On Prince Edward Island in Canada, there is a network of bike trails hundreds of miles long, perfectly manicured paths meandering through beautiful countrysides, and almost completely untraveled and open.  On a three hour ride, it wouldn’t be at all unusual to pass less than ten other people enjoying the trails.  There have been days riding there where I’ve only passed work crews trimming the branches or mowing the lawns, and no other bikers at all.  The stream in this image is typical of some of the scenery you’ll find on the eastern side of the island.

For you photo geeks out there like me, this is a five exposure image (-4,-2,0,+2,+4), tonemapped to emphasize the sky.

This is the harbor at Malpeque, the most colorful harbor I’ve ever seen. It’s like the San Francisco of working waterfronts.  When I can, I’ll post some more images from this incredible harbor.  In the meantime, this is a textural image. When I work with images, I want to evoke a feeling, or a sensory impression in the image.  In this case, even though the colors of the village are amazing, I wanted to let you feel textures – the peeling paing, the three types of asphalt, the rusty roofs – these all have a tactileness to them that I wanted the image to evoke. I hope you like it.  Will

Honestly, I have no idea what this piece of equipment is doing here, surrounded as it is by shrubs and grasses, and filled with wildflowers. Is it a metaphor; is it an artist’s installation?  I don’t know.  But I really liked that it was parked here not fifty feet from a retail shop, in the middle of downtown Charlottetown. 

This is a five stop HDR multi-image exposure to get the sky and the shadows of the yard in the same tonal range.

This is a multi-image cross process.  The shadow sections of our image have been white balanced for the cool light of dawn, while the highlights and sky are balanced to emphasize the sky.  Lucia’s sister Nadia has a house just down the road from this farm, and I love the light patterns on the hay rolls.

This is the warm sun of the late afternoon reflecting red and yellow on this multi exposure, HDR image.

This is the same bridge as yesterday’s post, but with the view of the traveller, showing the expectation as one crests a footbridge, and the really interesting light that falls onto the beams. The day after I shot this, I saw a workman removing and replacing the first two beams at the bottom here (evidently, they were a little rotted).

St. Peters Bay is known for the mussels that are raised in the harbor, and is an entry point to the Points East loop of Prince Edward Island.

Here’s another example of a multi-exposure image and the fun, painted look it gives a photograph.  With a standard, single exposure the shadows below and on the bridge would be so dark that you would see almost nothing there. By combining both very bright and very dark exposures, we get an image with lighting the way we see it (our eyes adjust very quickly to luminosity changes), but not really the way that it is. 

Thanks for looking – Will

Here’s a different angle of the same harbor, and I like the colors in this image much more than yesterday’s image.

On the North side of P.E.I. is a fishing village, Montesque, that could be anywhere in Maine, except for the brightly colored paint scheme, and the low rental prices.  Slip rates for boats in this harbor were $15 a week, or $50 for the whole season!!!!

Part of my newfound fascination with photographing boats.  This slip is right downtown.

This is a multiple exposure image taken underneath the bridge in yesterday’s post – visually, this is a very dark and dreary place, but this image is made by using exposures much brighter than what we see and combining them with normal, afternoon light.  I think the result is almost cheery.  Thanks for looking.

This is the scariest bridge in the world, and I hope this image conveys some of the uncertainty a driver faces when approaching this bridge. First, it doesn’t really look wide enough for a car to cross, much less sturdy enough, so you wonder if you’re supposed to park and walk across.  Then, there’s the fact that you can’t see the other side of the bridge, which arcs up and over a canal, so you really have no way to know if another car is coming towards you.  Which would be good to know, because the local fisherman drive over this bridge really fast, and there definitely isn’t room for two at the top.

This week Lucia and I are on vacation/ working in Canada, on Prince Edward Island.  This is our third trip here in the last couple of years, and I’m once again overwhelmed at how beautiful everything is here.  In the distance is part of the confederation trail, a network of maintained bike paths hundreds of miles long, and this very spot is a frequent departure point for my bike excursions.  I’ll be showing you a lot of images from P.E.I. over the next month or so, and we’re already planning a fall trip up here to shoot some more.  Thanks for looking – Will

This is the beach at my sister-in-law, Nadia’s house in Goose River, where we’ll be staying this week.  Though this is a single image category, I’m going to break the rules here and show you a few more images of Nadia’s house, because you’ll see so many great images of P.E.I. over the next month, you’ll want a week or two in Goose River yourself, and Nadia rents her house quite reasonably. 

Here’s the house as it faces the beach:

Here’s the back of the house:

My favorite room – the wrap around screen porch:

Just as important as the screen porch, here’s the view of the yard sloping down to her private beach:

And one more image to show you the view to the left of the yard:

Okay, when you want more info on how you can rent this charming house with a pristine view, let me know, and I’ll get you in touch with Nadia directly.  This house is available for rent late spring to early fall. Thanks for looking – Will