Day 365 - The final photograph

The final photograph of my 365-day journey. I wanted it to be a great one. And it is.

It's me. In front of the "Welcome to Fredericton" sign on Lincoln Road out toward the airport. I'm taking one of those ridiculous photos where you hold the camera out as far away from yourself as you can, pointing at you, and press the shutter release, hoping the framing captures what you want in the shot. Everybody does them.

And I think it's the perfect end for this adventure in photography. I think we've had a little of everything, from the stunningly beautiful to the trite and silly, in this year of photos, everything except a photo of me.

So here I am. A little out of focus. My nose strangely crooked (who would have known), my double chins completely hidden. The sign in behind but, importantly, not quite fully shown just as I didn't quite fully show you all of Fredericton over the past year. Still, I think I captured enough of it that you have a good idea what it's like.

I've really enjoyed bringing this blog to you, adding a photograph (and sometimes two or three) each day, with an explanation of where and how the shot was taken. I've pushed myself and also stretched the capabilities of my simple Olympus camera but, looking back on the year, I think we both did pretty well.

I admit, however, that I approach this final post with some small measure of relief as well. It's hard work finding a new and interesting photo every day and even more work to write the text portions of each entry. I have spent most of my lunch hours out and about with the camera and have enjoyed doing it. But I'm also looking forward to waking up tomorrow morning knowing there is no pressure on me to take a photograph.

I think I will simply leave this blog up as is. I don't think "Blogger" will remove it any time soon. And I may just create a new blog upon which to post photos in the future. But, if I do so, it will simply be a once-in-a-while proposition.

So thanks to everyone who has visited this blog over the past 365 days, for taking the time to click one of the reaction buttons at the bottom of each entry or even to post a comment. I've enjoyed all of the responses and interest. Take good care and, if you get the chance, come to Fredericton one day to see all this in person.

Day 364 - Lying in wait

One last image of Marlee Marie, this one taken Christmas Eve as she surveyed the presents under the tree.

The Olympus sat on its tripod, with the aperture at f8 and the shutter at about 1 second, thanks to the light coming from the tree's lights and other lamps in the living room.

That's how still Marlee will lie when she smells food, such as the (human) treats hidden in the stocking with the reindeer on it that is just inches from her nose. It's like she's not even breathing. Don't worry: the stocking found a new home on a bookshelf moments later.

Day 363 - In search of Willie O'Ree

An interesting, though not entirely successful, experiment in sports photography. I was at Willie O'Ree Place (see lower photo) in Fredericton's north side today for the public free skate and I took the opportunity to try to get some shots of skaters and hockey players.

The challenge I faced was that the lighting was too dim to take traditional photographs yet too light to make slow-shutter shots worthwhile. Even with the aperture as tight as it could go (f8), I still could only slow the shutter to about two seconds, which is nowhere near slow enough to create interesting movement images.

So I was surprised and pleased to find the top photograph: the unmoving elements (net, ice, boards and stands) in perfect focus; the goaltender fairly crisp as well; and the two other hockey players reduced to red and green ghosts in front of the goalie. It could be a lot better, I know, with less space between the goalie and the net, a little more definition on the two other skaters, a little more contrast overall. But still it's not bad. An interesting attempt with decent results.

Day 362 - Another happy photographic accident

Add this one to the list of photographs that, at first glance, seem not to have turned out but then, when you look at them more closely, you find that they are better than you could ever have imagined (or planned).

This is Emily. She's skating at the Lady Beaverbrook Rink during one of its daily free skates. There's not much light. Emily is moving pretty quick. And the Olympus is having a mess of trouble adjusting for it all. I set it at the slowest shutter speed that wouldn't show the shake in my hand (1/60th of a second) and opened the aperture up as far as it would go.

It's a recipe for disaster and that's what, at first glance, I thought I had gotten, even after I worked on the picture in iPhoto. Emily is not in focus (the guy in the coat behind her is, however), the contrast is terrible, and there still isn't enough light. I was ready to discard it.

Then I looked at her face. The concentration on it. The peaceful concentration on the act of skating. And I realised that the fuzziness of the image, the low contrast and the darkness all add rather than detract from the effect of the shot. So I kept it. I showed it to Emily and asked her permission to post it here.

