Point Amour Lighthouse

If you plan to travel to Southern Labrador this summer, make sure you stop by Point Amour to capture a few images of the historic lighthouse. It is the tallest lighthouse in Atlantic Canada and the second tallest in Canada.

The first two images were taken with my wide angle lens, but the third was taken using a fish-eye lens which made an interesting composition - the shape of the door is exaggerated.

Feel free to check sixteen photos in my Point Amour Lighthouse Gallery:

http://lanephotography.com/point_amour_lighthouse/point_amour_lighthouse.htm

Boats

This morning I chose three photos taken on the Northern Peninsula near Flower's Cove. There were two boats pulled up on the shore so I photographed each, then the both of them.

I don't believe these were abandoned boats but just pulled out of the water temporarily. Both boats looked like they were in good shape.

Again today, you can see that I made three photos from the same scene. When you are out and about this summer and taking pictures, shoot lots!!

Feel free to check my updated Boats Gallery:

http://lanephotography.com/boats/boats.htm

Buttercups

The buttercups are in full bloom around Holyrood. While they are common flowers, I still like taking photos of the bright yellow blooms.

The first photo shows a flower breaking its pod, and the others show the pretty yellow flower that is classified as a weed. Even after all the trauma caused to the area we cleared in order to build our house, the buttercups are growing around the perimeter and adding colour to our yard.
By the way, try to avoid touching the plant if you plan to photograph buttercups because they can cause you to itch.

Feel free to check my updated Buttercups Gallery. http://lanephotography.com/plants/buttercups/buttercups.htm
Have a great day!

Boat

A few years ago I stopped to photograph a small boat in a town called Harricott, located in St. Mary's Bay. I made several images of this boat and I am sharing them with you today to illustrate why I always take more than one photo of a subject.

As you are aware, a boat moves because of the wind so you can capture different angles as it sways back and forth. As you can see, even though the photos are of the same boat taken approximately the same time in the same location, the images are very different. The first is my favourite. I am not sure why I like that one better but it may be because the boat is on more of a diagonal.

When taking photos near the ocean, always be conscious of the horizon. I often forget and the horizon is on an angle in the photo. Then, in order to fix it, I have to rotate, then crop the photo, changing the composition slightly. Believe me, it is easier to ensure your horizon is level when you are taking the photo rather than later.

If you are out and about this summer, photograph the things around you that attract your attention. Boats, trains, cars, trucks, aircraft, excavators, tractors, etc. would be excellent subjects because our kids study transportation and "working" machines. Animals and plants from your part of the world would also be excellent. Feel free to email your photos to mqpphotos@gmail.com.

The Kyle

A little change today. I have photographed the Kyle on many occasions. This shipwreck has been located in Riverhead, Harbour Grace, Conception Bay since 1967. In the past several years it has been painted its original colours. It sure looked great on a clear, calm morning when I drove by.

Tulips

On Saturday during my "macro" photo shoot, I couldn't resist shooting the inside of the tulips that are growing in my yard. The reproductive parts of the tulip are easy to capture because of the shape of the tulip. Most cameras today have macro settings that will allow you to capture close-up images of your subjects.

Making macro images forces photographers to look more closely at the world making them see their subjects differently. Of course, the viewers also begin to look more closely at things through the photos.

Feel free to check my updated Tulip galleries at: http://lanephotography.com/plants/tulips/tulips_01.htm

Water Drops

Often, in the early mornings, plant life is covered with water drops. This morning I am sharing three photos that show blades of grass with water drops on them. The photos were taken on Saturday when it was overcast and drizzly. The third image was cropped from the second, giving a closer view. It is interesting that the water drops stay balanced on the grass, and other plants, until the water evaporates.

The last two days have been beautiful - sunny and mid-20s (70s). My spinach plants have just started to grow and I planted them nearly three weeks ago! When I awoke this morning at 5:00 AM I looked out the bedroom window and saw a large moose walking through my vegetable garden. Between the weather, moose, cats, and other critters, the vegetables are having a hard time getting stared this year!

Forget-Me-Not

Wild forget-me-nots grow all around the perimeter of the lawn on my old property. When I first moved to this area, I mowed around most wildflowers and I have seen the little blue flowers of the forget-me-not spread from one little patch in one area to many, many plants nearly everywhere.

I used a close-up attachment to photograph the flowers and then cropped the originals to show you these views. I like the "sun" in the centre of the blooms as well as the drops of water.

I have created 2 web pages that show some of the work I have been doing on my new property. Several people expressed an interest in seeing the photos at both links below.

http://lanephotography.com/houses/house/landscaping%20Progress_%20a.htm

http://lanephotography.com/houses/house/landscaping%20Progress.htm

Flowers

Last fall I purchased several packages of bulbs that were on sale at a local store. I planted them around the yard and they added colour to my "gravel" yard after the snow melted. Yesterday I photographed flowers around my property including the ones that are still growing from bulbs.
The three photos this morning show flowers that are just about to bloom. To be honest, I don't remember the variety and will have to identify it once it blooms.

I took over 500 photos yesterday afternoon and now have lots of current photos to share over the next few days.

Many of you asked to see what I have been working on for the past 2 months and I will create a web site showing the progress. I'll let you know when it is done.

