A chickadee surrounded by autumn
This black-capped chickadee chirped and sang from the woods beside a small peninsula on Upper Kananaskis Lake. I sat down and waited for a little while to see if it would come into view. They are curious little birds and it didn’t take long for this one to perch among the golden leaves nearby. With a quick check done, it soon flitted off and I continued on towards the windswept side of the lake across the peninsula.
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Rocky Mountain Landscapes: Mist on Wedge Pond
Last weekend I was back on the shoreline of Wedge Pond in Kananaskis waiting for sunrise. This time there were clouds in the sky and fog shrouds running across the water. The early light on Mount Kidd was obscured but there were many interesting pieces to play with, near and far, so I wasn’t disappointed with the misty view of the red light descending down the mountainside.
Fall has been really wonderful this year – fairly warm, great color in the trees, no snow below the peaks and an absence of strong winds to blow the leaves off. I hope to get in a couple more landscape sessions before we move into winter.
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Waiting in Gastown
A photograph made in Gastown in Vancouver, British Columbia. The restaurant is the Water St. Cafe and I love how the subject of the image, the waiter, is separated from the street scene by these large panes . I photographed this image a couple of years ago with my old Canon XT and converted it into black and white immediately back then. I had not looked at it much since then but it was stored in one of the image portfolios on my phone. This afternoon I was playing with an app (TiltShift) on my iPhone which applies tilt and shift effects to any accessible image. So, with adjustment of the point of focus and then selecting the amount of blur, I came up with a new version of this archived photo that I quite like.
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Bel Air Wreck on the Prairie
This beaten down shell is on a salt pan in the middle of a barren stretch of prairie near Gull Lake, Saskatchewan. The country roads that connect all parts of the Canadian prairie hold many long forgotten photographic treasures like this car, farmsteads and weathered buildings. I love finding these great locations and try to re-visit them whenever I can. I have visited this car and a neighboring broken down farm several times over the past five years.
With a little down time so far this holiday, I have been working with some different software to test them out. Here, I’m using Topaz Adjust 4 to process the photos for a saturated, over the top look. The software integrates seamlessly into Adobe’s Lightroom (my main developing and cataloging software) and is reasonably priced at $50. I am usually less garish in my post processing but it is nice to try some different looks.
In these images I have started with the Topaz Spicify preset as a starting point, then adjusted some of the levels to my taste within each picture and then re-imported into Lightroom to adjust some of the color channels and the edge smoothness.
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Bragg About the Creek Magazine
Cover image for the Fall issue
Amid the health and family issues, I had a cover image and article featured in the Bragg About the Creek magazine that was published this month. The attached link is to an online copy of the article at the magazine’s website.
The magazine is published quarterly by Dwayne Zaba and Roy Anstey is the editor. Both are great to work with and I’ve enjoyed getting to know them through the magazine. It has a very healthy distribution in the Calgary area so it is fun to be a part of showcasing the Bragg Creek and Kananaskis areas that are close to Calgary but definitely a world away from the city.
Thanks to Dwayne and Roy for your support and for highlighting this community.
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Autumn is coming to a close soon
The white branches are starting to poke out as the leaves are falling to the ground.
Around Bragg Creek and on the prairies towards Calgary, there are still some nice autumn scenes but they are starting to go fast.
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Mule deer in the backyard
A young doe sauntered out of the forest and into our backyard this morning. She was in no hurry to pass through as she found a few flowers around our deck that were still available.
We have a small herd of mule deer that stay close to the community year round. It’s always great to see one of the family come around for a visit – even if they always dine and dash.
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Fall morning along the Elbow River
I was out for a walk with the hound this morning a little after the sun had crested the hill east of our home in Redwood Meadows. I just kept the long lens on the camera and looked for interesting details in the autumn landscape.
We went over to the banks of the Elbow River that run parallel to the road through Redwood Meadows. This yielded some interesting patterns and creative opportunities. We are nearing late fall here in Bragg Creek now. There are many trees with few leaves left to shed. Still a lot of beauty yet to be found before the season draws to a close.
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Warm Autumn Light
I was in Calgary this morning and took a little time to shoot in the warm light as the sun came up over the horizon.
As I’ve written before, amazing colours this autumn.
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Autumn Sunrise
A really spectacular sunrise pulled me off the road on the way into Calgary this morning.
These photographs were made east of Bragg Creek along Highway 8 in Springbank, Alberta.
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Autumn morning in Springbank
On my way into work every morning, I drive through almost 30 km of prairie.
With some interesting light, there is the opportunity to make some special images.
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Leanne and Dane’s Engagement Shoot
Leanne and Dane invited me to photograph their wedding next summer which I am really looking forward to. On Friday, we went to the ranch of a friend of Leanne’s family to shoot their engagement photographs.
Over the evening, I had all manner of skies and light to work with and Leanne and Dane were having fun playing around with me.
Good people and a very cute couple. Can’t wait for their big day.
Christopher Martin Photography 