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.
Located on the Trail of the Eagle's Nests, Ogrodzieniec Castle rules over the Krakow-Czestochowa Upland in southern Poland. Established first in early 12th century, destroyed and rebuilt numerous times since then it was finally abandoned at the beginning of 19th century due to extensive fire damage and remains a picturesque ruin ever since.
Coming back from the other side of the Vancouver Island, we decided for a short trip to Victoria. Unfortunately with highway construction that trip was long, and gave us a limited time in this beautiful city. So we decided to forgo most of it, and concentrate on the Craigdarroch Castle. As my wife described in her post, it's a beautiful house built in the 19th century. Since Canada is a fairly young country, compared to the world standards, I would call this house a landmark of our history, yet it is not being looked after by any of the government agencies. It's all done through volunteers. The passion of these people to preserve this place is amazing. We talked to one of the guides for more than 30 min about how the house was built, the attention to detail that went into design and construction of the house. It was quite an eye opener. You could feel the pride in the craft. I will echo my wife's words... if you are ever in Victoria, you have to visit this gem.
Photographing the Craigdarroch Castle on the inside proved to be a bit challenging. The Fuji X-Pro1 does not have an on board flash, so I had to bump up the ISO on most of the inside images because of the dark interior. Most of the following images were done an ISO 1000 and higher, and I think the camera performed very well. Also the contrasts of very bright windows combined with darker interiors, created very high contrasts. I could have used HDR, but I did not have a tripod handy, and the shutter speeds were already dangerously low for hand held photography. Plus there were a lot of humans milling around. So I opted for single image, and no bracketing. I was very impressed how the X-Pro1 performed in such challenging situation. So enough of the ramblings from me... here are the photos of the inside of the beautiful Craigdarroch Castle. Enjoy!
Coming back from Long Beach we had to stop at the famous Cathedral Grove. It's a very old forest located in MacMillan Provincial Park. The trees there are hundreds of years old, and so tall one could say they touch the sky. It's one of the most beautiful and humbling places we have visited. To think that these trees have been standing there since the middle ages, is uncanny. Even though there are a lot of people visiting, the place is strangely quiet. One could say it's a spiritual experience. I guess that's why it's called the Cathedral Grove.
Trying to capture the Grove is not an easy task. You have to have a very wide lens and lots of space to be able to catch one of these tree giants in entirety. It's almost impossible, because there is almost no room along the paths to back away far enough. Even at 15mm it wasn't enough. Still, the experience is well worth the trip. Highly recommend you stopping by, and enjoy the quiet of time. It's amazing.
Travel photography, quite often deals with architecture. One just cannot ignore interesting buildings and not take a picture or two.. Such was the case with Victoria's Craigdarroch Castle. A beautiful place built in late 19th century, fortunately, not demolished with most of other older buildings in 1960s. Visiting it gives one a unique picture of life of that period. Such a pity there aren't very many such places available in western Canada.. If you are ever in Victoria, BC, make sure you drop by and take a tour. Learn how people used to live in the old times and take a moment to admire the craftsmanship of old. Here are a few shots from our visit. I hope, this post will encourage you to visit this little architectural pleasure.. Kasia
To be continued...
P.S. Check our previous post from Long Beach on Vancouver Island: Beautiful British Columbia - Part 6 - Travel Photography
Finally, to our dismay, the last day of our Scottish adventures arrived. Since we were all a bit tired and the weather was getting rather uncertain we decided not to venture too far away from Edinburgh, but visit one of the close by castle ruins. We have decided to go east of Edinburgh this time (since all our previous trips took us west) and visit Castle Tantallon located on the coast of Scotland close to North Berwick. It was built in mid 14th century and survived undamaged for only 300 years or so, but the ruins that are still standing give us an idea of how grand it must have been in it's time. Very tall walls and towers are still standing there surrounded by the sea from one side and vast countryside on the other. While you approach it from the road you can see the wonderful Bass Rock sticking out of the sea providing a great background to the castle on the near by cliff.
The first thing that struck me when we got to the ruins was what time and sea breeze did to the walls. The textures and colours of the eroded material were great and caused me to take a very many pictures of them. Here is a few:
The second this was the size of the structure, still easily recognizable regardless of the damage. I was constantly lost somewhere and only thanks to my older son looking after me I was able to find my way and find the rest of my family ;D
All of those little specs on and around Bass Rock are sea birds that live on the rock. There are thousands of them there!!
By the time we left the structure I was completely blown away by the wind (it was so strong that one had to hold on to the ropes hanged on the staircases otherwise one might fall down swept by it)... On the grounds my attention was caught by the walls surrounding the castle and the wild flowers that were growing out of them, planted by the birds or wind...
