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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.

Posted by  |  December 26, 2010 | Categories: Autumn, Cars, Fall, Post-Processing, Saskatchewan, Techniques | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Christmas Moose

I was in West Bragg Creek today looking for moose on Christmas morning.

I found three bulls that friends had told me were in the area along with several cows and calves.

Didn’t get too close to these ones as they looked wary and I’ve heard they have been behaving as though they were in rut.

I hope to see these boys again soon.

Posted by  |  December 26, 2010 | Categories: Bragg Creek, Moose, Nature, Outdoors, Wildlife, Winter | 1 Comment

The Crazy Lunar Eclipse

Before Earth’s shadow started to march across the face of the moon last night, I photographed the full moon as it climbed above the trees in Redwood Meadows.  You can see the mist around the moon and I was a little concerned that clouds and haze may obscure the visible signs of the direct alignment of the sun, Earth and moon.  I didn’t know then that the clouds would largely stay clear or that I was in for a very interesting performance.

The solstice lunar eclipse started normally last night and I was out in the freezing cold photographing the progression towards totality.

Then, things started to get very strange… as the moon started racing around like an excited puppy.

I went to bed as the moon settled back down, slipping behind the Earth and into deep shadow.

I saw it looming large on the horizon this morning so it seems to have emerged from shadow and appears to be behaving predictably once more.

I enjoyed the lead up to the eclipse and the morning after was spectacular as well.  The odd bit during the actual eclipse was very fun too although I’m still looking for a reasonable explanation.

Please note: the moon trails were created by moving the camera around slightly during longer exposures up to two seconds long.  I wrote the story for a bit of fun not to be mistaken for an actual phenomenon observed.

Posted by  |  December 22, 2010 | Categories: Abstract, Cool, Events, Outdoors, Techniques | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Highway 8 – a road between city and country

Highway 8 starts about 30 kilometers west of Calgary in Alberta, Canada and runs through the open prairie around Springbank directly east into the city.  When I do go into Calgary, this is the road I usually take and, in the winter, it is often during daybreak on the way in and dusk when I’m heading home.  I’m working on a longer term project on roads, what is at either end, what springs up in between and how we move along them.  These photographs have been shot with this project in mind but, equally, as an acknowledgement of this particular stretch of asphalt that I spend a fair amount of time traversing.


The mountains dominate the view once I clear the city and heading west.  With great ease they pull me out of the work mind and back into my personal space.  The longer drive is appreciated on those days when a longer transition is needed.



Posted by  |  December 18, 2010 | Categories: Calgary, Transportation, Trucks | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sunsets on the Rockies

The low trajectory of the winter sun here in Alberta results in a short day with sunrise currently at 8:35 am and sunset at 4:30 pm.  The angle makes for really good light through much of the day which compensates for the reduced daylight.  The drives home have allowed me to enjoy some really nice sunsets.  Here are a few that I was able to stop and watch for a few minutes.

This last one I wanted to get a soft feel to the scene but I may have gotten a bit carried away resulting in too much blur in the mountains.  The fickle beauty of experimentation – sometimes it works and other times it seems to take time off.

Posted by  |  December 15, 2010 | Categories: Landscapes, Outdoors, Prairie, Winter | Tags: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ice and Water Forms at Elbow River

I spent Sunday morning working upstream of the Elbow Falls in Kananaskis.  I really enjoyed looking for patterns and shapes in the ice and the water.

I used a macro lens to get close to the ice and a tripod to keep the camera steady during the longer exposures that I used vary the blur of the water.

Posted by  |  December 15, 2010 | Categories: Abstract, Kananaskis, Nature, Outdoors, Winter | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

The Calgary Zoolights – 2010

It was chilly at the zoo wandering the pathways last night amid a cold breeze off of the Bow river.  It was worthwhile though as Bobbi and I were surrounded by over 1,500,000 Christmas lights!

(click on any of the photographs for larger images)

This annual event runs from November 26 to January 2 this year.  Most of the zoo is wrapped in lights taking the shape of animals, dinosaurs, sleighs, jungle scenes and a lot more.  We went last year and it was -30°C plus the windchill which made it a bit too cold for more than a few photographs as I was attending a party and was not bundled up.  This year I had longjohns, two sets of gloves and some good layers on so I was able to enjoy the walk more.  We were both bundled up but Bobbi’s boots let her down a bit – nothing serious.  We had no trouble having a great time.

I had to hunt this creature down…

… but I finally got clear of the forest of lights for a clean shot.

 

This year I brought my tripod as well because I wanted to make long exposures and play with some zooming techniques during these slower shutter speeds.

 

Here is a straight long exposure of the jungle scene.

And here is the same composition with the addition of the twist of the zoom lens.  You can do this handheld as well but using a tripod you get straight zoom lines and I find I have better control over the speed of the zoom and how the effect looks.

Here are a few other images from last night.

Thank you to the Zoo for putting on such a visually delightful event, my wife for humouring me as I doddled along in the cold and my parents for spending the evening with the kids.

Two weeks until the big day but in case I don’t see you between now and then, Merry Christmas!

Posted by  |  December 11, 2010 | Categories: Calgary, Events, Outdoors, Techniques, Winter | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Portraits with Santa Claus

I was invited to photograph the children in my community of Redwood Meadows with Santa Claus on Sunday.  He took a little time out of his schedule to sit for portraits at the community hall.  We had about fifty children come and Santa was fantastic talking with all of them and sharing in their plans for the holidays.  It was hectic and a lot of fun.  Certainly makes me appreciate the photographers working where there are hundreds of kids in line!

