The snow is mostly gone, here on the prairies, but it will be some weeks before we see greenery and flowers blooming. I can’t wait! It has been a long winter and I sure could use a bit of color. Late spring or early summer images are great for it because all is fresh and green is bright and not dimmed by dust of late summer days.
We are lucky here in Alberta, because some nights are full of light show. We had a couple of gorgeous Aurora showing last fall and I have managed to capture some shots without leaving the city.
I know, I know it is winter and everybody posts winter photography, but I am not ready for it yet. I see it outside my window every day, so I want to see something warm, colorful and pretty. Hope you are in need of this as well.
It has been a while since I’ve posted anything about Elk Island National Park. So, I think, it is time for some lovely sunset from the beginning of summer, when all was green, flowers were blooming and days were warm and long.
One cannot be in Banff NP and not visit Lake Louise. I’m sure I have said it many times before, but this is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. No matter what time of year I am there, I always find myself taking a long time to explore the surrounding area and taking lots and lots of pictures.
When I finally got this lens, I had my doubts that it might not be wide enough for landscapes. I like to shoot landscapes at least at 17mm on full frame camera. and this 14mm translates to roughly 21mm, when factoring the crop of Fuji X cameras. I decided to give it a try. I was really impressed with the results. I think 21mm is wide enough for me, although I'm still looking forward to the new 10-24 f4 Fuji lens. Best of all, all this equipment is light, easily transportable, which makes shooting with it so much more fun.
It was a perfect day. The morning was beautiful and we found a few photographers already positioned at Vermillion lakes waiting for the sunrise. The weather conditions were quite perfect for a great sunrise shoot. After the sunrise, we traveled to Lake Louise. Another great iconic location for landscapes. A day of beautiful light, beautiful mountains, and great time shooting it all.
One of the most beautiful places I have ever visited in Canadian Rockies is Lake Louise in Banff National Park. I am drawn to it over and over again regardless of the season. It is simply picturesque and one cannot blame me, really, for taking lots of pictures while I am there.. We have visited it again, during our December trip to the mountains. I have already shared some of the pictures from this trip in my post Solstice Sunrise in the Rockies and, with a great pleasure, I'd like to show you some more. Hope you find them pleasing. Winter really can be beautiful and since we are stuck with it here for months on end I'd rather concentrate on it's better aspects.. And if you can add to it a little bit of travel that's even better. Travel photography is a beautiful thing! ;D Have a wonderful weekend everybody! Kasia
As I have mentioned in my previous post: Ice and Light - Lake Louise in Winter, we haven't had much luck with the weather, during our latest foray into the mountains. We've glimpsed a bit of a blue sky for a moment - I did managed to snap a shot of it :D (see below) - but mostly the sky was heavy with clouds and the snow, along with rain were falling heavily obscuring the views... That, however, has not stopped us from taking pictures ;D. They are just totally different than what we usually come back with, because it forced us to chose different ways of showcasing the mountains. And the heavy snow added a bit of a Chrismasy feel to some of the pictures.. I hope I was able to capture the atmosphere and the feel of the world of winter Rockies.. Enjoy! Kasia
I've never been to Lake Louise in winter before and was looking forward to seeing this beautiful place all covered in snow. When we arrived there the sky was already clouding up, but there was still enough light and colour to make things look interesting and it gave me the opportunity to take a few pictures of some of the great ice sculptures scattered all over the place, before they were damaged by rain and snow that came the next day. Mac has shared his images from this trip in his posts: A mix of color in winter - Alberta Landscape Photography, Winter in the Rockies – Alberta Landscape Photography and People in the Mountains – Candid Photography and now it is my turn to show mine, hoping you are not too bored yet ;D Kasia
While making images at tourist destinations, you will always run into people. I always try to catch a few shots of them, while they are not paying any attention to me. This makes it easier if you are carrying a small camera, that makes almost no noise. Enter Sony NEX line. I have one of those and coupled with a 24mm f1.8 lens it's perfect for street/candid shots. Just carry the camera by your side point it in the fight direction and snap. The shutter is nearly silent, and the whole system is very discreet. There is always a chance that you might miss the action, but by not raising the camera to your eye, the people you want to catch, act natural. Here are some candid images I captured... but the last were posed portraits of the family. HDR too. Enjoy!
On our recent trip to Lake Louise and Banff National Park, we had only one day when it wasn't overcast and snowing. Even though the rest of the time we did not get the special light, that you get from a setting or rising sun, the world still look beautiful. The big clumps of snow covering the spruce trees, is absolutely magical, and the constant heavy falling snow, just add to the cozy winter feel. Shooting in such conditions brings out it's own challenges. The falling snow melts quickly when it touches your camera, and as we know electronics and water do not mix very well. If you have a rain cover for your gear, use it, but even a hat or a normal plastic shopping bag will do. It doesn't look pretty, but it will save your gear from getting wet. So the first day I was able to capture some color in the world, but after that the world turned black & white, and that was that. Here is another set from our trip. Enjoy!
