Year End Hike

Another year has come to a close seemingly all to soon. We celebrated today
with a hike at Elk Island National Park and a lunch of cheese, crackers and
smoked sausage cooked over the fire in one of the trail head warming huts

Here's wishing everyone a Happy New Year and all the best for 2012.   

Eye Shadow

What is a convalescing photographer to do, housebound,  on a sunny winter day?   Well, how about playing with shadows? 

This image was created while working with a needle and thread and looking to an "eye" themed shot.   After multiple closeups of the eye of the needle that just lacked interesting angles and light, I came up with this image. Bright winter sun streaming through the patio window created a strong shadow of the needle and thread on a plain white piece of paper.  I viewed the shapes from multiple angles until I found this one that really accentuated the eye and that I felt was visually interesting. A little playing with the path of the thread to create 'S' shapes against the linear needle resulted in this shot which I titled Eye Shadow.

Playing With Fire

A recent club competition was on the theme "Playing With Fire".  It reminded me of this firey sunrise over a small farm pond last fall.  The morning was just cool enough to create a light fog in the low laying valley.  The whole area came alive just as the sun crawled over the horizon.

A day with the horses

WILD ROSE EQUINE RESCUE AND SANCTUARY

 A morning spent with the horses just at sunrise a couple of weeks ago was a reminder that we wouldn't hold off winter for much longer.  A week of freezing temperatures at night has set the horse troughs and the little pond at the back of the field. 

The biggest challenge of photographing these guys was to keeping my distance.  I was almost always greeted and nuzzled for attention.

Night Watch

A 30 second exposure of the night sky from The Crossing Resort at  the border of Grasslands National Park.

Nothing fancy for equipment. A simple radio remote to trigger the shutter of my Canon XSI (although the self timer would have worked to but I didn't want to run in the dark) ,a 18-55mm lens at f3.5, shutter at 30 seconds, iso 1600 - and of course a tripod mounted low to the ground to give more presence to the sky. That isn't smoke about the cookhouse, that is the Milky Way! 

  A quick dash over to the light switch then standing in the door for 10 seconds before dashing back to kill the light created more blur in my profile that I intended.  Lesson learned.  Next time I will have an assistant or use a remote triggered flash to light in interior.

Set The Sky Free

Grasslands National Park in southern Saskatchewan is a dark sky preserve.  It's relatively remote location far from large cities and the conservative use of night lighting from surrounding neighbors create fantastic clear night skys.  We traveled there at the end of August with misgivings as we watched the sky for any sign of the last two days of rain giving way.  Incredibly, just before sunset, the clouds cleared and gave us an incredible clear sky.  The new moon set just after sunset and we were left to enjoy the show.

We camped on the northern border of Grasslands at The Crossing Resort which is where I found this corral fence line to give a foreground to the wonder of the sky.

Night Falls In Camrose

After an evening photographing at the Canadian Balloon Championships in Camrose last Friday, I stopped at Mirror Lake, one of my favourite spots in Camrose, for this long exposure shot. 

Image was exposed for 20 sec at f16, ISO 800, 18-55 lense at 18mm.  The long exposure smoothed waves on the water and the larger  aperture created the star blister from the street lights.  A September evening and the temperature was still almost 20 - perfect end to the day!

Canola Zephers

The canola is in bloom across the prairies and although the fields are wet and and muddy there are some great images to be found.  Here I was working with my shutter speeds to capture the wind blowing through the plants.

This is a composite of two shots and shutter speeds shot using my Canon XTI on a tripod.

The wind motion was shot at a shutter speed of 1/16, aperture of f22 ( both for depth of field and to reduce the shutter speed).  ISO 100, 18mm, ISO 100, and using a  graduated ND filter to darken the sky. 

This image was layered over the same scene shot with a shutter speed of 1/100 , f5.6, 18mm, ISO100 focused on the plants right in front of me.  I made this my base layer.  I then added the wind motion exposure on top and masked  off the area to the far left and a little on the right edge to allow the detail of the canola stems and flowers to be a fixed base against the blur created by the wind and slow shutter speed.

Shooting In The Rain

With all of the rain we have had lately, ( sorry but I think I brought it back from Winnipeg), I dug into by camera bag of tricks and pulled out my rain sleeves.  This was shot out at Cooking Lake, Canon XSI. ISO 800, Canon EF 75-300 lens tripod mounted.  The sleeve slips over the camera and lense and has a small opening where I clip the eye piece over the viewfinder.  There is an opening at the bottom so I can get my hand inside to handle the camera controls.  Everything stayed dry.