"As long as you don't mind me copying it onto my Facebook page," she said. No problem, Emily. Enjoy. And thanks for being a part of another happy photographic accident.

Day 361 - Imperfect but treasured

His name, apparently, is "Snooker Santa". With his candy-cane cue and still-in-the-package mini-Christmas-bulbs for billiard balls, he inhabits our tree looking for a game.

I guess members of our tree-decorating team was getting a little tired of hanging the hundreds of decorations on the towering tree when they came across the mini-bulbs, still in their plastic pack. "Fifteen more?" they moaned.

And then came the idea of "Snooker Santa", which, of course, took a lot longer to put into effect than 15 tiny balls would have taken to place on the tree but, by that time, it was too much fun to turn back.

The photograph is a flash-aided snapshot, nothing more. Even though I quite like the look of it, I don't think it's an example of great art, great technical expertise, great anything. But sometimes a photo is simply meant to preserve a memory, to become a reminder of something fun, happy, exciting, or even sad that's happened in our lives. Its technical imperfections don't matter.

Yes, a lot of people have art-like photos on their walls but I'm willing to bet that most of us have photographs that are even more important to us hidden away somewhere (in an album, on a computer, in a small frame above our desk). They wouldn't win any awards for photography, these other pictures, but we treasure them for the people, places, and events from our lives that they capture can preserve for us in their grainy, slightly out of focus, badly composed faces.

Day 360 - The brilliant blue of the cloudless sky

Morning sun adds warmth and a slightly yellowish-red tone to new-fallen snow in the branches of a tree in our front yard. With another 10 centimetres of snow accumulated since yesterday, we now have our first real, thick blanket of the season. Too bad it won't last through the next couple of days: with temperatures rising and rain on the way, I don't think the white stuff stands a chance.

I took this photograph at about 9 or so this morning, when the sun was well-established in the sky. It's interesting to see the different kinds of light the sun provides, depending on the time of day and its location in the heavens. Here, the early morning's reds are starting to be replaced by the full yellow and white hues of the midday sun. These colours reflect in the snow on the branches but also bring out the brilliant blue of the cloudless sky.

Day 359 - Minding my own witches

A snapshot, today, taken by my friend Emily, of me modelling my brand new Gryffindor scarf, made famous in the Harry Potter films and knitted for me by my fabulous sister.

As soon as I tore open the package, I wrapped this long, luxurious scarf around my neck and began posing proudly and with courage and valour worthy of a true Gryffindor. The sweater is amazing: incredibly vivid in its colours, amazingly beautiful in its creation and surprisingly warm in the wearing.

And my sister assures me that the pattern she followed was created by an extremely careful examination of stop-action shots from the movies, so that the stitch count is right, the colours are perfect and the dimensions are accurate to the millimetre.

I opened this gift in front of the right crowd: both Emily and her sister Clare are big Harry Potter fans so we were all a little excited when this amazing sweater came tumbling out of the gift wrap. My only sadness is that the photo cuts off the amazing tassles that hang from each end of the scarf.

I plan to wear it proudly on long walks with the dog in the cold New Brunswick winter but also when Emily, Clare and I sit down to watch both parts of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows one afternoon this week on Blu Ray (courtesy of another exciting Christmas gift!).

Day 358 - The dancing tree

Christmas is overwhelming us this year, with friends coming from east and west to join us for the special season. We got our tree this morning at the Fredericton Farmers' Market, decorated it this afternoon and, by this evening, it was dancing above a flood of beautifully wrapped parcels.

This is another tripod shot, with the Olympus set at f8 at 6 seconds. The lights on the tree provide helpful and dramatic lighting and the ornaments add subtle but neat reflections. It's hard to take a bad Christmas tree shot, if you ask me, so I'm glad I took the easy route here.

Day 357 - Life's subtle opportunities

The composition of this photograph pleases me. I like the appearance of each of the individuals elements in the shot (the lamp, the number, the plant and planter) and I like the way they work together, with the lines of the window, door and siding serving as a backdrop.

