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Frozen along the Kananaskis River

I spent the day skiing at Nakiska yesterday.  On the way home I stopped at Canoe Meadows and walked down to the edge of the Kananaskis River.  The failing light of early evening created deep shadows and cast deepening blue tones across the scene.  Chunks of ice floated downstream while the snow fell lightly.  There was a line of ice marking a recent water level, higher than it is now.  It had been a few years since I wandered along this part of the river.  It was not a disappointing end to a great day.

Posted by  |  February 17, 2019 | Categories: Kananaskis, Landscapes, Winter | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Snowy owl

I spent a few hours photographing this beautiful bird east of Calgary near Delacour.  The temperature, and the wind chill, conspired to make it a bit uncomfortable for me.  Not so for the owl, he appeared to take the cold with little interruption to normal operations.  He perched atop telephone poles and fence posts for long periods broken up by several flights low over the fields.  Three of those were successful hunts.  This image was from one of the scouting flights as he climbed towards a high perch.  I liked the interesting shape of his profile and the soft details in the background of this image.

Posted by  |  February 7, 2019 | Categories: Owls, Wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

A wintry landscape in West Bragg

The cold which the east has been laboring under reached us this weekend.  Yesterday I was out photographing and this scene illustrated the frigid turn winter has now taken once more.

 

 

Posted by  |  February 3, 2019 | Categories: Bragg Creek, Landscapes, Winter | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

A meeting in Bragg Creek

I went to the Bragg Creek Provincial Park just before the latest snowfall.  Wandering along the Elbow River, exasperated chirping voiced several nearby squirrel alerts accompanied me.

Curiosity took over one’s hesitations and he climbed down from a treetop to watch me from a branch a couple of meters off the ground.  I crouched low and stayed still and soon he was digging out a pine cone from the sticks and snow.

 

With the right one gathered, he raced back to the tree and had breakfast from the low perch.  It was interesting to watch how he whittled down the cone.  Clever, efficient and dextrous work.

Once done, he let out a few chirps.  Conveying either the all clear or the threat’s still here – or something else altogether – before leaping away.  A couple more jumps along with some branch runs and he was out of sight.  His and a few other chirps spun through the woods now and again as I continued wandering.

Posted by  |  February 2, 2019 | Categories: Bragg Creek, Squirrel, Wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 11 Comments

Bald eagle in Bragg

Found a bald eagle in a branch above a couple of ravens that were on the ground.  There must have been something that they were fighting over with the eagle for breakfast.  When the raptor launched it angled away from me but I had a good side shot for a second.

Posted by  |  January 27, 2019 | Categories: Birds, Bragg Creek, Wildlife | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Downtown Calgary – Morning along the Bow River

On Saturday I watched the morning arrive on the shore of the Bow River.  I was across the water from Calgary’s downtown and used the Center Street Bridge as a focal point between the sky and the buildings.  I parked along Memorial Drive and checked the sky in a couple of test photographs.  Traffic came by and made for a good start.

On the other side of the road, the rocks, snow and ice along the river bank presented an interesting foreground.  It was a bit hectic teasing out compositions as the light was changing rapidly.  But that’s pretty fun chaos by any measure.

The eastern sky had bundles of pink cotton candy for a few minutes.  To the west the pink was a pastel that looked very pretty reflected in the Bow where it passed Prince’s Island Park.

Mallard ducks and Canada geese milled about flying up and down the river.  The cackling and quacking across the water along with the occasional group of vehicles passing behind me on Memorial Drive joined the river to perform the morning’s soundtrack.

 

 

Posted by  |  January 13, 2019 | Categories: Calgary, Landscapes, long exposure, Night Photography, Sunrise | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

An icy sunset on the Elbow River

I walked down to the Elbow from my home this evening as the sun neared the western horizon.  Dusk brought some lovely color the clouds stretching eastward.  I found this sliver of open water and the interesting ice around it which anchored the scene nicely.