You may be able to see the rain drops on the lake.  I loved how the flat overcast and the rain allowed a clean canvas behind these two birds.

2 of my photos place in Waterton Wildflower Photo Contest

I recently found out that 2 of my images from Waterton  placed in the 2009/2010 photo contest from the Waterton Wildflower Festival.

False Hellebore - 2nd Place B&W

 I took this False Hellebore photograph after taking the "Flowers In Black And White" workshop with professional photographer Paul GIlbert.  This was one of three workshops I took during the 2009 Wildflower Festival.

Previously. when I thought about flowers, I traditionally thought colour.  Once we started to work in B&W, I had to put more empasis on lines,  shape, texture, pattern and contrast to create my images.  


The False Hellebore leaves have such great lines and curves for the eye and I created many images that only focused on them.  I liked this image because I was able to find three separate elements in terms of lines,patterns and sizes.


This was photographed using a Canon XTI and a 75-300 lens zoomed into the bank to isolate these elements form the rest of the growth.

Spotted Saxifrage- HM Close-up

 The Spotted Saxifrage is actually a very small flower - probably less 3/4 of a centimeter across.  

I seem to recall this particular one being a challenge to photogragh.  I had two close up filters screwed on to the end of my Canon 18-55 lens.  I had the feet my very basic tripod wedged under one foot and propped diagonally over my camera bag to allow me to 'boom' into the flowers while I reached across several other plants to get in close (within 2 inches).  As you can see, the closeup filters also create a fairly shallow depth of field .   

I have since added a set of extension tubes for my lenses and  Manfrotto xprob tripod that allows the legs to articulate independent of each other and the column can be boomed horizontally to provide a stable plaform for these kinds of shots.  Much nicer than the 'mad photographer yoga pose' that I used when I tried to make do with the simple joined leg tripod I had.




Here is the link to all of the winning images:
http://watertonwildflowers.com/gallery.php?g=5

Slave Lake - After the fire

More images from May 27th as the first residents are allowed to return to town after being evacuated on May 15 when a wildfire blew into town.

After The Fire - Returning To Slave Lake Alberta

I am slowly uploading some of the photos that I was able to capture the first day that residents returned to Slave Lake. Access was only available to residents and support services and I had to get clearance to enter to perform service work.  

On the trip into Slave lake, I saw several City firetrucks and crews from as far away as Calgary and Edmonton headed back home.  Here is the highway just before entering Slave Lake,

As photographers, we shape the viewers perception of an event by how we chose to focus and frame our photographs.  Below is a view that we have all seen on national media outlets in the last week and a half.   As serious as THIS damage is, the rest of the story is that firefighters managed to hold a line and the most of the dealership still stands, trees behind are intact and fortunely a row of townhomes hehind still stand inhabitable.    The loses are still incredible - across the street the mall is mostly intact but the entire City Hall, Courthouse and Library are in ruins.   It was frustrating to see the coverage of the big loses being reported but unable to know what was still standing.  I cannot image how I would have felt if I had a home or business and I was waiting for news.

After The Fire - Slave Lake Alberta

I was in Slave Lake yesterday restoring banking services as the first wave of residents returned following the mass evacuation on May 15th when a wild fire jumped the hiway.  Over 350 homes , many business and civic buildings were destroyed.  Most of the downtown core survived but signs of the fire are still being cleared up.  The fire jumped the Legion, the church behind and the school but the old hotel and two blocks beyond were burned.  Flags throughout town bear testament to the heat and the smoke.

Spring At The Homestead

Spring is slowly fighting to melt Winter's blanket.  The sun is a little warmer as each day passes.

No Sign Of Summer

The March issue of Imagery Newsletter is finally going to post after several delays.  I hope to see it by Monday at http://imagesalberta.ca/imagery/.  Gee, next week and I get to start April's newsletter.

With our unusually heavy snows this year, I felt that my photo 'No Sign Of Summer' fit the season.  This is a shot of the snow banks and a road sign leading to the swimming area at Cold Lake Provincial Park; maybe it is for the Polar Bears!   Eventually our snow banks will recede and become muddy lakes across the road - we can only wait!  Spring starts tomorrow.

Enjoy the newsletter: there are several great articles from members of the Images Alberta Camera Club and, of course, the winning images from last month's 'Eye' theme are there for all to see..
 

