Reich Falls and the Drivers River, Port Antonio, Jamaica

Reich Falls near Port Antonio, Jamaica

One of my favorite locations visited during my 10 day trip to the Port Antonio region of Jamaica was Reich Falls. This stunning waterfall is found in the rainforest-like environment of Jamaica’s John Crowe Mountains. On the day I traveled to this destination I was blessed with over-cast conditions, which are often the favored conditions for waterfall photography. The easiest way to photograph this river was to leave the footwear on the riverbank downstream and walk up river, photographing along the way. The processing of these image files has varied somewhat but I do find that I am using Nik/Google’s Detail Extractor Tool found in Color Efex Pro 4 often, to reveal additional detail in cascading rivers.

Please take a moment to let me know which image is your favorite and why and do remember to click on the photos to see the larger, sharper version.

Drivers River in the John Crowe Mountains, Jamaica

This is the river scene that greeted me as I made my way through the forest and reached the riverbank. I was in awe. This is perhaps the most photogenic river I have ever had the pleasure to photograph.

Drivers River in the John Crowe Mountains, Jamaica

Above is a scene a little further upstream from the previous photo. The Detail Extractor Tool in Nik/Google’s Color Efex Pro 4 really enhanced the foreground water nicely.

Drivers River in the John Crowe Mountains, Jamaica

A beautiful, turquoise pool at the base of a small cascade along the Drivers River. I could not get over the stunning color of the water. This is a true representation of the water’s color.

Drivers River in the John Crowe Mountains, Jamaica

Directly above and below you will see the same scene captured in both vertical and horizontal orientations. This something I do for almost all of my landscape work. While I will usually tend to favor one version over the other, I find it to be a good practice to create an image in each orientation, especially if you plan to market your imagery one day.

Drivers River in the John Crowe Mountains, Jamaica

In addition to the above, I am pleased to announce that I am now a moderator in the Landscape Forum at BirdPhotographers.net. Do check out the links to BirdPhotographer.net, a premier online educational nature photography community. I have been a member for a several years now and find it to be a great educational resource. The critique forums are beneficial to folks at all stages in their photographic development.

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Last Chance to Enter Sigma’s Scholarship Contest

Rosseau River, Muskoka, Ontario

The April 30, 2013 deadline to enter the Sigma Canada Scholarship Contest is fast approaching. If you are a student enrolled in an accredited Canadian University or College photography program and photograph with Sigma lenses you still have one day left to enter for your chance to win the grand prize of $3000 towards your tuition or a $1000 gear package from Gentec International, the distributor for Sigma lenses in Canada, for the second prize finalists. To find out more about the contest and how to enter please click here.

Sigma lenses are extremely well made and produce stunning results. The images accompanying this post were photographed with the Sigma 8-16mm f4.5-5.6 DC HSM an ultra wide-angle lens that produces very sharp images with well controlled distortion. Please click on each of the photos to see the larger, sharper versions and check out the results.

Best of luck to all who enter the contest

Rosseau River, Muskoka, Ontario

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Tiny Marsh in B&W

Tiny Marsh Provincial Wildlife Area

Last weekend I made the trek to Tiny Marsh so that I could see how things were shaping up for this season. Tiny Marsh is located near Elmvale, Ontario. This is just one of many great landscape photography locations featured in my eBook ‘The Photographer’s Guide to the Ontario Landscape.’  The day I chose to visit Tiny Marsh was rather dreary as storm skies threatened above a landscape that has yet to show any signs of greening-up due to cold spring weather.  While being presented with these elements my thoughts immediately turned to Black & White photography and scene above represents the only scene photographed on this day. After carefully composing this image, placing the horizon line in the center for the mirror image-like effect, and creating a few frames, the rain began to fall heavily. By the time I had made my way back to the car I was thoroughly soaked. but I think the resulting image was well worth the effort. I did make note of the vast number of Leopard Frogs that were already chorusing during my visit. I will be planning a trip back to Tiny Marsh at night to explore the wetlands for night-time frog photography soon and am considering to offer this as a private one-on-one workshop. More details will follow soon.

The above image was converted to B&W using Nik/Google’s Silver Efex Pro 2 software. Please do remember to click on the photo to see the larger, sharper version. Hope you like it

Sigma Scholarship Contest Update:

The deadline for the Sigma Scholarship Contest is fast approaching. The contest closes on April 30, 2013. If you are a full-time photography student enrolled in an accredited Canadian College or University and photograph with Sigma lenses you are eligible to enter. To find out more on how to enter and to learn about the killer prizes available click on the Sigma Scholarship Contest logo in the sidebar of the blog or click here. Gentec International is the distributor of Sigma lenses in Canada. Best of luck to all who enter the contest.

