One last pic of snow and were off towards green everything, right? Wagner Bog is just west of Edmonton and a great place to go for a morning evening walk anytime. So much to see!
[Pentax 67II, 105mm, Fuji Velvia 50]
April 20, 2011
Wagner Bog
April 12, 2011
March 22, 2011
Piper Creek, Red Deer
Another image from along one of the creeks in Red Deer. This time it’s an image from along Piper Creek in the Bower Woods just south of 32nd Street. The late day sun was just poking it’s way through all the trees in one tiny spot before it set for another cold night.
[Canon G10]
March 21, 2011
Waskasoo Creek, Red Deer
I made this photo while looking down from the bridge over Waskasoo Creek in downtown Red Deer. I wish that the businesses along the creek would take it upon themselves to help beautify the downtown core of Red Deer by putting a bit of effort into cleaning up the creek, and keeping it clean, along the frontage of their businesses. It would be a nice statement to show that we care about the creek and the environs around us. The way it stands now it looks a lot like they feel it is more of a nuisance, Bushes are cut down so people driving along the street can see their business better. I have seen so much neglect with garbage strewn all along the creek including shopping carts right next door to the business they belong to. Don’t they care at all? It would need to be a team effort and not just the once a year that citizens help to clean up along our creeks. Even the city does nothing about it. Do they not care about the impact on the environment all the garbage makes either? Do they not care about the unsightly look of it? It wouldn’t take that much effort by a team of workers, maybe summer student,s to make a serious impact on our immediate environment, and make a huge improvement on what our city looks like.
[Canon G10]
February 28, 2011
Dry Island Buffalo Jump Provincial Park
Just about every year for the past 8 years or so, my friend Gerard Reardigan and I head off for a day trip into Dry Island Park in winter. Now, that sounds all great and everything, but the thing is you can’t drive in as they have a gate up from sometime in fall until spring, so you have to trek in on foot. For anyone who has been to the park you know just how steep the hill is, so steep that if you are in there when it is raining you could well be there for a bit. Anyway, we usually start our trek off with great gusto. It’s so easy heading down and such beautiful scenery that we don’t worry about where the vehicle is parked and what it will take to get back up to it. We simply enjoy ourselves, climbing up and down through the badlands for the day, usually having a lunch somewhere along the way, as we always stop at Tim Horton’s for some sandwiches and muffins when we leave town. A big thermos of hot coffee always helps too, especially if you can find a nice butte to sit down on and enjoy the view. So we photograph and talk for the better part of the day and once the sun starts to get low on the horizon, we know it’s time to start our uphill climb back to the vehicle. Well, it’s so easy to write this and laugh, but let me tell you, for anyone who isn’t in top condition physically (that’s me), it takes absolutely everything you’ve got to climb the steep road back up. Saying it’s a road also makes you think it can’t be all that bad. Keep in mind that the gate is locked shut up top, which means nobody comes down the hill to plow the road. There can be snowdrifts as high as your waist that you must struggle through. Gerard always beats me to the top, so it’s pretty obvious about who’s in better shape. The trip always has good memories and even though I feel completely exhausted at the end of the day, I still have the desire to do it all over again.
This image is from the trip we did last January, and if it looks cold it was, and windy too. If I recall correctly the temperature was in the mid -20C’s with a really strong wind out of the north. I made this image just after dropping down from the top of the valley where we were protected from the wind.
[Canon 5DmkII, Tamron 28-300mm(not a great lens by the way, but I wanted to try it out]
February 23, 2011
Black-Capped Chickadee
We spent the weekend up at my in-laws again this past weekend as Alexander was playing in a soccer tournament in St. Albert, Just before we left last night I mnaged to grab a few images of the chickadees coming to feed from the seed that Elmer puts out for them. I prefocused on the branch here hoping that one would land before my arms gave out holding the camera up. Sure enough, one shows up and I was ready to blast off a salvo capturing this little guy. I was playing with the new Canon 70-300mmL IS lens and am quite impressed. It would lose focus and hunt sometimes, but all lenses will.It is very sharp throughout it’s range due to a floating focusing mechanism and the speed really isn’t too much of a problem as you can simply turn up the ISO if need be a stop or two. the only drawback to the slower apertures is the loss of shallow depth of field, but for the images I was taking there is plenty of separation between the background and the subject allowing it to really pop off the background. The lens is almost the same diameter as the Canon 100-400mm but is 46mm shorter in length and 330 grams lighter, so it makes a for a nice carry around size. Keep in mind it does not come with a tripod mount which would account for some difference in weight. You can however purchase a tripod mount for it. This lens is also fully weatherproofed and has the latest Image Stabilization from Canon which claims usability at four stops. They’ve also incorporated a Flourine coating which resists smears and fingerprints and really makes it a breeze to clean the front element. Rain and dust just don’t like sticking to Flourine either.
[Canon 7D, Canon 70-300mmL IS]
February 20, 2011
Paths of Light
One last image from my in-laws acreage for now. The late day sun is having fun playing with shadows and organizing light paths through the trees. Organizing an image like this is so good for me. Searching out patterns and balance to me is what seeing is all about and I love the challenge. Winter truly is beautiful, now if only we could have this beauty somehow at +24C! Spring will feel so good this year, it’s been a long winter.
[Canon SD980IS]
February 19, 2011
Frosty Forest
The late day sun is just peaking through a few breaks in the trees before another cold night takes over the forest. This is my in-laws(Yakimchuk’s) acreage north of Spruce Grove, Alberta.
[Canon SD980IS]
Like this:
February 18, 2011
Back To Winter
Sorry for springing (pun intended) ahead with my last few posts. It felt nice to dream of the colour green and warm weather. Winter is still here and so here is another image made in the cold air.
[Canon SD980IS]
