Travelling around Newcastle

So I got bored and decided to trip around the back roads of Newcastle. Here the sun is coming up on Hwy. 57

Just a farm but I thought the lines were interesting

A scene from the pioneer movie lot (thanks Brian for the lead)

OOOO.... love old cars!!! 

Still a big farming community..

Really liked the clouds and the cows on the hills

Scratching that itch

More undulating hills....

Stopped at Lintons' farm.. produce was waining but there were still some fresh vegetables available

Onward to more landscapes

Sort of like shots of lonely trees 

Ok, I don't think there are much more photo ops today. I will leave you with the sunset.



Courtice Sunrise

It is always hit and miss when you get up at 5am to try and get the morning light. Brian, John and myself found ourselves quite lucky a couple of sundays ago when we hit the beaches of Courtice.

I loved the colour in the sky that the morning sun provided

I always try to get a low perspective shot. I think it adds to the depth and adds a strong forground leading you through the shot.

In keeping with the concept of all good landscape shots having a stong forground image, these semi submerged rocks provided the perfect actors. Used my 10-20 sigma lens.

 

After such a fortunate sunrise, we travelled back home by way of Newcastle. Reminds me of the road less travelled.

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