Flowery Goodness

Clicking the photo should enlarge it.

One of the dahlias in the garden. I took this a few days ago after there was a light misty rain in the early evening. I was trying to capture some raindrops on the flowers, but they didn't turn out too well. Anyway, I'm not too sure of the name of this dahlia, but I like the colours in it - it's a pretty flower.

Sunny Fields

This is the same field of sunflowers where I took the previous photo. I think I may have figured out why there is so much `graininess` to the photos I took that day. I believe I had the ISO dialed too high; if I had gone lower (never thought of this at the time), it might have looked sharper. I`ll have to remember that next time! Since then, I`ve changed the ISO to a lower one. Sadly the sunflowers in that field are pretty much gone now, ready for harvesting.

Sunflowers

Not long ago, there was an article in our local paper about a farmer who had planted his fields with sunflowers. He has seven acres of them. It went on to say that this was the first year he had planted them, and his plan was to harvest them to make sunflower oil (I think that's what he'd said). It's really more of an experiment for him, but if it works out, he might plant them again next year. I hope so! Sadly, at this point in the summer, many of the sunflowers are starting to dye down. If he does plant them again next year, I'm going earlier in the season.

On the weekend, I went with another photographer friend to take some photos of another friend and her daughter. We decided to go to the sunflower field and take some shots (my photographer friend had asked permission earlier in the day). While there, I took some photos of the sunflowers. The above image is one of them.

I know this isn't a unique photo, but I like it. Unfortunately, for any number of reasons, most of my photos didn't turn out (it could have been the time of day - around 6:30pm, - my ISO setting, aperture, the lens I used...anything). I was quite disappointed; however, it was a learning lesson for me.  Looking at this photo, I wish I had gone in closer so that the flowers were more prominent in the shot. But, I still like the photo.

Not sure what these are, but I think they're some kind of decorative cattails. These are in a little public garden along a river, across from the city.

Up The Street

Looking from the Halifax waterfront up one of the streets. Not sure I'd like to have to drive up that hill in the winter if it's even a little icy.

Reflected

I'm still learning a lot about photography, and haven't really focused on reflections yet. I'm sure this could have been done better (like if the sky was darker blue), but I like it. The photo was taken on the Halifax waterfront, and I just liked the way the buildings were reflected in the windows. It kind of reminds me of the type of reflections you see in water, which was where we were - right on the Halifax Harbour.

Peggy's Cove

A scene from the picturesque village of Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada. It's such a beautiful spot here, and I absolutely loved it. If you've never been here, and you are up in the Halifax area, make sure to take a side trip (about half an hour from the city) to this spot.

Along The Waterfront

There are several dolphins, similar to this one, painted with various colours and scenes along the waterfront in Halifax, NS. This one, was perhaps, my favourite...probably because of the colouring and the sky and sea painted on it.

Sailing, Sailing...

In Halifax Harbour

As I mentioned in my previous post, this past weekend I visited the lovely city of Halifax, Nova Scotia. There is lots to see and do in this old city, and one of those thing is to walk along the waterfront. This particular day, it was sunny and hot, and the Buskers Festival was going on in several places along the waterfront (and in other locations as well).

Strolling down the waterfront in the late morning sun, I spotted this little sailboat out on the harbour. I zoomed in as close as I could (it was actually quite a distance away) with my 300mm zoom, and snapped this shot. I adjusted colour and contrast in PSE, as well as added a vignette around the edges to give it a bit of a frame.

Danger!

Lighthouses, as we all know, warn ships of the dangerous, rocky areas from which to stay away.

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to visit the city of Halifax, and the village of Peggy's Cove (both in Nova Scotia). I hadn't been to Halifax in probably 20 years, and I had never been to Peggy's Cove. People around here find it hard to believe that, after living in this area for 30+ years, I had never been to this awesome place. I took over 500 photos of both places, and will put more up here as the days go on.

The photo above is the lighthouse at Peggy's Cove (the link is to a live webcam of the lighthouse; check it out). I've played around with the colouring, to make it black & white, and try to give it a bit of a sepia colour as well - to make it a little old fashioned looking. I don't think I've quite got it down, but I kind of liked the result.

I was hoping to get some photos of the waves crashing against the rocks, however, the ocean was quite calm and there were no waves. In fact, we were able to climb over all the rocks around this area and get quite close to the ocean. If the waves were crashing, it would have been impossible for us to get to far out because we could be pulled out to sea, and have the strong possibility of drowning because of the undertow. I guess I am very thankful for the calm waters that day, since it allowed me to explore and take many photos I might not have been able to get if the waves were pounding the rocks. I'm going to go again, maybe towards fall, or in the fall, and hopefully the waves will be rolling in and I can get some great photos!

Up Close and Personal

This is another shot from King's Landing. I used my zoom lens for this shot and tried to focus on the eye. It was hard to get good photos since they kept moving around, and there was wooden fence (a little high) around them, which they kept standing in front of, looking the other way. I lucked out when this one came in my general direction.

In The Barn

This is another photo from my trip to Kings Landing Historical Site near Fredericton, NB. This photo was taken when we were near the house and barn near the field where the man and boys were throwing the rocks from the potato field (see previous post).

I believe the baskets contain lunches because I saw the boys carrying them later on to another destination, though I could be wrong. It just made sense to me that they would contain food.  There were a couple of cats in the barn (where this shot was taken) and this one got curious about what might be in the basket...maybe something that smelled good.  I assume the container which is what the shot is focused on would have been used for milk...but again, I could be wrong. There was no one nearby who could have told me one way or the other.