Old Prairie Sunset - Alberta Landscape Photography
It's almost our tradition now, that each summer we go exploring in the back Alberta roads for that perfect sunset location. I think we already realized that we are never going to find one, as the landscape of this province is very diverse, and our explore radius is not very far from home :) Still we can almost always find something interesting to photograph. Today, I'm presenting you with images taken a few months back, when spring was still in the air. Yes, I do have a pretty big backlog of images that need to be touched. We still have our Vancouver/West Coast to finish up, although Kasia has been going through them and posting them on her Flickr stream. We have been having issues with uploading images to our blog lately, and I still haven't figured out what exactly is the problem. Right now it takes 3 times longer to get images on the blog, and it's a bit complicated process.
In any case, back to Alberta Landscape, and exploring. Our trips are usually on the spur of the moment. We'll look at the clouds, and judge if it could be an interesting looking sunset. If the answer is yes, then quickly pack up the gear and off we go. We never know what we are going to get. Yes over the years that we have been doing this, I have been marking the really nice locations on my GPS, so we can come back easily, and we have on couple of occasions. There is one location though that still escapes me. I found this beautiful log shack, that seemed abandoned, but still had a cultivated garden beside it. I didn't mark it, and it's been over a year and I still can't find it.
Here are some images from that long ago trip around Alberta backroads.
Alberta Sunrise
It's been quite a while when I took these images. I'm just going through my backlog of images that I haven't posted yet. To my surprise there is quite a lot of them. I've been too busy lately with weddings, and other client work. I think it's time to start catching up. I've been shooting exclusively with my Fuji X-Pro1, and I really really like using that camera. Also I've been going around and pilfering old Pentax lenses, from around my town. I have an adapter for the lenses for both my Fuji and my Sony NEX-7. They are really great lenses. All manual, but with a bit of practice, they are still very much usable. These images were taken quite a while ago, a few months to be exact. It was an early morning rise, about 3:30am. My wife and I, drove up to this little abandoned farm, which is a perfect setting for sunrises. We spend good couple of hours walking around trying different angles. It was a great time. Here are some images from that morning. Enjoy!
Fuji Xpro 1, 18mm, and a sunset
My awaited Fujinon 18mm lens finally arrived, and I had a chance to take it out for a little spin the same day. Unfortunately the sunset wasn't as spectacular as I thought it might be. I found that the 18mm lens (in 35mm terms it's a 27mm) is actually nice and wide. Wide enough for my liking. Yes I like to go wider, but as of this moment there are no Fuji lenses that are wider, maybe in the future? So for now here is the sunset, the unspectacular sunset. Enjoy!
Ghost farm at sunrise - Part 2
The beautiful sunrise at the Ghost farm, allowed for a lot of images. Why did I call it like this? The farm house had a strange feel to it. I don't know if I would go there by myself at night, even though I would imagine it would be a great location to photograph night skies. I might have to ask some friends very nicely to go out with me.... yes I'm a bit of a scary cat :) Mac
Ghost farm at sunrise
During one of my scouting trips into the Alberta back country, I found this old abandoned farm. At that moment I've decided it would be great to visit this place at sunrise. It's a bit of a drive from my home to this place, so the whole family woke up early, packed up our prepared photo gear, met our friends Jenn and Dustin, and went out exploring the Alberta back country. We made it to the farm with a bit time to spare before the sunrise. A beautiful morning, a little chilly, but then again this was still January. I only took 2 lenses with me. My trusty wide angle, and my tilt shift. Here are the results. Enjoy! Mac
Lost in Alberta - Part 2
Continuing my scouting trip for the lost and forgotten farms, we stumbled upon few that were in very nice shape. The rooms were empty, but there was no clutter, no mess. Particularly in those ones, your imagination goes wild. Here are some more images from the forgotten fields of Alberta. Enjoy!
Lost in Alberta - Part 1
A few weeks ago, I grabbed a good friend of mine, also a photographer, and we went scouting around the prairies, and farmlands, north east of Edmonton. After a tough week at work, those trips bring calm and peace, just like the forgotten and lost farmsteads. Edmonton is situated in an interesting geographical location. To the east the land is flat, mostly farmland and prairies. To the west its hills, lakes and small rivers. It's interesting that it is still far to the mountains, about 350km. The easter part is where there one can find a lot of these abandoned buildings. Many of them are quite accessible, but I would not venture inside. They are not structurally sound, but they do provide a little glimpse into the history of this province. If you find the one's that are still in one piece, you can glimpse inside and let your imagination go... enjoy! Mac
A prairie morning...
A while back I did a little tour of the Alberta back roads. I like those little tours. A little music on the radio, and beautiful scenery all around. Here is what came out of the trip. 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!
Before the winter comes - Part 2
Continuation of my driving around with hipstamatic in hand. Enjoy.
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.
Alberta Prairie Railway Excursion
A few more shot from our last trip into Alberta's past via an authentic steam train. Amazing trip. Enjoy.
Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions
It was an awesome weekend. Specially Sunday. We got up early in the morning at 6am got the kids dressed, packed some snacks and off we go, destination Stettler Alberta. We decided to go on the Alberta Prairie Railway Excursion. It's a great little getaway for families, and not only. It is an hour long train ride to the town of Big Valley, Alberta, with great scenery along the way, and the nostalgic feel of an old train ride. There is also an added bonus of experiencing a true train robbery. It is actually quite exciting and all the "proceeds" go to the children hospital. You can read more about the excursion on the above link. Now lets get on with the photos. I made these so they reflect the olden days. Enjoy.
Horses
These lovely animals we found on a field by a little country road. I used the first one for a "Cowboy" challenge at DP Challenge.
Canon 5D, ISO 320, 1/4000 sec, f/5.6 59mm
As you can see, after shooting at the lake in the evening, I forgot to change my ISO back to normal setting i usually shoot with, which is 100. I guess I will never learn to check the camera before shooting.... sheeeesh. Luckly they didn't turn out too bad. :)
Canon 5D, ISO 320, 1/3200 sec, f/5.6 70mm
Enjoy.
Confusion = more pictures
OK I would like to apologize. I screwed up the DPC Olympic weeks. I already corrected the previous posts. Week seven was the unsinkable icebergs, and now we are in the last week. Last challenge. Last stretch. Last chance to beat the Icelanders and take the top spot. What is the last challenge? As always there is a choice. Either The Paranormal or Negative Image. Already done the paranormal shot, and I will share it with soon, but now I would like to divert your attention from the Olympics and have a quick look at these.
This was taken tonight. I had another idea for the paranormal challenge, but once I got to the old cemetery, it just felt wrong. So I didn't shoot anything. As a result I was rewarded with this sunset.