Winter in Cavendish

The seasonal community of Cavendish located on the north shore is a primary entrance to PEI National Park. It will host tens of thousands of visitors during the summer but will also become completely boarded up and abandoned for the winter.

Today’s Image – Green Gables in Winter

Cavendish is home to the popular tourist attraction Anne of Green Gables. Visitors and fans of Lucy Maud Montgomery travel from around the world to visit this house all summer long but very few walk these grounds in the middle of winter. The Green Gables Heritage Place is included in this years 75th anniversary celebrations of PEI National Park.

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The 2012 Bloggies

Welcome to the Twelfth Annual Weblog Awards.

You may be asking yourself what the heck is a Bloggie? I kind of did too. It’s no Webby but I remember 12 years ago when the Bloggie awards were first introduced. A fun little competition that actually received a fair bit of attention. Fast forward to 2012 and I had forgotten all about them until Sandee left me a comment this morning letting me know how she found my site through the 2012 nominations. Surprise. Not only did someone take the effort to nominate this weblog but Focused on Light has actually some how ended up as a finalist for “Best Photography of a Weblog”.

And of course, now that I’m aware of the nomination, the competitor in me would like to win so I’m going to run with it. If you agree with the nomination, please consider voting at http://2012.bloggi.es/. Voting ends Feb 18th and you could help me win 2,012 pennies.

It’s oddly timed due to a recent archives reset. So much has changed since I started this weblog back in 2001 and originally under the domain newrecruit.org. Somebody must be visiting and maybe even reading it.

Today’s Image – Traces of Snow and Ice

A small stream that runs under the Gulf Shore Parkway from Rollings Pond out to the beach. While deep in parts, if you are careful, you can navigate your way out to the center by rock hopping without getting your feet wet. You will find this location (N 46 27.790 W 63 17.936) just past the entrance to PEI National Park on the North Rustico side.

The Guiding Light

I need to be careful or this blog could easily turn into a save the lighthouse campaign. Last week I made a post about the upcoming deadline when several island lighthouses will be shut down. I followed that up with a post about Saving of the Brighton Beach Range Light. At that time, it was very unclear to me which ones and how many of these structures were in danger.

With the permission of Carol Livingstone (President of the PEI Lighthouse Society ⁽¹⁾), I am making available The Guiding Light Newsletter (PDF). This semiannual publication that is available only to members provides a full list of updates and the current status of our 63 lighthouses and ranges. If you refer to page 20, you’ll see the list of lighthouses currently not being petitioned.

“Any lighthouses not claimed by community groups or municipalities by May 31 will either be put up for sale to the public or torn down.” CBC

Download the January 2012 issue of The Guiding Light. (PDF)

Today’s Image – Cape Tryon Lighthouse

With access only through private property, this light is located on the north shore west of Cavendish in the French River and Park Corner area. The still active Cape Tryon Lighthouse is a bit of a staple in Island marketing and an often photographed location. I had a chance to visit early this morning under some very chilly conditions. The regular high coastal winds did not help. The Cape Tryon Lighthouse is located on land currently trying to be protected from development by the L.M. Montgomery Land Trust.

This lighthouse is one of the many listed on page 20. What will be it’s fate on June 1st 2012?

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Predicting Weather

Today was interesting. What started with very high wind warnings mixed with rain and snow fall followed by a night without electricity, the sky was looking dark and dull at 6 am. I made the mistake to stay home and watch what could have been the most dramatic sunrise of the year to date. Snooze you lose.

It ended up being a very nice day but by mid afternoon it looked like those heavy clouds were rolling in again and the sun would be gone well before sunset. I decided for the second time to stay home. Another mistake as the sun once again proved me wrong. Trying not to write off the complete day and only 30 minutes before sunset, I quickly made my way downtown to Victoria Park to make 6 images before days end.

I have pretty much accepted that I can’t predict how the light will be.

Today’s Image – Brighton Beach Range Front

Ice breaking away into the North (Yorke) River at the west end of Victoria Park and the start of the community of Brighton. In the distance is the range light that shines directly out to the entrance of the Charlottetown Harbour. Charlottetown City Councillor Rob Lantz wrote a blog post earlier this week titled “Saving the Brighton Beach Range Light” which relates to the post I made yesterday.

An Island of Lighthouses

…or should I say without lighthouses because that could be a very real possibility after May 31st. This deadline is the day the federal government will stop maintaining the majority of the lighthouses that currently surround our coast. We were reminded again this week that communities must step up to support the maintenance if we wish for these buildings to remain standing. Some very prominent and iconic lighthouses are on the demolition chopping block.

The Lighthouse map issued by the Prince Edward Island Lighthouse Society has 63 listed in total making it the highest concentration of lighthouses in any province or state in North America. 21 are already decommissioned, 13 are listed as private and only 3 not accessible by car. 9 are opened to the public.

Today’s Image – St. Peter’s Harbour Lighthouse

With upwards of 60 lighthouses and ranges around our small coastline – not all of them are still in great shape. Particularly the one just west of Greenwich. It has for sure seen better days. Nested in the dunes, this lighthouse is accessible by an unpaved road or a long walk on the beach.

