Urban landscapes: the rush of traffic
MORNING RUSH HOUR ON SIXTH AVENUE, CALGARY, ALBERTA
There’s a trick to getting the best possible long exposure traffic photos in big cities; you want to be there when there are lots of vehicles, but you also want to have as much light as possible from the surrounding skyscrapers, so they’re not just black silhouettes against the sky. In this western Canadian city, that means making photos on fall, winter or early spring weekdays. That’s when I made this picture.
Nikon D7100, tripod.
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Urban landscapes: soaring over the bay
NORRIS WHITNEY BRIDGE, BELLEVILLE, ONTARIO
Completed in 1982, this bridge connects the city of Belleville (about 90 minutes’ drive east of Toronto, Canada’s largest city) with Prince Edward County, an island thrust into Lake Ontario. It’s named for a politician who served for 20 years in the Ontario provincial parliament.
The swooping lines of the bridge, along with the concrete rectangular frames it sits on, made it an attractive photo subject (you can see the bridge at dawn here: https://wp.me/p2ccTX-1hi).
For this picture – converted into black-and-white because there was very little colour in the scene – I went for as long an exposure as possible to smooth out the water and allow the clouds to blur as they moved across the sky.
Nikon D7100, tripod, Lee ‘Big Stopper’ neutral density (darkening) filter
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Check out my coffeetable book, “Light and Lines: An Urban Landscape Portfolio”: http://bit.ly/LIGHTandLINES
Rural landscapes: from the harbour to the ocean
HARBOUR VIEW, ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND
I had a day to visit this incredibly photogenic east-coast Canadian city, so I ranged as far and wide as possible. Amazing that iconic, rural Newfoundland scenes like this are actually within city limits. The modern boat on the left was a challenge; it was so bright that I had to work with Photoshop to keep it from simply bleaching out and causing a visual distraction.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Rural landscapes: the road through Autumn
TREES ALONG THE ROAD, PRESQUILE PROVINCIAL PARK, BRIGHTON, ONTARIO
I was a little early for full-on fall colour glory, but a few scenes like this still made the trip to this wonderful park (my first in 10 years) worthwhile. Given the mix of bright sun and dark shadows, this scene was a tricky exposure to pull off, but I think I did OK. The wide-angle perspective makes the trees appear to soaring over your head.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Natural landscapes: the autumn river view
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.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Rural landscapes: from the lake to the ocean
QUIDI VIDI CREEK, ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND
Pronounced “Kiddy Viddy” by the locals, this charming little east-coast Canadian village is overloaded with colourful homes, a few restaurants, and stunning views.
If you enlarge this photo, you’ll quickly notice that I visited on a very windy day. But all that glorious autumn colour, plus a fast-flowing stream (connecting Quidi Vidi Lake to Quidi Vidi Harbour), still made for what I think is a pretty compelling picture.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Rural landscapes: the clash of autumn and winter
TIRE TRACKS AND FALLEN LEAVES, KANANASKIS COUNTRY, ALBERTA
I drove into this parking lot in the Canadian Rocky Mountains intending to see if there were any good autumn landscapes. Then I saw how the snowy tire tracks were interacting with thousands of newly fallen leaves and forgot all about the landscapes.
Intimate scenes like this, with the tracks leading you through the random (yet artistic) scatterings of leaves, fascinated me for the next 45 minutes.
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
Rural landscapes: the snowy autumn drive
ROAD THROUGH THE FOREST, BANFF NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA
I was delighted to find a thick coat of wet snow when I visited this park in the Canadian Rockies. A single set of tire tracks near a picnic area grabbed my attention; I like the solitary silence in this scene. And the lack of strong colour made turning the picture into black & white an easy decision. I darkened the sky considerably so it would complement, rather than compete, for your attention with the snowy road .
Nikon D7100, tripod.
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Check out my coffeetable book “BLUE SYMPHONY: Winter in the Canadian Rockies”: http://bit.ly/kFb3Xw
Natural landscapes: the mirrored autumn pool
FALL AT INGLEWOOD BIRD SANCTUARY, CALGARY, ALBERTA
Visit here at the exact right time, in the right weather, and you’re practically guaranteed to come away with a camera full of eye-popping, almost flourescent photographs of the glory of autumn.
Although I usually go there for landscape pictures, Inglewood is a birder’s paradise. It’s also near the mighty Bow River, which flows out of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, so there are good photo opportunities there, too.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, enhancing filter (probably), graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Check out my coffeetable book, “Frank King’s Southern Alberta“: http://bit.ly/1oUzd4
Rural landscapes: walking the autumn path
TRAIL ALONG THE RED DEER RIVER, DRUMHELLER, ALBERTA
I visited this wonderful Canadian badlands photography mecca at the height of autumn, spending an entire day finding very compelling scenes almost everywhere I looked. Encountering this glowing red bush, I decided to go with a very shallow depth of field so your eyes can enjoy the foliage, then wander along the pathway under a canopy of brilliant yellow.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Natural landscapes: the roadside splash of autumn
FALL COLOURS NEAR COCHRANE, ALBERTA
I was finishing a day-long trip to capture autumn colour (and autumn snow in the Canadian Rockies), ambling back to my home in Calgary, when this stand of aspens and bush made me stop the car. I like the wall of yellow backing up the brilliant red bush.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Natural landscapes: a touch of fall in the badlands
AUTUMN BUSH NEAR DRUMHELLER, ALBERTA
I was wandering around the lookout point for Horsethief Canyon, a place of some history in the badlands of western Canada, when I spotted this colourful bush.