Of course, I had to take a closer look ;D
And that was that!! Next day we had to fly home and return to the present. I will always cherish my memories of this trip. It was absolutely wonderful!!! I still have hundreds of pictures left from the flights and both Spain and Scotland and, perhaps, if time allows I will share some more of them with you. But for now the adventure is over... Hope you've enjoyed this holiday with us. Until the next time...
Kasia
After such a long trip to Glenfinnan (see the series of my previous posts from our Scottish adventures starting with Scotland - the Road to Glenfinnan and ending with Searching for Rob Roy) we have decided to finally take a tour of the famous Royal Mile. The day started up with a lovely sunrise and no more rain and we took the trip on a double-decker bus to get us as close to it as possible..
Deciding to start with The Edinburgh Castle we have walked there from the bus stop admiring the old buildings with their interesting architectural details. Because of the amount of people waiting to be admitted to the castle we have decided to try our luck later on with Holyroodhouse Palace instead and after a short photo session from the castle hill, with a stop at Camera Obscura (a fun place to visit, whether you are a kid or not) located close by, we started our downward track towards the palace walking the length of the Royal Mile..
And finally we have reached the Holyroodplace Palace, where Her Majesty the Queen of England resides during her visits to Scotland..
Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside, since it is a current residence of the Queen, but we were told we can photograph everything outside so we have taken a full advantage of it while we visited the Holyrood Abbey and the surrounding grounds:
And from there we have started slowly back to the bus to get home. We have lost our way in the process and managed to walk the whole distance back to the Castle, only on the other side, discovering, in the process many more interesting sites and a lovely view of the Edinburgh Castle itself in the setting sun ,of which we took full advantage ;)
There are many more pictures we have taken that day.. I will share some of them in my next post. Until then..
Kasia
On our way back from Glenfinnan we have decided on a short detour to search for one of the Highland legends. We've decided to stop at the cemetery where Rob Roy was supposedly buried..(a cemetery by Balquhidder Parish Church). The rain has stopped again and we took a very narrow side road to get there. We've passed some picturesque houses and fields with wonderful old trees and sheep, even spotting a traditionally dressed fellow, going somewhere with his bodhran, perhaps for an evening of history and song..
The first time I have ever heard about Rob Roy was as a child when the book by Sir Walter Scott found it's way into my hands.. Don't remember much of the book story anymore (it was a few decades ago after all.. ;D), and whatever memory of it I did have was successfully replaced by the movie (with Liam Neeson who, I thought, did an excellent job of playing the main character) but I've always liked the character and was quite excited to find a place that was dedicated to him.. The place was charming and lit with late afternoon light, surrounded by juicy greenery seemed very picturesque. And it felt old and peaceful...
We walked around the place for a while charmed by it's atmosphere. The old, old graves, covered by lichen and moss, reminded us of the fact that time does not wait for anybody..
On the very bottom of this picture you will see the resting place of Rob Roy, his wife and son. At the time we have not noticed it.. I've learned only afterwords that we were standing right next to it and even, unknowingly, took some pictures with it. I guess it just goes to show that too often we search high and low for things that are right under our own noses... Until the next time..
Kasia
As I have mentioned in my previous post: Scotland - the Road to Glenfinnan, we went to visit the shores of Loch Shiel as a kind of a joke because of "Highlander" the movie. But that is not the only movie that has made this place famous. Some of the scenes from Harry Potter movies were filmed there as well. The movies aren't the only thing that makes Glenfinnan interesting, though... In August 1745 Prince Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Price Charlie") has landed on the shores of Loch Shiel starting the second Jacobean Rising that has ended tragically for Scotland at Culloden in April of 1746. In 1815 the Glenfinnan Monument has been erected to commemorate the start of that event as well as in tribute to the clansmen who fought and died in the Jacobite cause. For those who would like to learn more a lot of information can be found on the web. Now, for the scenery, I am going to leave that for you to judge:
I was paying attention to the little things that surrounded us, while we were hiking to the viewing point, so here is a little macro as well ;D
I am sure you will agree with me, that it is a beautiful place, well worth hours of driving from Edinburgh. I just wish we've had more time to spend exploring this area, though we did take a little nature walk and I will share some of the pictures in my next post. Hope you enjoyed!!
