Urban landscapes: Shaw Conference Centre
SHAW CONFERENCE CENTRE, EDMONTON, ALBERTA
Getting inside amazing buildings to make photographs is often a challenge, with overzealous security guards on the prowl. However, that was not the case here. I found a quiet spot in the bustling conference centre with a great view of the startling architecture of this structure, which runs down into the North Saskatchewan River valley in Edmonton’s downtown core. I had space to set up the tripod and make some long exposures with no one bothering me.
A wide-angle lens was vital here, to capture everything from the waterfall on the right to the expanse of plunging glass ceiling.
Nikon D90, tripod, 17-55 mm lens, polarizing filter.
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Urban landscapes: Bay-Adelaide Centre
BAY-ADELAIDE CENTRE, TORONTO, ONTARIO
This downtown skyscraper provided excellent compositions on three sides! You can see it was a wet morning and at times, that was a challenge to overcome. But notice how it improved this picture by casting light reflections on the stone tiles? I also like the three blurred people in the doorway. Adds a mildly spooky edge… Nikon D90, tripod, polarizer.
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Urban landscapes: Blue hour lights
THE LIGHTS OF BAY-ADELAIDE CENTRE, TORONTO, ONTARIO
Blue hour – that time before/after sunrise, when the sky isn’t black but artificial light is needed for illumination – is usually a wonderful time for photographers. This picture of the Bay-Adelaide Centre in downtown Toronto was only possible during blue hour. I tried it a little later and the interior lights simply didn’t resonate as they do here.
Nikon D90, tripod, polarizer, 18-55-mm. lens.
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Urban landscapes: Blue hour at the gift shop
GIFT SHOP, EDMONTON, ALBERTA
This is part of the downtown city hall complex, which includes a pool/skating rink and public square. The ‘blue hour’ light – about a half-hour before daybreak – was perfect to show you details of the building, yet allow the lights to make a significant visual impact. Nikon D90, tripod.
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Urban landscapes: Staring up at the Plaza
ROYAL BANK PLAZA, TORONTO, ONTARIO
This skyscraper (on the left) has long intrigued me, but it’s a surprisingly difficult subject to photograph well. I finally found this composition, teaming it up with the top of Commerce Court and (on the right) the Canada Trust tower. All this is in the heart of Canada’s financial district. All the big Canadian banks have their headquarters here and the Toronto Stock Exchange is just a few blocks away. Nikon D90, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Urban landscapes: Art in the snow
ARTISTIC INSTALLATION, EDMONTON, ALBERTA
This is an amazing artistic creation. I suspect the bottom snow is a water pool during the summer, but this was still a glorious photo subject. The lights changed colour frequently, and rotating colours also pulsed along the rods.
The key to making this work is to photograph in very subdued light, which I did – a half-hour or so before sunrise. Nikon D90, tripod.
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Urban landscapes: Angles of light
INTACT INSURANCE BUILDING, CALGARY, ALBERTA
This picture came at the end of two mostly frustrating hours of wandering around Calgary’s downtown. This was around Christmas, so there were holiday decorations all over the place and they were unexpected visual problems that eliminated some photo opportunities. But at the end, I photographed this building from across the street, then crossed over and walked past it until looking up at this atrium and seeing the striking array of converging lines. This was easily the most satisfying composition of the evening. Nikon D90, tripod.
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Urban landscapes: the illuminated bridge
LANGEVIN/RECONCILIATION BRIDGE, CALGARY, ALBERTA
The city started lighting up this old bridge a few years ago and the results, as you can see, are nirvana for architectural photographers. This is a 30-second exposure made about an 45 minutes before sunrise.
The neat thing is, the lights on this bridge (over the Bow River, which flows out of the Rocky Mountains) change colour so if you don’t especially care for the picture you’ve just made, wait a few minutes and try again.
Nikon D90, tripod.
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Urban landscapes: Cathedral of light
BROOKFIELD PLACE, TORONTO, ONTARIO
This is one of the most photographed architectural designs in Toronto and, as you can tell, it’s easy to see why. I had my own shot at it and managed to make several compositions with a tripod (definitely useful, given I was doing exposures of at least a full second) before a security nazi made me put the tripod away. I left the building then and found some good compositions outside. Nikon D90, tripod.
