It’s not what you may think… It’s not the sun. It’s not just the moon; it’s the supermoon. Okay, technically it was the night after the super-full-moon. It’s not the traditional island-view of Toronto we’re used to seeing. It was shot from 60K north of downtown in Caledon, using 840mm worth of lens. It’s not a cheat. The moon appears huge because: Obviously, the farther away, the smaller the city appears. But as I used a super-telephoto lens, downtown appears large in frame. And since the moon stays relatively the same size no matter where you are, and because during that “super” cycle it was roughly 13% larger, it appeared huuuge compared to the buildings. It’s not a comp. I didn’t move anything. This was the moon’s actual trajectory. That strange howl you might’ve heard that night, downtown? That was me whooping when I saw it passing perfectly behind the CN Tower. Photoshop was used only to stitch the sequence together. It wasn’t (just) luck. I used an “app” (LightTrac) to determine when and where to position myself. It was lucky: - That I had access to the perfect viewing location. - That the horizon was free of cloud-cover yet cloudy enough overhead to add interest as the moon peeked in and out of view. (The night of the supermoon it was completely clouded at the horizon and only clear well above the skyline.) And, it was lucky that everything came together perfectly.
Panning along with a mallard gliding across the still waters of the pond. A slow exposure was used to create a beautiful wash of spring colours.
It was a dark and stormy night… This is a tree frog at night clinging to a rain-dropped, sliding glass door, shot at night from inside my studio by room light. I’d been editing photos all evening and enjoying the spring rainstorm. It was midnight and I was ready for bed. Then I noticed shiny little blobs of underbellies slithering up the glass doors - five tree frogs creeping their way up the wet glass. I hesitated - I had to get up in five hours. But it was too good an opportunity to pass up. It’s not often that a photo-op you can shoot from the comfort of your home and pajamas literally comes knocking at your door. Sleep could wait. Frogs hang around the doors at night because the light from the room attracts insects. It’s movement that attracts frogs not light. But nothing was flying in that downpour. My theory is the backlit raindrops sliding down the glass looked like a potential meal and that is what drew them in. They hung around while I played with exposures, compositions, and avoiding my reflection, then one by one they flung themselves off, away into the night. We entertained one another for half an hour, and then it was lights out. When I finally made it to bed I told Terrie it was still raining cats and dogs – and frogs.
