Ring-billed gull over Saint Lawrence River

[accwai]

Been away from this board for a while. Took this couple weeks ago on the Canadian side of St Lawrence River near Gananoque:

[Shortsighted]

Do you have a licence for that drone?
Wing-mounted spy-cam on escort-gull?
10,000mm lens mounted on Bofors gun-mount?

[Ally]

That is so impressive!

[accwai]

Thanks

By the way, this is nothing exotic. We were on the water in a triple-deck cruise boat. The gulls were following us close weaving in an out. So opportunities for this type of thing were ample, as long as one's ready to burn through the frames. My record says this one is frame #8 out of 27. So I got really lucky. It's cropped very little. Focus was dead on the beak so the eye was a hair off. There's another frame that's right on the eye but the composition isn't nearly as nice. Nothing else comes even close to this two. It's also lucky that I happen to have a 400/5.6 with me. We were returning from a visit to Heart Island on the US side



so I wasn't expecting any interesting situation with birds. Plus I haven't photographed birds for a very long time. Had I been more prepared, I would stay with the situation much longer and probably get more usable shots.

[Shortsighted]

I love it, man. You just happen to have a 400mm lens with you.
If I even had a 400mm lens in my hand I would be so excited that
I would need third generation image stabilization just to compensate.
As for, oh well, I'll just whip out my trusty 400mm and capture those
gulls is something that I occasional dream about before the alarm
sounds and I must snap back into reality. As for salvaging a single
frame from a whole series of shots, well that's par for the course.
Anyone who doesn't claim to do that is a slick-faced liar. Having an
intense burst-rate certainly helps the endeavour.  By the way, nice digs.
Is that where you stayed? I didn't photograph birds either when I first
got a digital point-and-shoot. Tried to find interesting shots around
town, you know, patterns, textures, shapes, juxtaposition, humour,
etc. The GTA and its parks and ravines don't offer much variety for
landscape. The GTA is not exactly exotic. Eventually I couldn't find
any interesting subjects and I wasn't very good at it anyway. Then when
I got an entry-level DSLR I gravitated toward nature photography. It
has a more universal appeal and most people get it. The ART stuff is
not everyone's cup of tea, although I still like it. I just suck at it.

[accwai]

[...] As for salvaging a single frame from a whole series of shots, well that's par for the course. Anyone who doesn't claim to do that is a slick-faced liar. Having an intense burst-rate certainly helps the endeavour.

Actually it's more like salvaging a single frame from a lot of burst sequences. I don't normally go for more than 3 frames at a time. At the end of the day, luck is probably much more important than burst rate.
 

By the way, nice digs. Is that where you stayed?

Nope, the whole island is like a museum. You have less than 2 hours on the island before the boat leaves. Got some nice shots, but probably would have more if I didn't need to keep watching the clock.

[...] The GTA and its parks and ravines don't offer much variety for landscape.

It can't be that bad. Books have been published on GTA's parks and ravines Take a look at Jason Ramsay-Bown's Toronto's Ravines and Urban Forests or Robert Burley's An Enduring Wilderness.

The GTA is not exactly exotic. Eventually I couldn't find any interesting subjects and I wasn't very good at it anyway. Then when I got an entry-level DSLR I gravitated toward nature photography. It has a more universal appeal and most people get it. The ART stuff is not everyone's cup of tea, although I still like it.

Hmm... Remnant of old Toronto is still around enough to be exotic. The last gas street lamp in Toronto in front of St. Lawrence Hall against the different styles of early electric street lamps on Front Street in the same area. What's left of Postal Station K near Yonge and Eglinton which was in turn built on the site of Montgomery's Tavern, Duncan Mills Ruins, etc. And lots of old churches too. Whichever city I pass through, I always visit the big churches. This was from Quebec City:



Have been meaning to systematically go through churches in Toronto too. Just haven't got around to that yet. I have raw files for the gas street lamp at St. Lawrence Hall too. Haven't got around to get those processed either. In fact, I also have B&W negatives from many years ago of the last remaining group of gas street lamps at Duddel Street in Hong Kong's Central District. Have been meaning to have them scanned and posted but never got around to it. The site was trashed really bad by typhoon in 2018. I believe all but one of the lamps are gone now. Have visited the Duncan Mills Ruins and have some cell phone picture. Never got around to photograph the site seriously yet. And so on. Oh well...

