Photographing the HRANS Conference

I was the official photographer at the Human Resources of Nova Scotia Conference (HRANS) in Halifax from the 4-6 May, the first conference I have ever covered.   What I found was that Landscape photography had not exactly equipped me for this type of event and there was a steep learning curve.

The main challenge encountered during the conference was low light conditions (no natural lighting at all and a mixture of fluorescent and Halogen lights).  In addition there was a leaning towards no flash photography as this would disrupt the flow of the speaker and my job was to be unobtrusive. Technically this is a challenging environment.  On the plus side I have good lenses, a Canon 24-70mm F2.8, 16-35mm F2.8 and a prime 50mm F1.4.  

I played around a bit with settings and found it is best use time or aperture settings to limit the number of variables (automatic was just too slow and led to blurring).   The easiest way I found to avoid blurring was to underexpose slightly and spot meter on people’s faces which gave reasonable results, especially for keynote speakers.  I also needed to pump the ISO up to at least 1600 which on my camera  means noise.

Don Bell - one of WestJet's founders

A group photo of 50+ people at night proved to be the most challenging shot of the conference (mainly because all the CHRP recipients would want a photograph),  I did scout for a suitable location during the day but the choices were limited and I ended up doing a lot of photoshop, in the future I think lights and backdrop are  must for more control of the environment.

  

CHRP Recipients

The conference organizers wanted to show the vitality of the conference, people listening and enjoying themselves, not my normal style to interact with my subject but by the end of the conference I found I was enjoying the people interactions, all in all a great experience, one I hope todo again.

Trade show delegate

Trip to the Eastern Shore - 16 and 17 April 2011

Needed to get out of the “big city” this weekend.  We toured Nova Scotia in 2008 but we missed the East Coast due to a hurricane.  We decided to remedy this with a trip to Sherbrook Village and possibly Canso.  I  decided to take a couple of photographs at Lawrencetown beach before heading down the coast.

Started rather late Saturday morning I like being at a site before sun-up but when traveling with others you need to make allowances.  Lawrencetown beach is well known to local surfers, it has a nice shore break, complimented by a stunning rock beach.  Saturday morning was cold minus 6 when we headed out, not a typical spring day, there was some good cloud colour which helps saturate the colour of the rocks.  First time at this spot but I will definitely be back in the near future.

Lawrencetown Beach

Ended up in Sherbrook at midday.  We were the only residents at the Motel which suited us fine.  We explored the area including the “old village” which includes period piece actors/villagers in the summer season.   

Sawmill - Sherbrook Village

 We eventually wandered down a little lane leading to Walters Cove an area which really typifies the glaciated heritage of the area.  I decided to visit again the next morning, I am pretty happy with the results it was worth standing in the ocean and freezing my ass off.  All in all a nice trip.

Walters Cove, Nova Scotia

Star Trails and Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel

Claudina and I headed up to the Miramichi on Thursday the 31st March.  She was the keynote speaker for that regions International Woman’s Day, I was the dog minder, driver and enthusiastic supporter.  While in the Miramichi I had wanted to try a couple of night shots more specifically star trails.

There are plenty of resources on the web on how to approach your star trails, the best I have seen coming from my old home base in Southern Africa – have a look at this (star trail). Basically there are two methods of taking star trails that I know of.
1.    Long exposure (30 minutes and more, 11 hours if you want a full circle) and
2.   A series of shots of approximately 4 minutes each.

For me the second option is the best especially in cold weather where the temperature shortens battery life significantly (even on a good day my battery will not last longer than 2 hours).   So unless you are hooked up to the mains you don’t want to risk your battery dying halfway through the shot.

Important aspects to take into account when shooting star trails are as follows: you need to know where north and south is why? You need to face either of these directions if you want a typical circle of stars – face west or east and the star trails will be straight.

It needs to be dark – ambient light will drown out the stars.  That means the moon which is the major source of light in the night sky (thanks to it acting as a giant reflector for the sun) is a no-no and you need to shoot under a new moon.

• You need a very stable base – tripod.
• Bulb exposure – or cable release.
• Charged batteries.

