Canadian fine art landscape and wildlife photography blog featuring the work of New Brunswick photographer, Tracy Munson.
Bald Eagle Painting
I’ve been learning how to make digitally hand-painted artwork from my photos, using brushes in Photoshop. I had reached a point where I wanted to challenge myself, using a less-than-ideal reference photo, more like the cell phone photos I might get from a client to base a painting on.
I chose this photo of a bald eagle because I had missed the focus and it was quite soft around his eye, making it necessary for me to go in and paint all those fine details, the tiny feathers around his eye, and the striations in his iris.
Here is a GIF showing the before and after of the painting.
I photographed this fellow at the Mountsberg Raptor Centre, in Ontario. Years later, I learned from a friend who used to volunteer there that every spring, he and the other male eagle he was housed with would build a nest and try to incubate a rock in their enclosure, which is both sweet and sad. The Mountsberg Raptor Centre is an educational facility, and the birds that live there have either been raised in captivity or cannot be returned to the wild due to injuries.
Prints of this painting are available for purchase here.
CBC New Brunswick Article
A couple of weeks ago, I received a message from CBC New Brunswick on Instagram. They had featured some of my work in the past, now they wanted to know if I’d like to do an “IG takeover” …
This beautiful sunset at my beloved Anderson Hollow Lighthouse was one of the images featured in the CBC New Brunswick article.
A couple of weeks ago, I received a message from CBC New Brunswick on Instagram. They had featured some of my work in the past, now they wanted to know if I’d like to do an “IG takeover” where they’d share a few of my images throughout one day, along with some of my photography tips. Of course, I said “yes”, and sent off some images and captions. Well they loved my tips so much, next thing I knew, a reporter called and interviewed me for a full article on their website! What an honour! Here is the article:
Capturing nature: 5 tips from an award-winning photographer | CBC News
Tracy Munson may have discovered her passion for photography later in life, but she's always had a love of animals. Before she became a full-time photographer, Munson was a veterinary technician in Ontario for 25 years, so pet photography was an obvious transition for her.
My 2018 National Image Competition Scores
Again this year, I have 3 images accepted into the Professional Photographers of Canada National Image Salon Competition (and "Silent White" received a Merit). Not quite as good as last year, but still a huge honour/achievement!
From the PPOC website:
"One of the cornerstones of the Professional Photographers of Canada is the PPOC Annual Image Salon. This juried exhibition showcases the best of the best. Within this Salon Exhibition, you will find the most creative, the newest and most cutting-edge, and finest technically executed images produced by our members...
From those submitted images deemed worthy of inclusion in the final Salon Exhibition, those which stand above the rest are awarded scores of Merit, and the small number which are deemed to be truly exceptional images are awarded the prestigious score of Excellence."
SANDHILL CRANES
A few years ago, a coworker posted some photos of Sandhill Cranes at her farm on facebook. I was gobsmacked - I'd had no idea that these huge, striking, scarlet faced birds could be found in Ontario. A year or so later, camping on an island near Killarney in Georgian Bay, we heard the eeriest sound, like dinosaurs flying overhead and then, there they were through the fog: a small flock of Sandhill Cranes, just visible through the mist on the island across from us. I ran to my tent for my camera and quickly changed to a telephoto lens, ran back to the shore, set up my tripod, secured the camera, bent to look through the viewfinder AND....the skies opened and let loose a torrential downpour. By the time it let up, the cranes were gone and did not return during our time there.
Two years later, my photography buddy and birding guru, Natalie Robertson texted me: did I want to go see if we could find the Sandhill Cranes that the birding forums reported near Cambridge, ON? Well, hell yeah. We set out with our long-suffering partners/sherpas in tow and came back very happy with our captures of the day!
BIRD WATCHING IN POINT PELEE, ONTARIO
Every year, we say that we are going to go bird watching at Point Pelee National Park for the Spring migration and this year we finally made it. I got some great photos and would highly recommend it as a destination for anyone who enjoys photographing birds. Here's a travel guide to bird watching in Point Pelee that I wrote for the Improve Photography website.