As some of you may be aware, My computer motherboard fried. I just had the hard drive copied to my portable while the unit returns to Dell. All the shots from Newfoundland at the beginning of the month were on that unit. So I'm on the old computer till that one returns.

Here's a few from the trip. Most of my time there was on business but I had Saturday June 7th to myself to do some shooting. It was foggy as H E double hockey sticks outside Saint John's but it lifted a little to get some decent shots.

Newfoundland has a few mountain ranges that in some areas are high enough that the snow caps don't melt through the summer.

The fog was blowing over the mountain tops from the ocean like a thick blanket and I thought it looked cool. hard to capture the real effect though.

I found this mountain river along the route to Saint Johns from Port aux Basques (890 Kms). It was nearing the end of the day and I had finished a call in Grand Falls (the town) and here I was again in a suit jacket climbing down this rock face with camera and lens bag in tow. The shoes survived but the pants are in the bin with a few tears. The rock face to the waters edge was about a 50-60 foot drop with only small foot and hand holds. Here's a look up the gorge. When I left the car I thought I'd just walk up a path for 10 minutes to the falls. Nope, that ended and it was thick brush. Perfect time of day to shoot but I should have carried the tripod (after changing cloths).

No possible way to cross over to the side that is in the image where the hike would have been easier. But it was fun!. I was laughing to myself that when they find my body somewhere downstream, they'd know I had lost my mind.

But I think it was worth it.



On the way back from the Waterfall This little guy was waiting on the path.


Oh yeah I said Icebergs. To give you some sense of the size, I spoke to an older fisherman who had taken his boat there the day before. The berg was grounded on the bottom and hadn't moved in several days. He took a depth sounding beside the berg and it was stuck in 120 feet of water. Icebergs only have 1/10th of their volume above the water line. What's left of this one is still big.


Here's wide view (DA 18-55mm with CPL @ 18mm, a lens I still enjoy using). The first shot was with the FA*300/4.5 and Tamron 1.4 TC (great combo Btw)


One of Saint John's Harbour. This is fort Amherst at the harbour mouth.


An old shipwreck along the coast

Another Berg with a fishing boat coming out of a bay near Saint John's. This was with the FA*300mm f4.5 and a stacked set of the Tamron 1.4 and Pentax 1.7 TC's. The image is compressed quite a bit since the stacked TC's gave me 714mm in total. The cliffs were about 6 kms from me.


There's only one way to get home and it's not by car!! It's actually a fishing shack but the cliff behind is a straight drop of at least 150 feet.


That's Signal Hill in the background. It's the place where Marconi made his first transmission across the big pond. This site had only the one cross in a tiny cemetary. The hill where the tower is is about 250 meters above the sea.


Very typical Newfoundland coastline. They don't nickname this place "The Rock" for nothing. There are many areas where you wonder how the trees grow. My next trip will be up the northern pennisula and the trees there all lean away from the wind. A full grown spruce would normally be 15 feet high near the coastline.


A little bay with a berg in your front yard. The Island in the upper left is the place where all the Northern Puffins breed. You'd stand there and see literally a few thousand birds fly in and out. I didn't have time for the boat tour but will someday when the weather is clearer. These birds are beautiful and often photographed. They have the most colourful faces with these funny sad little eyes. An example is here: http://graemedavis.blogspot.com/puffin.jpg


And another. This one was cool. I had to hike out about 2 Kms to get to this spot and as I approached the berg split. You can't imagine the sound. It's like taking a shipping container full of rocks and dropping it 2 story's on concrete. Incredible. It happened twice that day.


Down town Saint John's has a statue of the typical Newfoundland Dog. These things look like small bears in real life. About 150 Lbs and all fur. The small dog is a Labrador male which is normally about 60-80 lbs and about the same size as a Golden Retriever.

[a a i b]

Wow -- great series. Thanks for sharing these.

[G M Fude]

Really amazing shots of a place about which I knew nothing. Now I'm a little less ignorant, thanks to you Peter. It looks like a fabulous place to visit.

I'm also impressed at how well you avoid the tourist clichés; those are all really fine photographs.

[Peter Zack]

Thanks a a i b, Glad you enjoyed the shots. It's a wonderful place to shoot and someday I'll just go there for a week with a camera and no work agenda.

[Peter Zack]

G M Fude, It really is. I go over a couple times a year. The place is steeped in history. Saint John's is one of the oldest cities in N. America at over 500 years. The viking discovered the place somewhere over 1000 years ago. There is a Viking village I have yet to visit on the west coast. The island is about the same size as California. But it's a bit colder!! Summer is only about 2.5 months long and then it's a short fall and back to a wild winter. Next peice of land is Greenland when heading East.

Thank you very much for the comments. It's appreciated.

[monochrome]

Peter: Great images! Viewing is learning in my book - photography learning, geography learning (a history prof I once had spent the greater part of a semester relating geographical features to imperial motivation) and just life learning.

