Elk Island Sunset

I slipped back through Elk Island earlier this week with winter shooting in mind.  We had just come out of a minus 30 deep freeze and minus 10 felt pretty good.  Obviously, a group of snowshoers had felt the same way as I found these tracks leading out onto Astotin Lake, around the island and back.  I wandered around shooting snow drifts, snowshow hare tracks and waited for the sunset while listening to the coyotes howling back and forth across the lake.  A beautiful end to what had been a busy day on the road.

Snowy Owls coming back south

  
The snowy owls have made their return to the south.   I spotted 5 last week from the Yellowhead highway between Vermillion and Lloydminster.  This top one looks like a juvenile as it still has it's flocked vest on.  The adults are just a fluffy white.

Evening flight....

  

Magpie's Disgust

This clearly looks like a case of avian discrimination!  Waterfowl! What about us Magpies? Feed me here!  Feed me now!

Christmas On The Square

Christmas On The Square
Downtown Edmonton at Churchill Square. Shop at the vendors from the 104 Street City Market and then photograph the lighting of the giant Christmas tree and fireworks.

Cyclocross - Mud, Sweat and Gears, Upcoming Event Oct 10 / 11, 2009

Anybody looking to shoot some photos for this season's themes of "Motion" or "Wheels" should make a trip down to Argyll Park in Edmonton , Alberta for the cyclocross races October 10 and October 11 2009. Races begin Saturday and Sunday at 9am.

Here are some of my shots from the UCI Jim Horner Grand Prix races on the Sunday in 2008. These were shot on my Canon XTI using my 18-55 IS lens. I was practicing my panning, trying varying effects of motion blur and generally shooting for a "Motion" theme challenge for the online camera club/learning group at the website therealdotin.com

I chose shutter speeds between 1/30 and 1/60 and panned(tracked the cyclist in my viewfinder) with the cyclist to get background blurring.

Panning is easier when the object is in a parallel path to you camera and moving at a predicable speed and path. The cyclists approaching directly toward you are harder to track and may be more suited to a different motion effect where the background is crisp and the cyclist has motion blur. Both techniques require a lot of patience and luck but can create pleasing images.

Remember to consider your background. If it is too bright or has too much clutter it may distract from your subject. You will see that many of my early shots from last year's event had poorly chosen backgrounds. I was happier with the results from the later pictures in the Mill Creek trails and the natural backdrop.

These shots are a mix of tripod mounted and hand held. Some of the motion shots were tripod mounted with the vertical axis locked for stability but horizontal axis free to allow the camera to swing and follow the cyclists' motion. I could also have used a monopod or collapsed my tripod legs together like a monopod for greater flexibility. Some reference sites that I checked suggested only hand holding the camera to avoid twisting yourself around the tripod as you pan.

These shots are not competition quality but I present them here to show you what you can expect from this upcoming cyclocross event. This year's course does not go down into the Mill Creek trails but stays mainly in the field and south valley. There appear to be stairs or more obstacles on the course this year requiring cyclists to dismount and carry their bikes in areas near the end of the course. I remember that the riders made 3 to 5 laps to complete the race so there are lots of photographic opportunities. As for mud - let's see what the weather brings.




Maps, course routes and race times are available at the website http://cyclocrossedmonton.com It would be worth checking their website for course map and practice times to get a feeling for the course, locations and lighting and chose your shooting locations before the races start. There is fairly free access to most locations but please watch that you don't interfere with the racers or become a safety concern.

Races begin Saturday and Sunday at 9am.

Barn Shooting

Images Alberta Camera Club held what has become our annual Barn Shoot this past weekend in the country-side north of Bon Accord.

Over 20 club photographers covered a route of old farms buildings where we had land owner permission to shoot.

Cameron Falls Trail

 
About 70 km east of Yellowknife Northwest Territoies is a short hiking trail to the spectacular Cameron River Falls.  This shot of one of the smaller offshoot streams of the falls was captured from down in the river valley below a large rock bluff.  Only dappled light made it through and illuminated this birch trunk caught in the maelstorm. 

Scenes from Yellowknife Bay, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

Daily commuters, Houseboats and kayaks in the bay.  I wonder how much the parking ticket will be?  Do they tow away?

Edith Cavell Meadows -Jasper National Park

We spent a weekend learning to photograph wild flowers with professional photographer Paul Gilbert earlier this summer at the Waterton Wildflower Festival in  Waterton National Park.  That has created an interest and new skills that have me exploring through the Rockies with a new view.  

Here are a few shots from the Mount Edith Cavell Meadows in Jasper National Park.  Don't be deceived by the term meadows, these are not flat by any means as you will see in some of this pictures. 

