Rural landscapes: the road to winter heaven
COUNTRY ROAD NEAR THE COWBOY TRAIL, ALBERTA
The Cowboy Trail is one of the most astonishingly beautiful drives in Canada. I love it in all seasons, but winter often provides the most spectacular photo opportunities – as you can see here. Look carefully and you can spy the Rocky Mountains shrouded under the clouds.
The colour version is nice (you can see it here: https://bit.ly/CowboyTrailWinter) but as is so often the case with winter pictures, the black-and-white version has far more drama.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Rural landscapes: the past in the present
ANTIQUE RAKER NEAR PINCHER CREEK, ALBERTA
Loved the setting – the glorious Canadian prairies and Rocky Mountain foothills – and loved the colour palette of this antique raker. The trick was to decide on the background.
I made one close-up photo with a wide-angle lens, then moved back and tried the same scene with a telephoto lens. That’s the one I like better, because it brings the distant hills much closer.
Nikon D7100 tripod, 70-300mm. zoom lens, polarizing filter
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Urban landscapes: Returning to the river
STREAM FLOWING INTO THE BOW RIVER, CALGARY, ALBERTA
This stream is actually part of the river; the water is diverted as it flows around Prince’s Island, an oasis on the north side of this western Canadian city’s downtown core.
I was there on a cold November morning and was delighted to find this combination of flowing water, river and the beautifully lit Centre Street Bridge.
I was on the other side of the creek when I realized there was a great picture to be had, so I darted across the water (avoiding getting a ‘soaker’ – yay!) and made a ciruitous route to this perspective, all the ensure my snowy footprints would not be in the photo.
Nikon D7100, tripod, graduated density (darkening) filter on the bridge and sky
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Natural landscapes: the details of winter beauty
VERMILION RIVER AT NUMA FALLS, KOOTENAY NATIONAL PARK, BRITISH COLUMBIA
The Rocky Mountain waterfall is gorgeous, especially in winter (you can see it here: https://wp.me/p2ccTX-zN). But there’s more to this wonderful section of the river, so after finishing with the falls, I spent time searching out beautiful little spaces like this. Cold? Oh, yes. But the creative possibilities were such that I barely noticed.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter and probably a darkening filter
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Urban landscapes: the woosh of transportation
C-TRAIN IN MOTION, CALGARY, ALBERTA
The light rapid transit system in this western Canadian city is always good for long-exposure pictures; the trick is to make those exposures in compelling environments. I think this scene, captured before dawn, qualifies.
The soaring skyscraper, completed in 2017, is Brookfield Place, At 56 stories and 810 feet, it’s the tallest building in Calgary and among the ten tallest in Canada.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Urban landscapes: a drive along the river
BOW RIVER AND MEMORIAL DRIVE, CALGARY, ALBERTA
As dawn slowly approached, I found a good vantage point on a pedestrian bridge to photograph the river and road in the dim light. You’ll notice that beyond the road and streetlight reflections in the water, this is basically a black-and-white photo.
Nikon D7100, tripod.
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Rural landscapes: the wintery autumn drive
FALL IN THE FOOTHILLS, NEAR BLACK DIAMOND, ALBERTA
I was blessed to find time to drive through this wonderful landscape just a few days after a significant autumn snowfall. It was hard to make a bad picture that morning. 🙂
There was very little significant colour in this scene, so I turned everything but the farm buildings into black-and-white. Love how Photoshop makes this kind of thing so possible.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Natural landscapes: before the lake freezes
LATE AUTUMN AT LAKE LOUISE, BANFF NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA
I’ve rarely been able to visit this iconic Canadian Rocky Mountain lake with snow and before the water freezes for six months. So this was a bonus; I was there to go for a walk with my lovely wife and this was the only composition I photographed – so a 100 percent success rate on this “photo” trip! 😉
The colour version is pretty cool – you can see it here: http://bit.ly/AutumnAtLakeLouise – but even as I made this picture I knew I would create a B&W version just ’cause monotone is often more dramatic. And if you check out the colour version, you’ll see that’s true.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on most of the sky.
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Urban landscapes: the painted sunrise
CLOUDS AT DAWN, CALGARY, ALBERTA
Yes, that November sunrise really was this spectacular. First, I made some gobsmacking pictures along the Bow River, which flows through this western Canadian city (here’s an example: https://wp.me/p2ccTX-KO), then walked over to a small pond just east of the downtown skyscrapers. A gazebo adds a human touch to the spectacle.
Nikon D7100, tripod, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky, enhancing filter.
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Rural landscapes: the wintery dawn
SUNRISE AFTER THE AUTUMN SNOWFALL, NEAR BLACK DIAMOND, ALBERTA
Winter often arrives early in the prairies, foothills and mountains of this western Canadian province. I ventured out a few days after a significant snowfall and was blessed to find scenes like this. I went for a shallow depth of field so the distant background would go “soft” and be more complimentary (and less competititive for your attention) with the closer hay roll.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Rural landscapes: the end of autumn colour
FALL LEAVES IN A BACKYARD, QUIDI VIDI (ST JOHN’S), NEWFOUNDLAND
I parked my car just a few feet away and immediately noticed this compelling mix of fence posts, yellow leaves and brilliant red siding. Colourful exteriors are quite common in this eastern Canadian province, but this scene made me stop and spend 20 minutes trying out compositions. This is the best of the bunch.
