Natural landscapes: when the ice cometh
ICE-ENCASED WEEDS, GREENWOOD CONSERVATION AREA, AJAX, ONTARIO
Freezing rain is a common winter occurence in southern Ontario. It creates havoc for people who have to chip the ice off their windshields, but look what it does to simple weeds! I think the one on the right is shriveled Queen Anne’s Lace. I went for a shallow depth of field, which made the background — and its subtle shades of beige and off-white — quite complementary.
Nikon D50, tripod.
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Natural landscapes: where the creek flows
DUFFINS CREEK, GREENWOOD CONSERVATION AREA, AJAX, ONTARIO
A high vantage point enabled me to capture the creek as it flowed south out of Greenwood Conservation Area east of Toronto, Canada’s largest city. I did a lot of manoeuvring to keep the distracting grey sky out of the photo.
Nikon D50, tripod, polarizing filter
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Natural landscapes: beneath the glorious peaks
BOW RIVER, NEAR LAKE LOUISE, ALBERTA
I was on my way home from a full day of making pictures in the Canadian Rocky Mountains when I crossed a bridge and glimpsed this scene out the side window. Stopped the van, backed up and clambered up on a snowbank on the bridge to capture this glorious vista. I was fortunate to make a half-dozen exposures, since passing vehicles caused just enough vibrations to render several versions useless.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the peaks and sky.
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Natural landscapes: the pooling creek
WINTER CREEK, PETER LOUGHEED PROVINCIAL PARK, ALBERTA
I fished way back into the archives to resurrect this scene, photographed in the 1990s with a tripod, Pentax 6×7 medium format camera and Velvia slide film. Water pooling on top of the icy mountain creek created an amazing blue. Combine that with ideal winter conditions (i.e. snow on the trees) and you have an iconic Canadian Rockies scene.
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Urban landscapes: marking 150 years
2017 ART INSTALLATION, CHARLOTTETOWN, PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
During a business trip to Canada’s smallest province, I had time to wander down to the waterfront and discover this giant red 2017 art installation. Created to mark our nation’s 150th birthday — and Charlottetown’s pivotal role in that anniversary (it was an 1864 conference in this city that led to Confederation), I was intrigued by the abstract art possibilities and spent a half-hour exploring the shapes and light gradations.
Nikon D7100, tripod
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Urban landscapes: the trees of Christmas
CHRISTMAS AT EIGHTH AVENUE PLACE, CALGARY, ALBERTA
This beautiful arrangement of trees, flanked by the glittering towers of Eighth Avenue Place, stopped me in my tracks for more than a half hour of trying out various compositions. This is one of my favourites.
From Frank’s Cottage, my other website: “At its heart, Christmas is not about us doing. It’s about God doing. Basic Christianity (which I believe) tells us Christmas is about our creator seeing our broken condition and reaching out to us — coming to earth as a helpless baby born in an obscure Middle Eastern village.”
Nikon D7100, tripod.
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Urban landscapes: Christmas on Stephen Avenue
MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM ALBERTA
Every December I have a project: find and photograph something Christmasy that can only come from the Canadian province where I live. This year it was downtown Calgary, a pedestrian mall surrounded by office towers. The street looks empty, but that’s only because I made a very loooong exposure that turned most of the fast-moving pedestrians into barely discernable blurs.
Nikon D7100, tripod.
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Urban landscapes: Parish Church of St. Peter Port
TOWN CHURCH, GUERNSEY ISLAND
Completed in 1466, Wikipedia says this church is known as Town Church or Paris Church of St. Peter Port or Town Church of St Peter, Apostle & Martyr. But the church’s website simply calls it Town Church. Obviously, it’s not as big or grand as the places of worship most folks associate with Europe, but I liked the mix of stone and plaster and the intricate carving behind the altar.
FYI: Guernsey is an island in the English Channel, off the coast of France. It’s part of a group called the Channel Islands. Guernsey is a British crown dependency but not part of the United Kingdom. I had a day to explore St. Peter Port during a cruise ship vacation my wife and I took in 2017.
Nikon D7100, tripod.
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Urban landscapes: the angles of windows
DUBLIN CONVENTION CENTRE, IRELAND
A glorious example of modern Ireland, this structure was designed by American-Irish architect Kevin Roche and shortlisted for an Engineers Ireland Excellence Award in 2010, the year it was completed.
