Autumn is always a special season for me, but the Autumn of 2022 has even more significance; I'm taking my 5-week sabbatical from Adobe starting September 24. Every 5 years, Adobe gives all its employees a fully paid sabbatical, adding an extra week to the time off for every 5 years of service. I hit my 10-year mark about a year and a half ago, so I've earned a 5-week break from all company duties. I'm so excited!
Table of Contents
Yes, this journal is so long that I felt a TOC was necessary, especially if you follow along as it gets updated. Geez, I wish I could do a two-column text layout in Express.
- Prelude to Autumn
- Why Photography?
- The Show Goes on
- Off to Market
- Sunflower Fields Forever
- Two Sunrises
- A Family Affair
- Sabbatical, Week 1
- There’s Always Another Sunrise
- Arrival of Autumn
- Sundown, You Better Take Care
- The Best Camera
- Falling for Fairs
- Week 2
- An Ontario Wine Snob in Prince Edward County
- Thanksgiving Weekend
- Home is Where the Heart is
- Week 3
- The Brilliance of Autumn
- The Golf Course
- Birds of a Feather
- The End of the Peak
- Week 4
- To MAX - or not to MAX?
- Autumn in the City
- All the Leaves are Down
- Last Gasp of Autumn
- An Illegal Stop
- Return to Anstruther Lake Road
- Halloween at the Cottage
- Ghouls on Parade
- Week 5
- The End is Nigh
- The Best Worst Weekend of the Year
- One Final Sunset
- A Glorious Send Off
- And in the End…
A 5-Week Break!
I also kept a reflection journal during my first sabbatical, back in 2017. Feel free to check it out, below.
Why Photography?
Considering I never had more than a passing interest in photography until college, why did I choose (and stay) with this particular medium of communication? A great question, and one I answer in more detail in a previous article on Behance.
TLDR, though, even from the beginning, photography brought my thoughts and feelings to light. Photography is not just about what I see, but what I feel when I see it as well as my current emotional state, overall. I can lose myself for hours in this art form, be that capturing the image or later, when I'm processing.
My goal when I go out shooting - other than capturing images - is to come back with scenes that I’m proud of but also that impact others.
While technically, autumn begins on September 22, the opening photos here are from earlier in September, as Mother Nature started to remind us of what's just around the corner. Green changes to yellow, gold and brown in the farm fields and wild meadows; there are pops of colour in the trees, and more leaves are blowing across the ground.
The Show Goes On
September also signalled a refresh of my photography exhibit at Elmhirst's Resort on Rice Lake and a new pop-up exhibition at the Reclaimed Garden Company at Young's Point. I've added some new autumn images to the gallery at Elmhirst's, and am keeping up with my trademark "photocards," which tell a short story about the making or reason of each photo.
Having these exhibits is energizing. No more am I just viewing my work on a screen or making it available as micro stock; I’m putting it out there in the real, analog world, selecting images I think and hope will make people stop and look…and hopefully buy. And when a print does sell - man - that is an awesome feeling. When a total stranger feels your work is worthy of them parting with hard-earned money, that is both flattering and humbling.
Off to Market
We visit local farmers' markets throughout cottage season, but as summer blurs into fall, the colours - and food options - remind you of the coming season.
Sunflower Fields Forever
One lovely road trip we took was to the Little Sunflower Farm in Lindsay, Ontario. We visited on the very last day of the viewing season. This meant there were some droopy plants, but overall, it was still a wonderful way to spend an hour or so. I still managed to get some great photos.
Two Sunrises
Early September also treated me to a couple of beautiful weekend sunrises, complete with our local Great Blue Heron, fishing off of (what has become) the seagull raft. I'm looking forward to more of these sunrises in the coming weeks of my sabbatical. And sunsets...and - who knows - maybe even some astrophotography!
A Family Affair
My mom turned 80 on September 22 - which is also my wedding anniversary. To mark the special occasion (the birthday, that is - the anniversary special event will be a trip to Prince Edward County in early October) my niece, Emily, planned a bit of a surprise party for mom, with friends and family, and a couple of extra surprises: my son Joe brought his lovely wife Stephanie to the gathering. Mom was not able to make it to my son's wedding, so Stephanie and mom got to meet for the very first time! Steph's Pokemon scarf was a huge hit with my grand-nieces! And even more of a shocker was that my youngest brother was able to snag a flight from Alberta to see mom, too!
Being able to spend time not only with my mom on her birthday, but to get a couple of days with Joe and Steph was very special; we hadn't seen them since the wedding.
