Rural landscapes: the castle and the brooding landscape
URQUHART CASTLE AND LOCH NESS, SCOTLAND
Of course, I would have preferred sunny conditions to capture this epic castle, which is one of the most popular castles in Scotland. But I think I did okay to make the brooding conditions quite compelling.
According to Wikipedia, the ruins you see here date from between the 13th and 16th centuries. The site came under government care in 1911. Here’s another part of the castle site: https://wp.me/p2ccTX-1an.
Nikon D7100, tripod, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Rural landscapes: the curves of a prairie spring
NOSE CREEK, NEAR AIRDRIE, ALBERTA
Spring is usually very short on the southern Alberta prairies – just a few weeks without snow until the green finally arrives in mid-May. To most folks, that in-between time doesn’t seem very photogenic, but I knew if I was diligent, I could find something compelling. I think the curves of this stream and the dramatic sky fit the bill, yes?
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, two graduated density (darkening) filters on the sky
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Rural landscapes: the last of the spring snow
CROWSNEST RIVER, LUNDBRECK, ALBERTA
I was photographing Lundbreck Falls, a popular tourist site in the deep south of this western Canadian province, when I decided to turn my attention in the opposite direction. Standing on a bridge over the river, I saw this composition come together. See the bits of snow along the right bank of the river?
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 NEW coffeetable book, “Bring on the Light: Forty years of photography”: https://bit.ly/BringOnTheLight
Rural landscapes: closed for the pandemic
ROSEDEER HOTEL AND LAST CHANCE SALOON, WAYNE, ALBERTA
This charming tourist attraction is in a tiny hamlet that was once a coal mining powerhouse of 2,500. The first mine closed during the Great Depression and today, Wayne has less than 50 people and the mining industry is long gone. But the place continues to fascinate, in part because getting there from the main highway requires crossing 11 single-lane bridges over the Rosebud River.
There’s a standard close-up view of the hotel and saloon that’s pretty good and I have that photo. But I wanted something that was unique to my vision, so I used these bushes – which serve as the boundary to a nearby residential property – to provide a near-far perspective.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Rural landscapes: Colour in the midst of a struggling spring
WAGON ON THE PRAIRIES NEAR CARBON, ALBERTA
This scene looks like mid-winter, but it’s mid-April. On the Canadian prairies, that often means random snow days that leave fields looking many months away from planting.
I was driving a random road when this ornamental wagon came into view. I so loved the glowing colours amidst a muted landscape that I went all the way and turned everything but the wagon – and the ground it’s on – into black-and-white. You can see the scene in full colour here: https://bit.ly/PrairieWagon
Nikon D7100, tripod, 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).
Wander through my NEW coffeetable photography book, “Bring on the Light: Forty years of photography”: https://bit.ly/BringOnTheLight
Natural landscapes: beauty before the spring growth
MORNING BAY NEAR BELLEVILLE, ONTARIO
Early spring in much of Canada means messy landscapes and no green. Those were the conditions when I was in Belleville (east of Toronto, the country’s largest city) looking for morning landscapes that could overcome the early spring handicaps. I believe I found it with this unnamed inlet on Lake Ontario. I stayed back far enough to use the leafless shrubs and tree branches as framing elements.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Wander through my NEW coffeetable photography book, “Bring on the Light: Forty years of photography”: https://bit.ly/BringOnTheLight.
Rural landscapes: the halting arrival of spring
ICY FENCE IN SPRING POND NEAR AIRDRIE, ALBERTA
Spring is a ficklesome thing on the Canadian prairies; one day it’s warm and the next cold & snowy. I was cruising the gorgeous landscapes near my home in Calgary when I encountered this drowned fence, complete with icy tentacles.
I took care with the resulting composition to ensure the fence post was well above the horizon, thereby connecting land with sky in the resulting photo; if the top of the post was lined up with the horizon, that would have created a subconscious visual irritant.
Nikon D90, tripod, polarizing filter
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Natural landscapes: bursting from the messy ground
SPRING AMONG FALLEN LEAVES, PRESQUILE PROVINCIAL PARK, NEAR BRIGHTON, ONTARIO
Sifted through the archives to find this wonderful 2006 scene of new growth in a charming, photogenic park along the shore of Lake Ontario east of Toronto. In retrospect, I might have cleaned up the background before making this picture, but this is certainly an accurate picture of the forest floor in early spring.
I used the built-in flash on my digital camera to help the new green growth stand out amongst the contrasty ancient leaves.
Nikon D50, polarizing filter, tripod
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Wander through my NEW coffeetable photography book “Bring on the Light: Forty years of photography”: https://bit.ly/BringOnTheLight
Urban landscapes: the sweeping line of lights
LIGHT INSTALLATION, 707 FIFTH, CALGARY, ALBERTA
One of the newest editions to this western Canadian city’s skyline offered a dynamic entrance and a sweeping series of light poles that challenged me photographically. There’s a lot going on in this scene, but I’m hopeful this composition put it all together in a sensible, artistic way. You can see my take on the rest of the eye-popping building entrance here: https://wp.me/p2ccTX-1hC.
Nikon D7100, tripod
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Rural landscapes: still life in a wintery spring
SNOW ON THE WAGON WHEEL, NEAR COCHRANE, ALBERTA
This scene does seem like a still-life painting, doesn’t it? The touch of April snow (quite common on the Canadian prairies) added just what I needed to make a good subject even better.
I went for a very shallow depth of field to ensure the background would be a nice, vague wash of gentle colours.
Nikon D7100, tripod
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