Most photographers justifiably focus on the front, which looks like a glass beer can angling out of a traditional building. I made lots of pictures there, but then this subtle side view grabbed my attention – especially when I tilted the camera to create diagonal lines. I emphasized those lines by converting all of the jpeg, except the windows, into black-and-white.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Natural landscapes: when the sunshine strikes
WINTER SUNRISE ON CASTLE MOUNTAIN, BANFF NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA
Besides the stunning light, the key to this picture is the dusting of snow on the trees. Without that, I probably wouldn’t have made this photo. The black-and-white processing puts the focus squarely on the dramatic light and shadows.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky, peak and distant trees.
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Rural landscapes: the cold sunset
TRYING TO STAY WARM NEAR COCHRANE, ALBERTA
Yes, it was cold. But as you can see, it was also so beautiful that it was worth freezing a little to photograph these horses, probably staying close to each other for the body heat.
Nikon D7100, tripod.
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Natural landscapes: a walk in the forest
AMONG THE COTTONWOODS, GLENBOW RANCH PROVINCIAL PARK, NEAR COCHRANE, ALBERTA
There was almost something abstract about the lines of snowy cottonwoods. Add a winding path into it and the potential for a meaningful picture becomes obvious. I did one series of exposures with no one in it, then added me into the next series. It took four or five tries, with me running back and forth, to get me in the right spot. Then I kept me in colour and transformed the rest of the scene into black-and-white to make the overall composition more memorable (I hope). I’ve tried this Photoshop technique before. You can see it here: https://wp.me/p2ccTX-v6
Nikon D7100, tripod.
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Natural landscapes: the river sunrise
SUNRISE ON THE BOW RIVER, CALGARY, ALBERTA
While cars, trucks and tractor trailers roared past just 10 feet behind me, I patiently waited for the best possible light and reflection. I kept hoping the dark top clouds would be illuminated, but no luck. (You can see a horizontal version of this loooong exposure here: http://bit.ly/NovemberSunrise)
Nikon D7100, tripod, enhancing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Natural landscapes: the curves of water
WINTER ON THE PETAWAWA RIVER, ONTARIO
I turned this scene into an abstract interpretation by using a long exposure to make the water silky, then converting the jpeg into black-and-white.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Natural landscapes: the craggy peaks
CASTLE MOUNTAIN CLOSEUP, BANFF NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA
Castle Mountain is one of the most iconic and photographed peaks in the Canadian Rockies. When you see it as I did, with the first glow of golden sunrise light, it’s not hard to understand why. (Here’s another view during a glorious winter sunrise: https://wp.me/p2ccTX-h7.)
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Urban landscapes: the soaring ceiling II
ST. DUNSTAN’S BASILICA, CHARLOTTETOWN, PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
I had trouble believing a town as small as Charlottetown (population: 35,000) could have a stunning cathedral. Then I walked inside this Roman Catholic basilica and was absolutely blown away. Spent 45 minutes wandering around with my tripod, making long exposures with no one to stop me. What a blessing. 🙂
Nikon D7100, tripod
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Natural landscapes: the glittering winter lake
LAKE LOUISE AND VICTORIA GLACIER, BANFF NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA
This is one of the most photographed lakes in Canada, but it still beckons photographers to try and find a view that’s not a cliche. In this instance, the peak on the left border is balanced by the trees on the right border; they serve as a frame for everything in between.
Nikon D90, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Natural landscapes: the November forest
AFTER THE LEAVES HAVE FALLEN, VICTORIA PARK, CHARLOTTETOWN, PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
On the same day and in same park where I found this autumn colour (https://wp.me/p2ccTX-ZR), I walked through the crunchy leaves in a somber atmosphere. The dark foreground tree trunks initially grabbed my attention, then I worked to make the surrounding scenery just as compelling.
Nikon D7100, tripod.
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Natural landscapes: when the winter wind blows
BLOWING SNOW AT ABRAHAM LAKE, ALBERTA
It’s windy and unbelievably slippery. But Abraham Lake, a man-made creation in the Canadian Rockies, is a mecca for photographers because of the amazing ice and the even more amazing methane-caused ice bubbles (here’s what those ice bubbles look like: https://wp.me/p2ccTX-tY). The only way to get around on the ice is to wear crampons; otherwise, you’re falling flat on your butt more times than you care to admit. Yes, that was me before I got crampons. 🙂
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natural landscapes: the snow and the creek
NOVEMBER AT BIG HILL SPRINGS PROVINCIAL PARK, NEAR COCHRANE, ALBERTA
When it’s overcast and I still want to make pictures, I go to places like this where the water is at least partially open year-round and I can keep the bland, distracting, grey sky out of my compositions.
Nikon D90, tripod, polarizing filter.
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