Hi, I'm Derek.
I make my living traveling far away to press a button on a photon-collection device when everyone else is asleep.
I'm a landscape photographer from near Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and this is my debut Steemit contribution. After hearing some great things about the network from photographer friends, I'm going to test the waters by jumping in.
Last fall I drove across Canada, every province coast to coast and north to the Territories to photograph my homeland on its 150th birthday, paying special attention to the National Parks in each province. My goal was to capture the natural beauty found in all parts of the country, like here in Banff National Park:
Sunrise at Two Jack Lake in Banff National Park, Alberta
There was no shortage of beauty, only a shortage of time. The trip lasted twice as long as planned and felt rushed, but it was a great success nonetheless. Now that I'm home I'll be going through my photos and sharing them in order from west (the beaches of Vancouver Island) to east (Cape Spear, Newfoundland), with a slight diversion up to the Northwest Territories and Yukon.
I'll be sharing the fruits of my labour here to Steemit and hope you'll join me as we embark on a virtual tour of Canada.
Welcome Derek.
Thanks for saying hi! :)
Really great pics there . I am sure you will have a lot of great content for the community .. Welcome !! jkenny
I hope not to disappoint. Thank you @jkenny! :)
Welcome Derek!
I guess you hear that quite often - But your pictures are freaking stunning. From a quick view on your homepage I have found this to be my favorite so far - Thx for a new pic added to my screensaver!
Would you be up to post a picture of yourself holding a steem sign or sth. like that as verification! Unfortunately ID theft is not that uncommon with popular people or stunning pictures like yours!
And I would suggest you to check out @czechglobalhosts - He does daily picture challenges and your pictures would add tons of value there. On the other hand, you could win big upvotes, followers and SBD!
Resteemed you via @welcoming, my page for showcasing promising new users like you! Greets, @theaustrianguy!
Hello @theaustrianguy, thank you so much for the kind welcome! Really glad you like my photos (coincidentally I just shared that very image you picked out!) and appreciate being considered a promising new user! And thank you for the upvote and resteem, even though I don't know exactly what that means! :D
As for verification, I could post a photo, but how about you pick a number between 42 and 3532 and I'll include that somewhere in my Instagram post of Trent River Falls tonight?
I will be sure to check out @czechglobalhosts' contests!
Thanks again! :)
Perfect, lets say 77 ;)
Oh, good number!
There will be a #77ReasonsToLoveCanada hashtag in my post tonight. :)
:)
Canada is cool
Quite literally, especially in the fall! Coldest was about -27 Celsius.
Hello Dereck! Welcome to steemit! I invite you to read my post and upvote if you liked it. See you!
Thank you, @fidmary!
Welcome to Steemit @derekkind. You are right there is no shortage of beauty. Those two photos you posted says it all. Keep having trips, keep sharing those beauty for us to enjoy. Steem on!
Will do, thanks for the welcome, @invictuz! :)
hello @derekkind and welcome to steemit!
this is a great place with a great community .. glad to have you.
@ricmark
I'm looking forward to scoping this place out a little more. Thanks for stopping by and saying hi!
Hi Derek and welcome. I always admire an accomplished photographer and every picture truly does tell a story and often stimulate a memory. Thanks for joining what I believe is the best social media platform. Hope to see more of your stuff soon! Kind regards.
Thank you very much, @captainbob, I appreciate the welcome and kind words. I'll be sharing more photos very soon!
Welcome to Steemit Derek, great to see another fellow Canadian ! Great photographs there !
Likewise! And thank you!! :)
Welcome Derek! Can't wait to see all the photos from your trip.
Thanks, Casey, nice to see you on here as well! :D
Welcome to steemit
Thank you!
Welcome to Steemit, @derekkind! As everyone else has been saying here, you have some very stunning photographs! It's been a dream of mine to capture moments better via photography, but sadly I don't know where to start. Anyway, I'm glad you're here in Steemit to share with us your works! You're going to do great! <3
Thank you, @cruziana, for taking the time to welcome me! As for photography, the best place to start is to simply take photos and be curious. Follow photographers whose style you like, analyze their pictures, ask questions and figure out how they made those photos, then try it yourself. Eventually your own style will develop. It may take a lot of time and a lot of work to reach a level of proficiency that you're happy with (I'm not there yet!), but there's no magic involved, and no harm in learning. Feel free to ask me questions here any time and I'll do my best to help out or at least point you in the right direction! Thanks again. :)
Oooh, thank you very much! I'll definitely keep those in mind! I know I shouldn't rely on equipment, but I think a major reason why I still can't learn properly is that I don't have a good camera yet. Once I get one, I'll make sure to ask you for help! For now I really make do with my camera phone, but I have to say that I'm pretty limited with it. Have you ever tried smartphone photography?
You're welcome! Yes, I use my smartphone now and then for taking photos when I don't have the DSLR handy, or when it's busy taking a long expsoure, but given that I usually have my other camera around, I don't use the phone much.
Regarding relying on equipment... as much as you hear "the camera doesn't matter", the camera DOES matter. Like you say, you will be limited by a smartphone's lack of options/lenses/sensor size, etc. (I think it's good to mention this because a lot of photographers hear "the camera doesn't matter" and so think they're a terrible photographer because they can't take amazing photos with their phone).
Whatever you own, know the limitations of your camera, whether it's a cheap smartphone or a top-of-the-line DSLR, and learn how to work around those limitations and still take the best possible images with whatever camera you have: depending on the phone you can probably get apps that will give you more control over your camera settings, over shutter speed, white balance and maybe aperture. You can tape your phone onto a tripod or some kind of stable support and use a timer to take better low light shots or to do long exposure and light painting. You can take HDR with your phone to increase the dynamic range in high contrast lighting, or shoot a pano and stitch the images together on the computer to increase the resolution. And all the while you'll be learning techniques that will transfer over to your next camera.