I am also quite fond of the muted palette of the colours in this photograph, which allows the quiet greens in the plant to stand out and the little red berries to shine. The strong yellow from the lamp itself interests me: I didn't expect that and I wonder if it is a product of the work I had to do to make a rather dark photo brighter.

I think that, after a year of doing this, I'm finally starting to develop something of an "eye" for interesting photos. More and more often, I find myself able to spot these kinds of subtle photographic opportunities that my daily life brings me. And I'm getting better at capturing the scene with a single photo, framed and properly executed on-site.

Day 356 - A tie and cap? Oh deer

A fun snapshot from a day's wanderings around the neighbourhoods of Fredericton, today's photograph features a very life-like stuffed deer peering out at the street from the front porch of a house.

Did I mention the deer is wearing a baseball cap and a tie?

Not much to the photo itself: basically, a point and shoot shot with iPhoto helping slightly with the exposure to make up for a dark, cloudy day. Kind of fun, though.

Day 355 - A bowling blast of colour

Get out your sunglasses, folks. After several days of easy-on-the-eyes low-light photos, I bring you this neon monstrosity courtesy of a visit to Kingswood Bowling.

I believe they call it "Cosmic Bowling". They turn out the lights but illuminate various parts of facility with bright colours and strobing lights. It doesn't help your bowling score but it looks pretty cool.

Unfortunately, there was not enough available light to allow a shutter speed of 1/60th or faster (not even close, to be honest) so I had to place the Olympus on one of the tables and use a much slower shutter to get my photographs. That led to a problem I hadn't expected but probably should have: there is so much vibration running through the building from the rolling balls, their crashes with the pins and the violence of the pins being splattered all over the place that the table upon which the camera sat was shaking.

As a result, there is a slight blur to the picture. Oh well. The colours are bright and the patterns interesting. And we all needed a shot of something after the calm of the last couple of days' photos.

Day 354 - Needs no embellishment

This is a very simple photograph of the Fredericton walking bridge at night. With the Olympus on its trusty tripod, I set the aperture at f8 to get the best depth of focus possible, the shutter speed at (I think) 10 seconds to let in just enough light, and then pressed the release.

I could have slowed the shutter even further (to 15 seconds) but that would have allowed so much light into the lens that the photo would have looked almost like a day-time shot. I wanted darkness. I wanted the lamps on the bridge, and their reflections in the river, to stand out. And I wanted to be able to show only so much of the bridge's structure as would be allowed by the available light.

In other words, I wanted the photograph to show what my eyes could see while I stood there looking. I had never really thought about it before but, as amazing as our eyes are, we can't slow down their shutter speed the same way we can with a camera. And sometimes it's fun to use the camera's abilities to make a brighter photo. But other times, what our eyes see needs no such embellishment.

Day 353 - Affected by the available light

Still enjoying that moon! Here we are with a surprising photograph that provides a number of interesting layers, each affected differently by the available light.

With a tripod and a long exposure, I was able to get this image of the bare bushes at the bottom of the slope leading to the walking bridge, with the fullish moon shining down. I love the colours of the branches and the leaves in the foreground, made possible by the slower shutter speed. I am also pleased with the way the iron beams of the bridge lurk in the background, themselves somewhat red with rust. And I have to admit I am growing to like more and more the starburst pattern of the moon and the lights on the bridge, caused by the long exposure as well.

I trust you're not growing too tired of these night shots. I'm loving them. Now I'm just waiting for some snow to create an all-new late-day look.

Day 352 - A starry-eyed moon

Moonlight illuminates the St. John River, the Fredericton walking bridge and some nearby trees. I'm quite fond of this shot and not just because its composition was Patti's idea.

I'm pleased that I managed to find the right exposure levels to give some detail to the scene while still maintaining that night-time look.

Doesn't the moon look amazing? Like the sun, really. That's what I get for slowing the shutter down far enough to save the detail: the light from the almost-full moon becomes too powerful and creates the starry effect. I'm sure there are filters or other techniques to avoid this effect but I'm not interested. I quite like seeing the moon like this.

I forgot to mention yesterday that I am now in the final two weeks of this year-long photographic odyssey. I find that fact amazing as well. It seems like only yesterday that I posted my first picture and yet, at the same time, I feel like I've been doing this for ever.

