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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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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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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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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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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Natural landscapes: the beckoning spring
APRIL SUNRISE ON THE OTTAWA RIVER, PETAWAWA, ONTARIO
The mix of a breathtaking sky and the artistic curves of disappearing ice/snow made for a truly incredible morning in this military town on the Ontario/Quebec border. I have at least 10 photos from a one-kilometre section of shoreline that are absolute “keepers”. I always walk away from this kind of photographic experience praising the Maker of all. 🙂
Nikon D7100, tripod, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Rural landscapes: under the epic spring sky
ANCIENT PRAIRIE HOMESTEAD NEAR CARBON, ALBERTA
Early spring in much of Canada is mostly brown as the last of winter snow very reluctantly departs and summer growth is still weeks away. But there’s a charm in rustic and subtle scenes like this, especially when capped by a dramatic dark blue dome.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Natural landscapes: the fairytale roadside view
SNOWY CANYON NEAR BOW VALLEY PROVINCIAL PARK, ALBERTA
I was starting home after a very satisfying photo trip when I approached a bridge over a canyon. I’d driven over this bridge before without stopping but this time, as I inched across the bridge, I gazed in wonder at the gobsmacking view of snowy trees and shadows far below.
So I stopped the car, hauled out the photography equipment and made several photos, including this one. Often I’ll avoid capturing scenes like this in sunny weather because of the harsh shadows (especially in late winter-early spring, when the sun is so much higher in the sky), but those shadows helped make the canyon so photogenic.
Nikon D7100, tripod.
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Rural landscapes: walk this way to mountain glory
MOUNT YAMNUSKA, BOW VALLEY PROVINCIAL PARK, ALBERTA
It was a strange day. I drove deep into the Canadian Rockies to find good pictures, but no snow for several weeks meant lots of bland, grey-green forests that absolutely don’t make for good pictures. But coming into the mountains, I encountered the picturesque remains of an overnight snowfall. So I drove back to that area and was blessed to find incredible scenes like this.
As I made this picture, I knew I’d process a version with the fence and entry in colour, while the rest of the photo is turned into black-and-white. The result is striking, isn’t it? 🙂 Here’s the full colour version: http://bit.ly/RockiesView.
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Urban landscape: the lights of early morning
VIVO RECREATION CENTRE, CALGARY, ALBERTA
I go to the gym in this facility – which includes a library, ice rink, basketball courts and swimming pool – twice a week and every time I go, I see again how photogenic it is. Finally, I got up before dawn one weekend and spent over an hour finding sweet architectural spots like this to photograph.
Nikon D7100, tripod.
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Urban landscapes: take a winter walk on this bridge
ELBOW RIVER PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE, CALGARY, ALBERTA
Even this late in winter, snowy and cold conditions can make it seem like a January deep freeze. Nevertheless, I ventured out before sunrise to find this beautifully lit walkway over the frozen river just before it flows into the Bow River east of the downtown skyline.
Two things:
1. Given the dim illumination, a long exposure was needed to gather enough light into the camera.
2. I intentionally twisted the camera to tilt the horizon, because diagonal lines are often more visually dynamic.
Nikon D7100, tripod.
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Rural landscapes: the green coastline
ROCKY BEACH AND ANCIENT FARMLAND, DINGLE, IRELAND
This compelling scene dates back to 1993 during my second trip to Ireland and when I was still photographing on slide film. I was blessed to spend time in the nation’s southwest, where incredible scenes like this are common.
One thing about Ireland: upon arriving, I somehow felt the weight of so many centuries of often heartbreaking history. It comes back to me now as I look at these ageless strings of stone fences.
Pentax 6×7 film camera, tripod, polarizing filter
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Natural landscapes: where the ocean pounds the shore
ATLANTIC OCEAN SURF, CAPE SPEAR, NEWFOUNDLAND
Dark, cold and windy? Yes. But as you can see, that didn’t lessen the stark and stunning beauty of the easternmost point in North America. This is the first place on the continent to encounter sunrise and the first place to witness sunset.
There are two very picturesque lighthouses within walking distance of this spot. Here’s one of them: https://wp.me/p2ccTX-150.
Nikon D7100, tripod
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Natural landscapes: the arrival of spring?
LATE WINTER MELT, CASTLE WILDLAND PROVINCIAL PARK, ALBERTA
Spring is a fitful mistress in this western Canadian province. One day it’s 10c, the next day can easily be -10 with snow. In fact, the snowiest “winter” month in this part of Canada is March.
So all that said, this scene from late February certainly looks like the departure of winter. What you can’t see is the wind; Castle Wildland Provincial Park is in the deep southwest and that’s one of the windiest places in Canada.
I was very glad to have a tripod to compose this scene; I also boosted the “speed” of my exposures to ISO 400 (anyone with camera – not phone – experience will probably understand) to make sure my exposures wouldn’t be blurry from constant wind shaking the camera.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Check out my coffeetable book “BLUE SYMPHONY: Winter in the Canadian Rockies”: http://bit.ly/kFb3Xw
Urban landscapes: glory in the basement
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION CHAPEL, BASILICA OF SAINTE-ANNE-DE-BEAUPRE, NEAR QUEBEC CITY
My wife and I were blessed to experience this incredible place (which attracts almost a million visitors annually) during a 2007 vacation. The architecture is almost beyond words, putting the basilica on par with Europe’s most spectacular cathedrals.
Even the chapel in this photo (which is in the basement) is simply stunning. While at the basilica, we had the privilege of sitting in on a mass. It was a special time of reverence and prayer for the ultimate Architect and His Son. 🙂
Nikon D50, tripod.
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Natural landscapes: into the world of snow
SHADOWS AND SNOW, BANFF NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA
I was a long way from this small section of mountain in the Canadian Rockies. But a decent telephoto lens let me show you a close-up view of raw, spectacular winter.
As with so many winter scenes, there was little colour to be had, so I went black-and-white to highlight the epic light. This horizontal view puts what you’re seeing here in a larger context: https://wp.me/p2ccTX-1gp
Nikon D7100, polarizing filter, 70-300 mm. zoom lens, tripod
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Natural landscapes: dance of the snow shadows
WINTER SHADOWS NEAR BOW LAKE, BANFF NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA
I was driving along the Icefields Parkway, regularly rated among the most spectacular drives in the world, when the tops of these snow-laden bushes caused me to stop.
In the end, this photo is all about the play of shadow and light. And given the lack of colour (just blue), it was a no-brainer to remove that distraction and let you enjoy nothing but the dance of the snow shadows.
Nikon D90, tripod, polarizing filter.
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