Rural landscapes: the end of a summer day
LAKE HURON SUNSET, SOUTHAMPTON, ONTARIO
My first time back to this charming vacation community in a decade happened to come on the evening of a truly stunning sunset. I had time to move around and find various perspectives as the sky stayed epic, then the sun peaked through to produce this unforgettable moment. What a blessing! 🙂
(P.S. See the dude squeezing in some end-of-the-day fishing?)
Nikon D7100, tripod, enhancing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Rural landscapes: the epic summer sky
HAY ROLL AND CLOUDS NEAR LONGVIEW, ALBERTA
The lighting wasn’t ideal – early afternoon, when the sun is high and bleaching on the landscape – but the sky was gorgeous and I endeavoured to make the most of this blissful western Canadian scene.
The composition is designed for your eyes to go to the hay roll first (since it’s the ‘brightest’ thing in the photo), then wander over to the fence and follow it back into the hills.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Urban landscapes: the puzzle of light
LOWER LEVEL, RALPH KLEIN PARK ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION CENTRE, CALGARY, ALBERTA
After photographing a glorious sunrise and reflections on the man-made wetlands in this 75-acre park, I ventured along the walkways in and under the environmental education centre.
I really liked the play of light and shadow in this view; it’s kinda like an underground garage, but brilliantly lit and with some water reflections. There was very little colour in this scene, so I converted it to black-and-white.
Ralph Klein Park is named after Calgary’s 32nd mayor and Alberta’s 12th premier. The wetlands are designed to improve stormwater quality before it enters the Bow River system (source of much of the water for this western Canadian city).
Nikon D7100, tripod, graduated density (darkening) filter diagonally on the bottom half.
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Rural landscapes: the wetlands sunrise
DAWN AT RALPH KLEIN PARK, CALGARY, ALBERTA
This scene looks quite natural, but it’s not. This 75-acre park is entirely man-made, an extensive set of wetlands designed to filter stormwater before it enters the Bow River (one of the chief water sources for this western Canadian city).
The park is named for Calgary’s 32nd mayor and Alberta’s 12th premier. I was blessed to visit just before a stunning summer sunrise, where I had nearly an hour of breathtaking clouds and perfect reflections.
Nikon D7100, tripod, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Natural landscapes: the elegant ocean shore
PACIFIC OCEAN DRIFTWOOD, EL BALSAMAR RESORT, EL SALVADOR
During a day off on our Samaritan’s Purse trip, our gracious hosts took us to a resort to spend part of the day enjoying the surf, dark sand and glorious views. I wandered off with the camera to find artistic scenes like this.
This is another photo where the colour version is good (you can see it here: http://bit.ly/ElSalvadorBeach), but this lent itself very well to monotone.
Nikon D7100, polarizer.
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Natural landscapes: the road to sunrise glory
HIGHWAY 40, KANANASKIS COUNTRY, ALBERTA
As I drove south through the Canadian Rocky Mountains, I kept seeing his beautifully lit peak in my rear-view mirror. Finally, I found a spot where I could stop and use a telephoto lens to combine the peak with a curve in the road. The colour version is good (you can see it here: http://bit.ly/KananaskisRoad), but I like how this version lets you concentrate on the sunrise lighting.
Nikon D7100, 70-300 mm. zoom lens, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the peaks and sky.
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Natural landscapes: the morning mountain view
MOUNT RUNDLE REFLECTED IN TWO JACK LAKE, BANFF NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA
It was, as you can see, a glorious morning in the Canadian Rocky Mountains and I loved this view framed by the trees. I have what I think is a compelling picture without any human presence, but tried this one (with me) and find it even better. What do you think – would this photo be better without a person in it?
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Natural landscapes: the final flash of light
SUNSET ON BELMONT LAKE, NEAR HAVELOCK, ONTARIO
I went fishing in the archives and landed this scene from 2006. Close friends rented a cottage on this peaceful lake and invited my wife and I to stay a few days. I found lots of time to roam around with photography equipment at key times of day. All these years later, I still find the colour palette — especially the hint of purple — to be quite compelling.
Nikon D50, tripod.
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Wildlife: the silhouette of sunrise
SILHOUETTED HERON, TORONTO, ONTARIO
I was having a lot of problems with my camera when this sunrise photo was made in 2012 (I eventually replaced it), so this photo had significant technical issues. But I’m so happy with the lighting and composition that I spent the time needed – over an hour – in Photoshop to fix the issues and present you this very cool scene, photographed along the shore of Lake Ontario.
Nikon D90, tripod.
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Natural landscapes: me and the river shore
MORNING ALONG THE OTTAWA RIVER, DEEP RIVER, ONTARIO
This little Canadian town along the Quebec-Ontario border is named for one of the deepest sections of the mighty Ottawa River. I was there around sunrise and found the combination of warm light, strong colours and my shadow made for a compelling photo. Do you agree?