Well despite knowing this I didn’t get to take a shot, I wanted a shot of the Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel which is a fantastic neo-gothic structure in Miramichi but when I got there in the evening the basilica was lit up by a number of flood lights – not good for seeing the stars, as flexible as ever I took the following shots of the basilica the star tails need to wait for another day.

Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel

Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel

Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel

Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel

Kruger Park - 31January - 3 February 2011

Kruger Park – Claudina and I spent three nights in Kruger Park with Jan and Moyra at the beginning of February, two nights at Lower Sabie and one at Crocodile Bridge.  Kruger Park is found on the Eastern side of Mpumalanga Province bordering Mozambique.  Covering over 20 000 square km it is a huge park (370km North to South).  Maintained roads allow visitors to drive their own vehicles making it one of the great African parks to visit.  Currently one of the greatest problems facing the park is Rhino poaching.  The park has just over 9000 white and 300 black rhino presenting a tempting target.  Just to put the parks black Rhino population into perspective the above number represents a quarter of the worlds population of black Rhino.

Tall grass and low cars – Kruger has had an abundance of rain over the past two months, the grass is exceptionally long (difficult to see over)  this was compounded by a low vehicle (a free vehicle!!!  The best around, thanks Moyra) making it difficult to see anything but the largest animals and birds, smaller animals you do see you find on the road.  A couple of nice viewings included a cheetah, an African Civet, leopard (a first for us) and three jackal pups who hadn’t learned to be afraid of vehicles.

Black backed Jackal

Lower Sabie – Camp

We booked into two permanent tents at Lower Sabie.  Self catering units, they are comfortable but you need to try and get the units along the river.

Fireflies and the Milky Way

Hippo’s and Baboons. Every camp has night sounds, the dominant animal sounds at Lower Sabie are the grunting of the Hippo’s and in the morning the calling of Baboons.  The Baboons sleep in a huge tree with a river view just beyond the camp fence.  In the evening they trek past the camps perimeter fence, big males keep watch for predators while babies hitch a ride on moms backs. On our last night we heard a single male lion grunting in the distance chilling stuff if you are an Impala but lovely from the safety of a bed. 

Birds – Amateur ornithologists always have something to look for in the bush.  We were unprepared for our visit this year due to weight considerations (flights), no binoculars and bird book ( a Roberts Birds of Southern Africa or Sasol would have been nice).  Still we had some good sightings even if we didn’t always know what we were looking at.  The big birds of prey like the Marshall Eagle and the distinctive Bateleur are always easy to pick out, we got some good shots of vultures and a lone secretary bird posing on the top of a tree, but it is the little birds like the Carmine and White Throated Bee Eaters and the Rollers whose colours really grab the eye.  Fortunately they are readily available to photograph as they keep vigil for insects by the side of the road.

Born Free

Vulture Tree

Watching

Waiting for the thermals

The big five – we saw the big five although the pictures of leopard require a little imagination.  Rhino were plentiful although they were the first to teach us that it never pays to second guess animals, although if you do and its successful it may be spectacular, when it fails it may also be spectacular.  We spotted six rhino and thought they were making their way down to a drinking hole so we waited there.  In the interim the six found a nice mud hole right next to the road and enjoyed themselves while we waited, definitely an opportunity missed.

Confidence is, lying in the road in South Africa when a Taxi goes by.

Burchells Zebra

Elephant Crossing

Giraffes in the Lowveld

He's not heavy

One of the few animals visible over the long grass

Mixing of cultures?

Solitude

Sunrise and Sunset – the park seem dead against taking sunrise and sunset shots, the gates open and close just after and just before, pretty frustrating, apparently if we had arrived in January the times were an hour earlier and later.  Still the lowveld is spectacular and we were happy to stick a tripod out the window and snap a couple of typical lowveld scenes.

Crocodile - our last night was spent at the Crocodile River Camp.  Our first visit to the camp but it marked a milestone for us in that we have traveled the park from its northern boundary (Limpopo River, and the Tropic of Capricorn) to its Southern boundary at the Crocodile River.  We have also stayed at nearly all the camps although we have yet to stay at the main camp of Skukuza.