Day 351 - A river of lights

It's funny. I think I like the way the lights look reflected in the St. John River better than in the original, on the house on the north side of Fredericton.

A cold night, tripod and long shutter speed make for a neat photograph, this one combining the Christmas lights with the river for a nice effect. I'm still amazed at how many houses are decked out in lights like this one, all over the city. Some with many colours and others just a single colour, a hundred times over. My mom would have loved it!

Day 350 - The arrangement of the balls

A simple little photograph of billiard balls on the green felt in a local pool hall serves as the picture of the day. I was actually trying to get an interesting photo of balls moving after a shot, using the slow shutter speed show the ball in motion, but none of those shots worked.

Instead, we get this static image, with the balls a little bit overexposed and the background of the room a nice, dark, richly coloured place. I like this picture for the colours, the difference in the light between foreground and background and for the arrangement of the balls themselves.

Day 349 - Morning glorious

This photograph has NOT been tampered with. It came directly from the Olympus, with no enhancements, cropping or touch-ups of any kind. This is what the eastern sky looked like at 7:45 this morning.

Absolutely stunning. I can't think of any other words to describe it. What an amazing sky. Right outside our door. I stepped out on my way to work, looked up and saw this.

The challenge, as always, was to find the right camera settings. More light or less light? I placed the camera on the post of our porch railing, and then started fiddling with the aperture and shutter speed settings. I think this one is mid-range for both: probably an f5.6 with a shutter speed at 1/8th of a second or so. I didn't want to slow the shutter too far down for fear that the branches in the foreground would blur out, causing a distraction.

I took about 10 shots at different settings (and almost missed my bus). I have a couple that are lighter but that tends to bleed some of the drama from the colours. So I chose this one. And it's glorious.

Day 348 - Understated Christmas elegance

Hundreds if not thousands of Fredericton home owners love to decorate the houses for the holiday season. While many offer a profusion of lights in dozens of colours, some prefer the understated elegance of this lovely building. There's nothing technically special about this photograph. Other than a tripod and a 15-second exposure, it's basically a point and shoot image. Some scenes simply don't need any help to be truly beautiful.

Day 347 - The Cathedral at night

Christ Church Cathedral stands at the eastern entrance to Fredericton's downtown core. With a view of the St. John River, this Anglican Church is the architectural show piece of the city and it is especially beautiful when seen at night.

Last night, as part of our usual walk with our dog, Marlee Marie, Patti agreed to my slowing our wanderings down a bit by bringing along the Olympus and the tripod. I hoped to get some nice evening shots not just of Christ Church but also of the many beautiful displays of Christmas lights in this, the oldest part of Fredericton.

I'm glad to report that I am absolutely delighted with the results; Marlee, of course, was delighted with the extended walk, which ended up lasting more than two hours.

Patti, meanwhile, was not only an excellent companion for this photo safari but also a creative partner: this second shot, of an interestingly shaped bare tree against the other side of the cathedral, was entirely her idea, as were many other shots that you are likely to see over the course of the coming week. Patti sees things in ways that I don't and her ideas are usually great (no matter how hard I at first resist them).

As I have said so often before, the challenge with photos of this kind is deciding what the appropriate amount of light is to let into the camera. For the darkest of night shots, you end up setting the shutter speed at its slowest setting (15 seconds) and then open the aperture up as far as it will go (f3.4). When there's a little more light, you can close the aperture down to improve the depth of focus but you have to make sure you don't allow the in-frame light sources to create white bombs in your picture.

In the top photo, that light top left is actually the moon. If I had stopped the aperture down even further, I could have gotten rid of that starring effect but that would have meant that the building was too dark. So, not having any lens filters to help me, I have to accept the distortion of the moon (which actually looks kind of cool) in order to make the Cathedral visible. It's a worthwhile tradeoff, I think.

Day 346 - Sunset and missed opportunities

Sunset on downtown Fredericton. An average sunset, nothing more. In fact, because downtown Fredericton is located in a river valley, you don't get to see the sun actually setting, especially in the winter months. It just kind of disappears from sight, even though daylight lingers.

