Hello World! I am currently in the process (finally) of updating my website. The new and improved version will include my portfolio along with pricing options for family and event photography. [last updated July 18, 2014]

It’s a miracle! I’m online, have two cameras sitting next to me (both itching), and am writing. It has been quite a while; since March, in fact. Please, let me explain.

Shortly after my last post, or at least my last photo of the week, this showed up on my back deck:

Pre-adoption, pre-naming; how could I not take pity?

This poor animal was clearly starving, distrustful of both dogs and humans alike, and was clearly in mortal danger of starvation. I began feeding her, though she remained quite wary. After a few weeks of watching her and, to my surprise, her watching me, I decided I would keep her rather than drive her eight hours to a shelter. After a couple of weeks, she would come to me for affection and food and I would be grateful to see her observing me from a cautious distance when I went trekking on hikes.

After a breaking-in period, she has turned out to be a fantastic dog. All dog owners, or at least any worth their salt, would happily talk the hind leg off a horse about why their dog is the greatest and most interesting animal ever to grace the earth. They are all wrong, however; mine is.

Now, my dog, whose name is Korbo (from the French, “Corbeau”), was a wild animal. She is a mix of God knows what, though there is a strong husky/malamute influence, and making her a [semi]domestic creature was not without its perils. I lost a couch, almost a wall, have spent hours on training, and have to keep her well exercised. The result is a much less pitiful creature; she is happy, kind, gentle, intelligent, fully grown (I hope) and no longer starving. It only took several months.

Photo courtesy of my father (2013).

I also have had work, a social life to attend to, so forth and so on. There are plenty of things that occupy our time, energy and other resources. Otherwise we wouldn’t have bucket lists, we would have fulfilled lives (some of us, anyways). I have also fallen prey to these necessary distractions. So, I fell out of the routine of taking pictures, fell out of the routine of tending to my website and have fallen out of the routine of thinking much about photography.

Well, here I am; I have my Nikon D-SLR ready to go and an old Minolta SLR with a prime 50mm lens that I’m excited to play with, if for no other reason than to force me to think about my photos before I take them. I’m back in the game!

Stay tuned, as I will post some of the photos I have taken over the last few months in my “Photo of the Week” section and, with luck, will resume my regular updates and new shots. I will also endeavour to keep you up-to-date with any interesting happenings in my life, should they occur.

I recently read an article that suggested that my camera’s 24 megapixel count is outrageous and completely unnecessary. Naturally, I need to come to my camera’s defence.

The article does have a point though – my first camera, a Canon 3.2 megapixel point-and-shoot, took some very nice pictures. Many of them have been printed in 4×6 and 5×7 size and never once did I bemoan their quality. Still, it was nice when I upgraded to my 6 megapixel Pentax K100d D-SLR. With that, I can make good sized prints and not notice that it is not a film camera – it really is a good piece of equipment in the hands of a good photographer. Now that I’m a Nikon man, I’m shooting with 24 megapixels, and I use them.

It is often suggested that high megapixel counts are simply a marketing ploy. This is partly a valid point, as many people entering into digital photography equate megapixels with quality, and this is certainly not true. My D-3200 shoots in 24 megapixels, but performs a little less well than the D-5100, which shoots at 16 megapixels. The quality of the sensor is important, as are the optics (the lens) filtering the image. Professional photographers have been managing quite well with fewer megapixels. Nonetheless, it is better to have more than less on the market, so it is a smart move by Nikon.

Now, I am not brand new to the world of digital photography, though I have a lot to learn. So why do I like having such a high megapixel count? It is because I use them. We no longer live within the constraints of film photography, not should we act as though we are. I have a great deal of respect for photographers who shot in photo-chrome  leaving no room for darkroom magic. My father did this for a while and got some great images, but he is now using a mid-range Olympus D-SLR. He still gets great shots, but he also has embraced Photoshop.

I use the megapixels because I crop many of my images. This is sometimes because I need to modify my composition, indicative of my inexperience, or because I do not have sufficient equipment to zoom in. Sometimes I like the perspective that wide angle provides, but am unable to physically move myself close enough to the objects I would like to isolate. My last argument in favour of megapixels, and I believe the most universal, is convenience. For common photography purposes, I do not have to changes lenses as much as I used to. If I am driving and see something, I can pull over, release the shutter with a lens at 35mm, and be on my way. I can get away with carrying less equipment and I can get away with changing lenses less.

I should note that this is purely for convenience – if I were making a billboard, I would not be cropping as much as I often do. However, for 8×10 prints, I have printed images that maintain print quality in spite of having been cropped quite significantly, in some cases losing more than half of the frame.

This is why I like megapixels – it frees me to do more with less equipment and with more room for error. Ultimately, I aspire to be able to shoot as though I were using photo-chrome film, but will never regret having the flexibility and convenience of more megapixels, harddrive space permitting.

A colleague of mine has a fantastic truck. I believe it is a 1989 Chevrolet, and is miraculously still standing on all four wheels. I would love to take more pictures of this truck, as the rusted and worn parts give great texture and the odd-coloured replacement body parts make the truck “pop” more than most old vehicles, which are uni-chrome and often quite faded.

What I like most about this truck is its personality – there are signs and decals on it. One of the doors, for instance, is labelled “DOOR”. The side doors are red, but bed of the truck is beige. The snow has accumulated in the back of the truck, and it seems little cause for concern (I suppose it adds weight to the back wheels, ideal for increasing traction in the winter). To top it all off, it has a decal on its back window reading, “The Golden Beast”.

Someday, I would love to explore this truck a little more with my camera, but it was in a bit of a tight spot this morning and I have yet to frivolously purchase a serious wide-angle lens. Regardless, here is a small taste of the wonderful personality that is the Golden Beast.

The Golden Beast (Norway House, MB, 2013)

Tomorrow morning, I will be venturing back to Norway House. While I am excited to return home, and a little wistful at having to leave some of my friends and family behind in Ontario, this means I will be back in Canada’s hinterland, back to work and back to photography. However, it also means I will not have internet. Hmm….

It is possible I will be able to update this website from my work, internet-proxy gods permitting. However, in the event that I am blocked from updating my website, I will still be able to access the internet by tethering my phone. I have a 250mb limit, so I will have to limit my blog posts (perhaps this is a merciful restraint), but should still be able to post my Photo of the Week.

From my most loyal readers (you know who you are), I have been getting some wonderful feedback about the new site, including typos or poor form. While there are inevitably some more oversights I need to track down, I ask for you patience as my connectivity is soon to be very limited. I will do my best to keep publishing interesting pictures, but sadly will no longer be able to afford the luxury of endlessly tweaking the site. Hopefully, broadband will arrive in Norway House soon, as promised, and you will once again be able to regularly indulge in my whimsies. Thank you for you patience and I will, hopefully, be in touch soon.

Be good, be safe, and I’ll see you around. All the best!