Dear Reader (2022-10-30),
First to a clarification on how I number my posts. I am currently making sporadic contributions to 3 series. There are “Walking Reports”, which as the name suggests, concern those events where I drive to a trailhead, walk and then return. There is the “White Over Red” series, which concern my walk along the GR 5. And lastly, there is the great catch all “Wandering Reports”, where I ramble (ie wander) locally and afar. Today’s report is in this last collection.
In true camera gear shopping fashion, I hummed, I hawed, I waited until a blade of grass bent towards the west, and eventually I bought a new “Canon rf 100-400 mm” lens. I went for the cheaper of the 2 possibilities, as the more expensive version was just that. That one is also heavier, and isn’t even a full stop faster. So today you get a set of images using the new lens from a walk under contrast-less skies with Keith, and a drive out to Saskatchewan Crossing the weekend it closed for the season. I am pleased with the lens, and I have made a mental note that even with image stabilization, I need to watch my shutter speed. Some of these images are experiments, and some are decent. Of the decent ones, some could do with some post-processing refinement. Those refinements may have to wait as I have a new project in “the lab” for the month of November.
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As always, all comments are welcome and sought.
Cheers, Sean
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And here I am, after a couple of brief visits, with a cup of coffee and some time.
You know the trick of 1/focal length as the minimum shutter speed for a long lens, but the other trick is to get settled, compose, then click off 3 or 4 photos. I’ve often found the second or third one is the keeper.
3. I quite like it. One of my sure distractions when working downtown was watching exterior work on tall buildings. The mechanics of hanging a work platform many many stories high, where an actual crane is needed to extend out to the edge of the building, are fascinating. I can just imagine the engineering calculations.
4. That worked out as a photo far better than I had imagined it would.
5. I don’t quite understand why the monks have a rope draped across their roof. I like the composition. This would be one where if I was going to do a print I’d be tempted to employ my limited technical Lightroom skillz to get rid of the bit of scaffolding on the right, and the bit of building on the left.
6. You know I’m of several minds about the peace bridge, but this is nicely composed. It seems balanced.
8. For a while I was in a gabion mood, but I was never really pleased with the results. Here the addition of the leaves seems to make the photo.
On to the mountain scenes.
9. My eyes are over on the right side of the photo, and want to go further right and up.
10. No sh!t, there we were, scrambling up the lee of the mountain as the wind howled around us and the blizzard was setting in, hoping to reach a sheltered spot where we could bivouac and wait it out.
11. The skies cleared, and we bailed on our summit attempt, opting to head down the mountain before it got worse again, dreaming of cats and hot chocolate.
16. One last look at the unattainable goal, knowing that turning around was the right thing to do. Mountaineering immortality can wait another day.
17. Dramatic!
18. That looks like a painful climb with all the texture.
19. I think this is my favourite of the mountain scenes. It’s lovely, and the bit of warm colour only emphasizes how cold the rest of the scene is.
20. I’ve looked at this one a bunch, and I’m still not sure what I think. For a while my eyes were trying to decode it like one of the puzzles that used to be popular, where the random pattern suddenly resolves itself into a 3D shape. The lens seems to be wonderfully sharp.
Keith, as always thank you for visiting and commenting. I love your story beginning with the comment on 10. Cheers