Two from the Spit

I have to admit that I'm losing track of what I've posted here.

I've made four trips to the Spit (so far) this year. The first was in March with my Hasselblad and 150mm lens, which was a practice run for Coney Island. The second time was in July, after I was back from my second trip to Coney Island, and I used my Fujifilm GX680 for that. I have only posted one photo from those two trips – in fact, I still have a couple of shots left on my B&W back for the Fuji. I really need to finish the roll; the first photos are of people skating at city hall.

The third trip was in August, and used my small-format gear. Both of these photos are from that trip, as are all of the posted "Lakefill" photos, with the exception of the black-and-white panorama. (Which was taken in March.) Still on film, these were with the Zeiss Ikon rangefinder that I took to Coney Island the second time.

My most recent trip was with only my digital SLR, and I used it to add another thirty photos on white. I'm not sure if I'm done yet, but I want to complete the project by the end of this year, so I'll need to decide soon.

Three in a Field

I brought my infra-red-converted superzoom on a recent trip out of the city.

The camera has a filter on the front that blocks visible light, so it looks completely black. So far nobody's tried to tell me that I've left the lens cap on.

Bee The Flower (1)

I was taking just one more photo, playing with the arrangement of flowers, when a bee landed on the one I was already focused on.

What else could I do?

Blue Spiral

In an unusual move, I've been using my D700 and over-exposing by at least a stop. It's a pretty good camera, and I've been impressed by the results.

Pastels

A trip to Edwards Gardens gave me the chance to practice for greeting cards.

Blue Sky

A little colour for the end of summer.

Bee The Flower (2)

These days even shopping bads are quoting Gandhi.

Lakefill

I've been going to the Leslie Street Spit for a decade. Officially known as Tommy Thompson Park, it's a nature reserve that's open to the public on the weekends, but during the week it's the city's tipping site for construction waste. It's the largest of the infill projects that have reshaped the waterfront.

The side of the spit that faces the city is covered with trees and is home to a massive colony of gulls. The side that I like faces the lake, and it's a sculpted environment of brick beaches, tangled rebar, and stacked concrete hydro poles.

Conceived and photographed as a series, the "Lakefill" photos on white is the first significant personal project in eighteen months that I've captured with a digital camera. Taken with a manual-focus shift lens, many of these photos combine two or three frames for the best possible reproduction quality. While the series is not yet complete, my eventual goal is to have a gallery or book presentation for these photographs.

Lakefill

Lakefill

Lakefill

Lakefill