Skinny Skier Press

Wanderings of a freelance photographer

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Carnival Ballons - Cologne Germany



In January 2008, I had the opportunity to visit Germany where we were attending a trade show in Paderborn. We had researched with tour books and online and decided that we wanted to visit Cologne,but we had missed one very important fact: the day we arrived was the first day of Karnival, a celebration of abandon on the last days before the pious living of Lent. Think of it as Mardi Gras but colder and with more clothing. The cathedral was closed for the duration as the area became alive with song and drink. What were we do but join the crowd!

Karnival crowds in Cologne Germany during Karnival















One of the more elaborate costumes to be seen.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Market Day - Paderborn Germany

Market day in Paderborn Germany is Wednesday and Saturday. This is a local butcher's truck on the market square for the Farmer's Market. The beauty of these are they are self-contained and refrigerated. At the end of the day, they simple wipe everything down and close the windows and doors and roll away.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

A visit to St Andrews NB










A visit to a yarn and knitwear shop in St Andrews New Brunswick. I was struck by the color and texture of these skenes of yarn against the cork floats strung in front of the shop.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Used Cars

In October I went out to Stan Reynolds' Salvage Yard in Wetaskiwin with Images Camera club for a photo shoot. Over about 5 decades, Mr Reynolds has collected everything from old wagons and threshing machines to jet aircraft. Many of his vehicles became the start of the Reynolds Alberta Museum. See the attached link.

http://machinemuseum.net/KMain/RAM%20History.htm

When I saw the truck with the old advertising board, I knew I had to take the picture. I have altered the original with a faked blue sky and posterized the colors.


Some of you have seen another edit I did on the original photo using a the 'threshold' option in my editor. It converts light and dark areas into a inked appearance. Some pre-editing was required to clean up the background and adjust shadows to create this 'drawing'.

Friday, January 9, 2009

Mallard over Ice


Not every shot works out. I think the key is to look at your pictures and see what you like about them and where to improve. I love the motion and the reflection on the fresh ice, it was only a day or two old. Unfortunately, the light was too low and my shutter speed was down to 1/25 at ISO 400. I would repeat this shot either earlier in the day for more light or try again with a higher ISO.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Moonlight runner


Shot in early September at Peace River Alberta. There is a paved multi-use trail along the top of the levy. The levy was constructed several years ago to provide an additional 20 feet of height to the river bank as protection against spring flooding by the Peace River.

Shot from a tripod at ISO 400, shutter speed set to 5 seconds and underexposed by 1/3 to keep the moon from washing out. The runner actually 'froze' during the exposure to prevent motion blur.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Sunset at the farm


I shot this sunset driving back into Edmonton about 4:20 in the afternoon at the end of December. It was a cloudless afternoon and the sunset was looking like it would be colourless - until the last minutes. This was shot from the roadside using my 70-300 lens at 170 to zoom into just the farm yard closest to the barn and the trees beyond.

exif

Tv(Shutter Speed) 1/400Sec.
Av(Aperture Value) F7.1
Metering Modes -
Exposure Compensation 0
ISO Speed 200
Focal Length 170.0 mm

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Playing at Edmonton Ski Club