ANTHROPOCENE, NATIONAL GALLERY CANADA

I took this picture two weeks ago after seeing the great exhibition Anthropocene at the National Gallery in Ottawa by the collective of Edward Burtynsky, Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier. The show is very powerful and should be seen by anyone even slightly interested in the environment. Edward Burtynsky is not only one of the foremost landscape photographers but also a great environmentalist. I chose this image of elephant tusks. In the exhibition Jennifer Baichwald shows the burning of these tusks from 7000 elephants, which were confiscated from poachers by the Kenyan government. It is a  very powerful and emotional documentary. Two days ago, the WWF published their report The Living Planet 2018 document an astonishing decline since the nineteen seventies of 60% in the size of populations of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians largely linked to human activity. 
So, if you get a chance go and see this very important exhibition at the National Gallery or the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto.

RAILWAY STATION, SOUTH RIVER, ONTARIO

Another picture from our photo trip  to South River. I am still looking at the landscape pictures by Don McCullin and also at the photographs of another favourite photographer of mine Joseph Koudelka. Both of them are famous of course for their documentary work but they have made very powerful landscape photographs. Their images are quite dark,reflecting the strong emotional quality of their journalistic work. 

RAILWAY BRIDGE, SOUTH RIVER, ONTARIO

Yesterday was a great day for another photo trip. Gerry and I left early in the morning and decided to go to some of the small villages and towns South of North Bay. The weather started was very nice, a crisp sunny Fall day, but later in the afternoon the sky clouded over. Still we had some time before the rain started and ended up at the railway bridge in the village of South River. Most of the fall colours were gone so I concentrated on getting some good black and white pictures. Returning home both of us came back with some fine images.

ANOTHER VIEW, ABANDONED CHURCH

I think David might like this image of the old abandoned church too. My idea was to recreate a romantic, maybe even a nostalgic view of this old building. It is basically a straight toned print similar to the architectural prints of the nineteenth century photographers. It is a pity that this building is left to simply deteriorate. 

ABANDONED CHURCH REVISITED

After photographing this old abandoned church, I wanted to take pictures later in the season when the trees were changing colour. It was a little disappointing because there were not that many brightly coloured trees around. but I made some fine images. My idea was to create a picture reflecting the feeling of the passing of time. So I used a variety of techniques recreating the old sepia toned pictures with some added colour. The final image is reminiscent of the old autochrome photographs of the early twentieth century.

WAVES (BLACK AND WHITE)

This is the black and white version of yesterday's posting. It is more dramatic interpretation of the than the coloured image. This morning I was looking at some of Don McCullin's dark and somber  images from his forthcoming book Landscapes. His pictures are rich in textures and beautiful lighting. When working in black and white I always look for the same visual elements in my images, strong dramatic light and rich textures similar to McCullin's landscape work.

WAVES

Fall has definitely arrived. Walking along the beach I took quite a few pictures of the waves and dramatic sky. Initially I was thinking this is definitely a scene for black and white of course but when I started to process the picture on the computer I  decided that the final colour image was my favourite.