Urban landscapes: from the boat to the shore
MORNING AT INVERGORDON, SCOTLAND
I had a high vantage point to watch and photograph as the earliest tourists left our cruise ship to explore the Invergordon, a town of 4,000 on Scotland’s east coast. Many cruise ships visit here because the deep water port allows them to pull right up to the dock, rather than drop anchor off-shore and ferry passengers to shore. (You can see another Invergorden photo I made from the cruise ship that morning here: http://wp.me/p2ccTX-Vf.)
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Rural landscapes: the fence & the farm
RANCH AND FIELDS, NEAR CALGARY, ALBERTA
It took a fair bit of time and effort to line up this composition just so. I wanted the centre post of the fence in the horizontal middle of the scene, but had to give up symmetry in terms of the distance between the other posts and the borders of the photo. I also did a lot of height adjustments on my tripod to ensure there wasn’t too much empty fields between the homestead and the fence. In the end, the morning light makes this view truly impressive. All the development you see in the distant left is Calgary’s northern suburbs.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Urban landscapes: water to the river
RIDEAU CANAL AT DUSK, OTTAWA, ONTARIO
At the time (2012), I was having a tremendous amount of difficulties with my camera — I would replace it just a few months later — so it took a lot of processing work to make this gorgeous scene, in Canada’s capital city, presentable. The canal, which opened in 1832, stretches about 200 kilometres between Ottawa and Lake Ontario/St. Lawrence River. Built primarily as a precaution in case of war with the United States, it is now used primarily for pleasure boating.
Nikon D90.
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Rural landscapes: the brooding morning
RURAL POND NEAR CALGARY, ALBERTA
By late summer, prairie sloughs in the southern half of this western Canadian province have often dried up, but this one was so big that I had lots to work with when I encountered it on a cloudy August morning. Shortly after I made this picture, the sky became such a dull, featureless grey that packed up my equipment and went home.
Nikon D7100, tripod, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Natural landscapes: deep goes the canyon
BIGHORN RIVER CANYON, NEAR NORDEGG, ALBERTA
I drove to this remote area in western Canada to photograph the sublime steps of Crescent Falls (which you can see here: http://wp.me/p2ccTX-WP) and didn’t expect to find a stunning canyon as well. So I spent as much time here as at the falls. I walked along the grassy ridge you see at the top centre-left and hung out with a hoary marmot. 🙂
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Rural landscapes: evening in the valley
APPROACHING SUNSET IN GLENBOW RANCH PROVINCIAL PARK, ALBERTA
One of the newest parks in this western Canadian province has a network of wonderful walking/cycling trails highlighting views like this, which overlooks the Bow River valley west of Calgary. When composing this picture, I took great care in balancing the left fencepost with the distant pathway. If the path was too close to the top of the post, it would have caused unconscious visual discomfort for some viewers.
Nikon D90, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Natural landscapes: afternoon along the coast
GORSE AND COASTLINE, NORTHERN IRELAND
I had such a short window to make pictures after our tour bus stopped for lunch that I had no time to get the tripod out of the bus and concentrate on making the best possible composition. So I handheld the Nikon D7100, plus a graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky and came away with this picture. I’m pretty darn pleased. 🙂 In the distance is Portrush Golf Club. Gorse is the yellow bush in the foreground.
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Natural landscapes: the fenceline view
SUMMER POND NORTHWEST OF CALGARY, ALBERTA
The wind was still and the morning light was perfect. But the photo needed something…maybe a person? So I set the timer on the camera six times, then six times ran crazily down the hill to the fencepost before the camera made the exposure. This is the best of the bunch.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Natural landscapes: the steps of falling water
CRESCENT FALLS PROVINCIAL RECREATION AREA, ALBERTA
There are lots of excellent photos of this two-stage waterfall, but I found the early evening lighting conditions so difficult (the sun is behind this scene) that I did a rarity for me: I made an HDR photo.
HDR stands for High Dynamic Range and is achieved by combining several exposures of the exact same scene, in order to capture the entire range of light.
In my case, the goal was to keep some kind of colour and detail in the sky without saturating the scene with so much colour that it looks fake (that’s a common problem with HDR pictures).
It worked, but I spent more than an hour using Photoshop to process the resulting jpeg in order to bring out the best in this scene. Phew.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Natural landscapes: where the light caresses
BADLANDS FORMATION, DINOSAUR PROVINCIAL PARK, ALBERTA
Amidst the stunning landscapes of this park in western Canada (where the bones of more than 300 dinosaurs have been found), this little scene might be easy to miss. But I liked the saucer shape of the rock and how the deeply crevassed soil seemed to prop it up. All of this was captured in stunning morning light, which was the key element in making this photo work.