Nikon D90, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Natural landscapes: reflecting the epic sky
POOL AND PEAKS, NEAR KILLARNEY, IRISH REPUBLIC
A fishing expedition into the archives landed this beauty from my 1993 trip to Ireland. Photographed on slide film with my long-discarded (but much-loved) Pentax medium-format camera. Then I did significant processing with Photshop to emphasize the sky and increase the drama. That drama works better in black-and-white.
Pentax 6×7 camera, tripod, polarizing filter (probably).
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Rural landscapes: the distant, dramatic view
CANOLA AND THREATENING SKY, NEAR CALGARY, ALBERTA
As soon as I find a field of canola, I start looking at the surroundings to see what might work with the glowing yellow to create a compelling photo. In this case, a view across the gentle, distant valley to the tumultuous sky gave me a thrill. 🙂
Dikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Natural landscapes: the roaring rapids
PETAWAWA RIVER, PETAWAWA, ONTARIO
The “Emerald Necklace Trail” in this eastern Canadian military town leads to a great lookout over the river. The challenge was to reduce the light coming into the camera enough to allow for a long exposure, which smooths out the visually busy rapids. I recall the sky was a bland-off white that morning; that’s why I made sure to exclude it from the composition.
Nikon D90, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Rural landscapes: hard to keep your eyes on the road?
THE ROAD THROUGH CANOLA COUNTRY, AIRDRIE, ALBERTA
July is canola season in this western Canadian province, a time when I love cruising country roads to find eye-popping scenes like this. I used a telephoto lens to zoom in on the canola & the road and exclude everything else that would distract and reduce their visual impact.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Rural landscapes: the yellow and blue view
CANOLA AND OIL PUMP, NEAR AIRDRIE, ALBERTA
Every July I go on a Canola hunt, searching for compelling views of the fluorescent blossoming grain. This composition, with an oil pump, hit the jackpot in terms of showing two ubiquitous parts of the landscape in this western Canadian province. I like how this picture gives you a sense of being able to see forever on the epic Canadian prairies.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Urban landscapes: the downtown, reflected
FIRST LIGHT OF DAWN, CALGARY, ALBERTA
Prince’s Island Park is an oasis in downtown core of this western Canadian city. It’s also a great photo locale, with wildlife, the nearby Bow River and several ponds that beautifully reflect the city skyline. I really like how the warm first first moments of daylight brought this reflection to life.
The challenge, which took a few minutes of tiny adjustments, was to position the reflected towers and dead tree in the most appealing way.
Nikon D7100, tripod.
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Rural landscapes: the silence after dawn
FENCE AND POND WEST OF CALGARY, ALBERTA
I’ve photographed this pond several times over the years; on this occasion I appreciated the strong morning light and the lack of wind that allowed for a glassy surface. Ponds like this are common in the prairies between Calgary and the Canadian Rockies.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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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, “Frank King’s Southern Alberta“: http://bit.ly/1oUzd4A
Rural landscapes: The morning mountain view
DECK CHAIRS ALONG THE SHORE OF WATERTON LAKE, ALBERTA
Waterton Lakes National Park is one of the windiest places in Canada. The breeze is almost always blowing strongly along the lake shore, to the point where many trees grow at a sharp angle away from the prevailing direction.
This spot, protected by trees, is relatively calm and that’s where parks staff set up these red chairs for visitors to enjoy the sublime view and capture selfies.
I published a full-colour version elsewhere (you can see it here: http://bit.ly/WatertonChairs) but wanted to try processing the scene like this, with just the chairs in colour. Do you think it works?
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky
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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, “Frank King’s Southern Alberta“: http://bit.ly/1oUzd4A
Rural landscapes: the summertime shoreline vista
ONE OF THE THOUSAND ISLANDS, ONTARIO
There are actually more than 1,800 islands in this vacation paradise straddling the Ontario-New York border. My wife & I did a boat tour in 2007 and were blessed with sunshine and amazing skies for photos like this.
Nikon D50, polarizing filter.
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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
Rural landscapes: the Irish daisies
DAISIES AND FARMER’S FIELD, NEAR HOOK HEAD, COUNTY WEXFORD, IRISH REPUBLIC
Went on an expedition into the archives and found this beautiful evening scene captured during my 1993 trip to Ireland. This was made with a medium-format film camera, then the slide was converted into a jpeg. This procedure inevitably results in the need for a lot of Photoshopping and that was certainly the case here.
Pentax 6×7 camera, tripod, polarizing filter (probably).
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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, “IRELAND: Visions of Light”: http://bit.ly/IrelandVisionsOfLight
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