Natural landscapes: in the path of the fossil hunters
DINOSAUR PROVINCIAL PARK, NEWELL COUNTY, ALBERTA
One of my favourite photo destinations is also among the world’s most renown dinosaur fossil locations. Forty species have been discovered at the park and more than 500 specimens have been removed and exhibited in museums around the globe.
Back in 2009, I visited right after a frosty snowfall and the photographic results were spectacular (here’s one example: https://wp.me/p2ccTX-td). This time, there was just enough snow to make winter pictures possible and I spent most of the short December daylight roaming around and finding glorious scenery like this.
Nikon D7100, tripod.
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Natural landscapes: the flowing winter water
PIPESTONE RIVER, BANFF NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA
Early winter is the best time to capture beautiful Rocky Mountain rivers like this, before they’ve almost totally frozen over. I was blessed to find this viewpoint from a bridge crossing the river near Lake Louise. There was very little colour in this scene, so it was an easy decision to go black-and-white. That said, here’s the colour version for comparison: https://bit.ly/PipestoneRiver.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Rural landscapes: under the threatening sky
PRAIRIE FARM BUILDINGS NEAR AIRDRIE, ALBERTA
I’m always attracted to ancient buildings on western Canada’s spectacular prairies. In this case, I liked the random space that separated one building from the others. And that sky! Combine it with the low sun of late autumn and you have the makings of a compelling photo.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky
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Rural landscapes: the spacious prairie ranch
BARN AND FENCE, NEAR STAVELY, ALBERTA
I really liked the barn (red barns almost always make me to stop in my tracks), but needed something else to complete the composition. The intersecting fences served that role quite well, especially as I could make the picture from above, along the road, with a telephoto lens. That elevation allowed me to put a bit of space between the posts and the barn, which was important to make the picture compelling.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Natural landscapes: the gobsmacking winter sunrise
DAWN ON THE GREAT LAKES, WHITBY, ONTARIO
During a visit to my previous home town, I was blessed to get out early enough to capture a cold, stunning sunrise on Lake Ontario. It’s funny; I never realized just what a photographic resource was that lake until I moved far away. When I return to Whitby (in the Greater Toronto Area) for another visit, I’ll be sure to capture a sunrise – if the weather cooperates.
Nikon D50, tripod.
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Wander through my photography book “Special Places: A Landscape Photographer’s Vision of Southern Ontario”: http://bit.ly/yNU06F
Natural landscapes: the afternoon flow
BOW RIVER AND CASTLE MOUNTAIN, BANFF NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA
The day had been mostly overcast, but in the last hour, while on the way home, the sun finally found a hole in the clouds and added brilliant illumination to this stunning Canadian Rocky Mountain scene. There wasn’t a lot of colour, so it was an easy decision to show you a black-and-white version – especially as B&W is often more dramatic. (That said, here’s the colour version: https://bit.ly/AlbertaRiver.)
Nikon D7100, tripod
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Check out my coffeetable book “BLUE SYMPHONY: Winter in the Canadian Rockies”: http://bit.ly/kFb3Xw
Urban landscapes: silence in the cathedral
ST. DUNSTAN’S BASILICA, CHARLOTTETOWN, PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
Built in 1916 (after a fire destroyed the previous structure), this cathedral is all the more stunning because it’s in a city of just 40,000. It was designated a Canadian national historic site in 1990.
I was blessed to spend nearly an hour here, making long exposures with no one to bother me. Here’s another view of this incredible building: https://wp.me/p2ccTX-10b.
Nikon D7100, tripod
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Check out my coffeetable book, “Light and Lines: An Urban Landscape Portfolio”: http://bit.ly/LIGHTandLINES
Natural landscapes: what the camera captures
KICKING HORSE RIVER,
YOHO NATIONAL PARK,
BRITISH COLUMBIA
I was blessed to visit this river shortly after a fresh snowfall, creating a wonderland of photo opportunities as I walked along the river bank. I often like to make a picture of my camera in the scene for social media; in this case the result was so good that I saved it for this website. As an extra creative touch, I converted the picture on the back of the Nikon D7100 into black-and-white. Kinda cool, eh? 🙂
IPhone 8, processed with Photoshop
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Check out my coffeetable book “BLUE SYMPHONY: Winter in the Canadian Rockies”: http://bit.ly/kFb3Xw
Natural landscapes: when November looks like January
SHERBROOKE CREEK,
YOHO NATIONAL PARK,
BRITISH COLUMBIA
I parked on the side of the Trans Canada Highway, near the Alberta-British Columbia border, and waded through 18 inches of snow to reach a viewpoint where I could clearly see the gobsmacking beauty of this mountain stream in late autumn.
There wasn’t much colour in this scene, so it was a no-brainer to go black-and-white. The other thing I had to do was go for a long exposure to make the water silky and help lead your eyes on a diagonal path through the picture.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, two neutral density (darkening) filters
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Urban landscapes: the city wonderland
PRINCE’S ISLAND PARK, CALGARY, ALBERTA
This gorgeous island, on the northern edge of the Calgary’s downtown, is one of my reliable “go-to” photo locales after snowfall. It has lots of pathways winding through tall trees and, if you’re facing south, you can easily add skyscrapers into the mix. I usually get there early in the morning, before any other people arrive, so I can get pictures like this. (Here’s another photo from the same delightful morning: https://wp.me/p2ccTX-1ej).
Nikon D7100, tripod.
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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: piercing the sunrise sky
CN TOWER AND RAIL LINES, TORONTO, ONTARIO
During a recent trip to Canada’s largest city, I drove over a bridge that afforded this amazing view of rail lines in a canyon of office buildings and condo towers. I made a picture, but it was so close to sunrise that the building and street lights were obscured. So I returned earlier the next morning and was rewarded with this glowing, glittering, glorious scene.