Nikon D90, tripod, polarizing filter
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Natural landscapes: down in the damp
FIR TREE, SIFFLEUR CANYON, KOOTENAY PLAINS ECOLOGICAL RESERVE, ALBERTA
After photographing a glorious waterfall in this canyon, I was starting on the four-kilometre walk back to the van when I looked down and saw this wonderful natural symmetry. After some careful manoeuvring to get everything just right, I made a loooong exposure to make the thrashing water silky so it wouldn’t distract you from enjoying the balanced relationship between tree, rock and water.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Natural landscapes: showered in summer light
GREAT BLANKET FLOWERS, NEAR EXSHAW, ALBERTA
After spending time photographing a glorious lake right on the edge of the Rockies west of Calgary, I was walking back to the van when I came upon this pair of great blanket flowers in mid-bloom. A telephoto lens and a very shallow depth of field were important to keep the background firmly out focus so it could gently complement the brilliant yellow, rather than compete with it.
According to Wikipedia, the proper name for this flower (which is part of the sunflower family) is Gaillardia, named for an 18th-century French magistrate who was a patron of botany.
Nikon D7100, 70-300 mm. zoom lens, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Natural landscapes: summer at the lake
ENJOYING BOW LAKE, BANFF NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA
When this lake, high up in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, is still when I’m driving past, I just have to stop and see what’s possible creatively. The full-colour version is pleasing (you can see it here: http://bit.ly/BowLakeSummer), but to my eyes this approach is far more dramatic. Love how computer software like Photoshop makes it easy to convert a photo to black-and-white, while keeping part of the scene in colour.
NikonD7100, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Urban landscapes: the city and the sky
THE CASTLE VIEW, EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND
Edinburgh Castle, which is really more of a fortress, dominates the city’s skyline and provides impressive views like this. Because of the dull, lighting, I had to do a fair bit of Photoshop processing to bring out the best of this scene, which includes the Parish Church of St. Cuthbert. Using a graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky was also important; without it, the sky would have been a bland, distracting white.
Nikon D7100, tripod.
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Urban landscapes: the approaching day
DAWN IN DUBLIN PORT, IRELAND
Among the benefits of going on a cruise is seeing working ports in action. I made this picture from the top of the Caribbean Princess as daybreak approached in Dublin, the capital of the Irish Republic. The hour or so before dawn is a great time to make long exposure pictures like this; artificial illumination still has a visual impact, but there’s enough natural light to see the entire scene.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Urban landscapes: welcome to the old quarter
THE CHARMING STREETS OF ST. PETER PORT, CHANNEL ISLANDS
During a day-long stop in Guernsey Island, I was able to wander through parts of St. Peter Port and capture street scenes like this. The Channel Islands (including Guernsey and Jersey) are UK dependencies, but have their own governments and currencies. They are just off the coast of France and were occupied by the Nazis during the Second World War.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Urban landscapes: Lighting the lighthouse
LIGHTHOUSE AND PARKING LOT SHADOW, PORT DALHOUSIE, ONTARIO
There are several lighthouses in this charming community, which is part of the larger city of St. Catharines on the south side of Lake Ontario. I’d finished photographing the sunrise and was checking out this lighthouse before leaving when I spotted the shadow. It makes an interesting counterpoint to the lighthouse, yes?
Nikon D90, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Natural landscapes: A cave amidst the rocks
ICE CAVE AND ANGEL GLACIER, JASPER NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA
A drive to Mount Edith Cavell, in this Canadian Rockies park, is a truly unforgettable experience. Glaciers, lakes, icebergs, waterfalls and epic peaks. All in one little area. Truly astounding. I went inside this cave; it’s cool and wet because lots of water drips from the ice. (Here’s a different view of Angel Glacier and, if you look carefully, the ice cave: http://wp.me/p2ccTX-jU.) This photo was made in 2011; since then, access to the area has been prohibited because pieces of the glacier can break off and kill people.
Nikon D90, tripod, polarizing filter
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Rural landscapes: along the canola road
TRAIL THROUGH THE FIELD, NEAR CALGARY, ALBERTA
Canola makes for amazing photos, but I was looking for something extra and found it when I discovered this field, complete with a winding trail to somewhere. After making a few pictures, I decided to add a human element. Me. Just a few exposures later, I badly twisted my foot running to a spot and stepping on a rock just before the timer on my camera went off. Look carefully along the horizon at the left border and you’ll see the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
Nikon D7100, tripod, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky
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Natural landscapes: the light of evening
SUMMER EVENING IN THE BADLANDS, DINOSAUR PROVINCIAL PARK, ALBERTA
It’s been more than four years since I published a photo of this glorious environment in western Canada (here’s the last one: http://wp.me/p2ccTX-7p), so I dug around in the archives and landed this beauty from way, way back in 1993.
The squarish format comes from using a Pentax 6×7 medium format film camera – a heavy, awkward piece of equipment that I’ve long since abandoned but, as you can see, it produced stunningly crispy slides.
I had this slide put on a CD so I could Photoshop it, bring out the best of the scene, then show it to you.
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