Rural landscapes: under the prairie traffic

CROWSNEST RIVER BRIDGE, LUNDBRECK, ALBERTA

Lundbreck Falls is a much-visited natural attraction in the south end of this western Canadian province. After walking a path into the canyon below the falls, I turned my attention to the opposite direction, where a bridge soared over the river.
The scene needed something extra to make it compelling, so I put myself into the photo. During processing, I created a version with every colour eliminated except red. This is the fascinating result.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky above the bridge

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Urban landscapes: the lights of rush hour

MORNING LIGHT TRAILS, CALGARY, ALBERTA

I stood at the corner of 8th Avenue and Centre Street in this western Canadian city, making long exposure pictures of traffic as it zoomed south while chatting with a friendly construction worker at an adjacent work site.
Then a fire truck roared by with lights blazing. I knew as I made the 15-second exposure that it would be the best of my photos from this spot. And I was right.
Nikon D7100, tripod

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Rural landscapes: at peace with the snow

ANCIENT TRUCK IN A WINTER WORLD, ROCKY VIEW COUNTY, ALBERTA

It was -17c when I ventured out to find beautiful winter scenes like this on the prairies of western Canada. I wore two sets of gloves and they were barely enough to withstand the cold. Still, it was worth it to photograph this old truck and other scenes. There was little colour to be had and I was thinking black-and-white even as I made the picture.
Nikon D7100, tripod

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Natural landscapes: the fabulousness of frost

A COLD DAWN AT SOUTH GLENMORE PARK, CALGARY, ALBERTA

During a visit to this western Canadian park, I spent all kinds of time slowly walking around and inspecting the frosty ground to see what might make a compelling picture. I believe this frosty berry, combined with a very shallow depth of field, qualifies. Do you agree?
Nikon D7100, tripod, 70-300 mm. zoom lens, fill-flash

Natural landscapes: enduring the beautiful cold

FROSTY AUTUMN LEAVES, COCHRANE, ALBERTA

The morning was cold enough to create and maintain frost on many trees and branches in this western Canadian community. So I wandered around with my photography equipment, looking for compelling examples and finding this. Pretty cool, eh? 🙂
Nikon D7100, tripod, 70-300 mm. zoom lens, fill-flash

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Rural landscapes: under the cold autumn sky

HAY ROLL AND SNOWY FIELD, ROCKY VIEW COUNTY, ALBERTA

A substantial November snowfall sent me out to find compelling landscapes. This scene, with the fenceposts flanking a hay roll, fit the bill. I just needed to darken the sky to make the picture truly eye-grabbing. Check out the colour version here: https://bit.ly/AutumnPrairies
Nikon D7100, tripod, two graduated density (darkening) filters on the sky

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Urban landscapes: the silence of dawn worship

THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH
OF ST. COLMAN
COBH, IRISH REPUBLIC

Bad weather changed our cruise ship route and that turned out to be a great thing because it gave me another day on Irish soil.
I was up and off the ship at dawn with the goal of photographing this cathedral, which I had seen in so many Irish photos. To be able to get inside and have the place mostly to myself with an added bonus.
I needed a 20-second exposure to properly record this scene. The cathedral is relatively new, completed in 1919. The 300-foot steeple is the tallest in Ireland.
Nikon D7100, tripod

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Rural landscapes: frigid and fabulous!

PRAIRIE FARMSTEAD AT DAWN, NEAR BEISEKER, ALBERTA

I love heading out on freezing cold mornings to capture the prairies of this western Canadian province. The sense of peaceful solitude is truly sublime. That was certainly the case when I saw this silhouetted homestead. Very glad for the snow in the field, which prevented the bottom of the photo from going jet black.
Nikon D7100, tripod, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky

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Rural landscapes: the peace of an autumn road

PRAIRIES AND MOUNTAINS NEAR PINCHER CREEK, ALBERTA

The southern part of this western Canadian province is one of the windiest places in the country and that was certainly the case on the blustery day I made this picture.
But as you can see, the dramatic sky made for a great scene, especially with the hay bales upon which to rest your eyes. Look carefully on the left side of the bales and you’ll see a train.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter.

