Dreaming of Nova Scotia

I have found myself rather busy with the commercial side of the biz this past week and haven't had time for a new post. Though i did throw a little of that work (concerts, events, restaurant tours, etc) into this blog before i really am trying to reserve this space for my personal work since it gets the least amount of viewing.
I spent some time stressing the virtues of shooting close to home recently, but today we are going to take a little trip abroad. Summer has just begun and i am already looking forward to my annual visit to Nova Scotia in September, so i thought i would share a few of my favorite images from that ongoing project. One day, like most of my personal projects, i hope to turn this into a book.

©David Sorcher 2010

If there is one thing that comes to mind when i think of Nova Scotia it is boats. Shipbuilding, fishing vessels, sailboats, tankers...they are all an integral part of the landscape. I was raised by the sea and have always had a fascination for all things nautical, even if i have found myself landlocked for the past 15 years. I am especially drawn to the wrecks, old boats in ruins whose voyages long ago came to this final resting place ashore. In some ways i suppose that is simply an extension of my love of things in decay and how nature works it's transformational magick.  

©David Sorcher 2010

I try to keep in mind the three "C"s, color, content and composition, whenever i'm out shooting. Nova Scotia provides a wonderful color palette, from the brilliant hues of sea stones by the shore, to the bold hues used in the painting of the local structures. I like my color relationships to speak to the viewer.  

©David Sorcher 2010

And then sometime the sky just sucks away all the color leaving only the graphic appeal of monochrome. This is early morning along the LaHave River. I made no color adjustments to this image, this is just as it looked to the eye. The only color that remains is the small red buoy barely visible in the shadow of the opposite shore. 

©David Sorcher 2010

Of course the color always comes flying back at you in all it's bold glory. I have often been asked about this one in regards to it's intensity. I do use a polarizer when i shoot this kind of stuff almost religiously. In fact i kind of feel lost without one in these conditions. That combined with this late afternoon light is the key to the saturation here. But i have not jacked these colors up in photoshop. In fact i had to desaturate the reds a bit to pull back some detail in the folds of the laundry. I think we all know how digital tends to over saturate the red channel. This is my in-laws house in Riverport and my wife's laundry btw. It just happened to be the day for the red wash. :-)