When Fall Met Summer - Landscape Photography And More..

I think it's time for some color, don't you? It's been so long since we've seen more than whites, blues, blacks and grays, so why not go back to late summer and beginning of fall, when all the world was covered in beautiful colors?  It's seems to me that Mother Nature gives us this opportunity, every year, to soak it all up in preparation for a monochromatic season that lasts too long.. Today, I would like to share photos from two trips of ours that took place just as the seasons were changing.. Last day of summer, first day of fall. Two sunsets in rural Alberta. A little bit of landscape photography, a bit of rural architecture and nature and, of course, a macro shot (one cannot admire the world without looking close at things, don't you think?) and all of it full of beautiful colors, complements of Mother Nature.  I am so very glad to have seen it all and have my memories recorded so that I can look at all this splendor when I'm feeling deprived of color. Hope it is as enjoyable to you as it is to me :D Kasia

Last day of summer 2013 .. 1

Last day of summer 2013 .. 3

Last day of summer 2013 .. 4

Day's end

When summer meets fall

How many layers ?

Last day of summer 2013 .. 5

Summer is leaving..

Another day, another sunset

Fall evening

Peaceful existence

On guard

Moment in time

The day has come to an end..

Not Another Canola Shot! - Landscape Photography And More..

I don't know about you guys, but we have seen so many photographs with canola fields over the years that we have been reluctant to shoot them ourselves. One evening, however, when we were traveling Alberta back roads we have encountered one such field, with beautiful clouds painted by setting sun that we could not resist stopping and taking pictures... I could not resist a few close ups, as well... So we have done our part to add to canola landscape photography... Shame on us! But, just look at the pictures.  Wasn't it a beautiful evening?! Kasia

Yup! Fall is here...

Summer is over. Not only by the calendar but you can see the colours changing almost in front of your eyes out there and turning the recently green world into a myriad of golds, yellows, oranges and reds.  Since the day was wonderfully sunny and warm yesterday we have pretty much spent it all outside on photo shoots.  First we've decided to check Elk Island for morning mists (which have never showed up, BTW), than I took a walk about the neighbourhood with my camera and then, towards the evening, we have taken off to check out the countryside again... Wherever we went the colours were there. In just a couple of weeks everything has changed... Let's start with a sunrise at Elk Island:

And here is a few shots from the city, which is also quickly changing it's colours:

The morning sun has highlighted everything beautifully bringing out the colours and shapes of fall  :).  And , as the day progressed towards the evening and we took a ride in the country, the evening sun has brought out the colours out even more..

Our luck held and we were given a beautiful sunset to enjoy as well, with a big sun on a hazy sky giving the world a beautiful glow..

As you can see, the signs of fall are everywhere. The gathering of birds that are already flying south, the colours of leaves and ripe fruit on the trees, the general feel of the world are all crying out: Fall is here!!!   I'm going to enjoy it as long as I can hoping, that the frost and winds won't come too early and cause the beautiful leaves to fall and leave the world naked and monochromatic again..

Kasia

Harvest Time on the Prairies .. Part 2

Harvest time is quite beautiful around here. I have shared some of my pictures in my post Harvest Time on the Prairies some time ago.  Today I would like to share some of the images from our most recent trip.  We have planned this trip into the country for a week and were a bit disappointed when the day turned rather cloudy in the afternoon and we weren't sure if we would be able to get any interesting shots. Regardless, we still have decided to go and explore the countryside.  We got lucky, yet again ;D, and were rewarded with a wonderful sunset.  There was a lot of activities on the fields. Everybody was rushing to get as much done as they could before the rains.  All this harvesting has caused a lot of dust to lift in the air and since there was no wind all countryside was covered with clouds of it hanging around the fields covered with interesting patterns...

The dust created a bit of a haze, that did interesting things to the light...

Watching a beautiful sunset on the prairies is always amazing (I mean, just look at that big sky!!!) and this time we were not disappointed either.  So beautiful!!

Kasia

Harvest Time on the Prairies

It's been a glorious evening a couple of days ago and we have decided to take a drive out in the country to see what's happening out there.. Here is a few images from our drive.

We were lucky to encounter lovely views and we even got the see a bit of a rainbow ;D

The great evening has ended by a gorgeous sunset that highlighted the wonderful clouds that were just asking to be photographed .  It was a perfect end to a great day!

Kasia

Alberta Country with friends and Fuji X-Pro1

During the "Broken Truck" lifestyle photo session, I managed to catch some individual portraits of the ladies.  I'll start with Ash.  Enjoy!

Alberta Sunset through the lens of Fuji X-Pro1

This series was taken a while ago, when I was still testing and playing around with the Fujinon lenses.  I remember that even though the 18mm (28mm full frame equivalent) is a lot narrower than what I'm used to shooting (a Canon 5D with a 17mm - full frame), I find more and more that the Fuji wide angle lens, is wide enough most of the times.  To tell the truth I'm excitedly waiting for Fuji to release their promised 14mm (21mm full frame equivalent), to go just that bit wider.  Alberta skies, tend to work very well with ultra wide lenses.  Since I decided to part with my Canon DSLRs, I guess 18mm (28mm full frame equivalent) will have to do for now.  I'm having too much fun with the Fuji X-Pro1, with family photography, weddings, and engagements to miss the extra few mm.  Also I would like to mention, that these images were shot really close to home, about 10 min drive.  I do live in the city, and this is a perfect example of "Backyard Photography" my co-host and I, were talking about, in Ep.36 of the Shutter Time with Sid and Mac podcast.  Go have a listen and enjoy the sunset! Mac

Sunset glory!

