Happy New Year!
I hope it is a year filled with joy for you and yours. To my family and my friends, I love you and look forward to new memories with you in 2023. I’m happy to put 2022 in the rearview mirror and looking forward to the year ahead.
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A fawn through the trees
We had a pair of mule deer fawns hanging around our backyard for most of the summer. From wobbly little babies to bouncing youngsters, they entertained us as they learned how to be deer. This was a rare moment where one stood still.
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Summer lightning over the Elbow
The gods were bowling in the clouds late last night. The rolling thunder was preceded by steady sheets of lightning and a downpour that reminded me far more of a rainstorm in the tropics than one on the prairies. Once the rain died down, we walked to the banks of the Elbow River and watched as the storm moved eastward out of the low mountains around Bragg Creek. Forks of lightning peeled across the sky every couple of minutes for over an hour. It was a really beautiful summer storm to photograph.
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Who knew deer don’t fancy fashion
Desirée and I were doing an autumn fashion shoot in Redwood Meadows for a local jewelry designer – Nicole at Stone Willow Jewellery – last night.
This young buck came by to see what was going on but wasn’t interested for long. Not much of a fashionista as it turned out. Silly deer – my lady was far more intriguing. He did enjoy the greens he found nearby though.
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Happy New Year’s Day
January 1st has been a good, and wonderfully relaxed, start to 2020 for us. The fireworks at the Redwood Meadows community sports field last night did a great job of ushering in the new year. All the best to you and yours in this new year.
The fireworks were great. Thank you to the people involved in the evening’s light show.
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Christmas lights at home
30 second exposure at f/6.3 on ISO 200. Canon 5D3 camera and a 24mm lens.
Returning from a walk with my hound last night, I decided to take a photograph of the Christmas lights before I take them down this weekend. The first image was just the scene as it is and I found it a bit bland. In the second, I kept the shutter open longer so that I could run around with a blue glow stick to light paint in some stars. A little bling added to the scene made it a bit more fun.
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Happy New Year!
I spent New Year’s Eve at home with my children and one of their close friends. We all had fun and enjoyed the evening. The Redwood Meadows community once more put on a fireworks show.
They always do a great job and this year was outstanding. Kian found friends to watch and hang out with. The other two enjoyed the show from the picture window of a neighbor’s home which provided a good, and warm, view. It wasn’t frigid cold but it was -12ºC and the windchill made it feel like several degrees cooler again.
Some people watched with their kids from their vehicles, some people bundled up and were happy to stand outside. No matter how people watched them, everyone seemed to enjoy the performance. I certainly did.
I set up across the road from the field where the fireworks were set up. I wanted to have the option to silhouette people against the explosions. I used two cameras to have some options. I set one up with a remote control and kept those all at a 10 second shutter speed, lens at f/10 and an ISO of 800. The other one I shot with directly during the show and played with the settings and the composition.
As we have just left 2018 here in Alberta, I wanted to wish you the very best in 2019. Happy New Year!
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Halloween!
Redwood Meadows was a madhouse on Halloween night! Packs of ghouls, Fortnite characters, Minions, animals and even a puffer fish roamed the community and many houses greeted them with wonderfully elaborate decorations.
My kids are growing up and this was the first time I didn’t go out with both of them. My son and two of his friends preferred to strike out on their own which is great fun of course (and a little – tiny – bit sad for me).
Kezia, playing Ginny Weasley from the Potter-verse, canvassed the neighborhood with three friends. Luckily for me they are a little younger and were happy to let me tag along. We had a blast!
I managed to catch up with Kian at the end and grabbed a couple of shots with him dancing to the spooky scary skeleton song (an absolute favorite of ours!) before he separated from his steampunk skeleton alter ego.
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Wintry autumn in Redwood Meadows
Following the heavy snowfall early in the week, I found a few different times to get out to photograph this interesting transition from autumn to winter. The cold snap caught the trees off guard and the leaves have been falling steadily since.
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Snowbursts
Just before the holidays, and the cold snap that came along at the same time, my daughter and I played in the snow the day after a blizzard had blown through.
Kezia was brushing branches to watch the snow fall. She called them snowbursts and with the bright sunshine lighting them, it felt like a bit of magic.
We had a lot of fun playing and taking pictures, as you can probably tell. And so did our hound Lacey who chased snowballs and dove her head into the snow constantly!
We had been snow-free up to that point in December (the 20th) so the excitement to be returned to a proper winter wonderland was palpable. I love hanging out with this sweet girl and this was a great day doing just that.
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Happy New Year’s Eve!
We are two hours away from 2018 here in Alberta. I hope you are enjoying a great last night of 2017. Our Redwood Meadows community had a great fireworks display to closeout the year. This image was shot at the start of the show tonight.
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Winter’s return
Snow fell hard last night across southern Alberta and we had several inches blanketing the landscape by morning. Here, my hound and I went out for a walk late.
Christopher Martin Photography 