Photography in silhouette
I spend a lot of time photographing on the edges of the day. On this morning, as the winter sun cleared the horizon, I found my shadow watching me from the side of a hay bale.
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Art Wolfe: April seminar in Calgary
I’m very excited to share the news that Art Wolfe is leading a photography seminar here in Calgary on April 16, 2011. Art has earned great respect from photographers, artists, conservationists and humanitarians around the world. I am constantly amazed by Art’s work and have loved learning from him and his images for a long time.
The seminar is part of a series that Art is presenting across North America. It is titled, “The Art of Composition” and the emphasis is on building the photographer’s eye. Art builds the artistic and technical skills to help the photographer create compelling imagery.
The link to Art’s webpage is www.artwolfe.com. Information about the Art of the Composition seminar in Calgary is available on his site here.
I have traveled with Art in Myanmar and there is no exaggeration when I say he is a fantastic teacher. He has an ability to engage people and present subjects like composition, color, inspiration and light in ways that are relevant to photographers. He not only shares his approach to photography but teaches people how to incorporate these skills into their own work.
Art usually presents this seminar in a large venue but for the Calgary seminar, we have booked a great location with a more intimate setting. The seminar will be held at the Naturbahn Teahouse in Bowness in the Canada Olympic Park. It is a beautiful location for a world-class event!
My wife and I helped out Art’s team with some of the logistics as eyes on the ground here in Calgary so it is very exciting to be only a month away from the seminar. I hope to see you there!
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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.
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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.
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Canadian Prairie Snowstorm
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.
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Cruising in style
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.
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Autumn on the Saskatchewan Prairie
Fall came later to the Prairies of eastern Alberta and Saskatchewan than it did around Bragg Creek. We drove out through Medicine Hat and on to Gull Lake a couple of weekends ago to visit my wife’s grandparents. It was nice to fit in a bit more fall photography along the way.
Small hills break up the prairie fields near the Saskatchewan – Alberta border.
Motel sign at a truck stop along Highway 1, the Trans Canadian Highway, at the Highway 21 intersection in Saskatchewan near Maple Creek.
The prairie landscape blurs by from my view in the passenger’s seat near Gull Lake.
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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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West Bragg Creek Moose
click on any image to see a larger version
Good friends of ours told us about a small group of moose that settled in a field in West Bragg Creek a couple of days ago. This morning, I was out there early and quickly saw the young bull.
I made sure he saw me from a long ways off so that there were no surprises.
I moved slowly and watched his ears for signs of distress – if they get laid back then it is a sign that the moose is agitated. He is a young fellow maybe 4 or 5 years old judging by the immature rack. Nonetheless, still a very large animal and very impressive watching him track easily through the scrub brush and boggy grassland.
The cow was in the middle of a stand of trees to the side of the marsh where the bull was grazing.
She poked her head out to see what I was about. She quickly concluded that I wasn’t anything to be concerned with as she laid down in the grass presumably near her yearling. I didn’t see the young moose and had no interest in stressing the mother or getting into a dangerous position so I didn’t move any closer to the trees.
Great to see these young moose out. We have pretty decent numbers in the Bragg Creek area but I always worry about the impact of hunting so it is wonderful to see babies, yearlings and young bucks when they return to these parts of their range.
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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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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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Autumn Faith
We drove along the Bow Valley Trail between Cochrane and Canmore enjoying the autumn colours that are really incredible this year.
Between Ghost Lake and Morley is the McDougall Unite Church which is 135 years old. It is a prairie icon in Alberta and served its role as a contrast to the yellows and a point of focus admirably in this image.
I posted an image of this same church earlier this year in June.
I hope to post more fall images showing how special this year in particular is.
Christopher Martin Photography 