Landscape

Chasing Aurora

Chasing Aurora

There are a lot of spectacular photographs of northern lights on internet. Beautiful lights dancing on the night sky are quite amazing to behold. However, it is not as easy as you would think to get a good shot of them. It, often, requires hours of waiting for the sky to turn dark enough in summer or freezing your bottom on location in winter.

Memories of Harvest

Memories of Harvest

It is hard to only be able to see winter for months on end. It lasts so long, here in Alberta, that the need to turn to memories of warmer, more colorful months is often overwhelming.  As much as the weather is nice right now, we still have a lot of snow on the ground and I find myself missing colors and warmth of summer months. I'm quite happy that I am able to easily indulge in seeing pictures I took during those months

A Winter Visit to the Rockies

A Winter Visit to the Rockies

A while back we took a day trip to the mountains.  We like to do this from time to time, even if it means that we end up spending most of a day driving.  We get up early, pack sandwiches and snacks, winter gear and cameras and take our family out to the Rockies. There is just something that draws us there over and over again...

Elk Island At Night

Elk Island At Night

It is an interesting experience to visit Elk Island at night.  We are a city creatures, not very comfortable with being in nature without the ability to see.  And then, there are the noises. It is so eerie to stand in the middle of nowhere, where it is pitch black and so quiet that every noise carries a long way. Hard to judge the distance separating us from the animals making that noise. 

Waterton, Before the Fires - Travel Photography

Waterton, Before the Fires - Travel Photography

As the weather becomes colder, I find myself missing summer more and more.  It is a good thing, I have so many pictures from our travels to look at.  With my family visiting from Poland we were given a perfect excuse (not that we ever needed one, really ;D) to travel all over our province to show them around.  This time, we have taken them to visit Waterton Lakes National Park in southern Alberta.

All In A Day's Work - Travel Photography

All In A Day's Work - Travel Photography

As the weather continues to deteriorate (they are forecasting snow for the next 24 hours) my mind seems to be drawn more and more to the time when sun was shining bright, it was warm and everybody was in a mood for exploring. Yes, I do mean summer ;D. 

Chasing Bison with an old Russian

Chasing Bison with an old Russian

It's funny, how I almost cured myself of digital GAS, and how quickly I fell for the analogue GAS.  It's really easy to forget about actual photography, when scouring eBay for old cameras.  The amount of old film cameras is just staggering.  The prices are decent for the most part, although so old cameras fall into the "collectible" or "famous" category, which drives their prices through the roof.  I try to keep to the cheap side.

Flirting With Aurora - Part 2

Flirting With Aurora - Part 2

When we go out at night we never know if we come back with something usable. Our weather here in Alberta, changes very quickly and even if we leave the city with clear skies above, by the time we reach a specific location it all might change (mind you, we need to travel quite a distance away from the city in many cases - sometimes more than 100km, which can make quite a difference as well). Landscape photography does require certain amount of sacrifice and hard work..

Flirting With Aurora - Part 1

Flirting With Aurora - Part 1

She can be very elusive. She can show up where you don't expect her to be and don't show up, when you count on her.  Sometimes, it's only a pale green hue of the night sky, sometimes - a line across. Some nights, you can only spot her out in the country, where city lights don't obscure the views, but some nights, you can clearly see her from my own back yard, covering most of the sky and showing off for everybody to see.

Sky Is The Limit!

Sky Is The Limit!

One of the most wonderful things about Alberta, to me anyway, is the sky.  It's huge and always changing and I love watching it and photographing it. The sunsets, sunrises, middle-of-the-days and, of course the storm clouds have been fascinating me for a very long time.  At night, you can see million stars, different phases of the moon, Milky Way and, if you're lucky, amazing aurora. Over the last several years I must have taken more than a thousand pictures of the clouds which, to me, are a huge part of the landscape, sometimes, the most interesting one (I do live surrounded by flat prairies after all ;D).

Looking for spring with Kodak Ektar

Looking for spring with Kodak Ektar

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.

Alberta Country on Celuloid

Alberta Country on Celuloid

Starting my year project of shooting only film is slowly taking shape.  I'm starting to collect different film stock, to see how each behaves, and finally settle on one that I like the most.  So far I used Fuji Superia 400, Agfa Vista 400 and little bit of Kodak Potra, Ektar, and Gold.

Summer on the Prairies - Part 2

Summer on the Prairies - Part 2

Photographing flat prairies presents a challenge. It's easy to take a good photo of mountains, since all you need is good light and the pictures take themselves. Rockies are just too beautiful and full of interesting views. Prairies, though, require a bit more of an effort, since one has to find something to catch one's eye, to create an interesting composition.