Marmots

We took a run out to Jasper National Park for the weekend and one of the spots we explored was Mount Edith Cavell, the Angel Glacier and the Edith Cavell Meadows. While climbing through the boulder jumble to get into the meadows, I came across this group of Marmots. They are about the size and build of a beaver and live in the higher altitudes of the mountains.

Another Early Morning

Staying on the early morning theme, I was once again out with the thermos of coffee in hand to catch this morning's fog. Taken at Hastings Lake just east of Edmonton, I waited in semi darkness with the sound of wings whistling around overhead but out of sight until I had enough light to capture these pelicans on a spit reaching out into the lake. Hastings Lake has a sizable pelican population and they are often seen in their serene glide and wave flight pattern. This group seemed content to sit out the fog.

Why I packed the alarm clock on vacation.

Why would anyone get up before 6am on their vacation? My answer lately has been "To catch the morning light".

When you're just days from the summer solstice, as we were in early June in Waterton National Park, that means getting up and rolling early. The sky just starts to show light about 5:45 and suddenly at 6 the sunlight is streaming across the prairie and straight in to the mountain valley. Luckily my wife shares my early morning obsessions some days and we were up and out chasing the first light.

Thank goodness we had prepared a thermos of coffee the night before!



Many balsamroot plants at the valley level had flowered in late May or early June and were starting to show to look pretty tattered by the time we were there in mid June. We were lucky to find this cluster in good condition and I wanted to shoot them from an angle other than our usual downward looking viewpoint. I was struck by the low angle sunlight striking these and had the advantage of both a mountain ridge and a glorious blue sky as a backdrop.

From Welch's Chocolate Store - Waterton

Many thanks to Welch's for access to the store one evening and to all those great afternoons on the side deck eating fresh pies and drinking great coffee after our photo expeditions. Oh, and did I mention the fudge? This is a MUST DO in Waterton.

Sorry folks, Photobucket has discontinued their musical slide show option. 

Here are a few of the images

Kid's In A Candy Store.

Welch's Candy Store.


Double click to expand and pan this banner.


During a recent trip in to Waterton National Park we discovered a true gems in Waterton village. Welsh's Candy store - a mere block from the town campground - is a wonder that needs to be explored.

A first glance it is a busy little store offering ice cream and shelves of fudge and confections to visitors from all over the world. A short tour of the shelves reveal confections imported from the British isles, Germany, Switzerland competing with fudges and chocolate produced in store for the attention of visiting for sweet tooths.



Here's a first draft of it's glory.

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff101/skinny_skier/waterton%20candy%20store/?action=view¤t=05062324.pbr

Portrait of a Queen

The Edmonton river valley, with it's system of parks and trails, offers many photo opportunities. Over the last year, I have returned to the river just below the downtown to shoot the Edmonton Queen Riverboat.




Riverboats were an important part of Edmonton's history providing both passenger and cargo passage up and down the river. Today, the Edmonton Queen Riverboat provides Edmontonians and visitors a chance to relive a piece of our history with short cruise through a portion of our river valley. The 'Queen' often plays host to weddings and schools and corporate events. It isn't unusual for a Saturaday afternoon to have a wedding booked for both afternoon cruises.



In the early years of the last century, riverboats carried party goers upstream as far as Big Island for an evening of dining and dancing. The river depth doesn't permit the Edmonton Queen as far a range but they still have a evening Buffet dinner and cruise.



These photos were taken over the last year as a photo study of the riverboat. I have just completed a project with the Provincial Archive of Alberta where I worked to recreate an 1896 riverboat photo taken by the prominent Edmonton photographer Ernst Brown. That photo along with some 20 others by members of Images Alberta Camera Club will be part of an exhibit at the Provincial Archives starting October 2009.





I hope to post both the original photo and my own but I am awaiting copywrite approval from the Archives before I post the original photo.

Fawns of Waterton National Park

Middle of June was fawning season for the mule deer herd in Waterton and we had lots of opportunity to take pictures. We missed seeing any being born but several, like these, are only an hour or two old. Twins were common and we even spotted a few triplets.


These two were born about an hour ago. Mother is keeping them down and hidden in the grass if I move at all. I was tucked in behind a tree and sitting still for 10 minutes or so before she let them venture this far.


Once the fawns have had a few hours to gain their legs, the doe will move them from the birthing site to another secluded area. If we saw a single doe, not attached to the herd, grazing then her fawns were usually stashed in the grass or a little stand of shrubs nearby where they were out of sight.


