This project was pretty scary at first, and then at second too, but once I got into it like most things it became fun and rewarding.  Skip Wolf had commissioned me to take pictures on his coastal property over the course of a year.  The photos would be compiled into a hardcover coffee table book hand bound by me with handmade (not by me) papers and book cloth for an anniversary gift for his wife Karen.  The taking of the pictures was of course great fun, especially on the coast.  I got a little carried away with it and ended up with a 120 pg book with a couple full spreads.  The scary part was that I would have to figure out how to print on double sided paper and line everything up just like a real book.  Talk about self publishing.. .  . how about self printing, layout and binding? 
    I have made my own journals using the same techniqies but just with blank paper so I bypassed the whole computer/software/printer fussiness thing.  Which was nice.  After much trouble with said printing software and the trial and error of lining things up. I finally got it down and now it will be much easier to do more of these elegant and archival books for people. 
Here is a bit of the construction process.

I was happy with the way it turned out.  I used Moab Kayenta paper which I will be more careful with in the future sewing it.  A really nice, double sided,  matte  paper that soaks up the printer ink.
Here are some more pictures of the finished book.

My latest project was to take some shots for Jamestown Distributors 2014 spring catalog of boat building supplies and tools.  I submitted a shot for the interior spread but lucky for me, Harry suggested we take some pictures some fine afternoon of him sanding the hull of his boat when I told him the news.  This one turned out to be the cover.

      On a whim I decided to Facebook Ryan Seth of the Annapolis Running Shop in Maryland, USA for some tips on trail running in the area.  Here is their FB page as well.  I wanted to take some more East Coast pictures of trail runners and thought this might be an opportunity.   Ryan rustled up some savvy trail runners and we headed out to Patapsco Valley State Park just to the east of Baltimore, MD.  Check out their site as their PDF maps are printable and highly detailed.
  

     I was a little anxious about this trip because I had arranged to meet some folks to take me to the local trails, one of whom was a local running shop owner.  I didn't want to disappoint. I had never done this kind of trail running photography before, but I figured it out as I went along. 
     I wasn't sure about carrying my gear either.  I have an F-Stop Guru (which is great by the way) but it's too big for trail running.  I wish F-Stop made a smaller minimalist pack with hydration with room for only one pro DSLR and a nice wide angle lens.  Here's to hoping.  I ended up using an old Mountainsmith fanny back, (thanks Yves!) with the shoulder strap to carry my D800 with Nikon 14-24mm fatty wide angle, some spare batteries and snacks.  I added stability to the whole package by using an F-Stop Gatekeeper strap around my front to pull the Mountainsmith shoulder strap snug.  It did surprisingly well.  I have tried a LowePro toploader for this but it is too bouncy on the front. and not made for the back. 
  

     This lumbar pack that I used is 17 years old and still going strong.
I am not sure what model it is but it most resembles the current
Day TLS.
     You can see the strap that came with it on my left shoulder.
On the Mountainsmith website there are smaller ones that are probably more appropriate for running.
    

A frontal view with the F-Stop Gatekeeper around my lower chest to pull the MS shoulder strap snug.  I look like a regulah strap hangah cap!  It works though. 

Any other ideas out there for trail running photographers?

      At the beginning of our run I ran in back as any newbie to an area would do in a group.  When I came to some pretty sections I would holler out to Ryan and Josh to come back and run it again.  They were sure nice about it but I began to see that this was not ideal for either one of us.  It breaks up their run and I get less shots because I feel guilty asking them to stop all the time. 
     After a bit of this I decided to run with my D800 in hand with the lens cap off.  Quite scary really but the terrain was not too technical.  Once I did this, I ran ahead of them and whenever I came to a sweet spot, I would stop and shoot a bunch as they went by.  I would then have to pass them again which I am sure was a little annoying, but perhaps not as bad as having them run up the same hill twice.  So although I was a little nervous, I was able to get some great shots without having to ask the subjects to "do it again". 

Thanks again Ryan and Josh for coming with me, enduring my calls for reshooting pictures and worse, running that hill just one more time!  I had a great run and hope to come down again sometime.  It was such a treat for me because of the 40-50 F weather and no snow or ice.  The trails were in great shape as well.

A little late on this but wanted to put some pictures up from the ice storm on our side of the bay.  From what I saw in St. George, there was more ice on the trees there than here in Mascarene.  There was even less ice down in lower Letete, perhaps because it was closer to the water and warmer.  What ever the impact, the landscape sure was sparkley for Christmas. Hope your holiday was merry and bright.

I have made the commitment to get out at least once a week and take pictures around the area and so the first place I went was The new Pea Point Preserve in Blacks Harbour, NB.

Here is a link to NB Nature Trust that has a good page with map links:

http://www.naturetrust.nb.ca/wp/?p=3240

I usually try to arrive before dawn to catch that magic light.  I was a little late when I got there on the morning of Jan 29th but got some great images anyway. There was barely a breath of wind that morning which made things quite pleasant.  It had been so cold and windy for so long I bundled up quite warmly, but after scrambling around on the hard, grabby, volcanic rocks along the shore I had to shed some layers.  Not only was getting fully back into photography invigorating and fun, but exploring the beach and climbing on the ledges was great too. I had on my  La Sportiva C-Lite, (my favorite) trail running shoes on with the sticky rubber so I felt especially nimble as I was able to get firm grip on steep dry rock.  Fun!

I will post more pix as I process them to this Blog,

My website: www.bryangagnerphotography.com under >places>new brunswick.

And on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/GagnerCreative.

     Here is another shot from Pea point.  Just trying to get a bunch of different angles to give a sense of place.  There are a lot of bumpy ledges to explore at low tide on the island and the mainland portion of this preserve.  It would be great to have a short trail along the shore and back through the woods some day.
     I actually met one of the lighthouse keepers at the St. George Craft fair and he said that the trail in the photo was made by a previous keepers dog that would chase seagulls.  The dog was intent on not letting any birds land on the island and ran back  and forth, barking to defend his turf.  I had thought it was just folks looking at the view.  Who knew?
   

At the end of the lighthouse road in Beaver Harbour is a great little beach with views of East Head and the Wolves to the south and east.  I have been here many times with family and friends  just soaking up the sounds of waves, after lurching up onto the shore,  finding their way back to the ocean through rounded stones and bedrock crevices.  It is a gift to look across this harbour  and pretend you are truly in a wild place even though it is at the end of a dirt road.  Only one or two houses can be seen up towards the head of the bay.

Yesterday, 1/20, we had Eben and Louise over for the day and, like usual went outside to see what we could all do because it was so warm.  There was plenty of snow on the ground and it was perfect for building with because it was wet and heavy.  I was to go to Saint John a little later and so was prepping for my trip when I came out of the house and saw Sadie and all the kids pushing a huge snowball. And so I had to help as well.  We ended up with a huge snowman 7' tall!  We had to roll his body up on planks and it took Sadie and I to lift the head.  I even got charcoal from the woodstove and cooled it in the snow before the kids put on buttons and a mouth.