There’s Always Another Sunrise
A heavily overcast Sunday morning brought its own special sunrise. Depending on the cloud cover, it could have been dull, uniform, but if you have some layers to the clouds, and enough backlighting to help differentiate the layers, it can be dramatic. At first, I didn’t think I was going to get the look I wanted, but as the sun climbed upwards, I started to see those layers and with some processing in Lightroom, I was able to pull out the detail I wanted.
I included the evolution of the photo shoot in this series, including one BTS shot. I think my favorite set is the pair of images that show just the top of the beach chair.
- Simple.
- Symbolic.
- Pure Cottage.
Amber Dawn
We arrived at the cottage midweek, for a change (the absolute joy of being on sabbatical). The resort is practically a ghost town this time of year - and we love it! There were so few people up, and so few cottages lit up, I’m sure I could have done night sky photography from my deck!
And I am planning at least one night sky shoot, but I’m also trying to get up early for sunrises. I’ve been pretty pleased with those early morning efforts and Thursday morning was no exception.
Arrival of Autumn
We took our first official fall color drive on the fourth day of my sabbatical. We started with a picnic lunch at Young’s Point and a visit to the Reclaimed Garden Company, where some of my photos are hanging. It was chilly in the shade, and I could see that the maples on the Point were beginning to share their brilliance.
Fall has arrived.
From there, we made a quick stop at Burleigh Falls and then we headed further north to Apsley, in search of an elusive location from a prior fall drive. While colors were still spotty, they were pretty intense in places. I didn’t find the location I was looking for (note to self - ALWAYS take at least one photo with your phone for the gps info), but we happened upon a lovely cascade, the Marble Rapids at Eels Creek, just outside of Apsley. That was good for at least an hour! Had a great time making long exposures under challenging lighting conditions.
As we made our way back to the cottage along Highway 28, on an impulse I took a turn onto Anstruther Lake Road, part of the Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park. The signs indicated a boat launch. I figured that also meant a decent-sized lake (three, I learned later) and the potential for some fall color in a new location for me.
We turned into the first access point we came to, which I originally thought was Anstruther Lake. In fact, it was Loon Call Lake. There were some beautiful views from this access point. This is a road I will take again this October, to visit the other lakes (Wolfe and Anstruther).
Visiting places like this in the fall, midweek, almost guarantees you’re the only ones on the site, and that was the case for us. The access point was mostly for the boat launch and it was deserted. It was a small area but so peaceful!
As I was shooting at Loon Call Lake, I mentally kicked myself for - once again - forgetting to capture any video clips back at Eels Creek. Well, you can’t say I don’t learn; I made sure to capture 3 or four clips at the lake and I think a couple of those, along with some of the stills, are going to become part of my Adobe Stock gallery.
Sundown, You Better Take Care
Friday evening, as I was making dinner on the BBQ, I looked up to see some pretty interesting cloud formations.
I made a mental note that the evening sunset off the fourth hole could be a good one.
I was not wrong.
As we were eating dinner, I kept one eye on the clock and with literally minutes to spare, I munched down the last of my burger and raced - ok, I wheezed - to the fourth hole of the golf course. Within 15 minutes of arriving, the show was over. But I got my shots!
The Best Camera...
... is the one you have with you. I shoot most of my work using my Olympus EM5 Mark III these days. I love the form factor and the portability of this camera. But my smartphone (currently an iPhone 11 Pro) is even more portable - and always with me. Sometimes it IS the only camera I have with me.
Modern smartphone cameras are designed to produce very good images, in many cases even offering "pro settings" like the ability to change aperture or shutter speed or even focus distance. Combined with onboard Artificial Intelligence (AI) and advances in computational photography, you can sometimes produce imagery that is simply not possible to do when using a "real" digital camera. One example is creating a long exposure of a scene in broad daylight, without a tripod or neutral density filtration.
There are times when I just don't feel like carrying my camera. There, I said it. Maybe I'm going for an evening walk around the cottage resort and the lighting doesn't seem all that special. And then I find out I'm wrong. Smartphone camera to the rescue, like we see below.
Maybe I'm shooting just for social media posts, and I want access to the shot immediately.
Sometimes - if I remember - I'll shoot at least one frame with my camera when I'm on location, just for the location info. Remember further up in this story, where I was searching for an elusive location? Yeah, that's an example of when I forgot to make a smartphone photo.
Falling for Fairs
I’m happy we got to experience at least one fall fair this year. It was the Bobcaygeon fall fair, a smaller fair and one we had never attended. Parade, midway, craft hall, livestock… Attending a fall fair for the first time in two years…a wonderful experience. So many smiling faces. Autumn the way it should be in the Kawarthas.