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Lines & Light: the lure of modern architecture 10
CITY HALL, EDMONTON, ALBERTA
This is a fabulous building with potential photographs on three sides. The low angle I took on this served to block the cars in the background. But I also made sure to get just high enough so the top of the sculpture didn’t intersect with the top of the cutaway walls behind. I also used Photoshop to remove tree branches along the left border. Nikon D90, tripod.
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Urban landscapes: Union Station
MORNING AT UNION STATION, TORONTO, ONTARIO
Found these massive columns and wonderful light while wandering around downtown Toronto last November. Did I wait for a person to come out of those doors before clicking the shutter? You bet I did. Fortunately, several people emerged over a 10-minute period and I captured them all. But with a relatively slow shutter speed, only this person was unblurred. Nikon D90, tripod.
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Urban landscapes: Blue sky, soaring lines
SHELL OIL BUILDING – CALGARY, ALBERTA
Another case where a streetlight took a relatively nice urban architecture photograph and raised it (I hope…) to another level. Nikon D90, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Urban landscapes: Night at Eighth Avenue Place
EIGHTH AVENUE PLACE, CALGARY, ALBERTA
This is one of Calgary’s newest skyscrapers and it’s a stunner. I spent more than an hour here one summer evening, enjoying and recording all the lines and light sources. There are lots of photo opportunities inside, but I’ll probably never be allowed to record them with security and all. In fact, a security guard was eyeing me as I made THIS picture. Nikon D90, tripod.
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Lines & Light: the lure of modern architecture 6
ENMAX BUILDING, CALGARY, ALBERTA
I did a lot of moving around before figuring out how to photograph this building and these funky lights. Nikon D90, tripod. Another looong exposure.
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Lines & Light: the lure of modern architecture 5
PUBLIC WASHROOMS, CALGARY, ALBERTA
Trust me, when I found these buildings just east of Calgary’s downtown core, I was as dumbstruck as you probably are to find out these are public washrooms. But, in the darkness of pre-dawn, with this lighting and a fresh coat of snow, I quickly realized there were many great picture possibilities. This was a looong exposure with a Nikon D90 and tripod.
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Urban landscapes: Sunset streetscape
EVENING LIGHT, CALGARY, ALBERTA
Sometimes it’s difficult to make sense about of the jumble of buildings that make up a typical downtown. I was fortunate to find this scene while peering east from a street corner in this western Canadian city (host of the 1988 Winter Olympics). Street lights often add a whimsical touch, as one did here. Nikon D90, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Urban landscapes: the light of dawn
AWAITING DAWN – CALGARY SKYLINE
For a prairie city, Calgary, Alberta is surprisingly hilly. One such area, Crescent Heights, is where millionaire residents living in swanky houses that overlook the downtown core. I found a street that runs along the edge of the hill and has stops for people who want to take in the view. This is what I recorded about a half-hour before dawn during the summer of 2011. Nikon D90, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Urban landscapes: CN Tower
CN TOWER, TORONTO
During a visit to the Greater Toronto Area in November 2011, I ventured downtown with camera & tripod to find interesting images. The neat thing about this composition is the CN Tower, which was for many years the world’s tallest free-standing structure, is many, many times higher than this building (Simcoe Place) I’ve put it beside. Nikon D90, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Urban landscapes: Scotia Centre
SCOTIA CENTRE, EDMONTON, ALBERTA
I’ve started this new version of my photography website by highlighting a growing new passion: modern architecture.
In some ways, this subject is very much like my traditional photographic pursuit, nature and landscapes. For example, I’m still seeking order and artistry in a jumbled world of clutter. But often, I’m dealing with straighter lines (often competing straighter lines) and I’m not so bound by the restrictions of photographing around sunrise and sunset.
Modern architecture is often quite glorious in its design and that’s why I so often point my camera at it. There’s another reason, too: as I live in a large city (Calgary, Alberta, Canada), it’s often faster and more convenient to do this kind of photography than to drive several hours and hope the weather holds out at a distant nature photography destination.
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