A merganser crèche
This momma common merganser and her babies swam across the lake just before sunset the other night. I thought she would angle away when they got close to me. Instead, the crèche came right along the water’s edge in front of me. The babies jostled for a place on mom’s back while she briskly paddled past.
Near this same spot, a loon had favoured me with a evening show a couple of days before. The lake is always beautiful and I’m appreciating the wildlife enjoying it so far this summer.
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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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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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Capturing Motion: Upside-Down Chickadee Photography
I love showing motion in my wildlife images. Here one of the chickadees landed upside down and I was able to capture the instant it turned to fly away from the branch. The relatively slow shutter speed created a blur in the wings as it gathered together to launch. The images below are from before and then immediately after this one. They share a bit of the moment that I was really happy to realize with these beautiful little birds.
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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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A cormorant perched
Double-crested cormorants fish, nest and fly all over Caye Culker where we stayed in Belize. There were a few wooden posts where they would often stop to preen, dry off and then watch for their next meal. Here I got off the dock, waded a bit closer to the bird and put the camera low to the water for this shot.
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Smoky summer sunsets
The rain the past few days has cleared the air west of Calgary. When the wildfire smoke was heavy before that, the colors from the sunlight filtering through the haze were surprising and very unusual. It made sunset an interesting little photographic adventure.
I thought these images looking at the eastern flank of the Rockies near Bragg Creek from the first day of August were stunning.
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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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An owl in the rising sun
I went out onto the Foothills last weekend to catch the sunrise. It was beautiful but this great gray owl stole the honors for the morning to me. I loved having her backlit by the warm sunshine while she flew to hunt in the field.
Amid a number of current challenges, I enjoyed getting out for time to photograph and put energy into this passion of mine.
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Bald eagle in a tangle of branches
Whitehorse is home to bald eagles among many other birds – large and otherwise. We found them on several occasions during our visit there last summer. This one landed in these twisted branches and I was able to play with her framed by them.
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Autumn in the trees
It has come too soon but I am enjoying the beautiful colors that fall has brought. Snow is falling this weekend so autumn may be cut short this year – we’ll see.
I’ve had fun playing with longer shutter speeds and moving through the focal length during some of those. Some of the images have an abstract, painterly quality which I love. I still like photographing the changing landscape in more straightforward ways too. Most scenes I end up shooting in a few different ways to see which works in that moment. Here are a few from the past couple of weeks in and around Bragg Creek.
On a side note, it has been a long time since my last post. I have kept shooting but haven’t made time to publish anything for a little over two months. A lot went on through the summer. The biggest change has been falling in love with a wonderful woman. Aside from my children and how they continually amaze me, that has been the highlight of a summer that has absolutely flown by.
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Great gray owl flying into the forest
‘This great gray owl was sheltering in the branch of a leafy tree when I first found him east of Kananaskis. The rain was pouring and he was smart to avoid the brunt of it. I was less so and got soaked. Eventually the sun came out and the forest brightened. The owl began hunting and grabbed two field mice over a half an hour. In this image he had alighted from a fencepost and was heading back into the forest.
