2018 was a great year for me photography-wise. I sold several prints all over Canada and even a few in Europe. I also have had photographs featured by CBC, Canadian Geographic and Saltscapes to name a few.
Happy new year to all! Thank you to everyone who have supported me one way or another this past year. You know who you are! Lots of good things are lining up for me in 2019 photography-wise... so stay tuned!
Below are 10 of my favourite photos from 2018, listed in no particular order:
PEI Sunrise
The sun rises very early in June, so I needed to wake up at 3:30 am that morning to get to McKenzie Brooke, Prince Edward Island on time. I just love the colour of the golden light from the rising sun really hitting the reddish cliff and rocks! You can't really see the S-shaped hole in the rock very well on this shot because of the wide angle, that cloud formation has the same shape!
Peggys's Cove at Night
Without noticing, my camera went from shooting RAW to shooting JPEG all throughout this shoot on Nova Scotia's South Shore. I must have shot about a hundred photos that night. Just as I was packing up and ready to leave, I noticed all my files were in the wrong format! I couldn't leave without taking a few more shots in the correct format, so I asked my cousin to wait another 5 minutes while I set up again. This is one of these last few shots. I'm happy I made my cousin wait!
The Statue of Evangeline
Spent that evening shooting at Grand-Pré National Historic Site, the heart of the Landscape of Grand-Pré UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is a heavily photographed site, so every time I go there, I try to create a photograph that's never been done before... or at least one I haven't seen. For this one, I used wide angle lens, which created the effect of the Memorial Church completely disappearing behind the iconic statue.
Pumpkin Fields Forever
While driving around, scoping shooting locations in the Memramcook Valley area, I stumbled upon this pumpkin field. Thought it looked really cool, and the sky was pretty epic at the time, so I parked the car on the side of the road and went in the field for a quick shot. This image was one of the 9 most loved images on CBC New Brunswick's Instagram page in 2018.
The Face
While testing out lenses that Sigma had loaned me, I shot this image of the Hopewell Rocks. This is an HDR image, consisting of 7 exposures I have merged together in Lightroom. It's only once the images were merged that I noticed the center looked like a face. The image went viral on social media, reaching over 300,000 people on Facebook, getting over 1,500 likes on Instagram, and was even featured on a tweet by world renowned photographer Rick Sammon. It was also featured in the French language provincial newspaper Acadie Nouvelle.
Bridge Over Ice
When returning home from a day trip to Charlottetown, I stopped in Borden-Carleton for a quick shoot near the Confederation Bridge. The sky was perfect and the colours were lovely. It's a "right place at the right time" kind of shot. It's a good thing it only took me about 5-10 minutes to do the shot, because it was freezing cold on the Northumberland Strait and I wasn't dressed for the occasion!
Big Black Bear
In my years of working at Kouchibouguac National Park, I've had a few encounters with black bears, but never one quite like this one. This big bear was looking for food on the side of the highway. I parked at a safe distance on the side of the road, took out the long lens and started shooting. The bear didn't seem to mind me at all... in fact, it walked towards my vehicle, and went in the woods... only to come back out right by my vehicle a minute later, which is this very shot.
What the buck is this deer looking at?
White-tailed deer are a very common sight in the Rothesay, NB area. They're very urbanized and have become part of the landscape. I found at least 22-23 deer that morning, but this one was my favourite one to shoot. He was maybe 30-40 feet from me. While I got a lot of good shots of him starring right in the camera, I actually prefer this shot of him looking off to the side.
Hey Teachers, Leave Those Kids Alone
Nadia and Rock are both teachers, and with a photo like this one, the Another Brick in the Wall reference was inevitable! I was honoured to be asked to photograph their wedding and to be part of their special day last summer. We shot this photo in Robinson Court. While the couple is obviously the main subject of this photo, I love how that red bench really adds a good point of interest to the image.
Fresh Snow
You won't find many photos of my kids on my website, but I take more photos of them than I do for any other subject! This one is one of my favourite from this past year. We went for a walk in the woods at Irishtown Nature Park after a fresh snowfall, and I caught them admiring the sight of the heavy snow on the tall trees along the trail.