Just popping in to say hello :)

I'm now 5 months into my Cross-Canada journey, and I've made it to Ottawa.

It's been quite a trip so far! I've released two ebooks/ibooks that are available on my website.
I don't update here anymore though so for more regular updates you can follow at me at my site, on G+, on FB, tumblr, or subscribe to my newsletters.

I hope you're having some grand adventures of your own, and please say Hi on one of the other places I now frequent so I can follow you too :)

Jordan Oram

the Maplemusketeer

Every Moment Precious

Every Moment Precious




Slowly we become aware that everywhere we go is unique and changing. It can be difficult to realize this when we feel surrounded by the everyday that we feel we've seen everyday. But have we really seen it? Have we looked to notice nuance or difference?


Because there is wonder there. And story and mystery and trial and growth and struggle
and life.


Let's add to the fact that everywhere we go is unique, the realization that everywhen we are there is unique as well. The picture accompanying this was taken behind a good friend's house. I've visited him a few times since his neighbours' house burnt down, and when I went to take a picture he realized he hadn't taken any pictures of it yet either, despite living next to it, and driving past it twice a day. To take a picture as it was before the fire is now impossible. And it deteriorates now quickly. Soon it will be demolished and something new take its place. 


Spring is arriving here. Early flowers are blooming, leaves are budding on branches. It is a time of anticipation. A time of building, burgeoning awesomeness. Soon all those intertwining branches will be hidden beneath leaves catching light. It is windy today. Those branches are moving about as the wires wiggle too. Each moment and day offers sights that will never be seen again. A year from now those trees will be taller, or perhaps some gone. The clouds will change, the light will change, the molecular make up of that branch will change. And for a moment we share in that. 


It is my hope that when I walk, when I travel beyond the doorstep of habitation, I notice and am aware of the deep uniques of this moment in this place, and how it will never be again, as it fleetingly runs off to be replaced by another that will never be again. The fact that this process will continue for awhile longer does not detract, for me, the value of that one moment.


And heck, I'm happy I get to share many of these moments with all of you fine G+ friends of mine. Because I'm so thankful for your moments that you've all shared with me too.


May we notice more moments today :)
and spend them well :D
Jordan

Sechelt Sunset

The sunset seen over Vancouver Island from Sechelt, British Columbia.


Sunsets are one of those things that makes photographers late for dinner. Good light will do that. Sunrise, sunset, sun being filtered through clouds, all set the photographic heart atizzy. Because in one picture is immortality. A connection and link is formed in that moment that will last for us as long as we live. In the focus of that impassioned moment, other commitments disappear and fade away behind the glory of that glowing goodness.

Some will understand. Some won't. It is a link between those who chase their passion and find themselves at the whim of their muse.

So what? What does this mean? Well..
A) Enjoy sunsets. They're awesome. ;)
B) Hopefully we can develop some compassion and understanding for others when they get caught up in their passions, even when they aren't OUR passions. Oh heck. Hopefully we can all relax a bit and realize that people get caught up in things, and if it's something they love and are passionate about, then that's awesome! I want to support people living passionately and powerfully, chasing dreams and discovering wonders. So be it reading, writing, playing an instrument, carving wood, knitting, or whatever, let me know that I may cheer you on!

Because what the world can use, is more people living passionate and purposeful lives of awesome ;)

Lets do it :D

Adventures in "How To" Photography - 2011 Year in Review

Adventures in "How To" Photography

It being the end of the year, I've delved into the video archives from my youtube stream and selected my favourites of 2011 and shall present them in 4 categories.

Adventures in "How To" Photography

Adventures in Nifty Places

Adventures in Sillyness

Adventures with Friends

Adventures in "How To" Photography can basically be summed in the following pieces of practical advice which are then backed up through video example. If you follow these 3 pieces of advice you will become a better photographer. ;)

#1. Go

#2. Look around

#3. Have fun

Maplemusketeer How To - The Leg Hook

How to - Reflection Photography

How to - Take photos of awesome sunsets

This has been quite the adventurous and challenging year for me photographically. At the start of the year I took the hesitant nervous steps of sharing my photos to a broader audience beyond family and friends via DeviantArt and starting my own Facebook page. I borrowed gear and went on photoadventures to multiple locations with the intent of seeing, discovering, and trying to capture images that inspire me. I joined several photographer groups for encouragement and advice. And I joined Google Plus and saw things occur greater than I ever could have foretold or imagined. I've met so many wonderful and passionate people through the shared passion of photography and Google Plus that I'm still frequently stunned and amazed. I've gone from being a passionate wanderer with a camera, to a passionate Outdoor Adventure Editor (for WanderingEducators.com) with a camera.

