Brian Atkinson Photographer

End of the Day on the Bay of Fundy

brian — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 00:57:16 +0000

Here’s a shot of a herring boat, the one that picks up the herring from the weirs and delivers it across the Bay of Fundy to the Connors Brothers in Blacks Harbour. Great light and a great lens. Ah yes, the lens, well, I didn’t even shoot this shot. Nick, one of the guides on the Quoddy Link out of St. Andrews, did with my Nikon D3S and his Nikon 300 mm f.4 which he kindly lent me to try out. I shot a ton with it. Loved it and with the combination of higher ISOs and low noise on the D3s, this lens makes a great hand holder. Thanks Nick- I ordered mine yesterday.

A Time to Celebrate at Burnt Church

brian — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:28:01 +0000

Last weekend was the Burnt Church or Eskinuopitijk Nation Pow Wow. A great celebration and gathering with dancing, drumming and spirit. I was lucky enough to be there and tried to focus on the colour in the dancers’ costumes. And there was lots of that. I used my trusty 85 mm a lot to get in close to the designs. Funny most of the time I shoot with a 35 so using an 85 feels like a long telephoto to me.

Reversing Falls

brian — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 23:28:18 +0000

There are two great ways to see New Brunswick’s Reversing Falls, three now that I think of it (a Zip-Line has just been added), one is the Jet Boat that rides the waves, a thrill a minute for sure, and a quieter look, where you can stay warm and dry and still get a feeling for the power of the tidal change. Still the Jet Boat does make a great platform for shooting and Mark and I used it to get this photo of his other boat- the dry one. A long lens helped compress the image and give a dry-lander some idea of the power of the falls.

Dancing With Dophins

brian — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:42:55 +0000

Nothing like a day out on the Bay of Fundy with dolphins riding the bow of your ship and giant fin whales blowing nearby to light up a summer. Autofocus jumps the number of keepers, but just being there is what makes the chances happen. And funny, after chasing whales for three hours, it was their smaller relatives that caught the mystery for me.

Beekeeping in New Brunswick

brian — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:53:04 +0000

There’s no better way to begin the day than with the sound of song birds filling there, but, well, a close second could be a beehive as it starts to warm in the sun and the workers begin to make there non-stop voyages to the local fields. Add some some smoke, a dark background and side-lighting and it is quite the buzz for a photographer. NBee is up in Charlo and a great place to taste the results of the bee’s work.

Potato Harvest New Brunswick

brian — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 00:16:27 +0000

This shot from the now defunct New Brunswick Potato Break was shot early on a frosty morning during the potato harvest in New Brunswick. Back in 1999 and for decades before New Brunswick schools in Carleton County would shut down so students could help bring in the potato harvest- but those days are long gone, along with the potato barrels the students used to fill and the extra cash they had in their pockets. It was quite a family affair with whole families working the break together. Another piece of Canadiana fades away.

Cool Blue Jazz

brian — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 13:34:39 +0000

Just finished a great shoot for Revolution Strategies and Tourism and Parks working with a great crew and a director and cameraman from Los Angeles. Let there be light could have been the theme for the assignment. For this jazz shot we used a room from a 1950s Legion type room. Bare and old. But Jim knows how to light up a place and with a bit of help from a fog machine we were away to the races. Well good lighting and the new digital cameras from Nikon that let you shoot so close to darkness.

Giro d’Italia

brian — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 18:38:03 +0000

Even though we saw a lot of rain in Italy, a lot, there were sunny breaks as well for us and for the rider of the Giro d’Italia, second only to the Tour de France among bike races. We arrived in Porto Recanati five hours before the bikes and got to drive down their entrance route- quite a thrill in itself as the route was already being festooned with pink banners and road markers. But once we had a run through the booths and shops, sat on the beach and had some seafood, we staked out a spot where we could get a good view of the live animal that is the peloton. Only I didn’t have a clue what blinding whir it would be. Helicopter crews, sirens and horns alerted us to its arrival and I started shooting, but before I could take a deep breath they were gone, only the sounds of spinning tires and electric colours stayed with me for a few minutes after their passing- a long wait, a fast rush by, but worth every second of it- 45 minutes later they looped by again for more of the same. The second rider in this pack is Basso who finally came out on top to claim the Giro. One very happy Italian.

Italian Sunset

brian — Thu, 27 May 2010 19:13:56 +0000

Well, just a quick note from New Brunswick- not Italy. Just got back home last night from three weeks in Italy. What a trip, what a country. Sure it rained a lot, but those moments when the sun came out were pure magic. This photo was taken with my little pocket camera, the Lumix LX3. Beautiful camera to play with and a great trip camera. More to come- once I catch up on all the piles of office work that has found its way onto my desk. Stay tuned.

Dancing Through Disaster

brian — Sun, 02 May 2010 21:23:04 +0000

This photo of Sudanese refugees was taken in Asosa, Ethiopia on an assignment there for MSF. We were working in one part of the camp when I heard singing and some kind of a rattling sound, so picking up my camera I ran for about five minutes and saw this group of women singing and dancing there way down a dirt path. People told me that two or three times a day the women would suddenly start to dance and sing- an amazing attitude when you think about where they were and what they had been through. Life goes on.