Sigma Scholarship Contest

Wetland on Horseshoe Lake, Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada

Sigma Canada has launched the Sigma Scholarship Contest which is offering full-time photography students using Sigma lenses, a chance to win a grand prize of $3,000 towards their tuition in an accredited Canadian university or college. There will be three regional grand prizes awarded and three second prizes of $1000 photo gear packages from Gentec International. Contest submissions will be accepted until April 30, 2013. To view the complete contest details and to fill out an online application form click here or click on the ‘Sigma Scholarship Contest’ logo that I have placed in the sidebar of this blog for your convenience. Do pass the info along to anyone you may know who is enrolled in a full-time photography course who shoots with Sigma lenses.

Sigma has been producing high quality lenses for many years. One of my personal favorite lenses is the Sigma 8-16mm F4.5-5.6 DC HSM lens 

I love the extreme wide angle views that can be created with this lens and the quality of the images produced with this lens are superb. Each of the photos in this post were created using the Sigma 8-16mm lens on a Nikon D800 set to the DX crop mode, as this lens is designed for use on cameras with APS-C size sensors.

Lower Rosseau Falls on the Rosseau River, Ontario, Canada

Wetland at dusk on Horseshoe Lake, Parry Sound, Ontario, Canada

 

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Frozen in Time

Innisfil Creek in winter

Sorry for my lack of posts lately folks, I have been fighting a rather nasty flu bug. Today I finally felt like I had enough energy to actually get out and take a few fresh images, and while doing so came across this interesting frozen river scene. I was really drawn to this scene, not only for the pattern in the ice along the snowy bank, but for the way the river’s frozen surface along the right side of the composition appears to be flowing. Using a Nikon D800 with a Nikon 80-400mm VR lens, firmly mounted on a tripod, I composed the scene and then switched to the ‘Live View’ feature, zoomed in on a small section of the scene, manually focused the lens, and tripped the shutter.

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

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Top 12 for 2012

Male Bullfrog in wetland on Horseshoe Lake, Ontario

Looking back over the past year I realized I probably photographed a little bit more wildlife than landscapes, which is some what different for me. Mostly I was photographing frogs and toads for various chapters in the frog book that I am currently writing. As a result it is easy to see why my top 12 images from 2012 contains a few frog photos 🙂

Here is a selection of a few of my favorite images created in 2012.

Tiny Marsh Provincial Wildlife Area, Ontario

Eastern Massassauga Rattlesnake, Killbear Provincial Park, Ontario

Rosseau River at Lower Rosseau Falls, Ontario

Over-under juvenile Bullfrog

Willet on Liebeck Lake, Ontario

Horseshoe Lake wetland at sunset, Ontario

Common Loon with chick on Horseshoe Lake, Ontario

Zimmerman’s Poison Frog

Beaver Pond, Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario

View from the dock at sunset, Horseshoe Lake, Ontario

White-breasted Nuthatch

The White-breasted Nuthatch image above represents the last photograph captured for 2012. It was visiting my suet feeder set-up frequently yesterday while I was out in the blind for another round of winter songbird photography.

Wishing everybody all the best in 2013.

Happy New Year!!!

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

See ya soon!

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