A walk in the forest
I wandered through the trees west of Bragg Creek near Kananaskis this morning. Little scenes drawing my eye as I went along.
I went looking for a resident great gray owl I’ve known for several years. She’s an energetic hunter in the morning as we get into the second half of summer here.
It took a while but eventually she let me find her perched on a tree and then continued with her plans. I watched her fly through the forest, perching on branches and a couple of fenceposts inbetween.
With the sunlight playfully fighting past the leaves, it was a beautiful morning.
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A Saddle Bronc Ride at Tsuut’ina
The 50th anniversary Tsuut’ina Nation INFR Tour Rodeo is underway this weekend. It’s easily my favorite rodeo to photograph every year. I was along the rails for the Friday evening performance last night. One cowboy stopped for a quick chat and when I was reviewing the day’s images, found that I had a few good shots of his Saddle Bronc ride.
Marvin Young from Maskwacis, Alberta was the cowboy and these are shots from his full time ride on the day. Well done Marvin! Look forward to seeing you out there again this weekend.
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A Belted kingfisher flaring
I caught this Kingfisher braking just as it touched down. These beautiful birds fish throughout the day at a small lake near Bragg Creek. Their clicking during flight helping to find them as they dart out of the trees and skim over the water.
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Barrel Racing at the Calgary Stampede
I had a chance to shoot the rodeo midweek for a little while. I was happy to catch the barrel racing as it’s one of my favorite events to photograph. With the rider and her horse leaning hard into the barrel turns, the dirt flies and the images can be amazing. When they make the last turn and takeoff for the finish line, there are few long shutter, motion blur opportunities that I enjoy more.
Above Carlee Otero from Perrin, Texas sprints towards her winning time of 16.79 seconds on Day 6 of the 2026 Calgary Stampede Rodeo.
Katelyn Scott from Odessa, Texas corners around the second barrel on her way to a 17.05 second run.
Jordan Driver from Garden City, Texas coming off the barrel in the first image and then racing to close out her run on Wednesday, July 8th in the image above.
Blake Molle from Chauvin, Alberta kicks her boot and stirrup over the barrel on a tight turn.
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Common loon – uncommon photographs
I have photographed a solitary loon at this small lake in early summer for years. It is unlikely that it is the same one each year, more likely just a convenient spot to fish and rest for a couple of weeks before continuing on its migration. I went out near sunset, close to 10pm presently, and enjoyed watching the loon preen, shake and then settle down for the night.
When I arrived at the water, it was overcast. The weak light was great for longer exposures. As the bird raised out of the water to shake itself dry, I liked the motion blur of the wings and the water.
After a little while, the sun fell below the cloud line and lit the water up in golds and pinks. Before it dove behind the hill, I went to the far side of the lake to photograph the loon in silhouette. It was a special evening for me with one of my favourite birds.
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Elbow River: Witnessing the Beauty of the Northern Lights
Our sun was exceptionally busy last week. Sunspots hurled increased volumes of solar plasma earthward resulting in an aurora storm that lasted close to a week. We had a few cloudy nights but I was lucky on two outings. This image is from the second trip down to the Elbow River at a bend near my home. It was half past 3 in the morning on the 3rd. The Northern Lights were painting the eastern half of the sky. The lights from Calgary brightened the clouds low on the horizon adding another element to the scene. The most beautiful display of the Aurora Borealis here this year – so far!
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Cold coyote crossing
One of the many short blizzards that have been part of this spring’s personality caught this coyote’s passage through this field. She didn’t look particularly excited about the chilly wind or the snow that it carried down from the mountains. I appreciated how beautiful this animal was framed in the layers of this scene. For her part, a brief, disapproving glance was her only acknowledgement of our shared moment. After a few seconds, she sauntered into bushes ahead of her. I hoped she had a den to shelter in nearby.
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Trees taking a stand at sunset
My lady and I went out for a drive at dusk a couple of nights ago. After a drab, overcast day, the clouds cleared before the sun fell behind the mountains. The sunlight felt warm and made everything it touched glow. We drove over the rolling hills that are split by Lower Springbank Road west of Calgary and watched night soak in to the east after the sunset behind us. Short of the city we turned around and retraced our path. This stand of trees on one of the hills traced its silhouette against the clouds and the sky behind.
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Light trails into dawn on the Trans-Canada Highway
I have a favorite spot to shoot long exposures of traffic moving along the Trans-Canada Highway between Calgary and the Rocky Mountains. It has been a couple of years since I went out to that location – an overpass that straddles the east and west lanes. I went out to photograph the night and after a shy Northern Lights display found my way there. With the clouds blushing before the sun rose there was a beautiful balance between the lights on the road and the color in the sky. This was one of my favourite images from the morning.
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Winter Lightning
Just before Halloween there was an unusual storm that cut free from the mountains and flew over Calgary. Unusual because of the lightning that bounced among the cloud peaks during the cold front that it rode out onto the Prairies on. I found a whale swimming in the sky later but this flash over Signal Hill.
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First Snow at Wedge Pond: A Morning of Winter Photography
Last week it snowed for a full day while we were up in Kananaskis. A day in the saunas, steam baths and outdoor pools of the Nordic Spa in the village was a pretty great way to enjoy the abrupt turn to winter. The forecast called for clearing skies overnight so I set an early alarm for the morning.
Driving along Highway 40 in the dark, I could see the outline of clouds and clusters of stars between them. Walking down to Wedge Pond, the snow was well above my ankles. I hadn’t planned on a snowy shoot so my footwear was far from up to the task. Wet feet and slip-sliding around aside, it was beautiful.
Dawn slowly revealed the lake and the surrounding valley. The trees decked out in white sleeves. Tall grass on the hillside and the stony shoreline both blanketed with snow.
Above, clouds stretched over Mount Kidd and the neighboring peaks. Early light painted the first ones pink, later the mountains looked like the sunlight had spun their eastern flanks in gold.
Across the water, bright yellow peaked out from under the sleeves of a few of the trees. The last remnants of the autumn colors that ring Wedge Pond in September each year.
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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.