Well... It's snowing mightily here in Edmonton today. The spring snow storm has already brought more than 10cm of snow and it keeps on going.. The good news is it's going to melt quickly (or so we all hope!) and we can go back to enjoying the spring, just as we did the other day while on a short photo trip to capture a beautiful sunset.  Mac has already posted a few pictures from that day while he was testing his new favourite camera - the Fuji XPRO 1 and now it's time for me to share some of the images I took using my Canon.. It gives me a great pleasure to look at these, especially when the world outside turned back to black and white... Hope you enjoy it as well! Kasia

View fullsize

View fullsize

Abandoned Farm - Part 2

Since Mac has mentioned his back log of pictures to process I've decided to post some more of my images. There were a few of us, crazy people, shooting and it's not a surprise that some of us made for an interesting subject of a picture as well ;) It's hard to describe how beautiful the world looked that morning. But since a picture is worth a thousands words... Enjoy! Kasia

Falling..

Dedicated Photographers

Painted by time

Where the road leads us..

Still standing

Waiting for the light

Alberta back roads... part 3

After coming back home from our little morning excursion, I decided to take the boys out in the evening.  This time we didn't get lost, but still had a pleasant trip out.  Enjoy!

Alberta back roads... part 2

Getting lost never was so rewarding.  You can easily get lost on the Alberta back roads, specially when you are not really paying attention to where you are going, only to the landscape around you.  Luckly a homing GPS will get you out of most troubles, with which we realized that we traveled over 100km away from home.  Here are more results of getting lost.  Enjoy!

Alberta back roads.... part 1

Driving and ultimately getting lost in the Alberta back roads must be the best pass time for me.  There is nothing better than enjoying good music, great company, beautiful scenery, and picture taking.  This is what happened when me and my lovely wife, took to the Alberta back roads. Initially we wanted to visit Elk Island National park, but I took a wrong turn somewhere along the way.  The rest as they say is history... of images.  Enjoy!

Devil's Morning

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

A good friend of mine decided that we should skip the Elk Island morning, and go somewhere else.  So Devil's Lake it was.  It was a very quiet morning, and very beautiful.  We spent the few hours driving around the lake and surrounding areas.  Fall is in full swing, and colors are absolutely spectacular.  It was a great time of shutters clicking and quiet conversation.  Enjoy!

Playing on the farm - Part 2

Continuing on the post from yesterday, here is the rest of the photos from the family photo session.  It was really a wonderful time, even when the kids got bored with all the cameras clicking away.  One thing I found is that as a photographer, I have to really pay attention, because moments go by very quick and I have to be ready to catch them.  Enjoy.

Playing on the farm - Part 1

Families that plays together, stays together as they say.  I had a honor to capture such family recently.  We drove down to Vegreville, as my buddy Randy Pond, knows of a little quiet farm on the outskirts of town that was a perfect location for the photo session.  Since I never like posing portraits, I let the 3 girls run around and just play, then invited the parents to join in the fun.  Here are the results. Enjoy.

Storm, prairies, and the sun

Yesterday, after I returned from work, I had my whole evening planned.  Basically editing, editing, and more editing.  Around 7:30pm that evening, it became apparent that I will not be accomplishing my goal.  Simply because the skies turned into a spectacular light show.  I quickly grabbed my camera, Cokin filters, and off I went.  Here is what the sky looked like last night.  Enjoy!

Jasper - Day 3

Last day of a wonderful vacation, we decided to drive down to the Columbia Icefields. On the way there we stopped at Athabasca Falls. We did not encounter any wildlife along the way, but the scenery was absolutely spectacular.

Since we were playing proper tourists we decided to go full tilt and take the ride to the glacier.  Unfortunately it is a short trip, and there were millions of people.  So image wise it was a crap shoot.  I guess you pay the price when you are a tourist.

So this was a tiring, but absolutely wonderful vacation.  It just made me realize how much I love the mountains.  I will have to go back there sooner than once a year.  Will have to make the time.

Before the winter comes - Part 2

Continuation of my driving around with hipstamatic in hand.  Enjoy.

Lonely Bridge

Before the winter comes - Part 1

I think that absolutely the best iPhone camera application is Hipstamatic.  With the wide arrangements of lenses films and effects, it gives the user a great outlet for creativity.  I hardly ever use the normal camera application in the iPhone.  Hipstamatic is permanent fixture of the front page applications, for easy and quick access.  Yes it only simulates certain old school film types and lenses, but it does it quite brilliantly.  Here are some  shots I took with it while driving around, one day during a lovely foggy, sad day.  Enjoy.

Of Alberta skies, clouds and spring Part 2

Continuing the little road trip post from yesterday, here my favourite pictures from the trip.