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.
I was debating with myself, if I should post these, as unfortunately it's a perfect illustration of a mistake. One big mistake, of being lazy. Almost every year we venture into the Edmonton downtown to view the spectacular fireworks display on Canada Day. This year, we figured we are going to try a different venue. So we got there a few hours before the show, and were greeted with huge masses of people....
Walking around old town of Prague can be quite rewarding if you like street photography. There are interesting people, tourists, political rallies, musicians and many others. It's never boring.
One thing I have to say I like about the Czechs. They know how to play up to tourists. The old city hall tower has an observation deck, which is accessible and the views are stunning. Now, all the German towns and cities also had towers with observation decks. The only difference is that the Czechs were smart, and installed a nice elevator in the tower, Germans are a little more primitive, and if one wanted to see the top, one had to use the old way of climbing, namely stairs.
Street photography was never easy for me. I'm too big of a chicken, when it comes to pointing a camera, even a little Fuji X-E1 at strangers. It seems to me that every time I point a camera at someone on the the street, they will come over and beat me up, to a pulp. I like the work of people like Bruce Gilden, but I don't have the guts to confront strangers like that. My way is discreet. I do a lot of hip shooting, or using long telephoto lens from a safe location :) . Hip shooting is a gamble, specially when using a new focal length, which I'm not used to. This was the case when I mounted the Fujinon 23mm on the Fuji X-E1, and tried hip shooting the Freemont Street in Las Vegas.
I'm used to hip shooting street photography, with a wider lens, so a lot of shots with the 23mm Fujinon lens were misses. Horrible misses. I knew starting this experiment I would need some practice, and it showed. Still, I was able to catch a few interesting frames, and didn't get beat up... I think I can count that as a success :) . Fuji X cameras are perfect for this type of shooting. They are small discreet and quiet. People do not notice you as much. It's not like having a big white Canon lens. Maybe this summer I will be able to go out practice more hip shooting, and aiming my camera properly. Here are some of the shots I captured in Las Vegas. Enjoy!
There are times when in landscape photography, a wide angle lens is just simply too wide. When the sky has nothing to offer, but it's color, and when the ground has nothing to offer either. It's not easy sometimes to photograph the mood of a landscape, when the sky is blue, and the ground is flat and feature less. Yet there is a certain mood in the air, like that morning on the beach. There was a mist coming from the ocean, and hanging low on the beach, but the sky was featureless and I had to work hard to find something interesting on the ground.
This is a perfect time, when the big zooms come out to play in landscape photography. This is a perfect time to focus on something far away, instead of up close, and that's what I did. The mist coming out of the ocean, created this incredible mood. The people walking along the beach became ghosts, appearing and disappearing. With a long zoom, you can capture a beautiful mood, and add a completely genuine human element to the landscape. Here are some shots from that beautiful morning. Enjoy!
Mac
I don't know if you can call this street photography, as there are no streets really... so what do you call beach people photography? I guess I'll stick with street photography, since to me that definition basically says, that these are candid photos of people. Just the setting is a bit different from a street.... it's a beach. Anyhow, now that we got this out of the way, let's continue. I really enjoy photographing people. I am normally the biggest introvert you'll ever meet, and going out among people and taking their photo, scares the crap out of me. I'm usually the creepy creep, training my lens on you, from far away :)
When people are not aware that you are taking their picture, they behave as they normally would. The moment they spot a camera pointed at them, their behaviour changes instantly. They either hide, give you a fake smile, or just pretend to ignore you, but their natural behaviour, that moment, vanishes with out a trace. This is why I try to use either a very wide angle lens, or a long zoom. The wide angle is perfect for hip shooting. What I mean by that is, you pretend to adjust settings on your camera, and without raising the camera to your eye, you take a photo. Or you carry the camera nonchalantly in your hand, and point in the general direction and hope for the best. Wide angle lenses are best suited for this, as it is hard to miss the subject. Other lenses require lots of practice, to know exactly where to point to get that awesome image. Changing from a 17mm to a 35mm lens had disastrous effects, as none of the hip shooting images came out. I just didn't know how to aim the lens properly. So my tip to you is... try hip shooting, or find some balls and don't be afraid of people :D
Here is some examples of beach street shooting, enjoy!
