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.
y decision to shoot everything with old film cameras this year, still makes my wife shake her head. I've been asked by friends, why do I want to create images strictly on film. The interesting thing is, I don't know. Is it because I'm tired of perfect images coming out of digital cameras? Or maybe it's the need to slow down, learn patience and enjoy the whole manual process of creating an image.
Having beautiful weather is not always good for landscape photography. The clear blue skies, are great for camping and general merriment of being outside.
Due to our long winter this year, I have been missing very much the colors and drama of summer skies. I am very happy, I have a bit of a back log of images to share with you guys, because now I can show some more of these to you and remember our photo adventures when we traveled outside the city to get them. You've seen some of my summer skies in my post: Missing Summer Skies.. Part 1 and today, I would like to share some shots I took one time, during our visit to Elk Island. It was an evening of storms, when the sky was changing from one minute to another and we were quite lucky to be close to our vehicles in order to hide from nature's fury, shoot some pictures in between the storms and hide from them again.. I have never experienced a more severe storm being out in the country. It was, definitely, something to behold.. And no, I was not going to be outside our vehicle shooting the lightning. I was cowering like any other smart human being inside it, emerging only well before or after a while, when all this fury has moved well away from us.. Kasia
So the other day, I decided to try out my Sony NEX-7 with a canon ef lens adapter and the Canon 8-15 fisheye lens. There was a nice storm passing on the outskirts of Edmonton, and I figured it would be a great model for the wide angle fisheye. I like the Sony camera just as much as I like the Fuji X-Pro1. The view finder in the Sony is absolute necessity, since in normal sunny environment you can't see anything on the back LCD screen, essentially you would be shooting completely blind. Here are some shots I took that day. I had to correct them a little in Lightroom, and decided that the storm would look a little better in B&W. Enjoy! Mac
It's a tradition in our family, if the weather cooperates, to invite some friends and go and watch fireworks display on Canada Day evening. We tend to go early to find a good spot for pictures and spend as much time enjoying outdoors as possible. This year was no different. Mind you, the day started with a downpour and a storm and, for a while, we were not sure there would be fireworks at all. But, as usual, our luck held and the sky cleared out so we packed our picnic supplies and went out to a spot that gave us a wonderful view of the Edmonton downtown. There was not many people there when we arrived and we have had plenty of room to set up our stuff. The sun was shining, the sky was great and mosquitoes were not bothering us too much ;)
As you can see we've had plenty of time to experiment and enjoy ourselves ;D.. As time went by and the sky was getting darker more and more people started to show up and eventually a crowd has gathered to watch the spectacle:
We were very lucky this year, because Nature decided to compete with human display and the lightning started to highlight the sky behind the downtown adding to the awesome display! Soo cool!!! Eventually, when the fireworks display was over, we were the only people left on the hill, watching Mother Nature's show as well as a cool effect that smoke from fireworks and city lights have created.
Cool stuff, I tell you! Hope you have spent your evening as pleasantly as we did!
Kasia
There was a storm approaching quickly, and the sun was either hiding behind the clouds or was fully visible. I thought nothing is going to come out of this quick little trip somewhere north of Edmonton. I was wrong. Here is the proof. Enjoy!
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!
Weather forecast was predicting rain, and the low hanging clouds were promising just that. Even though, I've decided to take a little trip to Elk Island. Took my cameras of course, because you never know what you gonna get. It is so peaceful there. Here are some images from the trip. Enjoy!
Winter this year has been long and even though it's March 3, it's snowing and still -20C outside. I thought maybe if I pay tribute to Winter with these pictures it might finally go away. We can only hope. Enjoy.
The other day, I wanted to try to photograph the well known Perseids meteor shower, which usually occurs at the end of August. Unfortunately there were a lot of cloudy and rainy days, and I had a fear that I might miss it. Then one day, the skies cleared up, so I grabbed by gear, and headed to Elk Island National Park.
Knowing my luck, or lack of it, the clouds started rolling in just as the first stars showed up. At first they were wispy and light, but soon enough they started gathering in strength.
Suddenly in the far distance I've noticed some flashes. Storm was coming. Oh what luck. To actually be ahead of a large storm. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to get some nice lightning pictures. I quickly changed my view point, and waited. Within an hour the storm was close enough to show off a fantastic light show, but far enough that it didn't rain. I was giddy as a kid at Christmas. Enjoy!
On the way back home, after an awesome trip and really good time, we spotted this huge cloud formation on the horizon.
I think it was the most interesting thing I have seen in a very long time. The clouds were changing their formation by the minute, and it was steadily growing. Luckily it passed us by. I would not want to be driving through this.
The weather for the last few days was very rainy, dark and gloomy. Tonight the clouds started to break up, still giving isolated showers, and we even got a tornado watch over the city of Edmonton. I have decided to drive out a little and see if I can capture the drama of the clouds rolling past the green fields, that finally got some long needed rain. Here are the results. Enjoy.