I missed a great photo last night. We went for a walk along the river under the full moon. With the brilliant lunar disc, a patchwork of clouds and the cathedral lit for evening, it would have made a wonderful photo. Unfortunately, both Olympus and tripod had been left at home. So I could only stand and admire.

Day 345 - Bookshelves and morning sun

A beautiful morning, with the sun streaming into our dining room. I originally starting taking pictures to try to capture the way the bright sun was illuminating the glass beads and green sheer curtains on the window itself. It was this photo of the bookshelves, however, that caught my eye when I transferred the shots onto the computer.

Strong light like this always creates drama. I like the strong contrast it makes these shelves and their contents, with strong lines between shadow and light. I had to play with the exposure a bit to get this right: the light meter kept getting fooled by the differences across the composition of the frame.

Day 344 - Golden doodle or baby seal?

I warned you early on that there might be a few photographs of our beloved dog Marlee, didn't I? Well, here's another one. Those of us who know her recognise this as the classic "I'm ready to play" pose, right down to splayed legs ready to jump, the eyes intent on her dad, and the orange rubber ball hiding beneath her ear to the left of her head. Those of you who don't know Marlee and don't have a dog of your own probably thought this was a photo of a large baby seal, caught on the ice floe.

Taken early in the morning, just after Marlee's first walk, this photo posed a real lighting challenge. In fact, it was only the technical wizardry of iPhoto's Edit functions that really saved it. I took the shot in very low light at f3.4 at 1/60th. Even then, the Olympus' light meter was blinking away at me. But the camera doesn't offer any larger aperture settings and I couldn't move the shutter speed any lower without having the natural shake in my hand affect the shot. So I just clicked anyway and left it to iPhoto to save the day.

What impresses me about the shot now is that iPhoto's exposure control allowed me to recapture Marlee's original colours and detail but, in doing so, it seems to have converted the snow and grass into a black-and-white background. Happily, I quite like the overall effect.

Day 343 - Steeple and soft morning light

Early morning sun bathes the steeple of one of Fredericton's downtown churches in a soft, pink light.

I was walking to work this morning when I saw how beautifully that sun was illuminating this steeple, causing its copper skin to glow. I took the photograph from one of the fifth floor windows in my office building and am now worried that the delay in taking the shot might have allowed the light to fade a little bit. The photo certainly doesn't convey the glow that I saw in person, though I think it is still pretty nice.

I wonder as well if I should have closed the aperture down one more stop to try to deepen the colours by reducing the amount of light that entered the lens. Would it have worked? Could such a technique have brought out more of that velvety glow I saw?

I don't know. But, if I get the chance to try it again, I will.

Day 342 - The stories of poles

Do not ask what prompted me to take this photograph. I had the Olympus out, I was on my lunch hour walk and I saw a wood telephone pole discoloured by the thousands of staples that were embedded in it and I thought: "Cool". So I pointed, zoomed in, and shot.

I debated trimming the photo to take away the strip of background on the right, including the dude in the hat, but then I realised it added something: a slice of the context in which the pole lives.

I can't imagine how many years and how many posters it has taken for this poor wooden pole to become so impregnated by staples that it is actually turning rust-coloured. And I find it amazing that the pole has lasted through all those rain storms and snow storms and hot sunny days to get into this condition.

No, it's not a great photo from a technical standpoint. But it is interesting. And it tells a story.

Day 341 - City Hall from the fifth floor

I work in one of the taller office buildings in Fredericton (now, remember, this is Fredericton, after all, so the office buildings are no skyscrapers!) and I have finally gotten around to taking advantage of that fact to get some shots of downtown buildings from the upper floors. First up is this photograph of the City Hall clock tower, taken from the fifth floor on a rainy day. Considering the weather, I had thought of this first set of photos as tests of a sort, just trying out different windows and different angles to see what would work best once the weather is better.

Most of the other photos, not surprisingly, were pretty dreary but I was actually pleased with this one. The colours are deep and rich and there's that lovely cloud of steam/smoke rising up from the street to create a nice effect. I'm told the sunsets are lovely from this floor and this side of the building so watch out for a sunset shot before December is through.

