My Macro Photography course is starting at Georgian College, from May 22nd to June 5th.

The course is 15 hours (9 classroom, 6 in the field) and covers all areas of macro photography. From gear to technical info, composition and all the tricks to take fun pictures like this Dandelion refraction image:

I’ll even have preserved snowflakes on hand!

Here’s the details:

Where?: Georgian College Barrie Campus
Who?: Anyone! No prerequisites, and special lenses are not required!
Cost: $132.00
When: May 22 – June 5, 2012, Tuesday Nights 7-10PM
Saturday June 2nd, 9AM-3PM Outing
Course CRN: #35105
Sign Up: Click Here for Georgian College signup page

I’ll need a few more participants in the course before it can run! It’s a great opportunity to expand your photography and learn all my secrets. If you know someone that is interested, please pass the info along.

And for those that simply enjoy the photographs with no desire to make your own – here’s a gallery to browse of some recent images:

I did some promotional video work for Eye In The Sky Photography, and then had a moment to try my own thing – a fisheye image about 1800ft above Toronto’s shoreline. This was the result:

It turned out exactly as I envisioned it, and I’m thrilled to have been given the opportunity to make this image. It’s one of those days of random adventure, and a reason why I love my job!

The Air & Space Museum is home to some of the most spectacular artifacts of Canadian invention and engineering, including a scale replica of the CF-105 Avro Arrow, currently being disassembled.

There’s a whole story behind the eviction, and I encourage you to read about it at their website: http://www.casmuseum.org/

I was lucky enough to be allowed to enter the facility, which was once the De Havilland Canada aircraft manufacturing plant during World War II. It was designated a heritage site, a designation that mysteriously disappeared when the museum was evicted. (they claimed it’s listing as a heritage site was “an error”). Hockey rinks are going in when the museum has cleared out.

The museum is a non-profit organization and has no public funding. They depend on private support and donations. I encourage anyone who wants to see the museum find a new home to donate: http://www.casmuseum.org/donate.php or become a member (memberships are currently $20). They are in talks for a new location, but the atmosphere during my visit was very sombre. They certainly need help.

I never had the chance to see the museum when it was opened. I’d love to see it again under better circumstances. Since my visit yesterday, I have been reading much more about Canada’s air and space history, and I must say I’m inspired. I have a new book to read, authored by the still-living Landcaster bomber Philip Gray.

Please tell me your thoughts on this! I’d love to have a discussion about it. This history needs to be saved.

To the shy yet curious Painted Turles:

…and even a playful Mink!

and yes, of course I took the macro lens out to photograph many species of insects along the way, through both the forest and along Barrie’s waterfront:

Enjoy the full gallery, and try to get out and enjoy some of it yourself! The world is alive again.

Here’s a photograph that I took at Barrie’s waterfront yesterday morning. The ice was nearly completely gone, but still cooling the air over the lake enough to create fog. This was the result:

Actually, that’s not entirely true. That’s the “edited” result. Below is the image I photographed right out of the camera so you can see how much work goes into getting the image I was looking for. I had to place the sun into the frame, in a position that would normally only be found in mid-late summer. Take a look:

The Barrie Photo Club has an outing to Shaw’s Pancake House recently, and I was happy to be able to go this year. Despite the unusual weather the sap was still flowing nicely. Here’s a couple pics:

and the below picture is a section of tubing that carries sap from trees back to the boiler, a more modern approach. The water droplets show a refracted image of the maple forest:

And finally, Desi and I had a wonderful afternoon in High Park in Toronto, and during the visit we came across this pair of swans. It was a great way to spend the afternoon! <3

More fun pictures to come! Sorry for not updating the blog that much recently, I have been very active over on Google+. I’ll post more soon!

To the incredibly large:

Check out the gallery and read the descriptions for a little insight. I have many more of these still to put together and winter is far from over. It’s going to be a great year! Check out Google+ if you can’t wait for more, I post one every day.

The halo and Sun Dogs around the sun are caused by a cloud of ice crystals, and I found it near the Alliston area. I drove there hoping to find snow, but this was a much nicer surprise!

I set my sights on Bracebridge as a snow system was moving in, only for it to move off-course by the time I arrived. I chose my location wisely however – as a back-up I knew that Potts Falls would still be flowing and I was treated to quite the landscape.

Finally, I tried a different approach with this last image. I don’t often create “pan-blur” images, but this is one that I liked. It is an extremely wide angle of view and I rotated the camera to blur the details and make it look painterly. Please tell me your thoughts!

I’ll make a snowflake post soon too For those eager to see my snowflake images, I am posting a new one every single day over at Google+, check it out!

If I had to choose a favourite, I would have to say its “Barrie Under Fire”:

Creating this image was equal parts luck, skill, and stupidity. I’m thrilled with the results and I hope for such amazing luck in the future.

The past year has seen my career really get started. Great success at art shows and exhibits, publications, three cover shots, my first book, teaching at Georgian College and so much more. It has been very hard work, and I’m pleased with where it has brought me.

I’ve put together an gallery of 30 images from 2011 for everyone to look at,

please leave a comment with your favourite!

The article is a detailed and easy to follow how-to on snowflake photography. I give away many of my secrets, and if you’ve been wanted to try to photograph some for yourself this winter, I highly recommend running out and picking up a copy!

Better yet, get a subscription. This is one of the best photographic magazines around right now, certainly the best in Canada and I am honoured to be a part of it.

I’ve also been hard at work on more snowflake photos! I post one daily to Google Plus, and here is my latest creation:

Winter certainly is keeping me busy! I want to do a look back on the year of 2011 here, which I’ll be posting soon. The past year has been one of success and growth, and 2012 is already promising the same. I want to give a very big Thank You! to everyone who is supporting me and my endeavors, it wouldn’t be possible without the encouragement I constantly receive.

Snowflake-a-Day on Google+ (Add me to your circles!)

The above image is my favourite snowflake image so far this year. While snow seems in short supply so far this winter, I race out every chance I get to photograph the falling crystals. More exciting news soon!