tour around and see what was happening at each kiosk. Since we are both Canon users, naturally we went straight to that booth first

So many awesome things to see and learn about… I must say, my favourite thing was listening to the two photojournalists from The Toronto Star! I could have stayed and listened to them for hours. Unfortunately, I wanted to attend a few of the classes. As soon as they were over though, I headed straight back to them. I sat in to learn more about posing, filters, flash fundamentals, and we stayed briefly for the Canon class as it was how to use the basic functions of the camera, like turning it on. I loved them all! I am definitely interested in taking a three-hour course at Henry’s someday… excellent information and energetic teachers always make interesting learning sessions!

—–this lens is for sale for $25,000. Whoa!

To celebrate our first wedding anniversary, my husband and I took to the car and headed north into cottage country. We stayed at a hotel (which I might mention, was very nice, but had no cellular or wireless service whatsoever!) and spent the days touring the surrounding areas.
On the way up we ran into a few roads “under construction”. It was more prevalent because we were travelling during the week, rather than the weekends like we usually do.
I took this photo just because we were right there in the middle of it. As one of my Flickr friends pointed out, it really paints a picture of Ontario.
You can view more photos of our trip on Flickr (click on this photo to get there).

Another long weekend has come and gone, and I was fortunate to take advantage of the beautiful weather and spend time in Toronto.
An annual event is the Canadian Air Show which we were able to watch a bit of. However, the sun was blinding at 1:00 in the afternoon, so we kept walking along the harbourfront.
I was especially happy to see so many people out and about, enjoying the last long weekend of the summer. I captured a few images of strangers - I am working to get them uploaded soon.

Near the end of our trip, I drove around and found this secluded marina in absolute quietness. You’d never have known we were in Toronto, the busy life!

You can find this image, with a few other Toronto views,
in my Etsy shop.


Click the image to see more images taken in Toronto. I am still adding more images - keep checking back!

Over the weekend my husband and a friend of his went canoeing along the Grand River, from West Montrose down to Freeport Hospital. They started around 8:00am and I picked them up at 4:00pm. Talk about a full day in the sun! They also endured a short (yet severe) thunderstorm. Thankfully they were able to get under a bridge to wait it out.
I followed them along the river, taking pictures of course! I only encountered them at one point (Snyder’s Flats in Bloomingdale). I got quite a few good shots that I’d like to share. (I haven’t uploaded them all yet - stay tuned!)