New Zealand  – E noho ra (goodbye)
April 09, 2013     0 comments

NZ blog post 2I’m still basking in the afterglow of our two month journey through Aotearoa – “Land of the Long White Cloud,” (the Maori name for New Zealand).  The country was experiencing its driest summer in seventy years, which meant that the normally lush, green pastoral countryside was parched and brown. It looked like California in the summer. However, the dry weather made for easy traveling and camping. It also meant that we had good weather in some of the wettest places on earth, such as Milford Sound, which normally receives six to seven meters of rain annually!   –  The New Zealand landscape can best be described as surprisingly diverse. Just when you think it can’t be any more beautiful or unusual, it is. Being an island dweller myself, I was drawn to the country’s rugged and pristine coastline, especially the wild west coast where huge waves pound rocky headlands and seemingly endless beaches. Our last night camping was spent at Raglan, New Zealand’s surfing mecca. We watched, incredulously, as surfers scrambled across a rocky headland at Ngarunui beach, waited for just the right wave, and plunged into the surf, paddling furiously to get clear of the rocks lest they be smashed to smithereens. Once out in the breakers the obviously expert surfers were catching lengthy and impressive rides. Meanwhile I received one last New Zealand surprise as a massive rogue wave suddenly exploded beside me, forcing me to beat a hasty retreat to higher ground. Higher and drier, I continued to photograph the dynamic scene until the sun slowly disappeared into the Tasman Sea.  Images (top to bottom): Morning reflection at Milford Sound, Punakaiki blowhole, Ngarunui waves.
New Zealand Impressions
February 23, 2013     0 comments

We’ve been rambling around on the summer side of the world for a month now, exploring New Zealand’s North Island for most of that time...and now the South Island. Earlier this week, in Christchurch, I gave a presentation of my Canadian images to the New Zealand Nature Photography Society, which was well received.  Our hosts toured us around their earthquake damaged city. It’s been two years since the quake, but with over 1600 buildings affected, it’s a place www.ordercoinstar.com of empty lots where buildings used to be, piles of rubble and construction sites. However, the city is rising anew from the rubble. There’s a very funky downtown area made of shipping containers and even a cardboard church under construction. –  I’ve pretty much run out of superlatives to describe this beautiful country. But while the scenery is spectacular it’s the generosity of New Zealanders that has overwhelmed us. I have a map scribbled over with directions to best photography locations and we’re offered places to stay at every turn. Our encounters with New Zealanders and the new friendships we’ve made have enriched our journey beyond our wildest dreams. –  Some of our Kiwi favorites so far, in no particular order: hot springs! the narrow (very) winding roads, one lane bridges, getting directions from locals (very detailed!), “Flat White” coffee, Hokey Pokey ice cream, Tim Tam biscuits and yellow-eyed penguins. –  These images show Kiwi colours from Piha Beach (vibrant clouds courtesy of Australian forest fires), a thermal pool near Rotorua, the famous Moeraki Boulders and a Yellow-eyed penguin.
Autumn road trip
December 03, 2012     0 comments

I’ve neglected this space for the past three months because my wife and I have taken a little time off, in what I refer to as this “sabbatical” year. We’ve just returned from a cross-continent road trip covering more than 20,000 kilometres from our home in Prince Edward Island to the California coast and back again. Along the way we kayaked in Saguenay Fjord, Quebec; paddled and hiked amidst the spectacular fall colours in Ontario’s Algonquin and Killarney Provincial Parks; watched the sunrise through a prairie fog in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan; hiked in the snow at Lake Louise in Banff National Park; photographed rainbows through the pouring rain near Pincher Creek, Alberta; shared our campsite with two bull elk in the California Redwood forest; jockeyed for tripod space with dozens of other photographers in iconic Yosemite National Park; watched the sun set over Mono Lake, California; stared in awe at a star-studded night sky in Death Valley; hiked the breathtaking Angel’s Landing trail in Zion National Park, Utah; descended into otherworldly Bryce Canyon; and watched the morning sunlight reveal the Grand Canyon, layer by layer; and that”s just scratching the surface. I had a few mishaps with equipment along the way: one camera body expired after it got wet with salt water while whale watching on the St. Lawrence River and I dropped my 70-200 lens and 5D MKII on the rocks in Death Valley. The camera survived, but the lens is off for repair. Despite those mishaps, it was a wonderful three months and I’ll get more images up in this space in the coming weeks. But here are a few early favorites from the deserts and canyons of the US southwest.
Summer gone...
September 05, 2012     0 comments

