PERU – Landscapes & Micro Fauna of the Cordillera Escalera – minimum of 2 required

Explore the foothills of the Andes Mountains among Peru’s Cordillera Escalera within the Amazon Rainforest this October. We require a minimum of 2 participants to make this photo tour run.

For further information on this once in a lifetime opportunity please click here. Any additional questions please do email me here so that I can be of assistance to you 🙂

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Ohio State Reformatory

Ohio State Reformatory, Mansfield, Ohio

On the weekend of April 13th & 14th I hosted my first photographic workshop with Sherry Butts at the Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio. This is the prison where the Morgan Freeman movie The Shawshank Redemption was filmed. The prison was built between 1886 and 1910 and ceased operation in 1990. The exterior of the building was given a Romanesque style to have a castle like appearance. The Eastern Cell Block of the prison is the largest free standing steel cell block in the world at six tiers high!

In the reformatory’s 94 year history a total of 154,00 inmates would pass through the gates. Of this number over 200 inmates died during incarceration, including two guards that were killed during escape attempts. The prison is said to be haunted by a number of ghosts and one certainly gets an eerie feeling walking among the cell blocks and other areas of the facility.

I am really looking forward to making a return visit with another photo tour group. To be added to the contact list be sure to reach out to me with your email address by clicking here.

Below is a selection of various scenes throughout the prison. To view a larger collection of photos be sure to visit my Ohio State Reformatory gallery on my website.

The Hospital, Ohio State Reformatory (Sunrays added in Luminar)

Prisoner’s Cell, Ohio State Reformatory

East Cell Block, Ohio State Reformatory

Prisoner’s Cell, Ohio State Reformatory

Hospital Entrance, Ohio State Reformatory

Triangle Room, Ohio State Reformatory

Library, Ohio State Reformatory

Solitary Confinement, Ohio State Reformatory

Inside Looking Out, Ohio State Reformatory

West Cell Block, Ohio State Reformatory

West Cell Block, Ohio State Reformatory

The Distillery District

Toronto’s famous Distillery District, with its cobblestone streets, is a collection of buildings that date back to the 1860’s that once housed the Gooderham & Worts whiskey distillery. The distillery closed down in the 1990’s and was repurposed to become a very popular location for art lovers, restaurants, bars, and boutiques.

During a recent visit to Toronto I decided to make a quick stop and grab a few photos of elements that caught my eye. Here are a few of the scenes that I photographed. In order to capture images void of pedestrians I utilized a 10-stop ND filter for exposures of 30 seconds. By doing so, the people moving through the scene would not be registered by the camera sensor, thus the street would appear abandoned 🙂

 

Casa Loma

About one week ago I accompanied my wonderful 11 1/2 year old autistic daughter, Ava, on one of her Girl Guides of Canada outings to Casa Loma in Toronto, Ontario. Casa Loma is North America’s only full sized castle and one of Toronto, Ontario’s premier historic attractions.

In 1911 Sir Henry Pellat hired architect E.J. Lennox to build the 200,000 square foot castle on top of a hill over-looking Toronto. The castle was built at a cost of $3,500,000 and was, at the time, the largest private residence in Canada.

During my trip to the castle with the Girl Guides I took along my Nikon D800 and the insanely wide, and razor sharp, Laowa 12mm Zero D Lens to capture a few of the scenes that caught my attention. Here is a selection of those photos.

Ohio State Reformatory

There are still a few spaces remaining for the Ohio State Reformatory Photographic Workshop on Sunday April 14th. To find out more about this incredible opportunity please click here and to register yourself for this event contact me by clicking here.

Hope to see you there!

The Arrival Spring

Male Red-winged Blackbird

Spring has arrived in my neck of the woods. There is nothing more wonderful than waking to the song of the male Red-winged Blackbirds upon their return. They always seem to arrive overnight. One day all is quiet and then the next morning the songs of Red-winged Blackbirds fill the air. The above bird was photographed yesterday in Ontario’s Cootes Paradise as it sang from a perch at the edge of a wetland. Earlier in the day an Eastern Screech Owl was discovered basking at the entrance of a tree cavity that was facing the rising sun.

Each of today’s photographs are straight out of the camera, with very little post processing applied – my preferred way to go when photographing wildlife!

Eastern Screech Owl – Gray Phase

In the Land of Ice and Snow

The Niagara Escarpment at Georgian Bay on Bruce Peninsula National Park

Recently I accompanied a couple of past workshop participants an outing to Ontario’s Bruce Peninsula, which was well planned as the wintry scenes will come to an abrupt end with the onset of warmer, rainy weather forecasted for this week.

The Bruce Peninsula lies between Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. A section of the Niagara Escarpment, a UNESCO World Biosphere, also runs along the Bruce Peninsula. The Niagara Escarpment is known for stunning limestone cliffs and outcrops as well as being home to eastern North America’s oldest trees and forest ecosystem. In winter this region takes on an incredible transformation as the cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment are adorned with massive amounts of ice. There are several caves along the base of the cliffs that are only accessible when Georgian Bay freezes over. The interiors of these caves are  incredible to explore as well, especially with a wide angle lens.

The Niagara Escarpment at Georgian Bay on Bruce Peninsula National Park

My choice of lens to use on this trip turned out to be the amazingly wide and razor sharp Laowa 12mm Zero D Lens on my Nikon D800. The close focusing capabilities of this lens easily allowed me to capture all the amazing icy details in the foregrounds, yet take in the grand landscape before me. The Laowa 12mm Zero D Lens was also extremely useful when entering the small caves along the base of the cliffs as I was easily able to capture a significant portion of the cave’s interior details while peering out through the cave openings.

The Niagara Escarpment at Georgian Bay on Bruce Peninsula National Park

All in all the outing to this area was short. We spent a mere 4 hours photographing the wintry details of the Georgian Bay coast. We had hoped for another opportunity on Sunday, but our plans were thwarted by significant winds and rain. Nonetheless, I created some of my personal best winter landscape imagery on the outing.

The Niagara Escarpment at Georgian Bay on Bruce Peninsula National Park

I was so impressed with the winter landscape opportunities along the Georgian bay coast in Bruce Peninsula National Park that I may offer a winter landscape photography workshop to this region in 2020. Folks that may be interested in such an event should contact me by clicking here to be added to my workshop email contact list.

The Niagara Escarpment at Georgian Bay on Bruce Peninsula National Park

 

The Niagara Escarpment at Georgian Bay on Bruce Peninsula National Park