Last week, we spent a wonderful quiet couple of days in the Rockies, specifically in Lake Louise. I don't think we ever been there during winter. During summer, Lake Louise is a very busy place, and very picturesque. This time however, the tourists were mostly gone, and one could say we had the place to ourselves. My wife and I, prepared ourselves with tripods, ready for night photography, sunsets, and sunrises. Unfortunately the weatherman was completely off with the forecasts, and all we really got is snow, snow and more snow. We had to forgo our dreams of spectacular rocky mountain sunsets, and take advantage of what mother nature gave us. Most of my images are processed in B&W, just because with all the snow falling, there was almost no color to be seen. The world was black, gray, and white. Here is the first batch of images I want to show you. There will be a few more after this post :) Enjoy!
I know I've already shared some pictures from our visit at Lake Louise in July of last year (Lake Louise - how I saw it..), but I cannot resist posting more of them. Especially today, when the world outside is so dark and gloomy I can't help but look at these pictures and feast my eyes on summer colors... It is one of the most beautiful places in Banff National Park here in Alberta and every time I go there I am enchanted by the sight of it. I was lucky to have taken my macro lens with me as well and managed to snap a few shots of the beautiful wild flowers growing around the lake. I hope you enjoy all this color as much as I do... Kasia
Several weeks ago, in his post Lake Louise, Mac has shared some wonderful images taken during our short stop over at that beautiful place. Today, I would like to show you my pictures from that visit. Such a gorgeous place! Every time we visit it I am amazed at it's beauty. Every time I see it differently and enjoy being there even with tons of tourists walking around. We have been fortunate this time having the sun low on the sky. Not yet sunset, but still it made the surroundings so much more interesting. I have taken some shots from the area around the lake, as well, including a few macros. Such a treat seeing it all in the middle of summer with lush greenery and abundance of wild flowers growing everywhere!! Enjoy! Kasia
Coming back from a wedding in British Columbia, we managed to get to Banff National Park, just when the sun was going down. We stopped at one of the most pictured lake, Lake Louise, to stretch our legs after a 8h drive. I figured that since we are here, might as well add some more images to the huge collection already on the internet. Why not? :) This time I decided to leave my Fuji behind, and try out the Sony Nex-7 with a Canon adapter and a 70-200 F2.8. This setup, looks quite funny. It's like placing an LCD screen on the back of the big white Canon lens. Even though the setup looks ridiculous, it works quite well. The lens is very easy to manual focus, with the Sony's focus peaking function. The only minor problem is that because the Canon lenses aperture control is done electronically through the camera, mounting it on an simple adapter makes changes to the lens aperture impossible, it's stays wide open. It's not a huge problem for me, as I like to shoot wide open, but it is annoying at times. Next I tried my 8-15mm Canon fish eye lens with the Sony Nex-7. I think both combinations work exceptionally well, even though the aperture stays open at the widest setting. Here are some images from that evening. Enjoy! Mac
We were very lucky this summer to be able to travel through the Rockies twice - so far :D. The first time we have visited only Jasper National Park in Alberta visiting some of the places we have not seen yet. The weather, again, was on our side and in spite of the very strong wind the temperature as well as the sky cooperated and allowed us to stop by and take lots of pictures... It was a very wet beginning of the summer and the lakes and rivers were full of water (as you can see on pictures of both Jasper and Talbot Lakes below). We have made a little detour before we entered the park to visit another site in the mountains, but the roads were closed due to flooding... There was still quite a lot of snow high in the mountains and we have been granted wonderful views of glaciers and snow covered peaks (Mount Edith Cavell with her glaciers, below). Here is a few shots from the first trip:
It was a wonderful trip, filled with great views and animal sitings that are always a pleasure...
Our second trip took place just a week ago and it took us a very long way through the mountains to British Columbia and back home to Alberta. We were a bit short on time and could not stop too often to take pictures but we have still managed to take a few stops here and there admiring the views and the abundant flora. It's amazing how of the wild flowers full the mountain meadows were this time of year!! It was simply gorgeous and since I did take my macro lens with me I took advantage of it and here are some of the results:
On the way there we could not resist a short stop at the beautiful Moose Lake, B.C. It was a gorgeous day, the clouds providing a lovely background to the mountains surrounding this lake and the wild flowers bloomed with abandonment making the views even more appealing...
As before we have decided to take a different way home and could not resist stopping at Lake Louise (since we were travelling through Banff National Park this time). After we left there, the views became even more beautiful... We rarely have a chance to travel through the mountains with setting sun and moon accompanying us. This time we were granted both of these and it was such a gorgeous set of views that, regardless of a long travel ahead, we have decided to stop a few more time to capture the wonderful scenes. I hope you like them as much as we did :D
Kasia
