In early September, my daughter and I took a short trip to Comox Valley on Vancouver Island. It was the first time either of us had ever visited the area. We stayed at the lovely Kingfisher Oceanside Resort and Spa which was just the perfect spot to relax. We explored, spent time at the spa, enjoyed the ocean and the beautiful gardens at the resort.

I will always find serenity by the ocean. Each morning during our stay, I would get up to check what the sunrise looked like. The first morning we were there, I got up and wandered down to the beach in front of the resort with my camera gear to wait for sunrise. It was absolutely serene sitting there, mostly by myself, listening to the loons as the sun rose. After a while a seal popped his head out of the water close by and off in the distance I could hear the otters playing. At this point I texted my daughter to get out of bed and come enjoy it with me. She spent hours beach combing and exploring the beaches like a little kid.

The sunrise did not disappoint that morning and I sat in awe of what I was seeing.

The Serenity Project is a collaborative photography project featuring images that bring a sense of peace and calm. Please continue the circle to to see what has brought her serenity this month. Iris Nelson Photography in Arizona, is up next. Click the link to see what serenity looks like for her this month! Thanks for being here.

Earlier this year I received an e-mail notifying me I had been accepted to be a participant in the Travelling Burnside Project, organized by Lensbaby . Lensbaby is a company who creates camera lenses that give special creative effects to your images. The Burnside 35mm is their newest lens and they were giving photographers around the world the opportunity to spend a couple of weeks photographing with the lens before sending it on to the next participant. I was thrilled to have this chance to try out the lens!

I received my copy of the Lensbaby Burnside35 in mid June and set out to shoot a variety of subjects and genre with it.

The Burnside provides a swirl effect to your image, which is especially effective when there is a lot of texture in your background. Your aperture setting will dictate how much swirl is created. On top of this, there is an effects slider that lets the photographer add in camera vignetting to the image! You can decide how much of a vignetting effect you add by how much you adjust the slider. The slider also adds a pop of brightness to the center of your image. The bokeh and rich colours created by this lens were fantastic!

I started my shooting with a variety of foliage around my own yard.

Wild roses in the late afternoon sun - look at that swirl!!

The Burnside 35 really brings the focus to your subject!

I took it on a trip out to the Canadian Rocky Mountains to see how I liked it for landscape. The effects aren't as obvious, but it still provides a painterly softness to the edges.

My daughter was willing to be my subject so I could try portraits with the Burnside. Now this is where I really struggled with the manual focus! I really fought to get sharp focused eyes. In hindsight, I needed to use a smaller aperture and create a larger focus area.

I love the 35 mm focal length of the lens - it makes it very versatile for so many genres of photography.

I thoroughly enjoyed my experience with the Burnside35 lens. I could definitely see adding it to my collection of equipment to use when I felt the need to get creative. The Travelling Burnside Project was such a great way to really get to spend some time learning the lens and understanding it's capabilities.

November 2018 Serenity Blog Circle - An Early Morning by the Ocean

The Travelling Burnside Project

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All photographic images are copyrighted to Lori McLellan