Guy Ridgway Photography

The whole point of taking pictures is so that you don’t have to explain things with words – Elliott Erwitt

1 People: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, New York, USA 2013.08.17

This photographic image captures a painting of a painting, "Nasturtiums with the Painting 'Dance I", by Matisse.
Now if I were to photograph my photograph of that painting of a painting ...

2 Ontario: Grist Mill 2, Lang Pioneer Village, Keene 2016.04.30

Very early morning, Jupiter in Ophiuchus, Mars in Scorpio, and my hands freezing. But I find I'm attracted to the solitude of early morning photography.

4 Still Life: Chalice with Grapes 12017.04.28-30

This image was completed over two days with techniques taught and inspired by Harold Ross. Please feel free to reach me through my contact page if you'd like me to convince you how much you need one of Harold's unique weekend workshops.

Harold Ross Light Painting Workshop, Pequea, Pennsylvania.

5 Still Life: Still Life With Rose 2017.10.18

This image was chosen for the Peterborough Photographic Society's signature photo for the 2018 SPARK Photo Festival. It appears in the festival's 2018 catalogue.

6 Still Life: Oil Can Parade 2017.10.27

Or maybe, “Oil Cans with Interloper”, referring to the antique torch.

The chest used in this image was owned by Caroline's grandfather, who joined the British cavalry in the Boer War, misrepresenting his tender age of 15. The old English script on the front of the trunk was almost certainly in his own hand. We were unable to distinguish the initial from an H or an R, Ralph being Caroline's father and her grandfather being Horace. Caroline discovered a faint label on the side of the box during the photo shoot that resolved the mystery, "Central South Africa Railways, Passenger's Luggage, Durban".

But don't tell me about the reasons for the 2nd Boer War. Or any war. Don't tell me about the technology of war. Don't tell me about the heroics of war. Or the righteousness of war. Tell me about the dispossessed. Tell me about the concentration camps. That's where I'll find the meaning of war.
(GHR commentary added November 11, 2017)

7 Still Life: Remington Rand 1946 2017.12.15

The key item in this composition was owned by Caroline's father. As an electrical engineer he used this machine when he was an associate professor at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, and later to write technical reports for the National Film Board of Canada in Montreal. Although not apparent from the photo, several of the typewriter keys were custom installed with engineering symbols.

The paper copy is a reproduction of Allison Ridgway's short story, "The Model Citizen". Allison, my daughter, is a journalist and graduate of Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario. Her story won first prize for senior fiction in the 2011 Lakefield Literary Festival.

The unopened Haig & Haig Pinch bottle, also once owned by my father-in-law, is likely from the 1970's. The glass contains Aberlour A'Bunadh scotch. I left the arrangement alone for a few days in case I felt the need to re-take some of the images for the final result. The studio is now infused with a fine scotch aroma. I hope it's permanent.

8 Scotland 2018: On the Road to Skye, Glengarry Viewpoint, Invergarry 2018.03.10

This is the image I chose for the lead-off to the Scotland gallery. It was the only one I came away with that captured the expected mood of a five-day workshop we were about to enjoy under the expert guidance of Colin Jarvis. It's a mood that this Canadian photographer was led to expect of the Scottish Highlands, one of heavy fog and drizzle on good days interspersed with occasional periods of gale-force winds and battering horizontal rain. The images you'll find here give the lie to that Scottish weather stereotype. Our experience was one of exploring Skye under pretty much ideal conditions - dramatic clouds on demand, clear vistas, not much rain to speak of, and comfortable temperatures. And that was in early March! Maybe we were just lucky. Perhaps we’ll see something quite different in northern Wales when we regroup with Colin in March, 2019.

9 Scotland 2018: Victoria Street, Edinburgh 2018.03.22

Was Victoria Street J. K. Rowling's inspiration for Diagon Alley in the Harry Potter stories? It's not far from The Elephant House, where the struggling author spent part of her early Potter writing period. In all honesty the photo was taken before I knew about the possible association with the famous series of fantasy novels. More notably, the snapshot was taken in late afternoon, March 22, well before sunset. The night-like effect comes mainly from exposing for the sky's highlights rather than for the foreground scene. Don't tell anyone, but that's neither the moon nor the sun in the sky - it's simply a somewhat enhanced brighter area behind the clouds.