Morning Approach

Rough Legged Hawk circling back to land in tree.

Winter Shadows

A gorgeous winter afternoon with some promise of spring on the way.  We are starting a week that will see melting each day.  Daylight saving time started today and this has been a day to save as the sun is shining strongly and creating beautiful shadows across the snow.  

Remember Summer?

The snow is getting deeper and it's been too long since seeing green grass so I figured I would dig through last summer's (remember summer?) shots to find something to warm our souls.

Looking for a few good photographers!

This is a call out to members of Images Alberta Camera Club.

I am looking for 5 or 6 photographers to assist with event photography for the Rona MS Leduc to Camrose bike tour June 11 and 12th.  Last year we provided 5 photographers who photographed the riders, volunteers and sponsors along the road, at rest areas and  at the daily finish lines. We then prepared a slide show for the Saturday evening celebrations.  

Join us as we document the 100's of volunteers and over 2000 riders in their 180 km ride to raise funds for MS research and patient support.  Your photographs will become part of the Saturday Night riders' showcase and may also appear in future MS publications and promotions.  This is an opportunity to put your photographic skills to use while supporting a worthy cause.

 You may volunteer for the whole weekend or just a single day.  There are camping and basic RV facilities available at the event location in Camrose.  Contact me through Images Alberta Camera Club.......  imagery~at~imagesalberta~dot~ca

We're Ready!

Riders at Saturday Start line

On The Road

One of many team shirts

Last year's IMAGES volunteers camped at the riders' village

Decisions

From last summer's farmers' market on 104st.

ICE ON WHYTE - PREPARATIONS

From last weekend when the temperature was a balmy -10!







The pagodas were built and the workers were preparing the walls.  A foot of fresh snow blanketed the pagoda roof-line and blocked the light from passing through the ice but created these great lit windows. It is minus 25 tonight or I would be down there capturing the carvers at work.

Looking Up At Ice On Whyte

I love photographing the last minute preparations  as the sculptors are putting the finishing touches on their ice sculptures.Add the morning sunrise providing backlighting and I think this is the best time to go to the Ice On Whyte festival.  The castle and pagodas are in place and the carving starts Thursday .  I believe that the judging happens Saturday morning.

This was Saturday morning at last year's Ice on Whyte festival.


Ice On Whyte opens 2pm  Thursday  January 13th this year. http://www.iceonwhyte.ca/





Ice on Whyte is the 2nd of a series of Family winter events that is the festival WINTERLIGHT.   It is great fun for family and photographer alike.  Check it out at.....

http://www.winterlight.ca/joomla/2011-events/winter-2011-events.html

Snow Day

3 days of snow forecast for Edmonton and we have a fresh blanket by the hour. I had a predawn trip across town today and on my way back home I checked out the Alberta Avenue area for suitable images for the weather. It was too early for the Deep Freeze Festival to be underway, I had to pass on the the garage sideboard advertising 'WINTERIZE NOW - $58' because of traffic so I went for a period building and lights.

I choose to shoot in black and white today because I felt it fit the weather, the age of the building and the light.

Remember Carol's rule: GET OUT OF BED!

Snow Drifts - Blown

From today's trip to Lloyd and back. High winds were blowing the snow across the fields and the highways. Coming back home, I had to try and capture the wind and sifting grains of snow.

I think this captures the mood. Thankfully the temperature was right around freezing so photography was bearable despite the wind.

A New Year's Hike - A Snack!

A beautiful day hiking at Elk Island calls for a fine finish. Nothing like roasting a kubi on a fire.

A Fine Day

Speed Skaters On Hawreluk Pond enjoy a crisp sunny Edmonton day.

12 Days Of Christmas - Running In The New Year

A healthy start to the new year as I completed my 5th or 6th Resolution Run.  I  have run this on New Year's Eve in Calgary followed with a leisurely supper with family but this year stayed in Edmonton and invited my neighbor and 1700 others to join in.  A great way to kick off a new year!

Well, this was my 12th Day of Christmas and the project has come to an end.  I have enjoyed prepping and posting this last week and a half.  I think I probably have an image or two for our 2011 Christmas card from the project.  I hope you have enjoyed viewing the images and perhaps will try your hand at a similar project.  I must say that I have gained new respect for those who manage to post a 'Picture A Day' theme.  I just don't think I have time to keep that scale of project going.  

Happy New Year to all!