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Ice Storm Aftermath

Above is one of the roadsigns near my home after today’s lengthy periods of freezing rain. The driving conditions were fine for me however, much of the landscape was coated in thick ice. I spent several hours driving around capturing various scenes from along the roadways. Here are a few of the images I created this afternoon.

For the folks that are in the vicinity of the Burlington Art Gallery in  southern Ontario on Saturday April 13th, don’t forget Mike Grandmaison’s seminar for the Latow Photographers Guild. Click here for further details.

Wetland after ice storm, Barrie, Ontario

Page-wire fence and ice

Lone tree in field after ice storm, Thornton, Ontario

Forest coated in ice after the storm, Thornton, Ontario

Rural scene after ice storm, Thornton, Ontario

Winter trees after ice storm, Thornton, Ontario

 

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The Drapers Shoreline

Drapers Shoreline, Port Antonio, Jamaica

The Drapers shoreline near Port Antonio, Jamaica is characterized by tranquil coves and rugged peninsulas. Above the turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea gently lap a rocky section of the coast, adorned with lush, tropical foliage. Below, waves crash into a rugged section of a small peninsula, carved by centuries of waves battering against the rocks. Creating images of waves hitting rugged shorelines can be a little addictive. You never quite know what you will capture and before you know it you have created a hundred or so wave photos. Here are two of my favorite wave blurs created on my 10 day stay in the Port Antonio, Jamaica area in February of this year.

Crashing Wave Blur, Port Antonio, Jamaica

Radial Wave Blur, Port Antonio, Jamaica

In the final image below an exposure of several seconds was used to capture a series of gentle waves washing over the rocks along this section of shoreline. Often I found myself drawn to these ocean side vistas with their lush tropical foliage cascading over the rocky embankments.

Drapers Shoreline, Port Antonio, Jamaica

Please do remember to click on each of the photos to see the larger, sharper version.

Time is also running out on the Sigma Scholarship Contest. To find out more about this awesome contest for photography student please click on the Sigma Scholarship Contest logo in the sidebar of the blog. Best of luck to all who enter!

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Port Antonio Jamaica and Upcoming Seminar with Mike Grandmaison

Sunrise along the Caribbean Coast in Drapers, Jamaica

Still busy processing the image files from my recent trip to the Port Antonio region of Jamaica. Here are three of my most recently processed photos that I thought I would share. For the image above I used my Singh-Ray 3-stop reverse graduated neutral density filter. The reverse grads are deadly at holding back the brightness of the sun as it rises above the horizon.

The image below is a scene of the lush, low-lying mountains surrounding Port Antonio which was captured at dusk.

Dusk near Port Antonio, Jamaica

And in the final image that was photographed at a private, secluded beach I chose to sit down on the ocean floor to photograph the scene looking up at what I believe is an almond tree over-hanging the Caribbean Sea. To darken the sky and cut down on unwanted reflections I used a Nikon neutral polarizing filter.

The Caribbean Sea near Drapers, Jamaica

UPCOMING SEMINAR

On the weekend of April 13, 2013 the Latow Photographers Guild will be having their Annual Photography Weekend at the Burlington Art Centre with one of Canada’s finest landscape photographers; Mike Grandmaison. Mike has traveled throughout Canada extensively building a photographic collection of stunning imagery that you are sure to find inspiring. To find out more about Mike’s seminar on Saturday April 13th, from 9:00 am to 4:30pm, and the Annual Photography Weekend please click here. Mike’s latest book ‘Mike Grandmaison’s Prairie and Beyond‘ has just been nominated for two Manitoba Book Awards. Mike’s other books; Canada, The Canadian Rockies, Georgian Bay and Muskoka are all impressive collections bound to inspire and get your creative juices flowing too.

Hope to see you there

Please click on each of the images to view the larger, sharper version of each.

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Rafting on the Rio Grande, Jamaica

Rio Grande River, Portland, Jamaica

The Rio Grande river in the parish of Portland, Jamaica is fed mainly by rain fall rushing down from the Blue Mountains. This majestic river was named by the Spanish during their 15th & 16th century occupation of Jamaica. Today the river is a popular tourist attraction for travelers rafting down the river on long bamboo rafts that were originally designed for transporting produce such as bananas from the island’s interior regions. In some of the images within this post, especially the last photo you can see the lush stands of bamboo that grow along the river. On the day I chose to do the rafting the weather was quite pleasant for travel, however the light was a little harsh for landscape photography so I made sure to use my polarizing filter to eliminate the glare from the lush jungle bordering the river. The entire trip down river takes roughly 2 1/2 hours to complete and covers some 8 miles of river. Here are a few photos from the trip down this lovely river. Please remember to click on the photos to see the larger, sharper version of each.

