Natural landscapes: autumn’s red world
FALL MAPLE LEAVES,
TORONTO, ONTARIO
I was in Canada’s largest city a little too early to enjoy peak autumn colours, but I still found a few highlights like this maple tree near my parents’ condo apartment.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Natural landscapes: basking in the glory of sunrise
AUTUMN DAWN ON THE OLDMAN RIVER, NEAR FORT MACLEOD, ALBERTA
I was driving in the southern end of this western Canadian province, aiming for Waterton Lakes National Park, when the sunrise started looking very promising. Then I crossed the bridge over the river, saw the possibilities and quickly did a U-turn. The next half-hour was spent capturing the river and sky in various ways, including this one. It was heavenly! 🙂
Nikon D7100, tripod, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Natural landscapes: the intimate colours of autumn
FALL LEAVES, EMERALD LAKE, YOHO NATIONAL PARK, BRITISH COLUMBIA
I don’t have many autumn pictures from Canada’s westernmost province, so I’m glad to find one to show you. I hiked around this spectacular Rocky Mountain lake and found many close-up opportunities like this in the light of morning. What a blessing it is to be shown this small examples of God’s artistic handiwork. 🙂
Nikon D7100, tripod, fill-flash and (probably) a polarizing filter.
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Rural landscapes: the stunning autumn morning
RANGE ROAD 30, MILLARVILLE, ALBERTA
The rolling hills southwest of Calgary are awash in cottonwoods, aspens and poplars and, come the end of September, they all turn glorious shades of yellow and orange. I was blessed to find this section of road with a particularly colourful stretch of trees, made even more compelling by the warm early-morning sun. This spot is just a kilometre away from the Millarville Race Track, which has often been used in the long-running CBC-TV drama Heartland.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Natural landscapes: the pools of autumn
PONDS ALONG BLAKISTON CREEK,
WATERTON LAKES NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA
I wanted to go beyond the usual fall calendar-style photos showing gigantic swaths of colour and, often, not much else. This one fit the bill for me, even though I know it won’t be all that popular.
I was intrigued by the series of pools near the creek and the group of leaves in this one made me stop and make a photo. I like that there’s something of interest in every part of this composition.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky
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Natural landscapes: the ocean of autumn yellow
LARCH VALLEY
BANFF NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA
This place – a nine-kilometre return hike from the parking lot – is justifiably one of the most popular autumn hikes in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Once you arrive (a challenging 500-metre climb with many switchbacks), you’re greated by thousands of flourescent yellow/orange larches. Normally green, they change colour and then drop their needles each fall.
I liked this perspective, with the distant mountainside in the background, then found a giant boulder to climb on and gain additional height.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Natural landscapes: me and the autumn peaks
LARCH VALLEY PEAKS, BANFF NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA
These gigantic mountains tower over the end of Larch Valley, one of the most popular and spectacular autumn hikes in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. All those orangy-yellow larch trees aren’t dead; like their cousin the tamaracks of eastern North America, they simply shed their needles in the autumn. The lack of a strong element in the bottom half of the scene caused me to put myself into the photo, setting the timer on the camera, then running back and forth several times until I liked where I was in the composition.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Urban landscapes: soaring into the sky
TORONTO DOMINION CENTRE, TORONTO, ONTARIO
The six towers and pavilion in this complex were constructed between 1967 and 1991. More than 20,000 people work here, making it the largest commercial office complex in Canada.
I always liked the arrangement of these giant vertical blocks and photographed them several times over the years. As there is almost no colour in these towers, I opted for a monotone treatment that increases the drama.
Nikon D90, tripod, polarizing filter
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Rural landscapes: the curves of autumn
HIGHWAY 546
SHEEP RIVER PROVINCIAL PARK, ALBERTA
Autumn is a stunning time to visit this western Canadian park, in the Rocky Mountain foothills southwest of Calgary. Not many people, but lots of aspens, poplars and cottonwoods that turn a stunning shade of yellow.
I was blessed to find a high viewpoint overlooking a river just to the left of this scene. I used a big telephoto lens to isolate the curving road and exclude the dull, cloudy sky.
Nikon D7100, tripod, 70-300 mm. lens, polarizing filter.
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Natural landscapes: the sublime, silent sunrise
APPROACHING DAWN AT JOHNSON LAKE, BANFF NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA
I arrived at this Rocky Mountain lake about a half-hour before sunrise. This was one of the first pictures I made before walking around the entire lake, making photos along the way of peaks in glorious dawn light. It was heavenly. 🙂
Nikon D7100, tripod, enhancing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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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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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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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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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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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
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