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Urban landscapes: following the light trails

OLD CITY HALL AND MACLEOD TRAIL TRAFFIC, CALGARY, ALBERTA

I knew this building was lit at night, so it was a matter of positioning myself to capture all the morning rush-hour traffic as it moved past.
It took several tries before I realized I should get as high as possible to capture the three lanes of traffic. This is a 15-second exposure, made just before 7 a.m. (check the clock on the building).
Nikon D7100, tripod

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Natural landscapes: seeing green in autumn

GLENDALOUGH FOREST, COUNTY WICKLOW, IRISH REPUBLIC

During our autumn visit to my favourite country, I was blessed to have some time at the beautiful natural and historic Glendalough monastic site south of Dublin. Stunning forest scenes like this greeted us on our walk and I found a few spots, like this, that were particularly photogenic.
Nikon D7100, tripod, 24-120 mm. zoom lens

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Natural landscapes: the beauty of fading autumn

BERRIES AND LEAVES, CALGARY, ALBERTA

An cold morning visit to South Glenmore Park, in this western Canadian city, yielded some decent sunrise pictures and also this — captured as I was slowly heading back to the car.
I loved the mix of brown and red and went for a shallow depth of field so the background would fade into a pleasing wash of gentle greys.
Nikon D7100, tripod, 24-120 mm zoom lens, fill-flash

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Urban landscapes: the place of quiet contemplation

Urban landscapes: when autumn turns wintery

SNOWY MORNING IN DOWNTOWN CALGARY, ALBERTA

I was blessed to have time to wander around the downtown of this western Canadian city, recording the beauty of an overnight autumn snowfall. There was almost no colour in this scene, so it was an easy decision to show it to you in black and white.
Nikon D7100, tripod

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Natural landscapes: the beauty of seeing red

FUCHSIA, GARINISH ISLAND,
IRISH REPUBLIC

Red fuchsia is quite common in Ireland, but it’s not a native plant. Fuchsia was introduced from South America and has become naturalized and widespread, especially in the west and in coastal areas, where it thrives in the cool, moist climate. It is now a common sight in hedgerows and gardens.
I recall photographing Irish fuchsia during a 1993 trip and was determined to find more on our 2025 visit. As you can see, I was quite successful. 🙂
Nikon D7100, tripod


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Urban landscape: the wheel of night

LONDON EYE, LONDON, ENGLAND

The London Eye, originally the Millennium Wheel, is a cantilevered observation wheel on the South Bank of the River Thames in London.
It is the world’s tallest cantilevered observation wheel and the most popular paid tourist attraction in the United Kingdom with more than three million visitors annually.
My wife and I went on the wheel in 2017, but skipped it during our 2025 visit because each ticket would have cost us $60 CDN.
On our last night in the city, I slipped out with my photography equipment to capture a long exposure (30 seconds!) of the wheel, reflected in the Thames River

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Urban landscapes: the awesome ceiling

WESTMINSTER ABBEY, LONDON, ENGLAND

During our recent vacation, my wife and I spent more than two glorious hours exploring this incredible Anglican cathedral. There are an incredible number of ancient statues, side chapels and artworks.
More than 3,300 people are buried or commemorated in the abbey, including a British prime minister and 18 English, Scottish and British monarchs.
The sheer number of daily visitors made it impossible to bring my photography equipment inside, so I made due with cellphone pictures like this one. I like the colour version, but I knew I would make some black-and-white versions to remove the distraction of colour.
iPhone 16, processed with Photoshop Elements

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Rural landscapes: the dance of autumn

THE DARK HEDGES, COUNTY ANTRIM, NORTHERN IRELAND

In about 1775, James Stuart built a new house, named Gracehill House after his wife, Grace Lynd. More than 150 beech trees were planted along the entrance road to the estate, creating an imposing approach.
The avenue became super popular after it was featured in an episode of the TV series Game of Thrones. Since then, the road has been closed to traffic.
During our recent Ireland/UK/France vacation, I had time to enjoy the road and visitors like this couple. It was sheer coincidence that my camera was ready to go when the woman did a spontaneous dance move.
Nikon D7100, tripod

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Urban landscapes: under the eye of Big Ben

WESTMINSTER BRIDGE TRAFFIC,
LONDON, ENGLAND

I’ve seen this kind of picture before and was delighted to have a chance to do my version. To get it, I set up my equipment on a thin, long concrete island separating traffic from a bicycle lane.
All kinds of people watched me do this, because this bridge is a tourist mecca day and night. I did many long exposures to get a variety to choose from. This is the best.
Nikon D7100, tripod, graduated density (darkening) filter on the bottom half.

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Natural landscapes: autumn’s orange and green

MAPLE LEAF AND TREE VINES, KILLARNEY, IRELAND

While wandering the grounds of Killarney House & Gardens, I found a small forest and this leaf. Picking it up, I looked around for an attractive photo setting and decided to prop it amongst the vines on a tree. I deliberately included the distant background so it could be rendered a compelling wash of green.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter

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