During out time in Waterton, we had cougar warnings posted in the town site and there was a cougar that had come in from the surrounding mountains that had killed a few fawns. People living in Waterton have chicken wire fences around their shrubs and gardens to keep the deer out and the same under their decks to discourage the cougars from stashing their kills which they will later return to finish eating.

North to Alaska - Part 1 Grande Prairie/Dawson Creek

A recent work trip saw me based in Grande Prairie, Alberta from which I then traveled out to various locations. While some consider these road trips an inconvenience, they present many new and interesting photographic subjects. I often travel early in the morning and late in the evening to accommodate business hours. This also means I travel during the golden hours of photography. Here are some shots of a day trip out to Fort St John British Columbia, up the first 100 or so miles of the famous Alaska Highway.

During WW2, in 1942, the Canadian and US Governments combined forces to build a roadway to link Alaska with the rest of the USA.

The Alaska Highway stretches from Dawson Creek, British Columbia (Mile "0") to Lower Post in the Yukon covering about 885 kilometres (595 mi.) It continues from Lower Post and crosses the Alaska border at "Mile 1221" (1965 kilometres). The original finishing point of the Alaska Highway is in Delta Junction, Alaska at "Mile 1422".



Dawson Creek is named after the watercourse of the same name, itself named after George Mercer Dawson who led a surveying team through the area in August 1879; a member of the team labelled the creek with Dawson's name. I believe this sculpture is depicting George Mercer Dawson. It is mounted in the traffic circle right at mile zero and points onward to the west.

My next post will include some early morning shots of fog on the river banks at Taylor BC and ... the original timber curved bridge on the old Alaska Highway.

Spring Shadows

Well it may be spring on the calendar here in Alberta the only sign of that here is the strength in the light. Finally we are getting some real heat from the sun.

Shot east of Smoky Lake Alberta, the snow amongst the trees and the warm shadows here bring back memories of springtime spent trudging through the bush hauling pails of maple sap back to the sugar shack to be boiled down into maple syrup.






The old car below was abandoned in the farmyard above this stand of trees. Again, it was the play of the shadows that caught my eye. I want you to look at the car's shadow on the ground - what is odd about it. Maybe you are faster than me but after a few minutes I realized that someone had chopped the roof out of the car and that is why the shadow includes the complete window line; something you wouldn't normally see when the sun was so high in the sky.

Fort Smith Fire Department at "Northern" Store

Wednesday March 4 2009, Fort Smith NWT

I have some pictures of the fire trucks and crews in front of the Northern store in Fort Smith Wednesday night this week. Around 5pm, staff evacuated the store and the fire department arrived to investigate the cause of a fire alarm. As of 6pm, there was no apparent cause and they were still investigating the cause. I am told that there have been ongoing renovations and these may have caused the alarm.

Higher quality jpeg and raw images are available

Edmonton Silver Skate Festival Outing

Images Alberta Camera Club, http://www.imagesab.com/imagery/, had our February outing at Edmonton's 19th annual Silver Skate festival.

This was not an organized 'meet and shoot' but an informal come-and-go day. That was a good thing as some members attending Saturday shot from before the 9 starter's pistol kicked off the 25 km speed skating marathon until the fires' dying embers after 9 pm. That was just Saturday. Sunday's racing included the Winter Triathlon, the 50 km speed skate marathon as well.

Throughout the day, events spread across the ice of Hawreluk Park to include other family fun activities. Volunteers staffed jam can curling and Sledge hockey trials. Royal Glenora skate club had figure skaters performing routines and clowns entertained young and old alike with their icy antics.

Off-ice family activities included baking bannock over an open fire, maple syrup candy trough, horse drawn sleigh rides, a toboggan hill and a kinder-castle playground with colourful ice blocks frozen and peeled from old plastic milk jugs. Cross country skis or speed skates were also available to try for free

With the Silver Skate festival, was Edmonton's newly launched 'WinterLight' festival. Lighted snow sculptures, intricate cut and sculpted fire pits, singers and the Vibe Tribe's fire dancers prepared onlookers for the finale of the evening, the '24 Hours to Ignition' competition. Local artists had been given a pile of willow branches, a bale of straw, a roll of twine and 24 hours to create their masterpieces.

All were sacrificed to flame thrilling the evening crowds.

I tried to capture the spirit of the day in my wanderings and you can sample some of the day's events here at my blog. If you wanted a day of varied shooting technique and style, this was THE EVENT to attend.

If you missed this outing then join us March 21 for this winter's final weekend of 'WinterLight'. Many of the same performers will be at Churchill Square as we say a final fairwell to winter and usher in spring. I hope to see you there.

Here's their link.....http://www.winterlight.ca/joomla/events-overview/illuminations-mar-21.html