10 Scotland 2018: The Great Court, British Museum, London 2018.03.26

Definitely not Scotland, and rightly belongs in the England gallery, but it marked the near-end of a very satisfying trip to the UK and I felt I should include at least one image from the British Museum. The Rosetta Stone would have been nice, but it always seemed to be surrounded by a throng of visitors (nice people, I'm sure, but as a polite Canadian I would have been reluctant to push my way to the front of the display - I generally leave that behaviour to small children of entitled parents) and it was behind reflective glass (of course), which would have presented it's own photographic challenges.

11 Ontario: Trent University, Peterborough 2018.05.20

Nope, not my image. Caroline took this one and I was intrigued by the composition. I feel I can take some credit, though - I messed a bit with the original.

But there's one curious aspect to this image, as I see it. When I stare at the clouds just to the right of the structure's corner closest to the centre of the photo, I believe I see them slowly drifting to the right. It's a subtle effect when I view it on the smaller screen of my 15" Macbook Pro, but a more distinct impression when I see it on the 27" iMac. Caroline sees it on the iMac, as well. I have no idea what mechanism is involved here, but I suspect it has something to do with the strong blur I've applied to the clouds. Two primary elements of the scene, i.e., the foreground structure and the background clouds, appear to be located in very distinct planes with respect to one another to a much greater degree than they do with the un-blurred clouds. This might lend the mind to expect the distant cloud forms to literally float behind the obviously stationary structure. In fact, I have more trouble seeing the effect in the unprocessed image with the un-blurred clouds. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

12 Ontario: Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto 2018.07.08

This was shot during the 57th annual Toronto Outdoor Art Fair, a venue that hosts nationally and internationally acclaimed and, as yet, unsung Canadian artists and photographers. One of the best features of the exhibit is that the artist is always present beneath the white canopy of their tent gallery and are always happy to discuss how they arrived at their particular styles and the techniques they use to create compelling images.

13 Ontario: Corn Moon Ascending, Trent University, Peterborough 2018.09.23

Here’s one impression that almost made it into the portfolio.

What I felt was lacking here was a more powerful composition (the tree in the lower left is a distraction), although it's not the overriding issue. Maybe it's too stark or dystopian for this portfolio. But what the selected image has going for it is the complementary colours: orange and blue (RYB color model), along with a great composition.
The trick I’ve found for capturing this type of image is to do it the day before the actual date of the full moon. You have a better chance of capturing some ambient light for the foreground details because the sun is just below the horizon, i.e., you’re in the “blue hour“. With this foreground structure, however, I had to wait until the moon was about 5 or 6 degrees above the horizon to make the composition work, but by that time it was already becoming too dark. The one that made it into the portfolio was taken from a somewhat different viewpoint and earlier in the evening for better ambient light.
Alignment of the moon with parts of the building structure was predicted and achieved using The Phtographer’s Ephemeris and the Android app, Clinometer, by Plaincode.

14 Ontario: Achray, Algonquin Provincial Park 2018.09.13

This is a photo by my friend Ray Scott, from a truly dark site deep in the interior of Algonquin Park, entered via the eastern park border. I’ve included it here after processing I completed on the original RAW image. I was unable to accompany Ray on this one-week camping trip because of a back injury. I’m very much looking forward to visiting the same site the following year with Ray to try to capture more images of the night sky from this unique locale.
The image includes the following objects: Mars, Saturn, and the asteroid Vesta (magnitude 7.3, extincted to 7.96 according to Stellarium).

15 Still Life: Algonquin Leaves 2018.10.16

After what seems to me a long hiatus during our latest renovation phase, I finally found my new studio in working shape and it feels good to be back in the still life game.

