Frozen Weather Vein.jpg
Frozen Weather Vein.jpg
Frozen Weather Vein.jpg
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Jan, 2014Views
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
About 5 min from my house is a quiet street leading to large wooded park. Along this quiet street in Burlington Ontario, are some beautiful estate homes, like the one this weather vein is mounted to.Time
This was on of my most rewarding shoots. It was a shoot that almost didn't happen. After a long night and early morning of a freezing rain storm, I decided to attempt to leave my house to get some pictures of the city's architecture covered in ice. However at 9am the roads were still frozen and as graceful as I am, I did not trust that my feet would stay firmly planted long enough to get anything on camera, let alone return with a camera intact. By about lunch time, things began to thaw and I seized my opportunity to go exploring, and the result was a 3 hour adventure, surrounded by a land and city scape the likes of which are not seen often. It was like stepping through the wardrobe into Narnia at times.Lighting
With the temperature rising, there was a mist an fog about everything in the city turning an ordinary grey day into something out of 50's Chicago Mobster movie.Equipment
This was captured with my Pentax K10D using my 70-300mm 4.5-5.6 @ 170mm Æ’4.5. I thought a zoom lens was preferable as I did not fancy a Trespassing charge. Due to an inability to park my car and setup I shot this from the drivers seat of my car using my elbow and window sill as a tripod due to the focal length.Inspiration
There is something in the imagery that a weather vein conjures up for me. I often see images of days gone by in which the weather vein served a purpose other than the colloquial decoration it has become today. A weather vein has long signalled the "winds of change" and seeing one frozen in place was powerful. I guess one of the things I have always loved about photography is that each image is a moment captured in time. A mood, feeling, or perspective on the world around the photographer that except for their image will likely never be seen again. This image for me was an expression of my love for photography and a reminder to stop and take in every moment, as it will never come again.Editing
While this image was captured in colour, I did convert to B&W to help the viewer see it as I did. The contrast of the blackened roof and the grey and white washed skies. I added a mild softening filter to aid a central focus on the subject and blur the hard lines of the bricks and shingles.In my camera bag
I always carry most of gear with me when I go as I never quite know what I want to capture. Even on planned excursions, I rarely have a plan as to what I want to capture. My kit includes a Pentax K10D 18-55mm 3.5-5.6, 70-300mm 4.5-5.6, 50mm 1.7, and 14mm 2.8 Ultra Wide, a Shutter release and tripod in case the mood, long exposure, or a tricky HDR opportunity strikes.Feedback
Photography is an expression of yourself and as such each person takes something different away from each image. When looking at another photographer's work, I like to focus on the composition, the angle of attack they chose and try to imagine how I would have seen that moment. Personally when I go out on a shoot, I always take multiple angles of each image as I am never quite sure which one will speak to me most. Often, my first instinct is not the final image I end up with, so I would encourage everyone to see their subject from as many angles as possible realizing that while the subject may not change from day to day, the lighting and mood you are capturing may never come along again. Each moment is different.