I like the colour version (you can see it here: https://bit.ly/YYZdawn), but knew it would be even more dramatic in monotone. Was I right? 🙂
Nikon D7100, tripod
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Check out my coffeetable book, “Light and Lines: An Urban Landscape Portfolio”: http://bit.ly/LIGHTandLINES
Rural landscapes: grabbing hold of the wind
WIND TURBINES NEAR PINCHER CREEK, ALBERTA
Southern Alberta is one of the windiest places in Canada, so it’s no surprise that the landscape is dotted with hundreds of turbines. I’ve discovered lots of people intensely dislike them — especially as they’re not the solution to producing “clean” energy that some of their proponents claim — but turbines make an intriguing subject for landscape photography.
Nikon D90, tripod, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky
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Wildlife: the peaceful autumn moment
MALE MALLARD, LYNDE SHORES CONSERVATION AREA, WHITBY, ONTARIO
The waterfowl at this peaceful place east of Toronto are accustomed to human presence, so they didn’t bother much with me and my camera. The result, on my first digital camera, is one of my best wildlife pictures.
I did a lot of processing work to achieve what you’re looking at. Cloned out a lot of tiny bits of dirt and fluff in the water. Also replaced the duck’s distracting and disturbing red-eye with a cloned bit of the duck’s feathers. Worked pretty well, eh?
Nikon D50, fill-flash (to illuminate the duck’s underside), tripod.
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Rural landscapes: the early winter landscape
HAY ROLLS, FOOTHILLS AND ROCKY MOUNTAINS, NEAR BLACK DIAMOND, ALBERTA
I was blessed to be able to get outwith my photography equipment right after a late autumn snowfall decorated the glorious landscapes south of Calgary. On a morning like this, it was hard to make a bad photo and I wandered along random country roads to find many compelling scenes.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Natural landscapes: the flow of autumn water
RAPIDS ON THE ONAPING RIVER, NEAR SUDBURY, ONTARIO
While in this central Ontario city for work, a colleague graciously drove me to this river, which is well known for a spectacular waterfall. I photographed that waterfall, then moved up the river to find many other photogenic spots where the river flows over Canadian Shield rock. This was one of those spots and I went monotone to highlight the drama of whitewater and dark rock.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, neutral density (darkening) filter.
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Want to buy this picture? Email me and I’ll make it happen! (fdking@hotmail.com).
Wander through my photography book “Special Places: A Landscape Photographer’s Vision of Southern Ontario”: http://bit.ly/yNU06F
Natural landscapes: in the colourful shade
AUTUMN LEAVES, WATSON STREET PARK, LONDON, ONTARIO
Following the paths in this urban park guided me to a surprise wetland. This was one of the pictures I made there; I like how the background is brighter than the leaves, but the leaves retain detail and colour. The shallow depth of field was vital here, to make the background a gentle wash of colour that helps the leaves stand out.
Nikon D7100, tripod, 70-300-mm. zoom lens, fill-flash, (probably) a polarizing filter
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Natural lanscapes: the sunny autumn viewpoint
FALL LEAVES AND CANADIAN SHIELD ROCK, SUDBURY, ONTARIO
While in this city on a work trip, a colleague and I visited Ramsay Lake, one of 30 lakes surrounding Sudbury, and found all sorts of colourful leaves with water drops.
I followed his lead, carefully picked up some particularly good leaves, then carried them around until finding a compelling scene to highlight them.
I went for a shallow depth of field so the lake and horizon would complement, rather than compete, with the leaves.
Nikon D7100, polarizing filter
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Check out my coffeetable book, “Frank King’s Southern Ontario”: http://bit.ly/11kOiRk
Urban landscapes: the ancient cathedral
ST. PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL, DUBLIN, IRELAND
During our 2017 European cruise ship vacation, I had most of a day to myself to roam through downtown Dublin and make pictures. Finding the city’s cathedrals was at the top of my list and one look at this photo tells you why.
I was truly blessed to be permitted to use my tripod, since a six-second exposure was required to capture this dimly lit scene. Here’s the picture in colour: https://bit.ly/IrishCathedral
According to Wikipedia, the basis of the present St. Patrick’s Cathedral was built between 1191 and 1270, though little now remains of the earliest work beyond the baptistry. It was a Roman Catholic church until about 1537, when the English Reformation (under King Henry VIII) caused it to become Anglican.
Nikon D7100, tripod.
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Check out my coffeetable book, “IRELAND: Visions of Light”: http://bit.ly/IrelandVisionsOfLight
Wildlife: preparing for winter
PIKA AT LAKE LOUISE, BANFF NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA
I fished back into the archives and landed this photo from October 2007. According to Wikipedia, pikas prefer rocky slopes and graze on grasses, flowers, and young stems. In the autumn, they pull hay, soft twigs, and other stores of food into their burrows to eat during the long, cold winter. Pikas are also known as the “whistling hare” for their high-pitched alarm call when diving into their burrows.
At Lake Louise, these creatures are quite accustomed to people. In fact, I recall this little guy often came so close to me that my lens couldn’t focus on him (her?). Oh, and the white-ish spots you see in the photo? That’s autumn snow! Nikon D50
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Check out my coffeetable book, “Bring on the Light: Forty years of photography”: https://bit.ly/BringOnTheLight
Natural landscapes: the intimate colours of fall
AUTUMN LEAVES AT BIG HILL SPRINGS PROVINCIAL PARK,
NEAR COCHRANE, ALBERTA
After the splashy colours and dramatic sunshine of my previous autumn leaves post, I decided to go the opposite direction and present you with subtle hues, soft lighting and a very uncluttered composition.
It seems restful and contemplative, doesn’t it? 🙂
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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