Out and about

Today Ralph and I went to see the Elora Gorge.  I've never been there before and truthfully was a little disappointed by what I saw.  I was expecting a large waterfall and nice view of the gorge.  The view left much to be desired. We spent about 2 hours walking the trails and then headed to Cambridge to visit with his sister Ingrid and her husband Bruce.  On the way we stopped at some railway tracks and walked for a while.  We found several old railway spikes which we plan to clean up and I took the opportunity to experiment with my camera on the railway track.  It was fun to be out for a while exploring.

These first pictures are from the gorge...

I had read an article a while ago that talked about photographing the train tracks at a very low level by placing the camera directly on the track.  I chose to put it on the rail to see what would happen.  I was pleasantly surprised that it picked up the reflection of the sky.

When the camera is raised, the reflection isn't captured.  I learned something new and am quite excited by this.

While walking along the track we found almost a dozen railway spikes along with other clamps that were used.  These are very rusty but we thought it might be nice to clean them up and see what we could make with them.  Tomorrow we'll start soaking them in some coca cola to remove the rust.

It was another fun day!!

A walk through my garden

"Practice"  is what is needed to improve and to discover the in's and out's of creating an interesting photograph.  I enjoy what I am doing and hope one day to create that "wow" in my photos.  I spent a couple of hours out in the garden "practicing" and look forward to getting out again soon.  This is my favourite time of year and I just love photographing the tulips.

I was able to get out to the Arboretum as well which was nice. I was so surprised at how far along some of the plants were as I had been there about two weeks earlier.  It's so amazing how quickly things grow.  I have to make a point of going weekly to enjoy the changes.

Walking through the gardens I noticed that the Canada Geese had their babies with them.  They we so cute and fun to watch as they devoured the dandelions.  I should bring a few home to work on my front lawn.

For the love of flowers

I working on improving my skills with flower photography.  These past couple of weeks have provided me with  the opportunity to test some different techniques.  It's been an interesting journey. I feel I am improving but have a long way to go.  Ralph gifted me the Dirk Ercken "Flower Photography" course which I have been watching and practicing.  The techniques seem simple enough but putting them into practice isn't always as easy as it seems.

I've been a regular visitor to the Arboretum and found some good flowers to photograph.  I got pretty dirty shooting these as they were really close to the ground.  I'm not sure what they were but the flower was really interesting and I liked the added "bug" close to the stamen.

I bought a bouquet of tulips to practice with at home.  I also added a perennial poppy and practiced some of the new techniques.  It's a really interesting concept requiring a visit to the "fabric" store to purchase various colours of tule to help with the new technique.

A few of us went to visit a tulip farm in Fenwich which is close to Niagara.   It's a photographers "dream come true" area.  There was so much to see and take pictures of.  These are a few of the ones that I shot.  I absolutely loved this garden and plan to come back again next year.  There were over 2 million tulips planted here.  It was so amazing!!

The ticket for our visit to the tulip farm provided us with "10" flowers that we could pick and bring home.  Teresa and I picked the same colours (I added a few more) and brought them home and placed them in vases.  The farm recommended that we add ice cubes to the water and also to trim off an inch off the bottom of the flower.  It worked very well.  Teresa and I have been comparing daily how the flowers are doing as we picked them well before they were ready to open.  These will have a beautiful orange center.  I can't wait.

Overall I am pleased with the photos and the progress I am making.  I look forward to photographing my garden next week where the tulips and other spring bulbs have started to bloom.