It's been a while since I have shared some of my shots taken during our summer travel on Vancouver Island ( you can check the last installment from that trip - record of our visit at Victoria’s Craigdarroch Castle in Beautiful British Columbia - Part 7). During our stay on the Island we have been lucky to spend an evening at Qualicum Beach, being guided by one of our photographic friends, who was kind enough to take us to his favorite part of the coast and, though, the tide was high and most of the beach was covered with water, we still had a chance to take a wonderful walk, admire the views and, of course, snap a few shots ;D. It is such a pleasure to watch the sun disappear behind the horizon, making the sky burn! Landscape photography can be so much fun!!! I miss those summer days.. I hope sharing these pictures will take your minds away from this long and cold winter. I took mine off, for sure. Enjoy! :D Kasia
I have shown you some of the pictures from our December trip to the Rockies in my post Beautiful Lake Louise. Today, I would like to share what I saw (along with landscapes, I could not help but take some close up shots, yet again..) when we took a gondola ride to the top of Sulphur Mountain in Banff. Such gorgeous winter views! It was relatively warm up there and the light was lovely. We were able to stay long enough to see the sunset and the night taking over the world. Unfortunately we had to get off the mountain (gondola closing time) in order to shoot Milky Way. Landscape photography is so easy when you have such wonderful vista to work with! :D So here it is, some more of winter beauty! Enjoy! Kasia
Our adventure with travel photography continues. Some of what we saw before you can check out in my previous post: Beautiful British Columbia - Part 4 - Travel Photography. We've spent a couple of gorgeous evenings at Chesterman Beach. It is one of only a few places on this end of Vancouver Island (close to Tofino) where you can enjoy a sunset. It was a bit chilly with a strong wind picking up sand that was showering us mercilessly and I was glad I took both my cameras with me, because I wouldn't dare to change a lens in those conditions. And there was a lot of things to capture and without my 200mm lens I would miss out on a lot of shots.. But even if I was there without them I would still enjoy both evenings a lot. It is so relaxing to walk on a beach, watch other people going on their strolls, listening to the waves crashing around you. Add to it a beautiful sunset and you are in for a treat! Here is a few shots from both outings. I hope you enjoy!
Kasia
To be continued..
After a day of hiking around Vancouver (see Beautiful British Columbia - Part 3 - Travel Photography - our visit to Lynn Valley) we've decided to do a bit less walking and took a drive to the Horseshoe Bay to explore it a bit and search for a location for a sunset. We've stopped at a few places along the way and ended up staying for a few hours on a little rocky beach. Don't ask me where these shots were taken, because after a while I completely lost any idea of where we were.. The tide was still pretty low, when we've arrived and it allowed me to take my macro lens and take a closer look at some barnacles and seaweed as well as the surrounding views. The unfortunate thing about travel photography is that we can't always wait for a better light, having limited time at a certain location. But even with that in mind, using a bit of a different angle one can manage to get a few lovely shots. Here is a few of those from that outing.. Kasia
To be continued..
Jericho Park with its beach were for us the first place to visit in Vancouver, BC. We have been very lucky to bring with us sunny weather and we were definitely enjoying our evening stroll in the park and the beach. As I have mentioned in my previous post - Beautiful British Columbia - Part 1 - Travel Photography travel photography allows us to practice shooting in all sorts of environments and this was a pleasure to do so with shiny water, reflecting the sun and in dark shade of park trees.. Here is some of what I saw and captured during our visit.. Kasia
To be continued...
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
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!
Several weeks ago in his post A Man that Plays with Fire and the Fuji X-Pro1, Mac has posted some of his shots from our trip to Elk Island where we've had the opportunity to shoot a talented young artist (Bryton Keomanivong) who does some very cool things with his hoops and fire. I took a side line position, wanting to capture him working his art from a different perspective. Here is a few of my images taken that evening. Enjoy! Kasia
You know that I love colour. The more of it, the better!! I have shared some of the colourful Edinburgh pictures in my post The Royal Mile in Colour. Sometimes, however, a picture just asks to be processed in black and white.. There were quite a few of those ones taken around Edinburgh that required just such a treatment so here they are...
It's all in the details and mood, I think. Hope you agree. :)
Kasia
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
One day in Edinburgh.... that's it... one day. It's a big city, with many many things to see. We decided to stick to the tourist part, and walk the Royal Mile, which goes from the Edinburgh Castle to the Holyrood Palace, which is where the Queen of England lives when she visits. I have to say, this walk made an impression. Yes there are tons of people... tons. Mostly tourists, judging from the cameras... which is another interesting point. Point and shoots are a dying breed. Almost every one had some sort of a DSLR with them. I fell sad for them. All that heavy equipment, and me with a bag full of lenses and a camera, and I didn't feel a thing. I'm sure if I had my DSLR I would be ready to dump it into the nearest trash, after walking around for 8 hours. Fuji X-Pro1 was just perfect for this. I think this is when the camera finally won me over completely. Also shooting with it constantly, I started to recognize it quirks and adapt my shooting style. Here are some of the shots from that day.... Enjoy!