As we left the park I couldn't help wondering if we would be back, I hope so, it is definitely one of the world’s great parks and well worth another visit.

Amamzintoti - KwaZulu Natal, cloud cover and landscapes

Amamzintoti - the weather was behaving or misbehaving depending on how you look at it.  Heavy cloud cover for the entire week, not good for sunbathing but great moody weather if you are taking photographs.  Cloud cover offers some great advantages, apart from the obvious attraction great clouds add to a photograph clouds diffuse the light making it soft and even.

We were staying with Claudina's parents on the eighteenth floor which has a beautiful view of the Indian Ocean, we took a walk along the beach early one morning and I took the following series of pics.

View of the beach from Sweetwater Flats

Using the local flora and my wife to add interest to the beach

 

View towards the flats - the clouds provide even light on a scene that usually contrasts markedly

Longer exposures are possible on cloudy days, I use low ISO with great depth F22+ which gives slower shutter speeds - use a tripod

Slow shutter speed again - photograph taken with a super wide 17mm

Taken towards the Toti sea pool

23 January 2011: Underberg - KwaZulu-Natal

I pause to catch my breath, the koppie (hill) didn’t appear steep from the road but these things can be deceptive.  I take a few pictures of the sand road receding into the distance but it’s just an excuse to rest I sound like a bellows.  

I am close to Underberg in the lower Drakensberg of Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, it is 22 January, 5.10am, pre-dawn, spread out below me is XL farm, the converted stables where we bunked overnight clearly visible.   I take a few more pictures before heading towards the top, I really need to lighten my camera bag and the tripod weighs a ton, but I wouldn’t be without it.  

Self Portrait - Lesotho in the background

 Sandstone boulders litter the crest of the koppie and I am careful where I walk, we were warned by Penny the farms owner to look out for snakes at this time of year and the last thing I need is a cobra or adder bite, still it is early and the reptiles are usually sluggish early in the morning.   The view from the top is spectacular.  The area is the greenest I have ever seen it, the result of an incredible amount of rain over the past couple of months.  In the distance a large dam reflects the early morning light and beyond that the true Drakensberg rise high in the purple air, somewhere there is the Lesotho border.  

A little bit of colour on the koppie

Herd waiting to be milked

 Sounds from the farm below carry to my perch, Colonel Strauss the huge rooster who wanted to include me in his harem the day before is in full cry as are the Egyptian geese and Hadeda Ibis who inhabit the massive blue gums behind the stables.  The sound of water carries clearly from a stream alongside the road and nearby, chats call to each other.  On the hillside to my left the Nguni cattle masticate cud contentedly and I can see a couple of the horses in their paddock.  

Colonel Strauss - of the large harem and scary eyes

Our room in the stables, basic but functional

View of the Berg in the early morning

The grass is wet and my jeans and takkies (sneakers) are soaked. 

I take some more photographs as the sun comes up, trying to use some of the boulders and plants as points of interest, I am still using the 35mm and without a foreground subject and lines of interest to indicate depth the landscapes are lost.  I sit for a while and drink in the landscape before taking a self portrait for posterity and head back to the car down below.

Trip to Miramishi

Just come back from four days in Miramishi.  It was cold, 30cm of snow fell the day before we arrived and it blanketed the area.  Snow is an interesting to photograph, an extensive blanket of white tends to fool the camera's built in metering system as the snow acts as an extra light source.  Photos tend to overexpose as a result.  The rule of thumb is to dial down the EV by -1.  

The Miramichi is a beautiful and I would have liked to spend a little more time getting around.  I ended up taking photographs at three locations - only one during the golden hour, maybe next time.

Boat alongside the Miramichi.  This is a full sized fishing boat although it is hard to tell without something to compare it with.

Miramichi River, Rod Miramichi Resort with the Centennial Bridge in the background

Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel.  Photo was shot at 12pm.  I converted the photograph to an infrared and then combined it with the original pic.  The light behind the church is the sun starting to peek out.

 

Shooting with some basic household items

Glasses and bottles an easy way to shoot with basic items