Guildwood Park -- October 2011

Guildwood Park in Scarborough is one of the favourite venues for wedding photography.  In fact, our wedding pictures were taken there, so it's kind of a special place for me.  We try to visit it at least once a year, but because it's quite far from where we live, this has not happened.  We did visit it last year, but unfortunately didn't stay long enough to take many pictures.

The Bluff -- Canon 1D Mark III & EF 200mm f1.8L. Click for larger.

The park is beautiful in the autumn, if you can catch the right time when the leaves are changing colours.  Last year it was perfect timing, but when we got there today, there wasn't much colour.  I think the strong wind in the last two days has blown off most of the leaves, as many branches are bare.  Still, walking in the woods through the very large park is a nice change from sitting in the office all week.  

Fall Leaves -- 1D III & EF 200mm f1.8L @ f2.8. Click for larger.

I decided to bring my Canon 200mm f1.8L with me, since I have not used it on the 1D III since I got the camera.  I was not disappointed with the lens, nor the 1D III. They are perfect together, other than being very heavy.  I shot handheld and carried the combo for about an hour, and it was bearable.  The image quality of the lens makes carrying all the weight worthwhile.  The 200mm f1.8L has one of the nicest bokeh of any lens I have used.  Even stopped down, the bokeh is still amazing.  At wide open, the razor thin depth of field makes any object in focus like it's cut out from thin air.

Dillon -- 1D III & EF 200mm f1.8L @ f1.8. Click for larger.

The nicest thing about the lens is that it's perfectly usable wide open at f1.8.  From f2.0 on, it won't get any sharper stopping down, just more depth of field.  My only worry is that if the lens needs service, there are no longer parts available to fix it.  Hopefully mine will work until the day I can no longer handle its weight.

A rose on tree -- 1D III & EF 200mm f1.8L @ f1.8. 

You might be wondering why there is a rose on a tree in the park, as pictured above.  Guildwood Park seems to have a lot of trees planted in memory of people, and this was one of them.  

It was a nice visit.  I certainly enjoyed myself.  Well worth the drive.