Adventures of an Ontario Wine Snob
Our 32nd wedding anniversary arrived in late September and we decided to take a couple days during my sabbatical to celebrate in Prince Edward County (also known as PEC and The County). PEC has been growing in recognition as another superlative Ontario wine region, located in the eastern part of the province.
Our first day in the County, we visited two wineries, Sugar Bush and Broken Stone (both super friendly wineries, with great grapes) and topped the day off with an amazing meal at the Inn-Lake on the Mountain Resort, nestled between the Lake on the Mountain on one side and the Bay of Quinte on the other. After dinner, we were treated to a stunning sunset over the lake.
We selected the Merrill House, located near downtown Picton, for our stay and it’s been wonderful. A beautiful heritage home with simply phenomenal cuisine. The 14-room house feels like a heritage B&B but it’s actually a hotel, with a full restaurant that serves scrumptious breakfasts and dinners. The multiple gables (12, I believe) create a striking silhouette from the street and from the back yard. They’ve even got an outdoor dry sauna and fire pit area! The PEC wine selection is impressive, as is their wine cellar storage, which is the backdrop of the restaurant.
Touring the Region
One of the perks we received from Merrill House was a wine passport full of complimentary wine tastings or discounts. The passport is good for two years, so we will continue to get it stamped and check out wineries we may not have even considered, thanks to the passport.
Before hitting our first winery of the morning (no judgement) we pulled over beside the Rose House Museum, a series of buildings representing the Marysburgh settlement - one of the first German speaking settlements in Ontario. The museum was also closed, but it was a beautiful morning to capture a couple of the buildings.
We had a wonderful chat with Wendy at Del Gatto winery, learning the impressive history of this small family-run vineyard. We were treated to some excellent wines including a Baco Noir that I will be laying down for the next couple years. Wendy also shared with us a unique tasting - a white vermouth! This is not something I would ever have thought to try myself, but I can imagine sipping this fortified wine by the fire this coming winter. very herbaceous and smooth!
Next on our list (and our passport) was the County Cider Company, makers of Wapoos apple cider, but as we learned, that wasn’t their only product. We were taken through an 8-glass flight of ciders, made from both bitter/bitter-sweet apples as well as culinary apples. Bitter and bitter-sweet apples - the original cider apple - are very small, hard and apparently taste like cardboard, but they make for some excellent dry, heritage-style ciders. Think of them like cultivated crabapples. Culinary apples are the ones we modern-day folk think of when we think of apples; larger, juicier and sweeter.
After the tastings, I wandered around the building and the orchard, gathering photos. I see some new stock images for my portfolio from this series. It was a beautiful day with not a cloud in the sky.
From there, we headed to Three Dog Winery. Three Dog was recently taken over by a new family of wine makers, very passionate about their work. I enjoyed some excellent full-bodied reds on their deck (the Bacchus was robust and smooth), while we snacked away on a very generous charcuterie board, chatting with both the staff and one of the new owners. The grounds were beautiful and I finally found some grapevines that were changing color from green to yellow and red - a sure sign of autumn in wine country!
Our last stop for the day was Huff Winery and Inn. In all honesty, by this time, we were pretty much “wined-out,” (Jim Babbage - wined-out? Inconceivable!). We enjoyed our wine tasting at Huff - it’s one of the grander, larger vineyards, reminiscent of what you might find in Niagara.
Fun Fact: because of the slight difference in climate, PEC only generates about 40% of their own grapes. The rest are brought in from the Niagara region.
Final Day in the County
Like all good things, our visit to the Eastern Ontario wine region had to come to an end. We thoroughly enjoyed our time and made the most of the trip home by visiting a few locations, including Like all good things, our visit to the Eastern Ontario wine region had to come to an end. We thoroughly enjoyed our time and made the most of the trip home by visiting a few locations, including Bloomfield, the West Lake boat launch, the Local Store on County Road 12 (full of art of all kinds created by County artisans, and a great vintage antique shop).
We arrived at the Local Store before they opened, so, rather than sit in the parking lot, we drove further down the road, where I discovered the Kleinstuber public boat launch in West Lake. We pulled in and I made a couple captures before we headed back to the Local.
As we headed back down the road, I saw an amazing red barn. Well, of course, I had to pull over and get a few photos! I was not alone in my appreciation of this building; the Local Store had both photographic and painted renditions of the barn from very talented artists.
