Wishing You All A Very Merry Christmas!

Soft and glowing..

Merry Christmas!

Shining lights

A family..

Here comes Christmas..

Santa..

Lights and shadows

In a Christmas mood

Simple things in life

Relaxing

It is hard to believe that 2013 is almost over.. The year has flown so fast again, that it is hard to remember what has happen.  Finally, though, there is time to relax, grab a cup of tea and enjoy some holiday cheer, with lights on, Christmas tree and my family around.  I don't know about you, but I find that world lit with Christmas lights seems so much warmer and so much more beautiful. With great pleasure I would like to share some of my Christmas world with you today and wish you all wonderfully relaxing and peaceful Christmas. Have a very merry Christmas, guys! ;D Kasia

The Beginning..

As I have mentioned in my post Things to Come, spring has been very slow to start this year. We all are rather tired of grays, dirty snow and cold, and long for things to change.  It is rather late, but finally, after almost 6 months the snow has finally melted off my flower beds and lawn and I can see growing things starting to come out, particularly in one, sheltered spot by my house.  First there were the tulips, sticking out shyly, followed quickly by delphinium foliage and then, I have seen some buds on the trees in the neighborhood getting nice and fat and finally my crocuses started to bloom.  I was so very happy to see them!!! I'm also very lucky because in most places in our city there has been no signs of spring yet except for an occasional, very rare pussy willow.. So here it is, for all of us in central and norther Alberta, a little color with renewed hope that soon our world will turn green again. :D Kasia

Lifestyle Photography - Girl in the Orchard

After the cold session of Sensual Portrait of a Girl in the Rain, I've decided to give the model a bit of a break, and just shoot a natural lifestyle portrait session in the garden.  It was a little windy, but I thought that this would bring a bit of life to the images.  The session was bordering on boudoir, but I wanted to approach it differently.  I wanted more of a natural fun in the garden portrait session.  I think I captured it.  Enjoy!

Longing for spring - part 2

Well, since my post about saying goodbye to winter, sort of blew up in my face yesterday, when we received about 4cm of nice fresh snow.  Theoretically  it's spring, but practically it is still winter here in Alberta.  So since Kasia posted some really wonderful flowers last time. I thought that the images of our apple trees from last year would be fitting.  I guess our apple trees will be that way again very soon, but for me it just can't be soon enough. Mac

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The beginning of Christmas...

The Christmas at our house starts, when the whole family descends on the local store to pick up the Christmas Tree.

Then we pull out the boxes of lights and ornaments and we spend the next few hours listening to Christmas music, and decorating the tree like this:

Best time ever. Merry Christmas to all!

Alberta Winterscapes

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.

Our Christmas - Part 2

So it's Christmas eve, and really I want to wish you, the reader and the follower of these pages, and your loved ones, a very very very Merry Christmas and a big thank you!  To add to these wishes here is a small sample of my wife's baking, and kids portraits.  Enjoy!

Our Christmas - Part 1

So it's that time of the year again.  The time we wait for impatiently whole year.  Our Christmas preparations really start in early November.  Lists are being made, checked at least twice.  Little hints are dropped in the middle of conversations.  Then first week of December it starts for real.  On a weekend we all go out and pick a fresh christmas tree.  Then take it home, trim it, and usually decorate it the same day.  Everyone is involved.  Then the rest of the house gets it's share of garlands, lights, and bows.  It's festive.  But that doesn't even touch on the baking that goes on after the decorations... on that in the next part.  Here are a collection of photos from the day the Christmas tree arrived home.  Enjoy!

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.

Of Alberta skies, clouds and spring

Plans... planning outside activities during Alberta spring, is like throwing a dart at a dart board, blindfolded and standing on your head.  That's precisely what happened last week.  Randy Pond and me were planning and interesting shoot last friday with 3 models.  During that week the weather has been gorgeous, with lots of sun and temperatures going as high as +26C. By Friday it all changed.  Temperatures went down to barely +9C with lots of cold wind.  We were waiting to the last minute for the weather to improve.  I even packed all my gear into my vehicle before going to work that Friday.  Unfortunately because of the cold wind with heavy hearts we decided to cancel the shoot.  Since I had all my gear I figured that I might as well use some of it.

As per Mr. Murphy and his laws the sun came out and the clouds were dispersing creating fantastic shapes.

Since the plans were for a model photo shoot, one thing I left at home was my wide angle lens.  So I had to use my 24-70mm.  Don't get me wrong 24mm is plenty wide, but personally I love the field of view I get with the 17mm.

So although the initial plans bit the dust, I didn't come out empty handed.  To be continued....

Time again for Christmas

It's that time of year again.  The weekend in Edmonton was very very cold.  Temperatures reaching -40C with windchill, were a  perfect excuse to stay indoors watch a movie or two, play some games with the kids, and just enjoy the warmth and the fragrance of a fresh Christmas tree.  Here are some shots taken over the weekend to put you in the Christmas frame of mind.  Enjoy.

Photographing the Sunset

This was taken a few days ago, while trying to shoot for the DPC Olympics II challenge. It was voted down by the crew, as more of a skyscape than a landscape. Didn't realize there were differences. I found that adding a human factor to the photo, makes it more interesting. Thoughts?

Canon 5D, ISO 100, 1/2 sec, f/22, 21mm

Pictures from Edmonton

These couple of pictures where taken on an outing around Edmonton. Since it was cloudy and scattered rain fell from time to time, I decided to turn off most of the colors in them. Here is a view of Edmonton and the North Saskatchewan river. The taller buildings in the distance are part of the University of Alberta.

Canon 5D 1/500sec f/11 ISO 250 17mm

This is an interesting structure, which actually is an indoor pool.

Canon 5D 1/1600sec f/7.1 ISO 250 17mm

Same indoor swimming pool at a bit of a different angle.

Canon 5D 1/500sec f/7.1 ISO 250 17mm

Blooming

No this is not Canada. This photo was taken by my wife, while she was in Poland last week. Taken with a little point and shoot camera from a moving car. Too bad it was a jpg, and not a very good resolution. So print wise it won't do, but on a screen it looks quite decent. Not a bad shot, really :)