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Cap Gaspé
50 megapixels is a lot and it's rare that you'll often
shoot a scene that will truly utilize them, in this
case, David uses them all for a surprising shore...
Cap Bon, Forillon National Park, Gaspésie, Quebec, Canada. 05:00am. 25 July 2012
DAVID NOTON
Pro travel & landscape photographerDAVID IS AN AWARD-WINNING Canon photographer
with more than 30 years’ professional experience.
During his career David has travelled to just about every
corner of the globe. In 2012, Canon invited David into its
Ambassador Program by designating him an Official
Canon Explorer. Info and photos at http://www.davidnoton.comhere are references
on the park
information boards
to Land’s End, but
I’m dubious.
Looking to sea from
here on the cape I know more
of this huge country is out
there; Nova Scotia lies some
500km to the south east,
while Newfoundland is due
east. But it feels like Finisterre, I’ll
give them that. And the name
Gaspé does come from the Mi'kmaq
word gespe'g, meaning 'end'. Land’s
End or not, there’s no doubt this is
one evocative headland, with an
interesting history to boot; the
Breton explorer Jacques Cartier
landed in Gaspé Bay in 1534 to
claim the land for France. No
wonder then that Gaspésie is often
described as the Birthplace of
Canada. But I guess the
descendants of the Mi'kmaq and all
the First Nations would have
something to say about that.
The following 5am start still
feels luxurious; I love this time of
year. At Cap Bon Ami the blue-hour
light is, well, blue, with no chance
of any pink twilight due to the
thick cloud out over the Bay of St
Lawrence. But the view towards
Cap Gaspé is imposing, and the
monochromatic light has an
appealing steely quality. What’s
more we have this location all to
ourselves, apart from the inevitable
seals of course. There they are,
bobbing in the waves, watching us
watching them. Wendy’s got her
binoculars out; she’s in heaven.An hour later I’ve photographed
ducks on the rocks and I'm framing
up a composition utilizing my TS-E
17m m lens. T he light is st i l l
blue-ish and devoid of colour, as is
the rock, pebbles and water. In fact,
I think this shot will be as perfect
an illustration of the power of both
minimal and monochromatic
colour as I can imagine. Camera
wise, I have the 50.6-megapixels of
my Canon 5DS R. I’ve brought two
bodies to Quebec, this one and the
mirrorless EOS R. The latter I’m
using for video and hiking, the
former for landscapes.
A couple of hours later I’m
ÀQLVKHG:H·YHEHHQKHUHDIHZhours, and still we’re alone with
the seals. Despite the tempting
prospect of bacon and eggs we’re
reluctant to pull ourselves away;
these moments of feeling at one
with nature are precious. An eagle
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paddle, waves crash. I’m struck by
how pristine this wilderness is too;
there’s not a trace of litter on the
beach. Parks Canada do a great job
protecting places like this.
Two weeks later I’m back in my
digital darkroom in Milborne Port
editing the Cap Gaspé shoot. On
my screen I have this minimal
colour image, and I love it. It’s rare
these days for me to go for such
long exposures; the shutter was
open for 13 seconds, but in this
case, I think it works, as it’s all part
of the grey, minimalist look.
There’s not a trace of colour in
the frame, yet it would be a
different image were I to convert it
to black and white. Viewed on my
Dell 8K monitor, the quality is
amazing. This monitor shows all
the detail of the image – the
exquisite tones. Forget Instagram;
this is what’s it’s all about, seeing
an image like this up big. This is
why I shoot with a 50-megapixel
camera. This is why I use quality
glass. This is why I take such care
with camera stability, focus point
DQGGHSWKRIÀHOG$QGWKLVLVZK\
I use an 8K monitor. I’m going to
have to print this one large. Maybe
it'll even make the wall.