We topped things off with a visit to the rooster-patrolled Kinsip Distillery where we tasted a lovely vodka fermented with - I kid you not - pine needles, as well as a yummy cassis. Kinsip also makes a wide variety of different bitters, with names little Whiskey Smoke and Black Walnut. I learned a lot about bitters on the trip and plan to put that information into action with some new cocktail creations.
Thanksgiving Weekend
Canadian Thanksgiving is awesome. First of all, it helps we Canadians ease into the holiday season, without the associated pre-dawn mad rush to department stores - or Amazon - to start buying stuff we don’t need with money we don’t have. Secondly, it’s smack-dab in the middle of autumn, often close to the peak of the fall colors. And third(ly?), it’s a low pressure time to gather with family and friends with no need to worry about gift-giving, or party dresses.
Oh - and, it’s a month before American Thanksgiving, so I kinda get two holidays - cool.
As corny as it sounds, the weekend is also a time of reflection for me. With so many horrible things going on around the world, I can’t help but be grateful for what I have here at home - health, safety, security, a fantastic job, great home and awesome cottage, wonderful wife, friends and family. I am blessed.
Something else I am grateful for is the sale of four of my images leading up to and during the long weekend!
As luck would have it, we had great weather for the holiday weekend. Perhaps a bit brisk at times, but generally sunny. The kind of weather where you start off in jeans, flannel shirt and a hoodie, and then wish you’d brought shorts with you by midday.
Each day, we managed to go for a drive to check out the colors. In only a few days, the scenery had gone from spotty color to nearly full blown iridescence!
I capture many images I was happy with on the holiday weekend; I’ve tried to narrow it down a bit for this journal, but keep an eye on my Behance site for an autumn project.
Home is Where the Heart is
I recently realized that we bought our first (and still, only) home, just over 30 years ago, in 1992. Wow. It is a bittersweet realization, though; some of those who helped us move in - friends and family - have left us. They live on in our memories and in some cases, in the work they have done in helping to build our home, but they are sorely missed.
There will come a time, sooner than later, when we will say goodbye to this house. As exciting as a new home might be, it will be very difficult parting with this life-long friend. We have celebrated so many things here; birthdays, anniversaries, Halloween, Christmas and New Years.
It’s the place where we shared our grief at the loss of family and friends.
It’s the backyard where gatherings were held, where a pine tree, 30 years ago, stood no taller than Karen, and now towers above us, nearly 30 feet high.
This home spanned the majority of my teaching career and my entire career (so far) at Adobe.
So many memories. Good ones, bad ones, but the good far outweigh the bad, in my opinion.
We are but the second owners of this little 1.5 story home, sitting higher than any other house of the street, because we’re at the original elevation of the land, the entirety of which used to be a mushroom farm. We met and bought this house from the original owner, Bryan Howe, who was gifted this plot as a wedding gift from his parents, the original landowners and farmers.
I recall we had seen many disappointing homes up until this place. In fact, we had just left a similar home, directly across the street from what would be our future residence. As we walked to the car, we saw the brilliant sugar maple on the front lawn, in its full autumnal glory, the long driveway leading up to the house and how the little place lorded over all the other homes from its slight, but noticeable hilltop position…and the “For Sale” sign.
Karen said, “Why can’t he (the largely ineffectual real estate agent) show us places like this?” My response was to call the agent and tell him to get us a viewing. It was the only thing the guy did right, to be honest.
I remember walking into the house and instantly falling in love; oak stairs, a stone fireplace, a basement that looked like a log cabin and a backyard the size of some city parks, full of mature trees.
Somehow, we ended up meeting Mr. Howe more than once before we put in an offer; he even gave us the full tour of the house, complete with backstory. He was a charming man. We learned that he and his wife raised their only daughter in this home. We also learned that his wife had succumbed to cancer some time before, and this house, full of memories, had become a constant reminder of his loss, and hence, his desire to sell.
Mr. Howe’s asking price was higher than what we could afford, but because he had met us, had walked us through the house himself and saw how much we loved it, he agreed to accept our offer.
Where would we have ended up if we had never met Bryan in person? Would he still have accepted our anonymous offer, thousands of dollars lower than his asking price? How would our lives have been different? It’s impossible to say, but we both knew on first sight, that this house was calling to us, and Bryan knew we would love it, respect it and care for it.
The Brilliance of Autumn
In my 9 autumns (NINE - wow!) at the #fortressOfModerateSolitude, I am quite positive that 2022 has been the most vibrant and colorful one yet. Perhaps this is Mother Nature’s reward to us for getting through the past two years.
