Natural landscapes: a snowy autumn moment
POPLAR LEAVES AND SNOW
BANFF NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA
I visited this world-famous western Canadian park right after a September snowfall and was blessed with ridiculous photo opportunities.
Amidst the larger landscapes, I looked for intimate pictures and found this arrangement of leaves and icy snow.
Nikon D7100, tripod, fill-flash.
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Natural landscapes: the lurid sunrise
DAWN AT VERMILLION LAKES, BANFF NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA
I plunged into the archives to resurrect, from 2010, one of the most spectacular sunrises I’ve ever been blessed to witness. This was a tricky picture to process; I wanted to show you some detail in the shadows, but not to the point of making the picture seem unrealistic.
Then there was the matter of colour. It truly was stunning, but I didn’t want it to be so saturated that it didn’t seem real. In the end, I hope I achieved a good balance. Do you agree?
Nikon D90, tripod, (probably) an enhancing filter
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Natural landscapes: the monotone mountain sunrise
DAWN AT QUARRY LAKE, CANMORE, ALBERTA
This spring-fed Rocky Mountain lake, several hundred feet above the town of Canmore, is a dream to photograph on windless days because there are spectacular mountains reflected in every direction.
Surprisingly, there wasn’t much colour in this scene so I went monotone to highlight the drama of the sunrise trying to poke through the clouds.
Nikon D7100, tripod, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Natural landscapes: the rich and barren land
CAIRN AND COLOUR ON THE ARCTIC TUNDRA, NEAR BAKER LAKE, NUNAVUT
During a 2019 visit to this remote and fascinating place, I had time to roam around the rocky, treeless (and I mean that literally!) landscape to search out quietly compelling scenes like this. The Baker Lake region is a land of endless lakes, ponds and rocks, so unlike anything I’d experienced before or since.
Nikon D7100, polarizing filter
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Rural landscapes: the harvest view
HAY ROLLS AND ROCKY MOUNTAINS, NEAR MILLARVILLE, ALBERTA
The dirt road took me to a wonderful overview of this restful, pastoral scene, but my first photos lacked something. So I set the camera on a timer and raced back and forth to the fence for several exposures. This was the best of them, positioning me nicely in the context of a larger scene.
Nikon D7100, tripod, graduated density (darkening) filter on the peaks and sky.
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Rural landscapes: the Arctic sand bar
SHORELINE ROCKS, BAKER LAKE, NUNAVUT
My 2018 visit to this fascinating, remote, northern Canada territory included time to wander along the lakeshore searching out quietly interesting compositions like this. See the distant ship? It stayed there for the entire time I was in Baker Lake, pumping gasoline through kilometres of hose into giant tanks that provided fuel for the long winter months ahead.
As this scene had only the blue sky and dull brown sand to provide colour, I opted to go monotone and heighten the scene’s contrast/drama.
Nikon D7100, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Want to buy this picture? Email me and I’ll make it happen! (fdking@hotmail.com).
Check out my coffeetable book, “MOMENTS OF LIGHT: Thirty Years of Photography”: http://bit.ly/JTNnMX
Rural landscapes: the summer field of glory
HAY ROLLS IN EARLY MORNING LIGHT, NEAR CALGARY, ALBERTA
The sweet, golden light attracted my eyes to the distant hills, then to the lines of hay rolls. So I designed this composition to highlight both. Notice how the sky and the fence posts/grass serve to frame/enclose the hills and hayrolls?
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Want to buy this picture? Email me and I’ll make it happen! (fdking@hotmail.com).
Check out my coffeetable book, “Bring on the Light: Forty years of photography”: https://bit.ly/BringOnTheLight
Natural landscapes: exploring the details
PLANT CLOSE-UP, COSTA RICA
During a 2014 Samaritan’s Purse trip to this Central American nation, I took advantage of a delay in our bus leaving to check out some of the foliage around the parking lot. There wasn’t a lot of light and I didn’t have my tripod, so I had to boost the Nikon D7100’s sensitivity to make this close-up shot. All these years later, I’m still amazed at the quality of the resulting photos, including this study of lines and curves.
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Want to buy this picture? Email me and I’ll make it happen! (fdking@hotmail.com).
Check out my coffeetable book, “MOMENTS OF LIGHT: Thirty Years of Photography”: http://bit.ly/JTNnMX
Natural landscapes: viewing the amazing mountains
MORNING LIGHT AT EMERALD LAKE, YOHO NATIONAL PARK, BRITISH COLUMBIA
What a blessing it was to arrive at this Canadian Rocky Mountain lake early enough to capture the stunning first light of a new day. I liked this scene and knew a silhouetted person would add a nice human touch. So I set myself up in front of the camera, pretending to make a snapshot on my phone. The resulting photo showed some detail of my red shirt, so I just kept darkening me until all detail and colour disappeared.
I ended up enjoying a walk all the way around the lake, which is about a half-hour drive west of Lake Louise and the border with Alberta.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Want to buy this picture? Email me and I’ll make it happen! (fdking@hotmail.com).
Check out my coffeetable book, “Bring on the Light: Forty years of photography”: https://bit.ly/BringOnTheLight
Urban landscapes: follow the light trails
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, CALGARY, ALBERTA
I was killing time in a nearby park, waiting (in vain, as it turned out) for the lights to come on and illuminate two beautiful water fountains, when I spotted this nicely lit church. So I wandered over to see if a picture was possible and, as you can see, the answer was yes.
I went for as low a perspective as possible in order to push the long-exposure vehicle lights higher into the scene. As for going monotone, I like the blues and reds in the colour version, but I knew this treatment would also be a winner. Was I right?
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
Click on the picture for a larger view.
Want to buy this picture? Email me and I’ll make it happen! (fdking@hotmail.com).
Check out my coffeetable book, “Bring on the Light: Forty years of photography”: https://bit.ly/BringOnTheLight
