Dullness

Yes, the snow is all (mostly) gone finally! Now we go through a stage of dullness. You know, it’s still too cool for the trees to sprout their fresh new green leaves and all the many different forest plants to poke through last years decaying leaves that are coating the forest floor. Greys, browns, dark greys, light browns, light greys, dark browns, and maybe some tiny bits of reddish bark on the Red Osier Dogwood are what we get to view now. I am certainly not complaining, as I find this combination rather pleasing, reminding me of the same colours we get to view on the different species of sparrows that flutter around us all year. Found myself in Bower Woods again while walking on my way to work.

 

 

 

 

[Sigma DP1 Merrill w/Ricoh GW-3]

 

 

Nature in the City

Walking to work the other day, I spotted a small pond of water that I have never noticed before likely due to more spring meltwater than usual. I skirted around the one end as the sun peaked through he clouds. Looks like a swamp when really it’s just a small pond. A couple of mallards quietly snuck off into the woods as I approached and as I was only a few meters from Spruce Drive the steady hum of traffic kind of ruined the peacefulness of the scene.

 

 

[Sigma DP1 Merrill w/Ricoh GW-3]

 

 

Winter Ain’t Over Yet

I know, I know, it’s been 20C for the last two days, but this was only last Sunday and there’s more of this coming for the weekend again! It still looks beautiful though, and at this time of year it only lasts a few hours as the temperature is very close to 0C, unlike during the middle of January when the temperature could easily be -30C. This image was made only a few kilometres east of Red Deer. It would make a nice spot to put a house! I started out with this being a 5 vertical image stitch, but then I’ve cropped both ends, so really it’s more like a 3 1/2 – 4 image stitch. Either way it would make a rather large print easily.

 

 

[Sigma DP1 Merrill]

 

 

 

 

Man vs. Creation

Mesa Arts Center, Arizona

Grand Canyon from 11000m (36000′)

 

[Top – Sigma DP1Merrill w/Ricoh GW3,  Bottom – Sigma DP3Merrill]

 

 

Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art

A real highlight of our trip to Phoenix in February was our visit to the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA). It is a fabulous facility with simply outstanding exhibits and a great bookstore to boot! I highly recommend a visit if you are in the area. Designed by award-winning architect Will Bruder, SMoCA’s minimalist building (a renovation of a former movie theater) has four galleries that showcase changing exhibitions.

SMoCA’s current(until May 4th) exhibit titled Five Senses includes an installation by  Olafur  Eliasson called Beauty that constructs an experience of sensory contrasts which shifts between darkness and light, warm and cool, dry and damp and that amplify the spectacular visual experience of standing amidst water and a beautiful spectrum of fractured light.

Best known among Arizona based artist Steve Turrell’s completed artworks are his Skyspaces. One of these mysterious enclosures, Knight Rise, is located in the Museum’s outdoor Nancy and Art Schwalm Sculpture courtyard. Rimmed internally with a concrete bench, Knight Rise invites you to observe the sky through an elliptical opening in the ceiling. We visited this in the middle of a cloudy afternoon, but evening would be highly recommended as you would then be able to observe the changing colour of the sky as dusk settles in on the desert.

 

 

 

 

 

Canon G10   (#1, #2)

Sigma DP1M w/Ricoh GW-3  (#3, #4)

 

 

Red / Green

The water tower in Red Deer received a shiny new coat of paint from top to bottom last summer. Now that winter is in full force again (currently -29°C), I haven’t been getting out making too many images, but just a few days ago, I was early for a lunch meeting and I noticed these very bright mountain ash berries contrasting rather nicely with the fine looking green of our water tower. I used up my few minutes I had at my disposal and froze my fingers nearly off, but hey, I got a nice image!

 

 

 

[Sigma DP1M w/ Ricoh GW-3 adapter]

 

 

Accurate Document

This morning I worked on a couple of images from this past fall that I made in the abandoned town of Bulwark on a pleasant and cloudy morning. The look I’m after is that of Kodachrome, if anyone can remember that! Accurate and pure tones with realistic contrast. Not easy to accomplish with most modern digital cameras these days pushing the contrast up even when set to “Standard” colours and saturation.

 

 

 

[Sigma DP1 Merrill]

 

 

Deer Trail

A deer trail in Bower woods that I have walked down many times. This day, however, I was pretty much on my own and saw only one or two other people, and the only thing to venture down this beautiful pathway were the deer themselves. I left it that way.

 

 

 

[Sigma DP1 Merrill, w/Ricoh GW-3]

 

 

Bower Woods, Red Deer, AB

 

 

 

[Sigma DP1 Merrill, w/Ricoh GW-3]

 

 

Someone Heard This

 

 

 

 

 

[Sigma DP1 Merrill w/Ricoh GW-3]