Sheep Laurel

The pink flowers of the sheep laurel really brighten up the sides of roads and paths this time of the year. They are one of the earliest wildflowers we see after the dandelions. I may try to photograph a few more of the wildflowers that are starting to grow around my property. Maybe, I'll take a break from raking later today. ;)

I have done a photo essay showing some of what I have managed to do since starting to rake after the snow melted in late April. If you would like to see the photos, let me know and I'll share them with you.

Water

Today's photos of rushing water remind me of the interesting shapes and textures of the ice photos I took this spring.

Feel free to check my Shapes and Textures Galleries at: http://lanephotography.com/abstracts/shapes_and_textures_01.htm

Sunset

Last week I sent three photos of a float plane taken during a sunset on Paddy's Pond near St. John's. This morning I am sharing a couple of photos of that sunset. I made these images after the plane had landed. Many people take sunsets for granted, but I enjoy every one I see and photograph many of them.

Remember NOT to stare at the sun when taking these type of photos.
Feel free to check my Sky Galleries at: http://lanephotography.com/sky/sky.htm

Waterfall

My apologies for not sending my Photo of the Day yesterday. I went to Grand Falls as a surprise for Father's Day and Dad was quite surprised. I was too tired to spend time on the computer when I got home so I had an early night.

This evening as I raked and moved rocks, I decided to take a break and photograph the little waterfalls just behind my house. I am sharing 6 out of the 36 images I took.

This image was taken using a tripod and an ISO of 100. Since it was around 8:00 PM on a very overcast evening, I knew the camera would choose a slow shutter speed. By using a tripod, I avoided camera shake so the trees remain in focus but the running water doesn't. The image was made with a shutter speed of 1/10th sec. The rich colours of the new green growth adds to the image.

I zoomed in to get this photo. I focused on the moving water to make certain it was not too bright. I also tried metering off the dark rocks, but the water was too bright.

Rotating the camera 90° gives a different view.

When I zoomed back I thought the mist in the background also added a different "feel" to the photo. If you look closely, you will see the edge of my deck. You can imagine how peaceful it sounds.

By cropping out the sky (in camera) by zooming in and changing positions a little, you will get a better sense of what the brook looks like.

I turned around 180° and took this photo looking down at the next waterfall. I'll get photos of this another time. It was raining and I didn't want to get my camera equipment wet. :)

Dogs

While visiting Northern Bay a couple of years ago, I watched two golden retrievers competing to retrieve a ball thrown into the ocean by their owners. I watched as a wave started to break over them as they swam back to shore. They both managed to keep their heads out of the water but one did better than the other. In the second photo, the dog on the right is nearly under water and you can barely see its nose just behind the other dog. Neither seemed to mind the waves because as soon as they returned the ball, they were running back into the water again.

We are updating the school's Photo Album Project and won't be adding more photos to it until September. If any of you are travelling during the summer and take photos that you don't mind sharing with students, feel free to email them to

mqpphotos@gmail.com. While, the most popular photos with MQP students are animals, they like them all.

This year they did assignments on Newfoundland and Labrador, food, animals, the environment, people at work, weather, water, atmosphere, plants, wildflowers and communities around the world. So, just about any photo you send will be useful. We have over 7000 photos in our database already. If you want to check the project, go to

www.mqp.k12.nf.ca/photoalbum
Send lots of photos of your summer travels!!

New Harbour

New Harbour is located in Trinity Bay about 40 minutes drive from Holyrood. It is located on the Baccalieu Trail and I have photographed all communities along the trail which include Trinity Bay South and Conception Bay North. Several years ago, I travelled to these communities five times to make sure I got enough photos to create galleries of every town. The trail is actually too long to travel in one day if one is stopping several times in every community to make images.

I have Galleries of all communities in Trinity Bay South on my web site at: http://www.lanephotography.com/tbs.htm

New Harbour photos can be found at: http://www.lanephotography.com/tbs/new_harbour/new_harour.htm

Sunsets

While searching for photos this morning, I chose three images of sunsets taken in my backyard. As you all know, I have no immediate neighbours and it is quiet and peaceful most of the time. I photograph quite a few sunsets and sunrises and each one gives me a feeling of "peace".. There are no houses or buildings blocking my view and the sounds of singing birds and the water flowing down the brook (not more than 6 feet from the edge of my deck) are the predominant sounds.

Many years ago, after a talk and slide show about photography, a member of the audience said that it was pretty clear that I didn't need Prozac. I hadn't thought of it before, but I realized he was right.

You will notice that I chose photos that show very little of the land which emphasizes the beautiful skies.

I have more sky photos at: http://lanephotography.com/sky/sky.htm

Nets

This morning I am sharing three photos of the same subject. The pile of nets with colourful floats is as high as the door of the ship. I liked the colours and shapes in each of the photos I took. I included three images to let you see that I never take just one photo of a subject. I use the zoom to make a variety of compositions and choose the ones I like best. In this case, I liked them all.

Ships

A couple of years ago I visited Harbour Grace and had a tour of one of the ships there. I took photos of everything I saw. I would classify most of the photos I took that day as Abstracts. Today I am sharing three of the photos photos from that shoot.

I really like the composition in the first photo. The rope brings the viewer's eye to the reds and blues in both boats. The colour of the water complements the scene. The second photo shows the interesting shape of the bow of the ship. The third photo shows one of the doors.