Alight at Night

Selected photos from Upper Canada Village

A recent work assignment took me to Upper Canada Village and it’s Alight at Night holiday event. If you’ve lived anywhere in Eastern Ontario, you know of Upper Canada Village. This event is different. 1 Million lights! Clark Griswold would be jealous.

I like technically complicated photography. It’s a challenge. Tripod, timed exposure, wide lens, cold weather, cable release, gloves, and so on. Once I figured out the right settings on the trusty Nikon, I was ready to go.

This is one of my favourite photos. The reflections in the water, the glow of the ambient light, the silhouette of the trees in the background and foreground. I resisted processing this photo more than straight from the camera, but as I discussed in a previous post, it worked.

Here is another. I only fixed the crop a bit. Love the red glow off the red brick.

Here is another. Yellow farm house, lots of colourful lights.

Photographing blue and purple lights is more challenging than reds and yellows. There is a technical reason for that. Blue light has a less intense wavelength which means its intensity is less. Purple is better, but that’s not saying much.

Again… blues and purples.

This portrait shot has a nice reflection cast of the church. I like symmetry and straight lines. It projects order and organization.

More purple? Must have been a sale on at the hardware store.

This photo, is not like the others. UVC has a Victorian-era Santa Claus, which I prefer. This photo captures a moment between Santa and a visitor. Different challenge for photography. No tripod, higher ISO, faster shutter speed, different depth of field, all set in the blink of an eye. Thinking on my feet for this photo.