This rainy day is a good time to reflect on the memorable summer we experienced in Prince Edward Island. The weather was  spectacular, with many sunny beach days for swimming and evenings for photography. There were fewer misty mornings than usual because it was so dry, but I did manage to capture a few. My favorite assignment of the summer was photographing PEI’s designated Canadian Heritage Rivers: Brudenell, Montague, Cardigan and Hillsborough. I waded, kayaked, hiked, boated and flew  over the rivers  (in a plane in case you’re wondering), creating images for the 7th Canadian River Heritage Conference which is to be held in Charlottetown in June 2013. The Island is a wonderful place to to photograph clouds and I witnessed some beautiful skies, sunrises and sunsets during the last couple of months. This image of waves and storm clouds was taken on a particularly beautiful July evening in Prince Edward Island National Park.  Autumn is now in the air, bringing cooler weather and long anticipated rain. For me, September always feels like a time for new ventures and adventures. Stay tuned....

In May I spent two weeks traveling and photographing in Ontario to fill a gap in my stock image library. Before leaving, a photographer friend suggested I get a copy of Andrew McLachlan’s “A Photographer’s Guide to the Ontario Landscape,” an e-book available from the “Birds as Art” web site. While I have looked at a number of e-books and guides, I’d never actually used one while traveling, so I downloaded it to my laptop before heading off to Ontario. I’d already arranged a rough itinerary for my journey, so I used the e-book to guide me to locations within my destinations: Algonquin and Killarney Provincial Parks and the Bruce peninsula, all locations I’d never been to before. The guide is well written and illustrated with many fine images by the author. There are useful photography tips (included as sidebars) aimed at beginning to intermediate photographers. While I found it useful as a general guide I would like to have seen more specific location information and advice on the best time of day to photograph in each location. Maps indicating the specific locations would also have been useful (or for those more up to date with mobile technology than me, GPS coordinates). I contacted Andrew to ask about these omissions and he tells me both maps and more specific information on locations will be added to future editions of the book. In the meantime he invites all queries: <mclachlan@bell.net>  If you’re planning a trip to Ontario’s wild country, this guide is a good starting point to get you to some great photography locations.
Twenty years
May 07, 2012     0 comments

Twenty years ago while on a travel assignment photographing for a Reader’s Digest book called Back Roads and Getaway Places of Canada, I was exploring New Brunswick’s Fundy Isles – Grand Manan, Campobello and Deer Islands. I’d managed to get some images with nice light on Grand Manan and Campobello, but it was overcast and threatening rain when I arrived on Deer Island. I didn’t have a lot of time and I had to get something so I was a little desperate when I invited myself on to the floating platforms of Laurie Pendleton’s salmon farm. I made a few images of the staff feeding salmon, but it wasn’t  that compelling, then I spotted Laurie’s ten year old son, Clinton, and a friend fishing at the other end of one of the platforms. I wandered over and the boys obligingly posed with their catch. I had my shot and it eventually appeared in the Reader’s Digest book. – Fast forward twenty years. Last weekend I attended the Travel Media Association of Canada (TMAC) annual convention in Fredericton. On Saturday night, Tourism Fredericton generously treated convention attendees to a lavish lobster supper at the Boyce Farmer’s Market. At the beginning of the evening the chef described the menu and introduced the fisherman who caught the lobster: Clinton Pendleton. I took one look at him and immediately recognized the ten-year old boy I’d photographed twenty years earlier. Clinton is still fishing after all these years –  and I’m still making photographs. Convention photographer, Rob Blanchard, captured our reunion.
Hawaii lava flow
April 09, 2012     0 comments

