James River Stones

While we were relaxing for the weekend at Camp Teepee Pole along the James River, I spent some time leisurely strolling along the shoreline. Looking for stones has been in my blood for many years as my parents were real rockhounds when I was growing up and our family would go out looking for dinosaur bones along the Red Deer River valley or Handhills Agates near and around the Handhills east of Drumheller. The best time for agates was in spring before the farmers had planted their fields and after a good wind which would clean all the stones on the surface of dirt making it easier to find. Dinosaur bones are constantly being exposed through erosion. So, after a good rainstorm, and once the ground had properly dried out, newly exposed fossils would be exposed and waiting for eager eyes to locate. I even had my own small satchel with my initial on it to put my treasures in. In fact, I still have that small satchel and many of the fossils and agates I had collected. Finding interesting stones is a genuine pleasure for me as is searching out beautiful textures such as these.

 

 

 

 

 

[Sony RX100]

 

 

CME’s at Camp Teepee Pole

My family and I just returned from a great weekend away at Camp Teepee Pole which is near the Forestry Trunk Road west of Sundre in the foothills of Alberta. The first night out on Friday the 17th we experienced the Aurora Borealis for about 40 minutes. The aurora are caused by CME’s  (Coronal Mass Ejection) which release huge quantities of matter and electromagnetic radiation into space from the surface of our sun. The aurora weren’t super bright and I couldn’t see the reds with my eyes, but I have enhanced the contrast a bit and my camera has much better vision than I do when it comes to seeing the very dim red spectrum at night. I used a Rokinon fisheye lens which sees a full 180 degree view and also introduces severe barrel distortion which explains the dramatic curvature around the edges of the images. This image is one of my favourites and was taken just as the display was coming to an end at around midnight. I had made my way down to the nearby James River and caught the moon setting and some beautiful streaks of red Aurora.

 

 

[Olympus E-M5, Rokinon 7.5mm Fisheye]

 

 

Gull Lake, Alberta

Back in fall I spent an afternoon wandering along the shore of Gull Lake with a good friend. The wind was very intense and there was certainly no hope of a crisp image, so I let the wind do what it does best – blow. My pinhole needed about 8 seconds for a proper exposure which allowed the trees and grass to move wildly in the frame.

 

 

 

[Zero Image 6x9 pinhole]

 

 

Potential

A four image stitch of some beautiful farmland southeast of town in Red Deer County. This field is simply potential at this point.

 

 

Click image to embiggen

 

[Sigma DP3 Merrill]

 

 

Trembling Trio

A trio of Trembling Aspen (Populus tremuloides) are wrapped by the late evening light along the edge of Bower Woods. I very much enjoy trying to find an interesting image without it having to be a postcard. Someone else has already made those images. I am more interested in the almost mundane areas and digging to make a competent image that is still pleasing but not like the wowee! sunset type of image. These images don’t appeal to as big an audience, but they are the sort of image that virtually anyone can relate to.

 

 

 

[Sigma DP3 Merrill]

 

 

Woods Movement #3

The last light of the day sneaks between a few trees highlighting just this one.

 

 

 

[Sigma DP3 Merrill]

 

 

Movement in the Forest (Woods??) #2

Another in a short series (so far) of movement in the Bower Woods (forest??… whatever)

 

 

 

[Sigma DP3 Merrill]

 

 

Movement in the Forest

We have had an abundance of strong wind over the last couple of weeks. Springtime in Alberta I guess. I dropped Laura and our friend Arlee off at yoga this evening and went to Bower Woods yet again to see one of my favourite areas to walk through and photograph. Well, the wind was still busy blowing up a storm so it was pretty difficult to make any images without some movement. I decided to accentuate the idea of movement and added my own! It’s a fun technique and only takes a bit of practise, mostly to arrive at a shutter speed that will achieve the look you are after and the correct style of movement as well. After a few different tries you can usually come up with a satisfactory look. I decided on a vertical to accentuate the tree trunks and indeed had to try a few shots before I got the light coming through at the top the way I wanted.

 

 

[Sigma DP3 Merrill]

 

 

Big Boys

I found this group of big cottonwoods last week driving around Red Deer County. The snow had been driven almost sideways and stuck to anything it ran into.

 

 

 

[Sigma DP3 Merrill]

 

 

Just Right of Centre

Many times nature appears to be very chaotic, and yet when one pays close attention to details, certain patterns,shapes and trends start to appear. Where are these branches seeming to be pointing to?

 

 

[Sigma DP3 Merrill]