Area 53 - Photo 14 - Moon Jumps Over Bridge

Monday has come and almost gone again, and I was a little slow on the draw, but I took a break from working on my book editting to go out with Cale and land my photo of the week.
We went down the the marina next to the Yacht Club and I took my stab at getting a shot of the moon with a really short lens in the freezing cold air.
It was already too dark to shoot freestyle so I used my tripod to land the photos you see here.
I hope you like them.
t


Click here to see Cale's photos

Area 53 - Photo 13 - Detroit After Dark

In the last few days I was told on a couple occasions that my pic from week 13 wasn't on my blog. I know I did it last Monday night, and Cale was actually with me when I did.
Anyway, I just came on to post my pic for this week and repost the photo above only to find it was a saved blog, I never actually hit publish to post it online. A simple mistake I didn't notice until just a moment ago.

I took this photo from the 17th floor of the Radisson Riverfront while in seclusiong working on the final stages of my book. I requested a river view so I could attempt to achieve pretty much what you see.
There's nothing but spectacular about it, maybe because I see this skyline so often, regardless, I think it looks pretty cool.

Enjoy.
t


Click here to check out Cale's photos

Area 53 - Photo 12 - Railway Drive-By

First of all, I need to apologize for my tardiness. I tried desperately to post this photo on Monday night to no avail.
I went well past midnight and continued with no success. I might've had a chance but when I went to the intersection I realized I forgot my memory card, after accidentally breaking a leg on my tripod.
Additionally, I should've had it posted the next day but was too busy and/or distracted to get it up until now.
So here's what I wanted to do.
I wanted to bust out a really cool photo using some of the cool photography techniques Cale taught me as well as Photoshop hoping to impress
Basically, I took about twelve photos in order to achieve this result. 30 second exposures of cars driving toward me, cars driving away from me, 15 seconds of the arms coming down and thena quick switch back to 30 seconds as the train flew by. I also got lucky with a bus that happened to come around the corner before I turned my camera off. The bus actually adds so much to this image.
I think I actually impressed Cale with this one, I hope you enjoy it as well.
Ciao for now.
Todd


Click here to see Cale's photos

Area 53 - Week 11 - High Above The Rest

This past week I went up onto the WFCU Centre's catwalk, located high above the ice and fans during a Windsor Spitfires game. I've been up there before but not all the way to the middle, and not to take photos.

It's pretty crazy to be up there, but it's also pretty cool.

Once you get your footing, and find a good spot to shoot from, you still need to cross your fingers to find yourself in the right spot for the right photo opportunity.

Those players zoom by so fast, and before you can even position yourself for a rush moving up ice you lose them behind one of the insane amount of bars and cables between you and the rink's surface.
You get used to it, however, I found myself getting quick moments of dizzyness and having to regain my centre of gravity a few times.

Honestly, I was hoping to get a good shot of Taylor Hall, as well as maybe Ryan Ellis and Cam Fowler. But I was hoping to catch a good shot of anything really.

I got lucky with a few while trying not to fall over the rail, but I really like the one with the light in the tressing with the goalie slightly out of focus down below.

My photo of the week however, is entitled, 'High Above The Rest' for two reasons.

1. Taylor Hall hit the 100 point mark for the season that night putting him 'high above' the OHL's scoring leader race.

2. The #18 in the ice behind the net is in honour of former Spitfires captain Mickey Renaud, the team's 'Captain Forever', who watches the games from 'high above', in heaven. Mickey was a 5th round draft pick of the Calgary Flames before his sudden death on February 18, 2008, of the rare heart condition hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. He was only 19 years old. His number 18 was retired with a banner raising on September 25, 2008.

I hope you like them.

t

'Click here to check out Cale's photos'

Area 53 - Photo 10 - Snow Family

So I randomly came across a huge house with a huge front yard filled a huge amount of snow people.

They all just looked really neat so I ran to grab my camera and headed back without hesitation.

When I returned to the house I suddenly became nervous about going onto the front lawn and snapping pictures so I waited until I saw anybody I could approach and ask permission.

I saw a few kids playing in the backyard near the side of the house, but thought it might not be completely appropriate to ask little kids. I soon saw a boy who was maybe between 15-17 years old, he was in a hurry so I missed that opportunity. The thing was I didn't really know who lived there, university students? a family? all of the above?

I finally got out of the car and approached the kids in the backyard, asking to take some pics of their snowmen, to which they responded, "no problem, go ahead."

So I did.

When I started doing my thing I noticed another little girl who was maybe 6 or 7 years old playing in the vacinity, I didn't want to scare her so I introduced myself and told her the kids in the back said it was okay, to which she agreed.

After a minute or two she casually made her way closer and all shyness when out the window.

"That's me right there?" she said pointing to one of the little snow people.

I was a little confused, but I ased her, "what do you mean?"

"This is my family," she told me, "my sister made them."

I thought that was pretty cool, but she continued, "there are twelve kids in my family, but there are only 10, she isn't finished yet."

I must say the whole thing was pretty cool.

She walked over to the bigger snow people in the background and explained, "this is my mom and dad".

She also told me who the one in the toque was supposed to be but I didn't hear her well enough to tell you now.

I continued to snap a few photos and she continued to talk my ear off.

But it was such a great story and a unique surprize to go along with my photo of the week.

I think I'm going to frame it up and drop it off at their house, I just hope they appreciate the sentiment.

That's all for this week, my busy job only allows me so much free time to get out there and do this kind of thing but after March is over I plan to do alot more.

Enjoy.

Todd

'Click here to check out Cale's photos'