Or maybe it’s due to stress from extreme heat and moderate drought through the summer. As much as I want to believe the former, I can’t imagine old Momma Nature is on the side of human beings, considering what we’ve done to the this planet.
This past weekend (October 13 - 16), fall color has been at its peak in our part of the Kawarthas. That, combined with a significant amount of rain and cloud cover, has made for some great photo opportunities, even just on the drive up. I swear, it could have taken us four hours to get to the cottage if I had stopped every time I thought, “Wow!” when looking out the windshield.
Halloween Preparations
Karen and I both love Halloween, but with our time at the cottage and my work travel, we often don’t get a chance to set things up any more at home. However, we are doing a scaled down version at the cottage, using things that are easy enough to transport from home or store at the cottage.
The Golf Course
As you might recall, our cottage is part of a golf course resort on Rice Lake, Bellmere Winds. You might also recall that I don’t golf; I consider this to be a public service to other golfers. But the course is beautiful and was meticulously maintained this year. Many have told me it’s in the best shape they can remember.
Because I don’t golf, I generally stick to a couple safe areas during the daytime if I want to make photos, not wishing to become a disruption to - or target practice for - those on the course. But when we arrived on Thursday afternoon, it had been raining heavily most of the day. The course was open only to foot traffic; the sod could not take the abuse of golf carts in its soggy condition. With the rain all but finished, and the cloud cover breaking up slightly, I decided to walk part of the course with my camera, starting near the fourth hole, where I’ve captured many a sunset.
I lost myself on the course for 2 full hours, only once seeing other people. I kept waiting for a course marshal to yell at me from somewhere to stop walking on the greens (the ground was very squishy). But no one ever challenged me, and I made some wonderful photos over that two hour time frame.
As I was walking towards Villiers Line, I could see the Elmhirst’s Resort Black Angus cattle on the hill, across the road from the golf course. As the sun came and went behind the clouds, I made several images at different distances. It’s a scene, with the lone tree on the hill, that I have photographed often. However, this was the first time I was able to capture the small herd in a way that I liked. The moderate side lighting also added more drama and interest to the landscape.
Birds of a Feather
I have done very little bird photography this entire cottage season, but the shrubs in the forest were very busy this weekend and I grabbed my 100-400m lens and my 1.5 x teleconverter and waited patiently to catch some of the feathery action. I used this same lens combo for the extreme close up of the trees, several hundred yards from the cottage.
And of course, a weekend is not a weekend without me cheering it on in a photo… Over the past few seasons, I have found myself collection retro glassware at various flea markets and antique shops. My latest purchase was a set of two retro Pilsner glasses, purchased at the Local Store. I don’t drink beer, but cider tastes mighty fine in these cool glasses. I later learned they were made by the Canadian Dominion Glass Company, likely in the 60’s. As I told the sales person in the, the reason these glasses are even still around is that, as kids, we were scared to death of touching them.
The End of the Peak
The wind was blowing and the rain was driving as we made a quick grocery trip to Hastings. That didn’t stop me from pulling over, though, camera in hand. I captured a couple different video clips along with more stills.
Nature photography in wet, overcast conditions can produce some stunning results. Because of the lower dynamic range of the scene (less contrast), more detail in the lighter and darker areas is easy to capture. Wet foliage tends to make that foliage appear darker, richer, more saturated in color especially in close up work. Hopefully, you’ve noticed this throughout this journal.
Wider landscapes under cloudy grey skies can also work. If the sky is a unit form, grey, I try to compose my scenes to limit the amount of sky, while benefitting from the soft, indirect light created by the cloud cover. If the clouds have a lot of texture and movement and tone, I work to include the clouds and later do what I can to emphasize the clouds during image processing. I still get the benefit of that soft light, but also get visual interest in the sky area.
On the way back to the cottage, I pulled into Centennial Park off County Road 2 and to my surprise, my favorite heron was patiently fishing again in the Ouse River. He was so still that I didn’t even notice him at first; he was blending right in with the rock embankment. This fellow is not nearly as shy as other herons I’ve tried to photograph and again I was able to get several photos before leaving him to his routine.
To MAX - or not to MAX
Adobe MAX - Adobe’s premiere creativity event - runs from Oct 18-20, smack dab in the middle of my Sabbatical. I have attended and presented at several MAX events over my lifetime and have enjoyed the event immensely. I met and made many friends thanks to MAX and had a blast in the process. I used to joke that MAX was, “3 days, 1000’s of creatives…and no curfew.” It is an intense few days full of energy, creativity, learning and fun.
