A Spring Drive
We took a leisurely 2-hour drive along a 9-kilometre section of Settler's Line, this past long weekend, with the intention of capturing a bit more of Kawartha spring glory - not the least of which were the Trilliums which grew abundantly at the roadside and in the forests. Settlers Line did not disappoint!
Respect
While there were many tempting scenes beyond the road, I do not intentionally walk on to private property, without permission. I shoot from the roadside, or up as close to a fence as I can get. Every image in this project was captured no more than a few feet from the road.
We headed out around 11 am. This stretch of the road is very hilly, disclosing some great vistas of the valleys to either side of the road, for those willing to drive slow enough to notice them. Crawling along at a photographer’s pace, I saw hundreds of our official provincial flower. It was just a matter of finding the right grouping, lighting and setting.
Completed in 2015, the Lang-Hastings Rail Trail winds through the countryside and connects The Great Trail across Peterborough County to the City of Kawartha Lakes to the west, and Northumberland County to the east. I love that there are multiple access points nearby the cottage. I have walked a small segment of this trail and plan to do more of it this summer.
The strong wind gusts and blowing clouds made life challenging, photographically, but the extra patience and care paid off; I came back with a great selection of images to work with, as I hope you can see here.
An infra-red treatment that I think worked particularly well with this grouping of Trilliums.
I'm so used to seeing Trilliums in small groupings, or really spread out on the forest floor. Large clumps like this patch jumped out at me, visually.
I loved the interplay of light and shadow in this scene, but also the contrast of frailty (the flowers) and sturdiness (the rock). I knew before I had even set up my camera that I had to include both elements in the photo.
While Trilliums were my main - um - focus, there were plenty of other sights to see and experience.
The Road Less Travelled.
Amidst the Deadfall.
Paradise for bees. I recently learned that dandelions are one of the first springtime sources of food, as they flower so early in the season. Think about that next time, before you yank those weeds out of the ground.
This project is notable to me for another reason; I recently purchased some training from photo educator Matt Kloskowski. I have watched many of Matt's free online tutorials and liked his style of teaching, and often found value in the segments I viewed. Now, I rarely purchase training; I tend to be pretty stingy on that kind of thing. But his new course, entitled The Art of Editing Landscapes, has really opened my eyes to the subtle ways I can further enhance my landscape images using Lightroom and/or Photoshop. Of course, every image I share - or print - goes through my own process of editing, but what I loved about Matt's course was the attention to the photographer's vision, rather than an emphasis on technical corrections to images.
When I (and no doubt, you) take the time to make a photograph, there is always a reason. Sometimes it's obvious, sometimes it's subtle. Regardless, I stopped and captured something at a fraction of a second because in some way, that scene moved me. The course from Matt helped bring this to the surface and reminded me that it's OK to take some artistic license with your work, to help emphasize your message or feelings, at the time of exposure.
So while I hope you don't consciously notice the edits made, I do hope the images have more impact because of them.
Until next time!