Photographically 2011 has been quite a year of awakening and discovery. I can't even begin to hazard a guess at what 2012 will have in store for me. I shall greet it with my camera and my perspective, and delight in sharing it with you all, as you share with me your discoveries and journeys as well!

To all of you with a camera I say Go, Look Around, Have Fun.

Sincerely,
Jordan Oram

The Maplemusketeer

Sechelt Wharf Photography Experimentation on an overcast sky day

Life is a giant playground of experimentation, and photography offers a lot of whimsyroom. You don't have to share any of your creations. You're allowed to take the various levels of contrast and colour, midtone and tint, and spread them as far or near as you'd like. Desaturate! Oversaturate! Play around and have fun.


Today I went on a little photowander around Sechelt. I went to the store and picked up a new memory card and some new rechargeable batteries for my wee Canon point and shoot (the only camera I own and what I take the majority of my photos with) with the little bit of Christmas money I was given (Thanks Grandpa! :D ) Then I wandered, as is usual for me, towards the sea.

I took a number of photos but we're going to look at what I did with this one. Firstly I'd rather shoot the image a bit darker so that I have more to work with in editing. If I exposed the sky as too white then I'd not have any data to work with there... just a bunch of white. Heck.. I'll occasionally do that on purpose for funking around in other ways, but it's not what I was looking for with this shot ;)

Then I got creative and moved a bunch of levels, and drank more tea, and put on my wool slippers.

I got the balance to where I like it. Now it's time to investigate some more cropping options. Try changing things around and see what you like, see what you don't like, learn about your preferences and what appeals to you. This is the adult photographer equivalent of finger painting. ;)

I'm ok with the fact that I use a wee point and shoot, and that the quality gets a bit suspect. Would I love to have a better camera and lens options? Heck yes I would! But I don't have those. SO this is what I can, and do, do.

Oh and lets check out those seagulls a bit more.. ;)

Cue the Wayne's World "Extreme Close-up"

So there you go. Sure it may not be the sharpest image (Ok it definitely isn't!) but it is an exploring with composition and creativity, learning to look through the image more, and will help develop your eye for trying different things in the field.

When all is said and done, my personal favourite of the set is the first edited one without any cropping. But the others are interesting experiments too!

I hope you enjoyed playing around with me and coming along for a little walk and wonder, now may you funk around with your photos and create some wonderous whimsy of your own!

Until next time,

Keep wandering and wondering,

The Maplemusketeer

What sort of post-production do I most often do? aka PhotoFunk

What sort of post-production do I most often do?

My "Aunty" Em was visiting the other day and we started talking about photos and post-production editing. As is the case with most things, that which we haven't tried can seem really unknown and tricky. But it doesn't have to be! If you're willing to have fun and play with it you can do wonders! :D



Honestly?
I'd rather be shooting photos than editing them. Ken Rockwell has taught me a lot through reading his articles and he's always the first place I go to check out gear review. It was through reading one of his articles that I learned to change my custom setting to slightly warmer white balance and bump up the saturation a little. But before I lose you through techno speak.. reading your manual is really helpful! LOL And just change your setting to vivid or whatever you have on there that stands for Jacked Up Colour ;) I then shoot like that. And do my usual post-photo editing.

What do I use?
Ok.. I use the fairly simple Microsoft Office Photo Manager at the moment. Cause I'm cheap and that's what is on the computer that got passed down to me a couple years ago. Whatever you have on your computer will work. And for years I shot with a simple little point and shoot. It's still what I use most often though right now kind people seem to really like lending me their DSLRs to play with. (Oh how they tempt me!)


What do I do?
When it comes to editing afterwards I usually bump the contrast up a little bit, drop the colour saturation down a little bit, and occasionally drop the bottom dark tone to give some more shadow and depth. Yep.. that's really it.

Example? Ok! How'd I end up with that photo up top? Well... we'll start with the original and then basically apply the above to differing degrees. Play with it and you'll find your style/place.

Here's the original. Shot straight up with no custom settings or anything.


A little bit of contrast, some saturation bump (up a titch I believe) (titch being a very technical term)


Then dropping the mid-tone and bottom a bit for some deeper dark wonder to let us see the subject better. (Making the image more "simple" if you will ;) )


There you have it! Tada! Just a little funking around to go from that first image to the last one. That took me about 20 seconds.

Most people stop there. But realize that working with a photo isn't about just recreating/capturing that neutrally coloured moment and jazzing it a bit. Have fun and play around! Experiment and try funking it up. Rotate it. (I admit to liking to skew perspectives a bit.)

And then you can end up with something like this.