I went for a very shallow depth of field, so the soft-focus siding would complement the scene, rather than dominate it. Just a processing note: the fence posts had a slight blue cast that I didn’t care for, so I converted them into black-and-white.
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Natural landscapes: when the snows of October arrive
SNOWY TREE TRUNK AND WETLANDS, NEAR EXSHAW, ALBERTA
After a Friday night snowfall that put about two inches of snow in Calgary, I headed out before dawn to find snowy landscapes in the foothills of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Going west, I encountered at least six inches of snow – along with recurrent squalls – in scenes like this.
Might be hard to believe that snow can arrive this early, but it can happen year-round in the mountains and foothills of Alberta. The scene had almost no colour, so it was a no-brainer to make the picture black-and-white.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Rural landscapes: dawn at the dam
GHOST LAKE AND DAM, NEAR COCHRANE, ALBERTA
I was heading west of my Calgary home to photograph autumn ponds-and-new-snow landscapes when I drove along the edge of this lake and saw the beautifully lit dam and the sky beginning to glow with the first light of day.
So I parked at the picnic area and spent the next half-hour making a variety of loooong exposure pictures. This composition is one of the best. If you enlarge the photo, you’ll see the boats on the left are quite blurry because they were gently rocking through the entire exposure.
PS: the pod pier isn’t white. That’s snow.
Nikon D7100, tripod, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Natural landscapes: flowing through fall
MANUELS RIVER, CONCEPTION BAY SOUTH, NEWFOUNDLAND
The Avalon Peninsula, in this eastern Canadian province, is filled with astonishing ocean views, rivers and waterfalls. This river has a stunning set of cascades of which I made many pictures, but then I wandered through the shoreline forest until finding a spot that featured this charming view.
A loooong exposure smoothed out the flowing water and highlighted the little rapids. Like all the rivers in Newfoundland, this one flows directly into the Atlantic Ocean. Here’s another view of Manuels River, made on the same day: https://wp.me/p2ccTX-1oc.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Natural landscapes: along the autumn river
OLDMAN RIVER, MAYCROFT PROVINCIAL RECREATION AREA, ALBERTA
I took a road off the highway that I expected to take me further into the foothills of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, but instead it led me to a picnic area with this photogenic overview of the river and surrounding landscape. I have a similar picture showing the horizon and sky, but this composition puts greater emphasis on the colourful foliage.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Rural landscapes: autumn on the epic landscape
DRIVING A COUNTRY ROAD NEAR THE COWBOY TRAIL, ALBERTA
There are plenty of nameless dirt roads running off the Cowboy Trail and I took one in hopes of finding compelling fall photos. It was while returning to the trail that I spotted this distant vista.
A telephoto lens drew the scene closer and eliminated the hazy, distracting sky. I actually waited for the occasional vehicle to pass so I could include one for scale.
Nikon D7100, tripod, 70-300 mm. zoom lens, polarizing filter.
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Urban landscapes: a walk in the autumn city
FALL AT BOWNESS PARK, CALGARY, ALBERTA
It was a quiet, peaceful weekday when I visited the ponds and giant trees in this western Canadian park. I liked the leaves scattered along the pond shore, so I added to the effect by grabbing handfuls of nearby leaves and tossing them into the scene.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Natural landscapes: framed in colourful glory
AUTUMN AT SHEEP RIVER PROVINCIAL PARK, ALBERTA
After living in southern Alberta for over a decade, I only discovered this amazing park this year. One spot features an incredible lookout over a canyon and distant peaks. I spent nearly an hour here, finding good photos despite the overcast conditions. The Sheep River is fed by nearly 20 creeks and streams. In turn, it provides water for three towns south of Calgary.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Rural landscape: the autumn place of worship
ST. PETER’S LUTHERAN CHURCH, COCHRANE, ALBERTA
I’ve considered photographing this very attractive church many times over the years, but was always thrown off by the distracting powerlines angling down the hill behind the building. Seeing the nearby trees aglow with autumn colour finally convinced me to give it a try.
Once I got the jpeg into photoshop, I carefully used a cloning tool to remove all the powerlines. Glad to see that there’s no way to figure out where they were. Now there’s nothing to distract you from enjoying the beauty of architecture and the setting. 🙂
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Natural landscapes: autumn’s surreal touch
STREAM THROUGH THE FOREST, PORTUGAL COVE, NEWFOUNDLAND
I wanted to soften the flow of the creek through a long exposure, but the weather on that day in 2018 was so windy that I couldn’t freeze the movement of the shrubs and trees. But no matter; I got the silky water I wanted and the blurry leaves add a very different, almost surreal, touch to the scene.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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