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PEI National Park

2012 marks the 75th anniversary of the National Park System on Prince Edward Island and park officials are preparing for a year of celebrations. I believe the actual anniversary is in April so keep an eye on Parks and People for updates and events as we get closer to summer.

Parks Canada has also has recently announced that entrance fees will remain the same. However, a summer never goes by where locals do not complain about paying for beach access. (Possibly the same people who believe the Confederation Bridge should be free). While I don’t know how the money is spent or what the operating costs are compared to a provincial park – this “fortune” that we’re always complaining about is only a $20 annual pass.

Today’s Image – A Frozen Bowley Pond

Bowley Pond is in Greenwich and became part of the National Park in 1998.

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Photography is Priceless

While good photography may be subjective – all photography is important. Every now and then a story is shared that touches on how important photography is. Please read and consider this powerful story.

While I tend to shy away from portraits or weddings, most types of photography can relate to this. My primary interest is documenting the natural world and it’s surprising how fast that changes. With today’s development demands for more land, our environmental problems with climate change and the natural progression of mother nature, the world we live in changes at a very rapid pace.

What is today was not what it was 10 years ago and is not what it will be 10 years from now.

Today’s Image – Erosion

If you ever visit the coast of Prince Edward Island, you’ll quickly find that no matter where you go, platforms of sandstone rock stand freely in the open waters. It’s hard to imagine that the coastline actually extended out that far at one time. In a few short years, these final remains will also be forever lost – but new ones will form as the process continues to shape this province.

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Welcome to 2012

The older we get, the faster time starts to move and here we are already looking at a 2012 calendar. Best wishes in what ever adventures the new year will bring you. I know the list of tasks I want to accomplish this year is already fairly long.

Today started as a very grey and rainy day with no signs of any chance of sunlight through the thick overcast. With a few hours to kill before a meeting, I started driving out of town with the intentions of looking for locations when the weather was not so dull. What I was not expecting was the sky to completely open up after about 30 minutes of driving west of Summerside and by sunset – having 60 minutes of clear skies.

Today’s Image – Cape Egmont Lighthouse

This evening to kick start 2012 was particularly challenge with cold temperatures and wind gusts almost reaching 50km/h. Wind is for sure more difficult to shoot in then freezing temperatures. Add the salt water spray from the sea to a 25 second exposure in the wind and you get this oddly foggy image from a dirty lens. I still think it’s a keeper. The Lighthouse in Cape Egmont is located at N 46 24.107 W 64 08.002 and relatively easy to access via a single lane gravel road.

Processing Artistry – PhotographyBB Magazine

90% of all the images I publish have very basic post processing. My workflow is often simply running through the Lightroom development panel from bottom to top adjusting color, contrast and taking full advantage of the histogram before exporting for web. However, on occasion, the image is still missing something but shows potential. And that’s when I send the file to Photoshop to start experimenting.

The December issue of PhotographyBB Magazine is out and I was kindly asked by Dave Seeram to contribute a guest post-processing article describing this very situation. The image I decided to use was of an abandoned pier on the North Shore of Prince Edward Island.

Get the free December 2011 Issue of PhotographyBB Magazine

If you would like to attempt the steps on your own as practice, I’m making the original raw DNG file for your own personal use available for download. (Lightroom’s “Zeroed” preset applied)

And I feel it’s necessary to note that while some editing should be expected, several changes were made to the copy using the first-person context which left me scratching my head. I’ve never been fond of the word “punch” to describe an image but the editor decided I should say it twice…. ah well.

Today’s Image – Abandoned Pier

Located near the St. Peters Lighthouse at N 46 26.555 W 62 44.495, several rows of posts remain at the entrance to St Peters Harbour.

An Artistic Look at Prince Edward Island

For what feels like forever, I have listed a book on www.stephendesroches.com as coming soon and to check back in late 2011. While I did receive my artist’s proof previews, I decided to keep them for Christmas Gifts and not tell anyone. Well, by now the books have been opened which means I can now talk about it.

The following 9 photos are a preview of a trial run limited edition 12×12 160 page hard cover book. (details to order will come in a few weeks)

Prince Edward Island Photography Book

Today’s Image – My Prince Edward Island Book

I’m pleased with the results and will move forward with a final release after a couple edits. The images in this book are exclusively created on Prince Edward Island over the past 3 or 4 years. While I do include the locations of each image, I decided to lay this book out as a portfolio that only focuses on the images. You’ll not find any stories or additional information of each photograph.

An excerpt from the introduction:

Keeping photography fun is an exciting task. Endless resources of information and much to learn without any pressure or expectations. The idea of recording the world onto single frames is an exercise that forces a closer look at light, colors and shapes. Either it be at home on quiet Prince Edward Island or the occasional travel to much larger cities, a camera in hand has become as common as carrying identification. The desire to become better is stronger then ever but at the end of each day; it’s still all for fun.

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