Posted by  |  January 12, 2019 | Categories: Landscapes, Sunset | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Cars in motion

I have a lot of fun photographing just about anything in motion.  Thinking about how a picture could look, using different techniques to realize that and then the element of luck throwing in a wildcard or two.  Here are a few car shots from last year which came together pretty well.

Night suits this type of photography as the darkness allows for slower shutter speeds.  I set a longer exposure, often between 1/10th and 1/50th of a second, and then pan with the vehicle as it passes by.  The background blurs and, hopefully, the vehicle remains in sharp focus.

And then, sometimes, you find a car just sitting patiently in an empty parking lot in Montréal under a light rain in the early morning that simply looks amazing.

Posted by  |  January 11, 2019 | Categories: Cars, motion blur, Transportation | Tags: , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Nightscapes from the past year

I’ve been wanting to put together a couple of posts with common themes using photographs which I have not published.  These aren’t the best of the year series, I’ll look to have those out soon though.  They are simply photographs that I would like to share.

So, I’ll start with a few images taken at night and see what follows after.  Thank you for indulging me in a bit of reverie!

I’m often out at night to chase the Northern Lights, watch the stars or waiting for dawn to come.  The moon always draws my attention when she’s up and I’m out.

Calgary’s downtown lights also have a definite charm.  Here I stood over the Elbow at River Park just before Christmas.

Seagulls fly over the Bow River during a blizzard in Calgary’s downtown.

A reflection pooled in the cobblestone of Montreal’s old port district caught my attention during a night spent in the grand city.

One of the very best nights was watching the fireworks on Canada Day with my son at Mont-Tremblant.

Posted by  |  January 8, 2019 | Categories: Landscapes, Night Photography | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

A faint light from the north

2 seconds at f/1.8 on ISO 4000

We are in the solar minimum and the Aurora Borealis displays at this latitude have been at a minimum as well.  On a night walk last night I noticed a bit of color in the sky.  Longer exposures showed a diffused haze of the Northern Lights.  Subtle but still beautiful.

5 seconds at f/2.0 on ISO 3200

The quiet show ended quickly.  It was very nice to see them once again.  As the aurora faded out I needed my headlamp to bring a bit of color to the last photograph.

2 seconds at f/1.8 on ISO 3200

Posted by  |  January 5, 2019 | Categories: Aurora Borealis, Bragg Creek, Landscapes, Night Photography | 7 Comments

Christmas lights at home

30 second exposure at f/6.3 on ISO 200.  Canon 5D3 camera and a 24mm lens.

Returning from a walk with my hound last night, I decided to take a photograph of the Christmas lights before I take them down this weekend.  The first image was just the scene as it is and I found it a bit bland.  In the second, I kept the shutter open longer so that I could run around with a blue glow stick to light paint in some stars.  A little bling added to the scene made it a bit more fun.

Posted by  |  January 5, 2019 | Categories: Events | Tags: , , , , | 8 Comments

Happy New Year!

I spent New Year’s Eve at home with my children and one of their close friends.  We all had fun and enjoyed the evening.  The Redwood Meadows community once more put on a fireworks show.

They always do a great job and this year was outstanding.  Kian found friends to watch and hang out with.  The other two enjoyed the show from the picture window of a neighbor’s home which provided a good, and warm, view.  It wasn’t frigid cold but it was -12ºC and the windchill made it feel like several degrees cooler again.

Some people watched with their kids from their vehicles, some people bundled up and were happy to stand outside.  No matter how people watched them, everyone seemed to enjoy the performance.  I certainly did.

I set up across the road from the field where the fireworks were set up.  I wanted to have the option to silhouette people against the explosions.  I used two cameras to have some options.  I set one up with a remote control and kept those all at  a 10 second shutter speed, lens at f/10 and an ISO of 800.  The other one I shot with directly during the show and played with the settings and the composition.

As we have just left 2018 here in Alberta, I wanted to wish you the very best in 2019.  Happy New Year!

Posted by  |  January 1, 2019 | Categories: Bragg Creek, Landscapes, Night Photography | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

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