Today was Day 1 MAX 2022 - live, in person AND virtual! And because I’m on sabbatical, instead of watching things live, I took the time to go outside and create more. I wanted to catch some fall color in the city before all the leaves were down. After a couple hours of walking around the Rouge National Urban Park, I returned home, watched the inspiring keynote and downloaded a boatload of software updates.
Did I miss going to MAX? There was definitely some FOMO going on, but as I’m not big on air travel these days, I balance the yearning to see colleagues, friends and being in the thick of it with taking more time to create on my own. As you’ve noticed, autumn 2022 has been astounding in terms of color, so being able to capture a bit more of that color, 25 minutes from home, was a good trade. Who knows when the fall colors will be like this again?
Autumn in the City
As beautiful as the Kawarthas are, I’m never really far from nature right in the city. Less than a 30-minute drive from home is the Rouge National Urban Park. I spent a couple hours walking along the aptly-named Vista Trail.
The weather was mostly overcast and there was noticeable leaf-drop, but the colors were still close to peak on many trees.
It was very relaxing, wandering the trail on my own, checking out side paths and just well, looking around. Photography is my meditation and the reward I get is two-fold; peace of mind and wonderful images.
As I was reviewing my images from the Rouge, I started to wonder what some of them would look like in black and white. Devoid of color, texture, shape and pattern take over. In many ways, black and white photography is photography in its purest form. Seeing in black and white is an acquired skill. Ideally, you’ve set your mind to it during the process of capturing images, but digital technology gives us the opportunity for a “do-over,” a chance to decide if we can still see life in greyscale.
All the Leaves are Down
Well, mostly. Around the cottage it’s more like 60/40. But the sky was definitely grey. And the wind was blowing, all but guaranteeing significant leaf-fall this weekend.
Rather than going for a drive on this cold, blustery day, I focused on signs of autumn within a few yards of the #fortressofmoderatesolitude. Shooting with my Panasonic 45-150mm zoom helped me to isolate objects and/or simplify my compositions. The forest barrier we have between the lake and the cottage is full of maples, oak and black walnut trees. What might look like a bunch of lemons are actually black walnuts that the red and black squirrels have knocked to the ground in an effort to split open the skin.
Less than two weeks until we say goodbye to our little piece of paradise and my sabbatical comes to an end. #sadface
Last Gasp of Autumn
Have you had enough of autumn photos, yet? Well, if you have, fear not; there won’t be many more. And also, thank you, for joining me on this 5-week journey.
On Friday, I decided to make one final autumn photo drive. You might remember, earlier in this journal that we stopped at Loon Call Lake, near Apsley, and that I promised to return to Anstruther Lake Road one more time this year. Well, this was that time. And while the leaves had fallen in great abundance over Thursday and early Friday morning, I was hoping that there would still be something to see. My hope did pay off, as did a couple of other stops on the way to - and from - the North Kawarthas.
Our first stop was at the Reclaimed Garden Company by Young’s Point. We chatted with the owner, Jackie she paid me for the print that had sold around Thanksgiving, and we discussed other photo ideas that would be in keeping with the coming winter season. While we were there, a customer asked me if I took headshots for people.
People ain’t my thang…
If you’ve made it this far in my journal, you pretty much know that people ain’t my thang, when it comes to photography. Trees and rocks and water, that’s me. I spent many professional years covering events and doing PR and commercial photography, and throughout that time I did photograph many people, even did executive portraits, model portfolios, large group shots, etc. But that wasn’t my joy; that was my job. If I did photograph an event voluntarily (which I’ve done several times while working at Adobe), it was more because it was a way to hide in plain sight. Believe it or not, I can be quite shy when it comes to groups of people I don’t know. I am not one to walk up to a group of strangers and introduce myself out of the blue, even if we’re all in the same room for the same reason.
Nature is patient - nay, oblivious - to my presence. It has no expectations for the images I will produce; it won’t care one way or another if they turn out or not. People… not so much.
This is all a long way of saying that I declined his request of a potential portrait, but I did refer him to my cousin, Stephanie Lake, who is an excellent people photographer.
Illegal Stop for a Photo Opp
One last (and basically, illegal) stop to say goodbye to Burleigh Falls for the season. It’s a real pity that the location has been essentially blocked off thanks to a small but destructive subsection of humanity. I do however, now realize why the township never made any affordances for official parking nearby; while my photos may be pretty, they don’t show the garbage left behind by less considerate humans.
Because I was illegally parked, I didn’t bring my tripod; I still wanted to create some long-exposure shots, so I relied on the image stabilization that Olympus cameras are famous for, making exposures anywhere from 1/8 - 1/30 of a second, handheld. I also made most of my compositions from a very lower angle/viewpoint.