Kasia
I hope you are not bored yet with our travel story. It was quite a trip full of lovely places and I hope you are still enjoying this little journal of our adventures... When our plane landed in Edinburgh I was a bit scared that our 5 days there will be miserable, because it was cold and raining cats and dogs and the forecast was calling for similar weather for almost the entire week.. Alas, we have been so very lucky during the entire trip and did not get soaked even once, thought it was raining on occasion when we were driving.. Now, driving over there... that's a whole separate adventure in itself, if you are used to the right side of the road... Needless to say, I was being a chicken and did not drive at all, thus Mac had to do all the honours... And for the first couple of days I was terrified that we'd end up loosing the side mirror on the passenger side - there is almost no shoulder on the rural road, just stone walls that are about 20cm away from the very narrow road... And some people like to drive in the middle of such a road disregarding a bit their lane.. Well... We have survived thanks to Mac being a wonderful driver and a very quick learner ;D.. But enough of that! Lets move to our first day.. The haunted Castle Manzies.. Now, there is a bit of a story with that one. We have visited it in the middle of the day, though it was dark rather due to the low hanging clouds and it was the oldest building to which my kids have ever ventured (I'm not counting the Spanish castles because they were not looking very lived in, if you know what I mean) and my husband was teasing them that it was a haunted castle... My youngest got pretty scared and did not leave my side for the entire visit.. Even my older son was a bit uneasy, though not even remotely to the extend my younger was.. After the end of our visit I've chatted with the lady that looks after the property with her husband and she said that my son was the third kid that week to behave in a strange way and that one of the really young ones apparently had had a full conversation with a lady on the stairs who was not visible to any adult... Apparently the caretaker husband, cleaning part of the castle just a few days before has heard a woman's voice singing a lullaby and the place was empty... There you have it - the ghost story.. After all you can't visit Europe and not brash on those ;D
Everything is so green there!! It was quite a change from dry Spain! Not only in terms of the greenery but the sky, was covered in heavy layer of clouds making things look more sinister..
Our short tour inside the castle started on the main floor, built in 16th century, that housed kitchens and generally servant related part of the building..
I was really impressed with the size of the fireplace, where all the castle cooking was done. It was as tall as I am! The top floors were remodelled in 19th century:
There is a bit of history related to the 1745 Stuart rising and the memorabilia are displayed in one of the larger chambers:
While we continued our tour, the sky was remaining grey and heavy..
Our tour ended in the attic where, even Mac was feeling uneasy.. I guess they must have felt the ghosts of the past.. As it happens I have managed to catch my own ghosts.. A bit more modern ones but hey! You can't have everything ;)
See you next time!!
Kasia
We have decided one morning to go for a ride to Almeria and visit Alcazaba castle located on one of the hills in the middle of the city. Our friend Sandra was kind enough to be our guide and led us through the city to the castle grounds. Mac has already shared some of his pictures from that trip in his post Spanish Streets, Castle and Fuji X-PRO1. And here is what I saw that day..
Yes, I know, this is quite a pink place. The colour was so startling mids the more earthy palette of all the rest of the buildings that I had to take a picture of it ;)
The view from the castle located on top of a hill is quite remarkable. The blues of Mediterranean Sea contrast beautifully with the greens of the gardens and the pinkish rock that was used to build the castle. Unfortunately great part of it was destroyed in an earthquake in 1522. Restorations started in 1950s.
Hope you have enjoyed this short tour. If you ever are close by I heartily encourage you to go and visit this lovely place. It's too bad part of it is still in ruin, but I can imagine just how lovely it was during the time of it's glory.
Kasia
I don't know if you remember our trip in January to shoot a sunrise. We have found this wonderful abandoned farm in the middle of prairies that has served not only as a great excuse to shoot the world at dawn. A piece of Alberta's history is slowly falling apart and as sad as it makes me feel I am grateful that they are still here waiting to be photographed and, in some small way, remembered. I thought, I'd share some more shots from that trip with you today. The light was gorgeous, the temperatures not too low :) and the company excellent. What more can a person want?! Kasia
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
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
There is a little avenue in Edmonton. A little friendly space, where people walk, talk, and smile a lot. A place where music, art, and city become one. Old buildings, cafes, restaurants and bars, create a beautiful fusion of sights and sounds.
Where cultures and styles meld. Old lives with new, together in perfect harmony.
There is nothing better, than to hold your love, and be lost in the sweet sounds of life. There is nothing better than Whyte.
Continuing from the previous post, the above photo shows the amount of people that were at the Ukrainian Village that day. Usually it would be just a picture of a sign..... and no one else. The following series of pictures were taken at the Ukrainian Village, but this time I decided to leave the colour in. Enjoy!
It was a lovely sunny, albeit cool and windy day. Few months ago, my good friend Art and me decided to visit a place where time stands still. It is a place of memories. Memories of how people lived and worked and loved this land. Then you realize that, this was only about 100 years ago. Not that long ago in the grand scheme of things. The place I'm taking about is the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village. It was the last day the Village is open during the year, and it was free admission, so I bet half of population of Canada was there. This of course proved to be a challenge when trying to take pictures. Bloody tourists everywhere. Blind as well. They would just walk and stand right in front of the camera, completely oblivious of the whole world around them. Chose the wrong day to visit. My fault. Still people or no people it an amazing place to visit, and if you're ever around these parts I urge you to go back in time.