What kind of life must a person/family/business have to need to build that fishing shack? How long does one live there? Is life there like mine was when I once was a deckhand, then 2nd Mate, on a river tow on the Mississippi? (30 days on the tow, 2, 6-hour watches a day, nothing to do but sleep between watches; then 30 paid days ashore). Or does one just boat home every evening? (If so, then why the shack?)

Aside from being visually beautiful, your photos have stories to tell - and I get to conjure both sides of the conversation!!

[Peter Zack]

Thanks Paul. As for the fishing shack, these wouldn't be used for living (that was a joke) but for working. They would use it to store the gear and a place to clean or dry fish. I suspect the part of the dock that is falling to ruin would have been used to dry or salt Cod. In the old days, they would fillet the Cod and lay it out to dry in the sun. Many of these coves are like Fiord's and the water is 100+ meters deep right up to the edge of the cliffs. The mountain ranges in Newfoundland were said to be higher than the Rockies at one time but much older and now much more worn down. The fishing shacks are not as common now but still around if you hunt for them.

Your deckhand experience is familiar to me. I once worked on an offshore tug towing ships from Halifax to Europe. Then 3 years doing the same type of shifts on an offshore oil rig. There is nothin at all like 20-50 foot seas in a winter storm on the North Atlantic.

[Sailor]

Wow, Peter - these are lush! I'm particularly taken with the B&W shipwreck and the blue fishing shack. Very nice - I'm sure you're proud to have captured these images.

Jer

[gokenin]

great set peter still mean to get out on my trip one summer up through Maine and Nova Scotia. Wondering any luck with the 28?

[Peter Zack]

Wow, Peter - these are lush! I'm particularly taken with the B&W shipwreck and the blue fishing shack. Very nice - I'm sure you're proud to have captured these images.

Jer

Thanks Jer. It's is 'lush' in some spots. It was a fairly good day shooting. I wished that there was some sun though. The Icebergs have an intense blue colour in the bright sun. The shipwreck is one of the favourite images from the day.

Did you ever get a copy of "the Godforsaken Sea" It's a great book and I'm sure you'd enjoy it.

great set peter still mean to get out on my trip one summer up through Maine and Nova Scotia. Wondering any luck with the 28?

Gokenin, If you are ever up this way, make sure you get in touch before hand. I travel the entire region for work and can make a ton of suggestions on places to see. Make it 2 weeks as it's a big area. Some will really remind you of Maine.

The 28 is great. I can't believe I'll admit this in public but I sold my 31mm Ltd. I like the Sigma. It was used in a couple of the waterfall shots. It might not be quite as "3D" as the 31 but still an excellent lens and will suit my style more than the 31mm. I specifically wanted the speed for event and wedding shooting. It will do a fine job of that.

[Nels]

Wonderful shots and narrative to go along with it. I too am a little less ignorant thanks to your post. Have a great day.

[monochrome]

Your deckhand experience is familiar to me. I once worked on an offshore tug towing ships from Halifax to Europe. Then 3 years doing the same type of shifts on an offshore oil rig. There is nothin at all like 20-50 foot seas in a winter storm on the North Atlantic.

Don't I wish I got my first Pentax before I graduated college (then I could scan some slides of the magnificent 6" swells where the Missouri meets the Mississippi )

[J.Scott]

Love the tour of "The Rock". Thanks for sharing Peter.

Hey, that blue house looked familiar! I took a picture of that same fishing shack from the docks of the Quiddy Viddy Brewery. You must have taken a short walk up the road for your picture.
Isn't St. John's great? I'd go back in a heartbeat!

[khardur]

wow, Peter that shipwreck image is awesome. My other favorites are the first iceberg shot you posted, and the fishing shack... love the coastline pics too... *drool* I'd love to have a few days there.

I really have to do some traveling soon, these are places that I may actually be able to hit at some point in the next few years.

[Peter Zack]

Wonderful shots and narrative to go along with it. I too am a little less ignorant thanks to your post. Have a great day.

Thanks for having a look Nels. I always enjoy visiting Newfoundland. The people are great and the landscape is totally unique.

Don't I wish I got my first Pentax before I graduated college (then I could scan some slides of the magnificent 6" swells where the Missouri meets the Mississippi )

You crack me up!! 6 inches eh! We went through a winter storm on the rig (same one that the Ocean Ranger sank in) and everyone had to hammer the ice off the sides and deck. It was -30C in the wind and the rig was in jepordy of collapsing under the weight of the ice. Nothing like 90 Mph winds and 50-60 foot seas in December. Even a weatherproof K10D wouldn't survive that.

Love the tour of "The Rock". Thanks for sharing Peter.

Hey, that blue house looked familiar! I took a picture of that same fishing shack from the docks of the Quiddy Viddy Brewery. You must have taken a short walk up the road for your picture.
Isn't St. John's great? I'd go back in a heartbeat!

Jeff, Yes that's the same fishing shack. It's funny how prepective can change an image. from your shot, it doesn't look that hard to get to. If I had used a wider lens, you'd see the second level of higher cliffs/hills that leads down to the waterside cliff. I was up on the top of the opposite hill looking down. I was told I was about 225 feet above the waterline where I was shooting from.

It's a special place without question. Well worth the visit.