(The picture is turned upside down and now the spider looks all MWAHAHAHAHAHA)

Have fun! It's allowed and encouraged and you don't have to show anyone the ones you don't like, honest. :)

Places I've Wandered - Not the Sooke Potholes

The Shorts and Gaiters Inaugural Adventure took place on June 5th and 6th of 2011. Karsten Klawitter and I have been on many wild and wonderous photoadventures and decided to take two days to explore the heck out of several sites around Southern Vancouver Island.

1 Places I've Wandered - Gonzalez Hill Sunrise


Places I've Wandered - Not the Sooke Potholes



We needed to stop for supplies to provision and the grocery store in Sooke didn't open for awhile yet.

What to do?

I suggested we divert our trip and take in the Sooke Potholes seeing as many of you fine peoples have never been there ;)

Here's what we discovered.


The gate is not opened until 8am! But it's light at around 5am. Lame.

I'll also take this moment to draw your attention to the sign.


"If vehicle tires touch pavement vehicle will be towed". Uh... but that's where we drive! And would this sign demand that the tow-truck tow itself for tire pavement touching as well? What a quandry caused by poor signage ;) They tried to amend it with the addition of a smaller second sign... but it hasn't addressed the issue.

But hey.. I've never explored this section of road before! So welcome to Sooke River nonetheless! :D Across the road on the hilly side we have a random hillside in the coastal temperate rainforest :D

Asphalt, alders, ferns, succulents, salmonberry bushes...


When plans change it's just an opportunity for new plans! Time to explore!


Like this runoff gully carving it's way down to the river


where one can see the early warm light reflected in the rippling surface


followed by a little scurry back up to the road


are we done? Nope. Not yet. I went and explored up the gully on the other side of the road and discovered some old cables strung across some trees. As is usual along the coast you don't have to look to hard to find past evidence of logging lingering just beneath the moss.



Don't worry. He nailed the landing. ;)


Here's Karsten's "Flying Squirrel" Impression


and then we drove back into Sooke to where the store had just opened and we learned something we'll continue to keep in mind for the rest of our roadtripping days ;)



Tune in next time when we adventure futher into the wilderness of Southern Vancouver Island and beyond cell phone range.. ;) Oooh and there just may be an ursine encounter approaching... maybe ;)

Photographical Antics - Spinning

A few weeks ago I talked about the freedom to mess around in editing after taking photos.

It's a good little tool to add to the tool belt because it lets you pull out/tweak/explore your photos in ways you wouldn't otherwise. Some of my favourite photos have been ones that started out being rather bland and blase. With that in mind let me introduce you to a fun little feature you can experiment cautiously with while actually holding your camera in your hands!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen.. I present my photographical application of the term Spinning (no exercise bike required). ;)

So before you think I must have been aiming at a swirling sky vortex.. or really tweaked with my camera settings... it was neither of those.

It was after the sunset and I was walking home next to the school under a maple tree.

With the camera set to do it's funktastical smart thinking/shutter speed based on light conditions I pointed up and spun in a circle. I've practiced this. Be careful. Wonky spins do weird things too. And people will likely look at you funny. Plus you stumble a bit after taking pictures so be careful ;) If you're not a practiced spinning photographer or figure skater you may want a spotter. ;)

Into The Dinosaur's Eye

Spirit of the Deer

Draco

Those were all taken under the same tree. A few of them were taken in rapid succession as I took a few shoots in the same spin. I've also discarded a number I didn't care for. :)

A little further down the road was a tree/lamp combo.. so we shall spin some more!

Terrible Lizard

Terrible Lizard 2

A bit further down we have some shoes hanging on a wire through some branches. This one was a bit tricky as you want to try to stay aimed on the shoes...

Spin faster.. or slower. Have fun with it! :D

I hope I've given you all some new ideas and some new fun tools to throw in your kits as you go out and amble about the world ;) :D

The Maplemusketeer

Don't Forget to Look Up

Sometimes we can get in a rut. Or at least people tell me they sometimes find themselves in a rut ;) I have a rapid and squirrelly attention span that has built up a treasure chest of scanning direction techniques and pondering curiosities. Consider this another tool in your toolbox of photographer perspective. I like to call it....

Looking up!





Those three photos were all taken walking down the "main street" in Sechelt, BC on my way to work.

These next two were taken about 10 feet into the woods on a trail just off of a construction clearing.




This photo was taken as I walked alongside of the road nearing the Sechelt Duck Marsh


This was 10 ft in along the foot path


and this final one of a Salmonberry bloom was about 7 ft from the exit at the other end of the Duck Marsh :D


So as a fun exercise when you go out next with camera in hand..
try to look up and take some photos!

I dare ya ;)

The Maplemusketeer

ps random Maplemusketeer video for the day..