Rafting down the Rio Grande, Portland, Jamaica

Rio Grande, Portland, Jamaica

Rio Grande River, Portland, Jamaica

Rio Grande River, Portland, Jamaica

Bamboo growing along the Rio Grande River, Portland, Jamaica

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Frenchman’s Cove, Jamaica

Frenchman’s Cove, Port Antonio, Jamaica

One of the prettiest beaches visited during our 10 day stay in Port Antonio, Jamaica was the very lovely Frenchman’s Cove. So lovely in fact it has been declared as one of the finest beaches in the world by the luxury travel magazine Conde Nast Traveller. This small sandy cove is guarded by a rugged shoreline that extends out from the cove and a small river empties into the cove as well. My daughter had a great time playing and snorkeling in the gentle current of the stream which was teeming with several species of fishes that are tolerant of the brackish water at the river’s mouth.

Small River at Frenchman’s Cove, Port Antonio, Jamaica

After photographing a few beach and river scenes I made my way up to an elevated patio area of the restaurant at the beach to gain a higher perspective for photographing the rugged coast that guards the cove. Since I was handholding each of these landscape scenes I also wanted to use the railing of the elevated patio to help stabilize myself for the resulting images. Once I had composed each photograph, and before clicking the shutter, I would hold my breath for a second or two. By doing so will provide you with another means of gaining further stability for handheld photography.

Frenchman’s Cove, Port Antonio, Jamaica

Frenchman’s Cove, Port Antonio, Jamaica

Above the rugged coast of the Caribbean Sea at Frenchman’s Cove sits what appears to be an abandoned villa, or one damaged by past hurricanes. I could help but think of Robinson Caruso when I saw this old villa a-top the rugged shoreline. Looks like Home-Sweet-Home to me

Frenchman’s Cove Villa, Port Antonio, Jamaica

Please remember to click on each photo to see the larger, sharper version and let us know which one is your favorite image.

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Drapers Sunrise

Daybreak along the coast, in the village of Drapers, Jamaica

Not far from our accommodations at Search Me Heart (which I will go into detail about in a future post) in the village of Drapers, in Portland Parish near Port Antonio, Jamaica I discovered a small footpath that led down to the sea. I was immediately drawn to the wave battered rocky coast at the end of this footpath and subsequently spent several mornings here awaiting daybreak. I much prefer to capture images such as this, before the sun has risen above the tree-line. I just love the pastel tones in the sky at this time of day. After composing the image I activated the live-view function of the Nikon D800 and zoomed in on a section of rock and water to adjust the focus manually, ensuring a razor-sharp capture. Once the focus was set I waited for the cloud movement to place the tiny dead branch against the sky rather than merged in with the cloud formations. I also utilized my Singh Ray 3-stop reverse graduated filter here to hold back the brightest portions of the sky and an exposure time of 0.6 seconds provided enough time to create an interesting blur to the undulating ocean.

Please remember to click on the photo to see the larger, sharper version.

A reminder for all photography students enrolled in an accredited Canadian university or college photography program shooting with Sigma lenses, don’t forget to enter Sigma Canada’s Scholarship Contest for your chance to win $3000 towards your tuition or to win a second prize of a $1000 photo gear package from Gentec International, the Canadian distributor of Sigma lenses in Canada. For more information be sure to click on the Sigma Scholarship Contest logo in the sidebar.

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Reich Falls

Reich Falls on the Driver’s River, Jamaica

As I work my way through the edits from my recently completed 10 day trip to the Port Antonio area of Jamaica, I wanted to share this image of Reich Falls – pronounced Reach Falls. This waterfall is found off the beaten path within the John Crow Mountain Range, in the Portland Parish, on the Driver’s River and is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful waterfalls in all of Jamaica. I will feature some additional photos from this waterfall and scenes from down-river shortly. This can be a very popular destination for tour buses operated from the tourist resorts, however, by connecting with the local folks we were able to visit the falls at such a time that was absent of crowds of people.

After I completed the photographs I had hope to take, it was time for a relaxing swim, at the base of the falls, in this cool, clear mountain stream – simply amazing! By the time we had hiked back out to the car we were greeted with a torrential downpour that lasted for most of the rest of the day.

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