Back in the saddle, again.

It has been a while, years in fact. I mean, we have all suffered through years of social neglect at the hands of COVID, but now I’m beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Welcome back! and Welcome to those of you new to my luxBorealis Blog. In past years, I wrote extensively and even published a newsletter for a number of years running. But through system changes and website changes and a very demanding teaching job, I just didn’t have the energy to engage in the extracurriculars of photography beyond the image-making, that is blogs and workshops and evening Photo Talks.

But now that’s changing. I’m feeling a renewed creative spark. Perhaps it’s the prospect of retirement or maybe it’s just that there is more to photography than clicking a shutter.

Living Landscapes

Back in October I presented an evening Photo Talk at the Hamilton Camera Club. It was great to be “live” once again, speaking with photographers who are passionate about the craft. Some of the attendees remembered me from teaching photography at Mohawk College, courses in shooting Landscapes, Travel Photography, Nature Photography, and Lightroom. It was great to re-connect.

That evening, I presented “Living Landscapes” which spawned excellent discussions around camera formats, raw processing, and great landscape location in the the Hamilton area. I make no bones about being somewhat “camera agnostic” in that, the camera that works best is the one that’s with you. I think some were intrigued by this, having seen engaging landscapes shot with everything from my iPhone to Sony 1″ sensor, Olympus Four Thirds, Nikon APS-C and full frame. I think I even had one or two digitized images from my 4×5 days. For me, it’s the discussion that is created during and after the presentation that I find most engaging.

My Own Backyard

More recently in February, I was invited to speak at the LATOW Photography Guild in Burlington. They work out of the beautiful and artistically engaging Art Gallery of Burlington – a great public space for creatives. Our discussions and my presentation revolved around “My Own Backyard”. Basically it was a call, and hopefully an inspiration to photographers to work locally. After all, we know our own literal and figurative backyards best, so we should take advantage of begin “there” and being able to “get there” when the light and weather conditions are ideal for the kinds of photography we most enjoy doing. My angle was from a nature photography perspective, but one of the attendees spoke up about having opportunities close by for street photography. Point well taken.

As I was putting together the “My Own Backyard” presentation, I began thinking seriously about how photographers would go about discovering places nearby in which to make great photos. What I found was . . . wait for it . . . nothing! For example, if I was heading down to the north shore of Lake Erie because I had heard there was some great shooting there – with the bird migration and the unique Carolinian forest ecosystem – there are dozens web pages dedicated to “tourism”, plus the individual sites for all the possible places to go photographing – various conservation authorities and areas, provincial parks, Pelee National Park, etc., etc. – but there was no “one place” to go to discover what I could/should be photographing.

Word of mouth works well, and there is plenty of networking through the many photo clubs, as we did during both recent presentations, plus some online venues. But there are many would-be photographers out there who want to get started in nature and landscape photography, but are unsure of where and when to go.

A New Project

To this end, I am embarking on a new project. My goal is to create a curated website of nature and landscape photography locations, region by region, across Ontario. It’s something I’ve had in my back pocket for years now, with travel to the Ojibway Tallgrass Prairie of Windsor, cottaging on the Rideau system in eastern Ontario, and heading northwards for backcountry wilderness experiences in Algonquin, Killarney, Lake Superior and Pukaskwa.

These treasures are more easily accessed when photographers have the kind of information they are looking for: the what and when to photograph, but also, where to park? What are the fees? Is it open in winter? etc. etc. I don’t know how many times I’ve arrived at a parking lot, only to learn the parking machine/meter only takes coins or only takes plastic. Knowing ahead of time takes away some of the headaches.

So are you with me? If you’ve read this far – Hooray! Do you have a favourite haunt that I can include? – Let me know! Send me an email.

And, if you are finding what you are reading helpful, be sure to subscribe to my blog. I promise not to inundate you with verbiage, but I will keep you up-to-date with what’s happening in photography including upcoming workshops and evening presentations. If you are a member of a camera club, be sure to let your admin know that McDonald is back in the saddle again! Cheers and Happy Shooting!