Canadian Geographic Photo Contest

Although I would have rather have won the grand prize, I'm pretty happy with honorable mention!

Canadian Geographic Annual Photo Contest

Some photos of downtown Toronto

Got the photo bug today and had to get out and take some shots. Unfortunately it was the coldest day of the year! (-22 C). Because of the cold, I only took 3 shots, and all of them turned out great.
The shot with the pigeons took me by surprise, while I was setting up, about 30 pigeons flew at me from out of nowhere. Luckily I was able to get a few shots out of it.

View my website at www.mcsweeneyphotography.com

Belfountain Conservation Park

Did a little trip to Belfountain Park just outside of Brampton.  I've always wanted to see this place after seeing photos of the park.  What is so interesting about this park is that it's a barren desert in a forested area right next to the suburbs...weird! 

Support others in the blog community

Hey all,
A friend of mine has a travel blog that is great, check it out!

Tiny's Adventures

Cape Cod Road Trip Day 9

And that's the end of our trip.  8 hour drive back to Toronto, with a stop at an outlet mall for some shopping.

Cape Cod Road Trip Day 8

Finished the Cape Cod portion of the trip and have one last destination.  Fenway Park, Boston to watch Red Sox vs. Yankees!  And it did not disappoint, the stadium was awesome.  It felt like stepping back to the early 1900's, it's an experience everyone should have.

Cape Cod Road Trip Day 7

Day 7 in Provincetown brought in great weather, so we took advantage of the sun and went whale watching.  I'm not sure what other watching tours are like, but this one was incredible.  Within an hour of our trip we saw dozens of whales.

After whale watching, and becoming somewhat sea sick, we hit land and made our way to Cape Cod National Seashore.  John Kennedy designated this area a National Park, and I would say is one of the best spots in Cape Cod.

Cape Cod Road Trip Day 6

After overdosing on coldfx and multivitamin pills, we were off to Provincetown.  Half way there my girlfriend's car decided it had had enough and broke down.  Luckily my newly purchased GPS unit I bought in Boston proved its worth and located a VW dealership right around the corner from where we were.

Now that our car is in the shop, and with a rental to take us up to Provincetown, we were off...in the pouring rain.  With that in mind today is a write-off.  On to the next day.

Cape Cod Road Trip Day 5

Day 5 saw me develop a nice bout of the flu (which is still lingering).  So we took it easy and drove around the country side.  As luck would have it, we found a private beach, that was really cool, and I was able to take one of my favorite photos of the trip.

Cape Cod Road Trip Day 4

From Boston, my girlfriend and I finally arrive in Cape Cod.  We first make camp in Falmouth, as I recently learned, it's pronounced "falmuth"(Thanks Dad!).
From Falmouth we took a quick trip to Martha's Vineyard.  I have to say I was a little disappointed, the town really just felt like another tourist trap.  The photo below shows us leaving the dock to go to Martha's Vineyard.

As much as I was disappointed, we still had a great time.  We ate at a favorite restaurant of Bill Clinton's in Oak Bluffs called Jimmy Seas, and listened to some cool east coast music just up the street.

Cape Cod Road Trip Day 2, 3

We're now leaving Lake Placid for Boston.  Along the way we see tourist site called The Ausable Chasm.  The Grand Canyon of the East. 
Since we were in a hurry to take a ferry to get into Vermont, we just walked around the beginning of the park.  Looked pretty cool though.

After a few detours and ferry rides, we arrived in Boston where we stayed for a few days.  While in Boston we caught in the sites and watched the musical Wicked.  We also enjoyed some beer and oysters!

Cape Cod Road Trip Day 1

We started with a 5 hour trip from Toronto to Lake Placid, with beautiful fall colors along the way.  A nice surprise, since in Ontario the leaves haven't even started to change.

Once we arrived in Lake Placid, we enjoyed a drink in this cozy little bar.  The bill came with glasses, in case you forgot yours!  Naturally, as I'm getting old I felt the need to use the glasses.

Mountain Moon Shot

In Bolvia near the border of Chile, this is the highest mountain range next to the Himalayan range. One of the coolest places in the world!
www.mcsweeneyphotography.com

Fun at the Ex!

My latest photo was taken at the Ex in Toronto.  Being the cheap man that I am, I had to sneak in along the fence to get this shot.  The shot was taken with a Canon 30D and was a 5 shot HDR.

Tips on being creative

If your want a quick bit of motivation check out this link from one of my favorite photographers.

http://www.stuckincustoms.com/10-principles-of-beautiful-photography/

New Canon 60D

Can't wait for the new Canon, it will be a nice upgrade from my Canon 30D.  September 20th can't come soon enough!

Along the country side

On the way to the drive in in Lindsay, amazing clouds rolling in.

My must have photo books

Well, I've listed my equipment, now I'll list my books that help me in the digital darkroom:
1. Photography the Art of Seeing - Freeman Patterson.  This is one of my first photography books.  Freeman does a fantastic job of explaining how the camera works and how to be creative.
http://www.freemanpatterson.com/books.htm

2. A World in HDR - Trey Ratcliff.  The future of photography is HDR, and Trey is the pioneer of HDR.
http://www.stuckincustoms.com/hdr-book/

3. Photoshop Lightroom2 Adventure - Mikkel Aaland.  Great compilation of photographers explaining how they use Lightroom
http://oreilly.com/photoshop/excerpts/lightroom2-adventure/chapter-9/section-91.html

With these 3 books, you are well on  your way of taking and printing great photos!

Flowers in a small garden

www.mcsweeneyphotography.com

A little about my equipment

People ask what camera gear I use, and when I think about it, there is a lot that goes into taking a photo. Here's a list of everything I use:
Manfrotto Tripod - a must for the sunrise and sunsets
Canon 30D camera body - camera's are so good now, you can get great photos on a basic camera

Canon 100mm Macro Lens - my favo...rite lens, it opens up a whole new world of photography
Sigma 18mm-200mm Zoom Lens - this is my standard lens for everyday shooting
Sigma 10mm-20mm Zoom Lens - an extreme wide angle lens, great for interiors and landscapes

Once I've taken the photo, now I need software to process the image. This is a list of the software I use:
Adobe Lightroom3 - a great powerful program, easy to use and can do almost every kind of editing you would require
Adobe Elements 8 - for the rest of the editing that Lightroom can't do
Photomatix - this is a fantastic program, it creates HDR photos. This is the future of photography, check out www.stuckincustoms.com for great examples.

Lastly, I use an Epson R1800 printer, a great semi-pro printer that can do a little bit of everything.
That's everything from start to finish!

Welcom to my blog

In the coming days I will post events, photos and everything else related to my photography.  Enjoy!