Shannonville Raceway

I have never been to a race track outside of a 1hr visit to time trials at the Molson Indy so I was quite interested in the opportunity to get close to the "action"

Most of the activity is behind the stadium. Drivers getting prepped and cars getting ready.

What I noticed was that there are all kinds of different categories of race cars.

For each race, the cars line up outside the stadium giving you so good opportunities for up close pictures.

You can get up close to the track as well. the last chicane was a great place to capture the battles for the lead.

This location also gives the photographer a chance to practice panning.

 I must have taken 20-30 shots to only get one shot that was any good.

Shannonville is a very flat racetrack with no real interesting backdrops to photograph. As well there were not a lot of spectators watching.

Still, I don't know where you would get better access to the action.

I hear Mosport has a better infield for photography so I look forward to that opportunity.

Cobourg beach sunrise

A couple of Saturdays ago John and I hi-tailed it down to Cobourg beach for the sunrise. Up & attem for

5 am, we were fortunate enough to have a great sky with great clouds. When you get this kind of sky, you really can avoid the nasty lens flare that pops up it's ugly head in these situations. 

First off, the colour tone was really quite beautiful. The way it reflected in the lake made this one of my favorite shots of the day.

Nice calm water really helped capture the pinks in the sky.

I tried to employ the lessons learned from one of our landscape courses. Hyper focal distance and pointing the camera down on a slight angle. Really happy with the results.

Now down to the lighthouse. I was quite amazed at the clarity of the water as you can see here by the submerged walkway. From what information I can find, this breakwater was built in 1850.

There's John, all decked out with his g11 and Canon.

What I really liked about the lighthouse was the character of the stone and the painting seemed to work here.

Lots of photographers will tell you to get closer and lower. In this next shot, my 10-20 sigma lens really came in handy. Climbed into one of the pools of water and used the same tilt technique. Really happy with the DOF and clarity.

 What caught my eye with this next capture was how peaceful it made me feel.

Add in a little foreground interest....

Walking back to the car, I just found that the little details in the dock added to the story...

The town of Cobourg started a revitalization project in the 1980's to transform the waterfront from a haven for seafaring ships and oil tank fields to the marina you see below with upscale condo units. The last oil tanks were removed in 1991 which is when they started the condominium development.

Another great view of the beach front and sunrise

Well that's it. Next up.... Shannonville Raceway

Misty morning in Durham

So off we go at 5:15 am Saturday July 23rd but where to go? How about Enniskillen? So we headed along Taunton to Scugog Rd in Hampton and wouldn't you know it, the mist was hovering over the hay roles and the sun was just coming up. Hallelujah!

And we had clouds too! I was amazed at how hard this type of photography is. You don't know if the focus is correct due to the haze. (your live view won't help here).

I think these worked out OK. I don't really have the depth that my eye saw but I think the above are acceptable.

Now the sun is getting pretty strong and you had to look out for lens flare.

The old adage, "look behind you" comes into play for the next shot. Well, look beside you anyway. I really like the barn in sepia.

Now for a real surprise for us. We scooted down 57 and actually passed by this ranch. We turned it around and the back lighting was magnificent.

The below picture is giving me some real angst. It is a bit soft but I think it works. I will be flipping it and cropping it later. Do you think it works? Please click on it and see the larger picture.

Nothing like a posing horse to make my day.

That's it. Not a lot of pictures but I think they were nice.

A day at the brickworks

Quite often we will head down to the brickworks which is located at the bottom of Pottery Rd. in Toronto. I grew up in this neck of the woods so lots of nastalga for me.

Upon the renovations of the brick works to a market and nature awareness campus the designers left enough of the old building mechanic's to help you get a feeling of what the original building was like. One of my favorite shots is what I call the "Wheels". No clue what this huge mechanical marvel was used for.

I call this the "Blue Monster" It is part of the same structure as "Wheels"

Outside the old manufacturing building is a giant metal (rusting) art metal work. I have found out since that it is a depiction of the Don River.

In the summer the market moves outside. This craftsman is using an old school Lathe to create different wood art products.

Under the open roof market, many different foods and vegetables are available. Noticed a lot of organic products.

Back outside, this fellow had converted old wine boxes into unique box containers

I just took this shot cause I liked the symmetry of the 3 hats

This little guy is 14 years old and is blind as a bat. My wife calls him the teddy bear and everyone was coming up to check him out.

Here are some shots that I took during the winter months. They convert the green house to a skating rink.

I think these tracks were used to transport the bricks from the ovens to the storage place.

And lastly, this is what Rob Ford wants to get rid of. To me it's art and not graffiti