And just because you use a smartphone doesn't mean you can't practice the two most important aspects of photography: lighting and composition!
So yes, the camera makes a huge difference and you will love getting a camera with more control - then news doors will be open to you and you can try all kinds of new stuff! -, but you will appreciate the improvement far better once you've thoroughly maxed out the potential of the one you have in your hand.
Hope I didn't go on too long about that. I'm probably preaching to the choir. Anyway, best of luck! And yeah, if you have any questions, I'll be happy to help if I can. :)
This is great, I'm so grateful to you for sharing! I'm actually considering saving up for a new camera as early as now, but I'll definitely try maximizing my iPhone's features until then. When I edit pictures, I usually just tinker with the brightness/contrast, so I think I still have a lot of things to discover and try out. If you happen to have some suggestions on some good applications, I'd love to hear them!
As for lighting and composition, I'd definitely want to hear more of those from a successful photographer like you! I know practice is really the best teacher, but I know I'd also learn faster if I gather some first-hand tips and apply those to my own photos. I've tried learning the basics of photography before (e.g. aperture, shutter speed, etc) but it's been hard to apply them since I use my iPhone most of the time. :)
Thanks so much again! You're too kind for entertaining my questions! <3
Hey, no worries, happy to help out!
Hmn, I'm sorry I don't have recommendations for camera apps. All I can suggest is to spend some time playing around with different ones, referring to the reviews, looking for apps that allow you the maximum control over exposure settings.
Of course there are also apps for editing photos on your camera. Even Instagram has some decent controls. Again, not something I have experience with, but there are many options out there.
I hear you about having a hard time applying the basic technical aspects of photography without a camera that gives you control over those things. That will come, and you sound like someone who will have no trouble picking up the details once you have a camera that lets you. It will make more sense then. For now I would say look at other people's photos of things that you would also like to photograph. Lets say flowers for example. Look at the very best flower photos you can find online - 500px is a good place to find great images - and try to figure out what makes them great. Look at the lighting. Where is the light source located? Hard or soft light? Does the shadow play a part in the image? What about color(s)? How is the image composed? Is the flower in the center or off to the side of the frame, and why? Or for landscapes, look at the different times of day that photos are taken - why is a cloudy sunset with light breaking through usually prettier than noon on a cloudless day? Are there foreground elements leading the eye through the image and giving depth or is the composition flat, with patterns and shapes?
All just examples. The main point being that if you can develop an eye for reverse engineering photos you see online you'll slowly be able to teach yourself what works and what doesn't, and why. if that makes sense. And I promise analyzing photos is way more fun than dissecting a book for an essay. ;)
No worries, I'll do my own research and see which apps will work best for me! I really think I still have more to explore here in my phone. If you still edit or post process your photos, may I know what software you use? I might also try exploring them as early as now.
And thanks for the suggestion! I'll definitely look at -500px and see some photos for myself! I know this won't be an easy thing to master but I know it's going to be worth it! From what you said, there's actually lots of factors we have to consider even in just one photograph (from the lighting to the position). Maybe I can ask what you started to work on first?
I just read your comment and I can already agree with you that analyzing photos is much more exciting and fun! I can't wait to be able to take better photos!
Welcome to steemit, Derek! My friend is actually from Banff and her photos are always unreal! As are these! Keep them coming. Wishing you the best of luck with steemit!
Thank you, @yasminep! It is indeed a beautiful part of the country! I'll hope to share more of my photos from there soon. :)
welcome to steemit !!!
Thank you! :)
Welcome home. Amazing photography. I definitely will be traveling more this year in hopes of capturing such extraordinary pictures as well.
Thank you! And best of luck on your own journeys this year. :)
Welcome to the platform mate. Hope you have a good time here. If your ever in Northern BC drop me a line.
Thank you! Whereabouts in Northern BC? I went through there in October. :)
I am based close to the PG area. I have been in Canada for 14 months and will be here for another year probably.
Oh, nice! I take it you like it here then. :)
Its a beautiful country. I travel a lot so will move on eventually.
Not a bad way to travel, living in a place for an extended period instead of just passing through.
Sunrise at Two Jack is amazing. Great to see you here on Steemit!
Thank you! Yes, the sun defines the jagged edge of that mountain rather well. :)
Hey Derek, welcome on Steemit!
Your photographies look just awesome!
Looking forward to more of this.
Wish you a successful and great time here on Steemit :)
Thank you so much for the welcome! :)
Welcome! Beautiful images. Following!
Thank you!! :)
Awesome photos Derek, followed you to see more of this. I hope you will consider expanding your comments below into separate posts-tutorials here, to share your expertise with aspiring noobs like myself.
Welcome to SteemIt!
Thanks for following and commenting, @steemulator! I will definitely consider that in future - I'm not the best at writing formal tutorials, but it's never too late to learn! In the meantime, let me know if you have any questions and I'll see if I can help! :)
Welcome to the platform. I wish everything work out for you.
Thank you, and the same wishes to you!
Really love you work :) Lovely inspiration and motivation! Oh and I can't wait to hit up Canada in 2 yrs time.
Thank you again!! And I have no doubt you'll love it here. :)
The sunrise picture colors with those mountains are simply stunning to look at!
Glad you like it, thanks for commenting! :)
Welcome! Beautiful work. I would love to follow along on the tour!
Awesome! Welcome on board! :)
Welcome aboard. I think there is something in the water on the Island. You and scottdphoto are an inspiration.
Hehe, thank you! I'm not from the island but I'll take it as a compliment. :)
You are still an inspiration if not a BC'er.
;)