The mix of autumn red and the dramatic badlands background made for a great combination. The canyon is named after outlaws who hid their stolen livestock here more than 100 years ago.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Urban landscapes: the place for worship & contemplation
ST. MICHAEL’S CATHEDRAL BASILICA, TORONTO, ONTARIO
Given this cathedral is in Canada’s largest city, I walked in expecting an ornate interior similar to what I encountered at cathedrals in Newfoundland (https://wp.me/p2ccTX-15a) and Quebec (https://wp.me/p2ccTX-cq).
That this cathedral’s creators were satisfied with something less overwhelming didn’t lessen my interest in appreciating and photographing the awe-inspiring space.
The city’s first bishop, Michael Power, was instrumental in the cathedral’s construction. He arranged to buy the land (part of the cost coming out of his pocket) in 1845 and construction began that year.
The bishop never saw the cathedral completed; he died two years later from typhus, contracted while ministering to sick people who fled famine-era Ireland. The building, designed by Anglo-Canadian architect William Thomas, was dedicated and consecrated in 1848.
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Natural landscapes: autumn in the north
AUTUMN COLOURS NEAR BAKER LAKE, NUNAVUT
There are no trees of any kind in the region around this isolated hamlet of 2,000. So when I was there on a business trip, everything I saw was knee-level or lower. That means when autumn arrives, the place to look is straight down at the ground. I saw artistic possibilities in how the brilliant red vegetation snaked amongst the giant rock formations that litter the Arctic landscape.
The mostly blue sky was troublesome; a vast swing from polarized dark on one side to light on the other. Rather than manually trying to fix it – and create a noticeable mottled effect and colour shift – I simply replaced it using Photoshop. I have no qualms about this because I’m trying my imperfect best to be a fine art photographer and that means interpreting a scene, rather than simply documenting it.
Nikon D7100, polarizing filter.
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Want to buy this picture? Email me and I’ll make it happen! (fdking@hotmail.com).
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Natural landscapes: the terrain of fungus
THE IN-YOUR-FACE FUNGUS, BANFF NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA
You know autumn is approaching when mushrooms and fungus appear in sheltered forests. I was in this western Canadian park to photograph a roaring mountain stream, but there were so many fungus alongside the trail that I had to stop and photograph a few of them.
This one was pretty epic, so I opted for an extreme close-up – in fact, what you’re looking at here is much larger than life-size. Because I was hand-holding my Nikon D7100 (and close-ups usually have a very small depth-of-field), I did a lot of exposures to ensure one was in focus. That was a smart decision, because all the vertical pictures I made lacked the tack-sharpness I want in a photo.
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Natural landscapes: the hard northern life
CARIBOU ANTLERS NEAR BAKER LAKE, NUNAVUT
During a work trip to this remote Canadian territory, we visited a friend’s cabin and that’s where I found these antlers. Instantly realizing the photographic possibilities, I used them in a half-dozen compositions. This is one I especially like because it shows the remarkable Arctic landscape – rock, muskeg, lakes and not even one tree.
Nikon D7100, tripod.
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Urban landscapes: the ships at dawn
AWAITING SUNRISE AT OSHAWA HARBOUR, ONTARIO
This working port, just east of Toronto (Canada’s largest city) has produced many satisfying photos, but this one is sort-of a repeat. I visited here before dawn a few years earlier and photographed a nicely lit ship – but my camera settings were all wrong. Another attempt to get it right turned out better, because this time there were TWO ships in port and my camera settings were correct.
Nikon D7100, tripod, graduated density (darkening) filter on the top half.
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Natural landscapes: the silence and the rocks
SHORELINE ROCKS, SAUBLE BEACH, ONTARIO
I came across the group of boulders in Lake Huron on a cloudy afternoon and instantly knew there were photographic possibilities. But I also knew this scene would benefit from strong early-morning light. So I returned the next dawn and made this picture. It’s a looong exposure which smoothed out all the water ripples.
The colour version is quite muted, so a created a black-and-white version that lets you focus on the rocks and the velvety water.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky, Lee ‘Big Stopper’ neutral density (darkening) filter on the entire scene.
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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, “MOMENTS OF LIGHT: Thirty Years of Photography”: http://bit.ly/JTNnMX
Natural landscapes: the gentle, quiet flow
DUFFINS CREEK, GREENWOOD CONSERVATION AREA, AJAX, ONTARIO
On my first visit back to this charming area in a decade, I revisited a little forest cascade shortly after sunrise. A long exposure ensured a silky water flow and a lack of wind meant almost every leaf and twig stayed still. (My previous visit to this same little cascade yielded this winter image: https://wp.me/p2ccTX-N0.)
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter along the top quarter.
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Want to buy this picture? Email me and I’ll make it happen! (fdking@hotmail.com).
Wander through my coffeetable photography book “Special Places: A Landscape Photographer’s Vision of Southern Ontario”: http://bit.ly/yNU06F
Natural landscapes: the surreal summer view
SANDBAR ON LAKE HURON, SAUBLE BEACH, ONTARIO
I saw the curve of this sandbar, the yawning empty space all around it, and decided it was time to try a very loooong exposure to smooth out the water and create a slightly unreal sensation as you view the photo. I kinda like the result because to my eyes, it makes a fairly unremarkable scene far more interesting. What do you think?
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky, Lee “Big Stopper” darkening filter on the entire scene.
Click on the picture for a larger view.
Want to buy this picture? Email me and I’ll make it happen! (fdking@hotmail.com).
Wander through my coffeetable photography book “Special Places: A Landscape Photographer’s Vision of Southern Ontario”: http://bit.ly/yNU06F
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