I started the shoot with my children, Kian and Kezia, to do some quick tests but everyone was anxious to get rolling so it was a bit rushed.  Kezia, at just under two years old, was happy to stay cuddled in her mommy’s arms.  She had no interest in sitting on Santa’s lap so that photograph will have to wait for next year.  Here are two that I did get of Kian.

Here, Zac and Ivy Keyser look quite at home on Santa’s lap.  They were ready to share their wish list and listen to Santa’s input.

When it was time to put on the smiles, they were definitely ready.

Mackenzie and Parker brought their dog Morris with them and I love the photographs we made.

When it was time to go, Parker was ready.

Probably the best part of the afternoon was working with my Dad.  As I was mucking about with gear, he led the set up of the props and the scene.  During the shoot, he worked the main reflector and did a great job.  It was really fun working together – thanks Dad!  At the end of the portraits, I got a nice shot of my parents together with Santa.

On the gear front, I used my Canon 1D Mark III and stayed with one lens.  Sadly, my old workhorse, the Canon 70-200 lens, has lost its trustworthiness badge as back focus crept into a couple of images.  This tracks back to a drop I’m guilty of from almost a year ago at Glacier National Park but lately it has become more of a problem.  This lens has served me well but it is now at the top of the replacement list.  I lit the scene with a single Canon 430 EX flash (6′ off the ground on camera left) bounced off of a large silver umbrella with a 36″ reflector close in at camera right and mixed with ambient.  I’m happy to report that my new Pocket Wizard remote flash controllers worked very well and I really enjoyed the ease of use and reliability of the system.  Looking forward to leveraging them more in my work.

I had a great time and want to thank the Redwood Meadows community for letting me take portraits of our wonderful children.

Posted by  |  December 7, 2010 | Categories: Events, People, Winter | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Saturday Morning Monks

Up early with the kids this morning and I had a little time to revisit some photographs I made of some monks inside a weathered temple in Bagan.

I like how the monotone changes neutralize the dominance of the colourful robes and put different emphasis on part of the image.

(as always, click on the photograph to see a larger version)

 

I remember it was about 38° C outside but with the thick stone walls of the building, inside it was much cooler aided by a soft breeze (which you can “see” if you look at the blur in the robes of the rightmost monk).

These files were converted into a duotone of silver and dark grey using Adobe Lightroom’s split toning feature.

 

Posted by  |  December 4, 2010 | Categories: Asia, Myanmar, People, Techniques, Travel | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Calgary’s C-Train Commute

Working with a slow shutter speed, I wanted to see what kind of detail I could of the commuters riding into the downtown core on one of Calgary’s light rail transit trains.  For this image I panned with the train as it sped past, trying to pivot quick enough to briefly match the rail car’s velocity.  The goal being to capture the detail inside the train while blurring the scenery outside.  This technique has been applied to all types of motion by many photographers and creates an interesting effect.

 

 

Click on the image for a larger version

 

Exposure details: 1/13 second, f/4.0 at ISO 400 using a Canon 1D Mark III with 70-200 lens at 200mm.

Posted by  |  December 3, 2010 | Categories: Calgary, People, Techniques | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Shortlisted Images for the Travel Photographer of the Year Competition

The Travel Photographer of the Year awards have announced their shortlist and I have images in the hunt across three categories.  The TPOTY is a major competition out of the UK so it is pretty exciting to have some of my work recognized to this stage.

The image of the monks on the bridge at sunset in Amarapura in Myanmar is one of three images that are in the running for the single shot category.  The nuns at prayer and the lone fisherman are the other images that have been shortlisted in this category.

The following four images are finalists for the World in Motion portfolio category.

 

The last set is a really fun category to be shortlisted in.  It is the New Talent category.  The portfolio I entered was for Bagan in central Myanmar.  The objective was to sell a location, a journey or an idea.  From the TPOTY website: “Tell the story of a place, a destination, an experience, a journey, even a travel commodity, but sell it to us. Make us want to experience it.  This category is for photographers looking to start a career in photography.  Your images should give the judges a real sense of the place or travel experience and entice them too.  This is your travel advert.” I tried to share the wonder of Bagan across the four images.  It was an interesting exercise to cull through all of the photographs I made in Bagan and select four that provided a window into the people and the land.

 

With this competition’s international profile, there are many very high quality entries so it is exciting to have a range of work reach the final round.  The winning images will be announced in the next couple of weeks so we’ll see what happens.

Posted by  |  November 30, 2010 | Categories: Award, Cool, Publication, Travel | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Great Gray Owl in Winter

The morning brought steady snow and diffused  sunlight.  I toured some of the West Bragg Creek roads to see if the moose were foraging in some of their regular haunts.  I saw a few deer but none of their much larger cousins.  I did get to see two great gray owls (strix nebulosa) in two different locations.

Click for larger versions of each image.

These photos are all of the second bird that I watched for about 30 minutes as it hunted from a couple of different perches.

It was a great morning.  I hadn’t seen one of the phantoms of the north for a couple of months and was beginning to understand why phantom and ghost are names often applied to these beautiful raptors.

As a post script, I was outside tonight putting lights up and heard a couple owls hooting back and forth for about an hour near my backyard.  I’ll be trying to find them over the next couple of days.

Posted by  |  November 28, 2010 | Categories: Birds, Bragg Creek, Outdoors, Wildlife, Winter | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments