random thoughts, Uncategorized

BFL Boot Camp III – Coming Soon

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Shadows and Lights, originally uploaded by Gregory Pleau.

Well, it’s that time of the year again. The days are getting longer, the leaves are falling from the trees. In a few weeks, we’re setting the clocks back to make for some really long nights, and that can only mean one thing:

It’s time for the third annual BFL Boot Camp geocaching event!

We’ve been hard at work all summer long planning up our night caching event, which is taking place on November 15 this year. The caches are being put together, locations chosen. Three pubs are booked to accomodate 120 cachers that are planning to attend, including 15 volunteers.

It’s going to be a real challenge to top last year’s event but I’m confident we’re up to the task. Until the event, I expect most of my free time is going to be spent placing, and testing the various caches we are placing.

I’m eager to post about the cool ideas we have for this year’s event – but I’d rather see your faces when we show you on the 15th. Like usual, there will be a series of permanent night caches left after the event – adding to the 18 caches that are already in the area.

photography, Uncategorized

Strobist Fun

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Kristen and her Laptop

Now that I’ve finished reading Joe McNally’s book, The Moment it Clicks, I’m really eager to play around with more off camera flash than ever.

This photo is a copy of the popular “Strobist and his laptop” by David Hobby. I’m trying to play a bit more with softening the light, and I’m using an umbrella to throw the ‘ambient’ lighting on the flash to the right, and a piece of paper looped over the flash on the laptop.

Here’s the setup shot:

Today I recevied my Honl Speedgrids. These grids are essentially closely packed tubes which are mounted on the end of my flash unit to direct the light in a more direct pattern. This allows me to control light spill and use my speedlights in a more controlled manner. More on this once I get to actually use one of them. In the photo above, I’d probably use one to highlight the back of the laptop with a bit of light.

geocaching, photography, Uncategorized

Night Caching Raid in Brampton.

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Dusk at the Bird House

Friday night is night caching night, we hooked up with some of the other members of the Order of the BFL and, after marking a birthday at Tuckers, we went night caching in Brampton.

I’d already been to this cache, so instead of sporting the GPS, I zipped ahead to stage two of the multi and setup two flash units to capture the bird house in a different way from the daytime visit I had here a month ago.

The rest of the night I wandered around trying out various manual exposure and flash exposure combinations – both handheld. I’ve also grown a bit more comfortable shooting at ISO 400 knowing I can get a good exposure when I add a bit more available light.

A great resource for off camera lighting is strobist.com, and I recommend reading “The Moment it Clicks” by Joe McNally once you’ve finished the Lighting 101 and On Assignment sections.

photography, Uncategorized

Halton Hills Flickr Meetup – June

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Milton Millpond at Sunset

Last night was the meetup for Flickerites in and around Halton Hills. Four of us showed up at the Ivy Arms pub in Milton and shared conversation before heading around the Mill Pond park nearby.

The lighting was rather ‘meh’, but every once in a while something poked through so I setup for a reflection shot over the pond, with my 10mm. HDR is used to bring out all the subtleties in the sky.

What was really cool, was that four of us went to this park, and everyone had a different idea what they wanted to shoot. I went right for the water’s edge with my ultrawide, another member only cared about the floral arrangements, while another wanted to get more of the Gazebo with a telephoto.

Next month’s meetup is on July 17th. More information at http://www.flickr.com/groups/haltonhills

random thoughts, Uncategorized

Units 12 and 11

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Units 12 and 11

Originally uploaded by Gregory Pleau.

Getting closer to the big photography day here. Going to be shooting a wedding this upcoming weekend, and I’m hoping this goes well. Normally, I shoot nature and landscape type photos, but I’m always eager for growth in my hobbies.

The photo attached to this blog entry is of two doors near my wife’s office. I really enjoy finding random subjects while I’m out and about.

We’ve been out modelling for each other in different environments to prepare for the wedding shoot. Watch for more photos from these places soon