Day 340 - Christmas and everyday life

Christmas appears to be approaching. All of Fredericton seems to be wanting to get into the spirit, from the guy dressed as Santa emerging from a downtown store as I walked past, to the many (many many many) homeowners who have decided to spend their life-savings on electricity and cover their houses with lights to the Palette, with its tastefully decorated Christmas tree.

This is another photograph where I place the Olympus on the table in a restaurant, adjust the manual settings to account for the low light, then touch the shutter release. This one was especially challenging because the tree is set up in front of the restaurant's windows, meaning there was a great deal of light coming from behind the subject. I'm actually pleased with this shot, as much for the coat rack on the right as anything else. It's Christmas as part of everyday life.

Day 339 - The bright yellow tricycle

The thing I like best about this photograph is that I was able to do the framing of the shot on the spot, rather than counting on iPhoto to help me.

I saw this interesting vehicle (which is actually an advertisement for The Happy Baker, a bakery/coffee shop in a downtown Fredericton office building) out on the sidewalk of King Street, with the mid-day sun creating an interesting pattern of light and shadow on and around it.

I felt that a picture that simply showed the entire vehicle would be boring and thought carefully about where to stand and how much zoom to use to create something that captured what I was seeing. I'm quite pleased with the result, which offers a nice composition of the many round shapes with the added treat of the bright yellow tricycle against the background of the deep maroon of the minivan.

Day 338 - Shadowy absences

Sunshine and cold temperatures makes for exceptionally crisp days and, perhaps surprisingly, crisp photographs as well.

I know I've featured at least one other photo of Gibson Memorial United Church on this blog in the past but I quite like the shape and colour of the building. Here, the strong sunlight creates very sharp shadows on the brickwork, creating a visually interesting image by accentuating the rigid lines of the building itself.

I also like the fact that two horizontal shadows fall across the church's sign, reminders of the power lines that are ubiquitous in this city, marring just about every photo you take. Their presence in this photo is limited to this shadowy reminder, which I think adds to the impact of the shot rather than taking away from it.

Day 337 - Those little triangular shadows

I find it hard to focus on this photograph. I think it's because of the many different lines, angles and planes in the shot and especially because of those little triangular shadows to the bottom right of each of the windows.

I don't know what prompted me to take this picture but I'm glad I did. I then took four more at different levels of zoom but it's this first one, with the slight tilt to the windows, that I like best. The early morning sunlight makes the concrete of the building glow and creates those little shadows, making the whole thing a little bit like abstract art.

Day 336 - Street lamp and decapitated sculpture

This burst of morning sun on the windows of a building made photograph difficult but interesting.

In order to reduce the amount of light coming in through the lens to a reasonable level, I had first to stop the aperture down to its smallest: in the case of my little Olympus, that's f8. But that was just the first, easiest step.

Even at f8, there was still too much light coming in if I set the shutter speed at anything slower than 1/100th of a second. At that setting, the sun on the building still looked like a burst of fire but at least the other elements in the photo were starting to show.

At a slightly faster shutter speed, you could actually see the faces of the pedestrians. But the sunburst was still really strong. So I kept pushing the shutter speed higher, interested to see when the sunburst building itself would start to be recognisable. That happened at 1/400th of a second but this shot, the only I liked best, had a shutter speed of 1/500th.

I like the shape of the light on the windows as well as the dark shapes of the pedestrians, vehicles and signs in the foreground. I'm pleased with the balanced composition, especially with the street lamp left and the decapitated sculpture of the saxophonist on the top right of the picture.

Day 335 - Sunlight on satellite dish

So there I am, standing on King Street in downtown Fredericton, fumbling to get the Olympus out of my knapsack, then out of its case, before the last vestige of sunlight leaves the buildings and darkness falls.

It's amazing how quickly the lovely early evening light disappeared. When I began the 10-second process of extricating the camera from its packaging, the warm orangey-pink light was still caressing the spire on the Wilmot United Church. When I finally had the Olympus out and on, ready to take the picture, only that satellite dish on the bank building beyond was still in the light.

I'm amazed at how different the light from the sun is at different times of the day. My favourite is this light: the warm, reddish light from the setting sun. But it's also amazing how quickly that wonderful light comes and goes. I guess, if I want to be a real photographer, I'm going to have to go to the location and actually wait for the light to show itself, rather than leaving it to luck.