Aurora Borealis Abstracts
Throughout an amazing Northern Lights display on October 7th and 8th, the sky directly overhead was a nexus point for the ripples and bands of color. I typically compose with foreground landscape elements. This time I photographed straight up repeatedly and they were some of my favorite shots of the night.
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A brown pelican perspective
We were in Belize last month and I had some great opportunities to photograph the wildlife there. I have always loved Brown pelicans – the way they fly, their mannerisms and particularly how they dive to fish. There was one that perched on the roof above me on a dock. Leaning over to look down into the water, this pelican offered me a great view at its long beak. The water drop made it one of my favorite photographs from last year.
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Blurring the forest
A dragged shutter and a flick of the wrist stretched out the trunks of the trees edging a meadow in Bragg Creek. When the mood strikes, I enjoy playing like this when I’m out shooting – luck and creativity rolling around together. Sometimes I like the result over the natural scene.
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Nuthatch abstract
Des, our cat Pitbull and I watched the chickadees, bluejays and nuthatches snacking on the bird seed on our deck this afternoon. It was a mild day and they were excitedly flying, feasting and chasing each other between the railing, our tea cup bird feeder and the forest in our backyard. I photographed them to catch the fine details of their feathers and features as well as focusing on them in motion as they flew back and forth. This image wasn’t either of those. It was one of those beautiful errors – whether it was me not reacting to the incoming bird fast enough or my camera’s autofocus wasn’t up to the job, I really loved how this out of focus Red-breasted nuthatch looks like a painting. The backlit halo framing the bird, the narrow strip of focus on the bird seed and the angles of the deck create an interesting scene. I had fun capturing the shots I was working for but always want to give space to the happy accidents. I love how this one came together.
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Sunset and silhouette
I photographed birds at the Inglewood Bird Sanctuary this afternoon. With the sun out and the temperature rising close to zero, it was a beautiful day to wander along the Bow River. I walked back as the setting sun painted the clouds. The colors stopped me in my tracks. It was a stunning way to let go of the day.
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Silhouettes and city lights
Watching the dusk fade from the east side of Calgary, the color in the sky softened into pastels. The city’s lights glowed and cast tall stalks of grass into silhouette. It strikes me a little melancholy looking at it now – and beautiful.
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No Trespassing Sunrise
<p value="<amp-fit-text layout="fixed-height" min-font-size="6" max-font-size="72" height="80">I enjoyed a beautiful autumn dawn over the prairies northwest of Calgary near Big Hill Springs Park in late September. I enjoyed a beautiful autumn dawn over the prairies northwest of Calgary near Big Hill Springs Park in late September.
Using a headlamp’s red light, I painted this fence and illuminated the sign during one long exposure. There is a juxtaposition of the invitation a sunrise extends at the start of a new day with a sign meant to keep people away that I ruminated on while I photographed the morning.
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A lounge leopard
… not a real leopard but this one behind the behind the bar at the Calcutta Cricket Club on 17th Avenue in Calgary is stunning. I hope to see one in the wild – perhaps with my friends in India – sooner than later.
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Winter forest abstract
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An impression of autumn
When the snow was falling last week, I enjoyed trying to create some interesting images from the collision of weather with the fall landscape. The photograph I shared earlier drew some very kind comments about the style of painting it was similar to. I agree with Linda who saw suggestion of Pointillism. Using a short exposure of 1/400th of a second froze the snowflakes in that photograph. Here, I used a longer exposure of 1/40th of a second. The slower shutter speed let the snow trace blurry paths through the scene. I liked the level of abstraction that created.
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Form and light
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Gulls in motion under the city lights
Last week one of the snowstorms that came through Calgary picked up intensity after dark. I was staying downtown near the Bow River and watched as the increasing snowfall was illuminated by the city lights above one of the bridges crossing the water. A silhouette sped in front of a light at one moment and then a dozen more did the same the next.
A colony of gulls threw waves of their silhouettes into the storm circling low over the water and then above the lights for several minutes before they appeared to settle down.
I don’t know if it was the weather, disturbance by a someone or something or members returning to congregate for the night but they were excited for a short while. I loved the grainy sky created by the snow and the shape of these dark blurs as they flew into and out of the light.