I've just returned from three weeks in Hawaii, visiting four of these remarkable Pacific isles. A highlight of my journey was a hike to the lava flow edge on Hawaii Island (the "Big Island").  The lava flows from Puu Oo vent on  Kilauea volcano in Volcanoes National Park.  In 2010, a larger eruption from the vent destroyed a village in the Hakuma region.  A group of six of us from Polestar Gardens, where we were staying, set out at 3:30 in the morning and made our way by headlamp across the hardened lava field.  We could see our goal, the golden glow of flowing lava about two miles distant as we began our trek. While the hiking under foot was fairly easy (a bit like walking on sponge toffee), one had to be vigilant because the surface was uneven with crevasses and ridges.  Falling on lava is like falling on cut glass and a stumble can result in a very nasty cut, as one member of our group discovered. Fortunately, our guide, Michael, had a first aid kit and he bandaged the victim's leg. He soldiered on, oozing blood all the way. We reached the flow edge just before dawn. After making an offering of chocolate chips to Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess, I had about twenty minutes to make images before the lava's glow faded in the daylight. It moves slowly, which allowed me to predict the flow's direction, set up my tripod, then make a few images before the heat was too much and I had to jump out of the way. The heat from the glowing lava was comparable to putting your face a little too close to a campfire and you had to be careful where you walked, so as not to melt your shoes! The show ended when the sun crept over the horizon, finally revealing the Moneygram agentWestern union money order surrounding landscape –  black lava in all directions, resembling a vast asphalt parking lot that had been destroyed by an earthquake.  It  was an otherworldly scene. Special thanks to Michael Gornik of Polestar Gardens for making it possible for me to experience this earth changing event.
Harp Seal – Nature's Best Ocean Views winner
March 16, 2012     0 comments

A year ago I posted this image of a young harp seal stranded on a beach in Prince Edward Island National Park. I've just learned that the image is a winner in the 2011 Nature's Best Ocean Views photography competition. It will appear in a gallery of  winning images in the Spring/Summer issue of Nature's Best magazine with this caption:  “Every March, up to 200,000 harp seal pups are born on sea ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In 2011, storms and lack of ice-cover due to a warmer winter climate resulted in hundreds of seal pups being washed up on the shore of Prince Edward Island. Like many, this young seal faced an uncertain future. Nearly three weeks old, it was weaned but not yet ready to swim on its own, leaving it vulnerable to predation or drowning. For me, this image expresses not only the vulnerability of this individual, but of the entire harp seal population.” When I heard of the seals washed ashore in Prince Edward Island National Park I was determined to get some photos despite the fact I was on crutches from a recent knee injury. My wife carried my camera bag as we trekked over the dunes to the beach. My slow progress meant we missed the magic hour light, so I changed strategy and used fill flash for the seal against the backdrop of sunset and sea ice.
Signs of spring
March 14, 2012     0 comments

There hasn't been much sea ice surrounding Prince Edward Island in recent winters, a sign of our warming climate. Since it's one of my favorite winter subjects for photography, I've been disappointed by the dearth of ice around our shores. However, the other evening I found a beautiful jigsaw of broken ice at Covehead in Prince Edward Island National Park. The force of the tides created rippled patterns in the sand and the ice cakes strewn about the beach added  to the surreal looking scene. A cloudless sky and complete calm also added to the dreamlike atmosphere.  These moments never last long enough.
HDR photography
February 16, 2012     0 comments

I must admit, when I first laid eyes on HDR (High Dynamic Range) photographs, I cringed. They reminded me of the gaudy paintings you’d find at the back of a discount store beside the black velvet paintings of Elvis. However, I was intrigued by HDR, and downloaded a copy of Photomatix software, just in case I might find a use for the technique. Sure enough, I discovered that with the right image and a subtle approach, it can be used to get the best out of some images. Normally with HDR, you must shoot 5-7 exposures of the same scene (using a tripod!), one stop apart and merge them using HDR software such as Photomatix. It allows the photographer to capture the complete range of tones (especially in a contrasty scene), from the brightest highlights to the deepest darkest shadows, that would not be possible with just one exposure. Unfortunately, it has the side effect of giving most images that psychedelic HDR look. I’ve tried the multi-exposure and merge approach with varying degrees of success. Recently I’ve revisited existing images, reprocessing them in HDR to bring out shadow detail and tone down highlights, with surprisingly good results. I do this by selecting the original image in Lightroom, then change the exposure by one stop – one stop overexposed, one stop underexposed, plus the original exposure – so that I have three exposures, one stop apart, of the same RAW file. I then export the images into Photomatix for HDR processing, and complete the process with a little final tweaking in Photoshop. To make this method work, you must have detail in the shadows and highlights of the RAW image that can be coaxed out with HDR. I’m still experimenting by trial and error with this technique. It works for some images but not for others. HDR is really just in its infancy and I think it will get better – sooner rather than later –  and become an essential tool in every photographer’s toolbox, without making the viewer cringe! Images: Cap Bon Ami, Forillon National Park, Quebec.     Before and after HDR.