Shorelines

Along the shoreline of Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC

 Since I have some time on my hands (don’t ask) I thought I’d add another page to my blog. I thought to continue writing (and throwing pictures on the screen) about the things that grab me photographically. So, I’d like to take this opportunity to talk about shorelines and what the camera discovers when it takes me for walks along them. I might even show you a couple of different things I’ve been working on. One of these was mentioned in an earlier posting as difficult subject matter to translate into a viewable image, the nefarious ripple effect.

Ripple study #1 - Bluffers Park, Scarborough, ON

Ripple study #2 - Bluffers Park, Scarborough, ON

Ripple study #3 - Bluffers Park, Scarborough, ON

I’m also going to take the opportunity here to thank in person another individual who has been a good friend over the years (and you can tell those people from others you have met because they are the ones who, in spite of the circumstances of extenuation, still manage to keep in touch). Here’s to you Walter Borchenko.

Walter and the figures of the Guild Inn

A further other but not entirely different reason to write is to tell you about this incredible image software that I have been allowed to play with, thanks to the above-mentioned individual.

I have been a Photoshop user for a number of years. As most people in the photographic industry are aware it has been considered the standard in image manipulation. I don’t claim to actually be proficient in this software. I have a tendency to use a few tools to get a certain effect, or to get rid of some annoying detail, and that’s about it. Print it, that’s a wrap.

Well I am exploring a few of the possibilities of a new piece of software (new to me).

Now a disclaimer: There are certain frustrations in being a dabbler in the art. A big problem, at least for me, is trying to figure out how to wade my way through software; to make it through and around all the selection menus and dialogue boxes to make the software do it’s tricks for you. Part of the difficulty is because of my prior preconceptions or prior mental lockdown due to my own Photoshop mentality. And admittedly I’m getting, as they say, long in the tooth. I may not be as spry in the mental gymnastics department as I once was.

So this is a ‘hats off’ to the Capture One software. I am so new at it that I don’t feel knowledgeable enough to talk about it here. Let’s just say that I’m impressed. There is enough information on the net and demonstrations on You Tube to give you some idea as to its workings.

Oh, did I mention anywhere that for the past few years I’ve been shooting in NEF format? It makes a difference, particularly with this software (and I think it does a much better job than Photoshop in handling the files).

And back to the shoreline.

I like water. If you’ve followed this blog you already know that I’m from Niagara Falls, Ontario, a city named for water basically. Well, yes, it’s named for where the water, um, falls over an escarpment, but that’s quibbling.

I’m living at the moment in Scarberia. I don’t know if I’ve let you into this joke or not but the name of this city within a city is actually Scarborough, to the east of Toronto and now incorporated into the metropolis. Scarberia is one of the nicknames that we denizens apply to it.

I’m sorry but in many respects I consider the landscape of Scarberia to be boring except for a couple of notable exceptions (which happen to co-exist in close proximity), which are the Guild Inn and the Scarborough Bluffs.

Cathedral Bluffs, Scarborough, ON

I’ve already described the Inn in detail. The bluffs are basically a chalk and sand formation located on the shoreline of Lake Ontario. I’ve walked the shore here a number of times, often accompanied by my brother Ralph, and almost always with camera.

Bluffs and the shoreline, Scarborough, ON

Cathedral Bluffs, Scarborough, ON

I still identify myself, by and large (no weight jokes please), as a black and white photographer. That was one of the reasons why I started taking photographs in the first place lo these many years ago. I loved the whole process and I have always loved the look of the images. And in this context I still shoot things with that in mind, particularly the logs and driftwood and other ephemeral features that lay close to shorelines.

Sandshark Log, Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC

My recent trip to Vancouver gave me the opportunity to explore the shoreline surrounding the city, particularly Stanley Park on Burrard Inlet off the Strait of Georgia. That is where many of these images came from.

Driftwood pattern, Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC

Lionshead Driftwood #1, Jericho Beach, Vancouver, BC

Lionshead Driftwood #2, Jericho Beach, Vancouver, BC

Shattered wood detail, Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC

And the new software, Capture One, allows me to seriously play with the digital images, including converting them to black and white (and even toning them if I desire). It’s as if I were back in the darkroom, back in the old days (yeah, and when you think about it they weren’t all that long ago) with all the beakers, trays and chemical baths, the enlarger, easel and safelight, burning and dodging and then processing the paper to see what it held. It’s brought much of the magic and the craft back to realizing the images that were shot in camera.

Thanks Walter.

All photographs by Colin Campbell