I was up in the North-East of Calgary a couple of days ago during the tail-end of the cold snap. At one of my stops, I realized I was in the flight path of planes landing at the Calgary International Airport. I found an interesting set of lines to frame a plane and then waited in the frigid air for 10 minutes for another plane to pass overhead. I like the result of this simple composition.
Here is the alley sans plane.
It’s funny the difference a few days can make. That’s true year round in this part of the world but I thought these pictures highlight how quickly things can change.
These winter photographs were made this afternoon in Springbank on the first day in over a week where it wasn’t frigidly cold (still -20 celsius).
And this fall harvest shot below was from just before Remembrance Day near Cochrane. These two farms are about 20 kilometers apart. I think this farmer is pretty glad he got his crop pulled up when he did.
One of my photographs of the fishermen of Inle Lake in Myanmar has been selected as the travel photo of the week on the National Geographic website. Here is the link.
[click for a larger image]
That’s pretty cool – now if I could just angle for an assignment from the yellow border.
Our little town of Bragg Creek is a very nice drive out from Calgary towards K-Country. This time of the year all of the shops are full of interesting artwork and craft pieces that represent work by artists local, nearby and far away.
This year, for the first time, some of my prints are available for purchase at one of the shops in the Bragg Creek Shopping Centre – the main public area in town marked by the Husky gas station on one end and the Family Foods grocery store on the other. Almost directly in the middle is Things to Bragg About – an eclectic store with a diverse range of crafts, art, clothing, and curios.
I have framed 8×10 inch and 16×20 inch prints showing landscapes and wildlife from Bragg Creek and Kananaskis on display. I will be adding some of my Asian prints as well as some canvas artwork through the holiday season and into next year. It seems like a good time to mention that I can print custom orders for any of the photographs that appear on this blog or on my photography website.
If you are visiting Bragg Creek check out the shop.
We are into the third day of the first big snowstorm to hit Calgary and the surrounding area this winter. A shock to most people’s system. I love this season but I was a bit zealous shovelling the snow on my drive and my neighbour’s. Have to get the back into snow removal shape – not sure how, just more practice I suppose.
While trawling along the roads home this afternoon, I stopped by a homestead along Highway 22 to photograph some of the landscape altered by the return of the white blanket.
Please click for the full size version
And, at the fire hall that stands watch over our small community I laughed when I saw this sign.
It may be the case that the woods are still dry as the moisture in the snow has yet to be released into the soil but, at first glance, it seems a bold contradiction to the visible reality.
Joe McNally, one of the photographers who casts a long shadow and makes imagery that is unique, compelling and tells stories in a way that very few can, was in Calgary this weekend leading a lighting seminar.
This was one of the last set ups that Joe completed during the weekend. In this single exposure he started the dancer on the left in a pose in front of one of the two flashes. After the flash, Mel, danced across the stage and came to a stop in front of the second flash. She posed, Joe fired the second flash and an incredible image was made. This is my capture from the crowd with my camera hand held which certainly impedes the quality but then it isn’t my photo. Just wanted to show a glimpse of the creativity that the good fellow of Irish descent commands and which he enjoys sharing.
Joe was hosted by CAPIC, The Camera Store and Mount Royal University and they put on a very smooth event. Great models, a good set and a small enough venue (250 person theatre) that it remained personable and engaging. I learned a ton and am so excited to start applying it into my people photography.
If you ever have the chance to join Joe for a workshop, hear him speak at a conference or read one of his books – DO IT! There is much to learn from this giant in the industry who is eager to share his knowledge.
Thanks Joe and Drew – I can’t wait to meet up with you guys again.
To all those who have stood as giants to protect us, a sincere thank you.
To my grandfather and great uncles who served in the world wars, I will never forget what you did and the men that you were. My children will know why you went into Hell without one step back.
I have a side project running where I am building a collection of images that have a painterly quality to them. I like to soften the picture by manually de-focusing the image in camera. When it works, the effect can look more like a painting than a photograph.
I’m still crazy about sharp images but this paint approach is a nice break from the vigilance demanded on the technical front and allows me to study the gradation of colours and the relationships between the forms in a composition. And, it’s always fun to just play around.
Here a couple of others in the developing series.
A neighbor has this lovely old hot rod that he’s brought up to show condition. He takes it out for a cruise now and then. Here is one of the photos I’ve made as he rolls past.
The blur is created by using a slow shutter speed on the camera and then panning with the car as it drives by. Here, the shutter is set to 1/8 seconds using a 300mm lens on my Canon 1D Mark III.
In this second image, I have softened edges in the image to play up the painterly quality of this motion blur. In Adobe Lightroom, I reduced the clarity to -84, set sharpening to 0, and adjusted noise reduction (luminance 100, detail 0 and contrast 0). A different look, I’m going to print both to see which I like more.
A portrait I made of a good friend when a group of us were out golfing.
The drive between Bragg Creek and Calgary along Highway 8 is Alberta Prairie most of the way. Crop fields and cow pastures divide up the land on either side of the road. At the far end of Springbank near the Highway 22X (The Cowboy Trail) intersection is a herd of cows with a pretty steady uniform of black. There are a couple of exceptions to the solid black coats and I stopped the other day to take a few portraits of these trend dodgers.
A last one…