Anstruther Lake
Our final stop before turning around was the Anstruther Lake boat launch. Not only was there a nice beach and well-maintained launch, there appeared to be a couple of short hiking trails. The launch area itself was a mixture of evergreen, oak and maple trees, with many of their leaves still attached. The beachfront was very interesting, visually; a rocky Canadian Shield shoreline made me feel like I was further north than I really was. It also looked like the lake was much higher at one point, based on the exposed tree stumps along the shoreline.
And in fact, after doing a bit of research, I learned that Anstruther Lake is a reservoir lake for the Trent-Severn Waterway, and that the lake level fluctuates quite often. There are dams at the outlets of both Anstruther and the downstream Mississagua Lake that control the water level on Anstruther.
Anstruther (and other lakes in the area) are all part of/encompassed by the Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park, the largest park in southern Ontario after Algonquin Park.
I could easily have spent hours at this location and I think next fall I will come back, a bit earlier in the season to do just that. With the right conditions, the view across the lake could be spectacular...
Haultain
On our return back to the cottage, Karen spotted this small cascade just off the southbound Highway 28. This is part of Haultain Creek. The vibrant colors are fading or gone in many spots now, but there is still magic in the air, if you know where to look. We were able to turn around and find a parking spot just off the highway. I opted to bring my tripod with me this time as I wanted to be sure I managed sharp, long exposure captures.
While it may not look like it in the above images, the scene was high in contrast. Being almost a backlit situation, the sun was reflecting off the cascade. Getting a balanced long exposure was a bit of a challenge; the longer your exposure, the smoother the water, but also the brighter the highlights. 1/10 of a second seemed to work well.
Being nearly backlit, the scene was also very cool in terms of color temperature. For the first image, I used a combination of landscape profile, white balance, color grading/mixing and selective masking, I turned this backlit, cool, contrasty scene into one more fitting of a fall day near the end of the autumn colour. I left the other two compositions closer to the color that was captured, for comparison.
Halloween at the Cottage
The cottage owners and management at the resort put on a variety of events for the kids the weekend before Halloween. Karen and I love Halloween - in some ways, even more than Christmas. In the past, I would decorate the front yard of our home to make it look like a haunted graveyard, but work travel around the same time as Halloween (and the risk of theft) had put the kibosh on that effort. Luckily, at the cottage, we could do a scaled-down version of our decorating, and the worst things I had to contend with were the possibility of wind or rain.
Ghouls on Parade
Face-Painting, pumpkin carving, a parade and trick-or-treating filled the day. It was a great turn-out, with lots of kids and adults dressing up and shelling out.
And yes, I do recall that only a few paragraphs back, I said that people aren't my thang, so there is no need to remind me. But I make exceptions for special occasions like Halloween. There were some great costumes; check out the kid on the far right - he's dressed up as a microwave oven. And he's even got a bowl of ramen noodles on his shoulder!
The End is Nigh
I've entered the final week of my sabbatical and I can feel work creeping back into my brain. It's an interesting transition this week; the cottage season is ending and so is my break from work. I have not particularly missed work, although I do like my job. We close up the cottage this weekend.
As much as I like my job, I'm sure I won't mind being retired at some point. If I ever won the lottery, I would not be one of those people who keeps on working, that's for sure.
I'm incredibly grateful to have had this extended time to disconnect from work. Being able to relax, recharge and just do other things (or nothing, I admit), knowing that I have an awesome team supporting me while I am away, has made it much easier to truly take a break from work, without worrying about what's going on.
After diving into backyard clean-up projects yesterday, my back has informed me that today I had better chill a bit more. So, I've been watching some photography videos from the Lightroom Virtual Summit and also doing some more process experimentation with images I've captured during my sabbatical.
Yes, there's been a lot of autumn color images in this journal (I'm not going to apologize), but I've also made many captures that I believe work as black and white or color-graded images. I've shared a few already, but here are a few more.
I'm a firm believer that there are different ways for your images to tell a story. The original RAW file is the negative, or thinking theatrically - the score. The image created from that original is the performance. A performance can differ from time to time, even show to show. Often, no two live performances are exactly the same - we're human, after all. Likewise for the image derived from the initial capture. Our mood, our growing skills, most definitely have an impact on how we process our images
I've written more on this topic in the article, What is a Photograph? Check it out.
The Best Worst Weekend of the Year
And so, we are finally here, the final weekend at the cottage and the final weekend of my sabbatical. To be able to have these last weeks of the season without the interruption of work has been nothing short of phenomenal. This time has been an awesome gift to spend with my wife, my family, my friends and perhaps most importantly - myself.
I pushed myself to rise early one last time (probably) for the sunrise on Rice Lake. It was CHILLY. Temperatures had dropped to around -3 Celsius overnight. Frost was present everywhere. But I bundled up and made my way down to the beach. The docks, buoys and rafts are all in, the boats are all gone. It was a perfect time to see the sun come up. Even without a neutral density filter attached to my lens, I was still able to get smooth-as-glass images thanks to 30 and 15 second exposures.
We spent most of the morning packing things up for the season. We’re here until the bitter end (November 1), but there are many things we wouldn’t need on this last weekend. Around lunchtime, we took a drive to Warkworth and to Norwood. Warkworth is a pretty and trendy little town. Norwood has the best butcher for miles and we stocked up with some frozen goodies for home. A little taste of the cottage on cold winter’s night…
I’ve seen the cottage season come to an end in glorious color - as have you! I did not travel abroad, but I had the greatest time, right here in my own proverbial backyard. I live in an amazing province in a fantastic country. And what I’ve shared here - only a few minutes or hours from my front door - should tell you it’s a pretty beautiful place, full of wonder.
A Final Sunset at the Fortress of Moderate Solitude
The fourth hole on the Bellmere golf course is my favorite/go-to location for sunset photos at the cottage. It has many visual elements: reflections from the water hazard, texture in the vegetation, subtle diagonal lines and not-so-subtle curved lines...I can spend a long time around this spot. If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen this location frequently.
This sunset was memorable though, for also being the last one of the season I would capture. I got there right on time to get the golden light hitting the trees, and thanks to the clouds, I got some great photos of both the pond and the sunset itself. I’m really happy with the reflection shots
Karen came with me this time but it was a little chilly and - frankly - I get lost in the creation process. She rightly headed back to the cottage. It can get kind of boring, watching me. lol
A Glorious Send Off
I woke up around 6:45 on Monday morning, our last day at the cottage. A quick peek out the lakeside window told me I should probably get my butt in gear and get down the beach with my camera. There was only a hint of red on the horizon at that point, but with the varied cloud cover, I figured there was a good chance of an excellent sunrise.
This time of year, the docks and boats are gone. It’s just the lake in its natural state, uninterrupted by civilization. I was at the shore early enough that I was able to get 30 and 60 second exposures without the need for a neutral density filter. I love what those long exposures do to both the lake’s surface, but also to the clouds. It’s an interesting visual contrast; the lake appears smooth, unmoving, but the clouds add an element of dynamic tension thanks to the subtle blur as they move across the sky.
The rocks (I love those boulders) were pretty much in silhouette for this series, but using new masking tools in Lightroom, I was able to easily isolate the rocks and subtly bump up the exposure, and enhance the texture slightly. I just wanted a bit of light on them. I may need to adjust/lighten the shadows more when printing, but for screen use, you can pick up hints of form and roughness.
And, in the End…
Originally, we planned to stay over one last night, but the weather being what it was, we opted to “cut the cord,” and close up while we still had daylight.
Even with all our preparation leading up to October 31, it’s still a chore to do the final close up. Making sure there are no critter temptations left in the cottage, giving the floor a final wash and playing a game of life-size Tetris, as I pack everything into the car we plan to bring home. It’s times like this I wish we still had a minivan…
As it is every end of October, we pulled out of the driveway with heavy hearts, but also knowing we would be returning to this slice of paradise in a few months.
And that’s my story, folks. Five weeks away from the hustle and bustle of work. I think I made good use of my time. I hope you agree. My sabbatical ends today, and I’ll be in the thick of things in my home office tomorrow. My work calendar is already starting to fill up. I know this because I finally reinstated my work email.
I hope you’ve enjoyed spending time with me in this journal. I hope you’ve returned more than once to see the latest adventure, but whether you dropped in once or multiple times, I thank you for your interest. I hope I’ve visually inspired you and maybe even inspired you in other ways with my verbal meanderings.
If you’ve enjoyed this journal and want to see more of my work, please do follow me on Instagram (@jimbabbage) or on Behance at https://be.net/jimbabbage. There’s plenty more where this came from, trust me!
And one last treat; while I was away, the Adobe geniuses pushed live a web beta version of Character Animator, called Animate from Audio. Using this tool and Express Video, I created a short slide show of some of my favorite images.
Oh and hey, slap like Like button while you’re here.
Cheers!