[Shortsighted]

Thanks for your detailed reply. I guess the problem with getting around is that
you accumulate more images that you might have time to process and catalogue.
I should have that problem. Still your reply makes me want to get out and explore
but my time is now mostly dedicated to being a caregiver and therefore the leisure
time needed to really get to know a location and investigate under different weather
conditions is not part of my immediate future. I would love to peruse those books
on the GTA ravines and parks but I simply can't afford them. It would be interesting
to see through the eyes of that photographer and compare his vision with my own.
Nonetheless, I appreciate your advice and enthusiasm.

[accwai]

Thanks for your detailed reply. [...] I would love to peruse those books on the GTA ravines and parks but I simply can't afford them. It would be interesting to see through the eyes of that photographer and compare his vision with my own. Nonetheless, I appreciate your advice and enthusiasm.

You're welcome By the way, both books are often in stock at Indigo. Just check indigo.ca to see which store has them then go and take a peep. Publisher for Enduring Wilderness is ECW Press located at Gerrard East near Broadview in the old Chinatown area. I first noticed it when I saw the display copy at their storefront and eventually picked one up from there.

[...] Still your reply makes me want to get out and explore but my time is now mostly dedicated to being a caregiver and therefore the leisure time needed to really get to know a location and investigate under different weather conditions is not part of my immediate future.

Being caregiver is no fun at all. I'm not quite there yet but it's coming, definitely. Such is life

[...] I guess the problem with getting around is that you accumulate more images that you might have time to process and catalogue.

I'm not getting around that much and still don't have enough time to process. Sometimes, one just need to put ones foot down. Thus the photos for the Thousand Islands trip. I've also started to go through backlog from last years trip to Europe. And I just posted one for the St. Lawrence Hall gas lamp. Most of the other ones on flickr are at night emphasizing the atmosphere. But I want to show the thing itself, mostly the piping in the lamp head and the dirt accumulation on the glass:



Also discovered some usable bird captures from a while back. Will start posting them here soon...

[Shortsighted]

That's quite the lamp. Looks like something out of Murdoch Mysteries.
A faster aperture might have blurred the background building just a
little more. Also, the traffic light and cables need to go and then its
a moment of time travel. Really doesn't need any colour. Would likely
work in B&W, or even sepia. It would be fun to mess around with it.
Getting rid of modern intrusion when dealing with a old city structures
is almost de rigueur. I took the Church of the Redeemer shot and eliminated
the background condo, replacing it with a moonlit sky to serve as a backdrop
for a fantasy shot using a toy knight as the subject for a picture titled
A GOOD KNIGHT.

[accwai]

Hmm... I have a weekly IT class at Bay and Bloor so pass by the Church of the Redeemer site all the time. Would never have guessed your picture is from there. Creative use of the location! The real surrounding is just insane. Similar situation with the lamp by the way That's one reason I tend to favor interiors, like this is from  Montreal:



and this is from near Quebec City:



Lots more from Montreal, Quebec City and Europe in the process queue. Will have to get to them soon. Can't wait...

[Shortsighted]

Our busy modern world does indeed tend to wrap its tentacles around what little remains of the old world.
Early 19th century structures survive like precious remnants but enveloped by the malignant grip
of more modern expressions of egomania. The Church of the Redeemer is just a worst case scenario
that demanded a total and complete annihilation of the background monstrosity that dwarfs what
used to be a bell tower with distinction and stature. Fortunately not all locations are so thoroughly
suffocated by modernity's pervasiveness. Sometimes a little intrusion can be overlooked and a prop
can serve to misdirect attention from the intrusion while simultaneously making a statement.
For instance, a shot I took of a bust of Winston Churchill was not diminished by an encroaching
section of city hall because it is confined to a small portion of the frame and is distant enough
to be soft-blurred. By way of a prop, adding a 1/72 scale model of a Hawker Hurricane fighter plane
into the sky supported the photo’s title: NEVER FORGET.


NEVER FORGET