These days I'm spending more time contemplating what makes a good composition and gradually getting back into the light sculpting groove to try to create compelling images. Because I'd been away from the process for some time, I felt I had to capture significantly more than the usual number of light-painted shots to combine as layers in Photoshop CC to get the final result. That's my way of hedging my bets so as to reduce the likelihood of having to re-shoot all or portions of an artifact.

As for the composition elements, all pieces but the fabric, seashell, and leaves were acquired from antique shops, with the exception of the anniversary clock: that item was presented to Caroline's parents as a wedding gift in 1956. The fall maple leaves originate from what, for me, is a rather special place in Algonquin Provincial Park.

Still life photography has led me along paths I would otherwise never consider. No one could have convinced me two years ago that very soon I'd gladly take up "antiquing" in search of the ideal vintage candle holder or set of old eyeglasses, or especially hunting for material at our local fabric store, but there you have it.

16 Still Life: Hunter Street Books, Peterborough, Ontario 2019.01.23

This was my first commissioned piece, created for Michelle Berry, proprietor of Hunter Street Books, Peterborough, since October 2016. The key elements are an Underwood 11 typewriter and eight of Michelle's books.

Michelle's depicted works are:

Collections of short stories: How to Get There from Here, Margaret Lives in the Basement, and I Still Don’t Even Know You

Novels: What We All Want, The Prisoner and the Chaplain, Blur, Interference, and Blind Crescent

Missing is her novel, This Book Will Not Save Your Life, which won the 2010 Colophon Award and was long-listed for the 2011 ReLit Award.

Michelle acquired the Underwood 11 typewriter from a local antique store. Even with its serial number, 4303348-11, I've so far been unable to determine an accurate vintage. I'm assuming that the -11 refers to the carriage size and is unrelated to the model number. For example, an Underwood No. 6, serial number 4503048-12, has a 12-inch carriage. All I know for certain is that an 11-inch carriage was introduced on the model 3 in 1927. Based only on its appearance, I might suspect this one is close to a 1935 Underwood 6 #4332462-11.

The above image is the cover of one of Michelle’s new collection of gift card holders available for in-store purchase.

17 Ontario: Snow Moon Climbing, Ganaraska Wind Farm, Kirby 2019.02.18

The actual full moon occurred the next day, February 19, at 10:53 a.m. EST, but I needed to capture it the evening before, so as to get the foreground properly adorned with the setting sun's glow. In any event, this February's Snow Moon occurred close to the perigee point in the moon's orbit about the earth, which made it the largest and brightest full moon of the year at 14% larger and 30% brighter than a full moon near the apogee point.

This composite image comes from taking enough photos to provide a series of moon positions passing behind the rotating turbine blades.

The temperature was about 18F (-7.8C), and with an average wind speed of 12 mph (19.3 kph) made a wind chill of around 5F (-15C), which just made the experience that much more interesting for gloveless hands. Gusts were around at 25 mph (40 kph). It felt cold. Especially after taking 63 shots. Of course, none of the photos with any part of the moon behind a turbine blade were of use. The blades were turning at what I thought must have been top speed for these conditions. The shooting location was determined using The Photographer's Ephemeris app, then by adjusting my distance from the wind turbine by tramping through deep snow across a farmer's field. I recall thinking perhaps I should just stick to the warmth of a still life studio.

18 Comet, meet Venus 2020.07.14

Comet NEOWISE taken at 4:14am from Bewdley, over Rice Lake. I arrived around 3:20am to get started. Seven photos combined to make this panorama. All the stars are real, enhanced only for brightness. Venus appears among the Hyades star cluster, to its right, in the constellation Taurus. The comet is in the constellation Lynx, heading into Ursa Major (Big Dipper). The crescent Moon was off the border to the right. This is the time when the interloper can be seen in the morning and in the evening on the same day. The morning shot, although a sleep-disruptor, makes for a lovely sunrise glow along the horizon. So peaceful that time of day. Planets visible in the Bewdley sky this morning: Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and of course, Venus.