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.
Along with my micro 4/3 camera I brought along my Canon 1D and my 90mm tilt-shift lens. I always like the view through that lens. It's always something different. Some will scoff at it's use in landscape photography, but I really like the effects it can produce. So here is a bit of fall in the Rockies through a tilt-shift. Enjoy!
Fall in the Rockies is truly spectacular. As you can see. This was the first time we went to Patricia and Pyramid lakes. Both are quite a sight. I brought only two cameras with me, a micro 4/3 and my 1D with a tilt-shift. These are all done with a micro 4/3 camera. Enjoy!
Jasper is a magical place. I finally had a chance to edit the pictures that I took on our last day excursion to the mountains. It was a good couple of months, but the wedding, family, boudoir images take precedence over anything personal. I hope you enjoy these, as they are a perfect example how wonderful fall is in the rockies. Enjoy!
Sometimes I like to challenge myself. I know I'm going to, lets say, Elk Island National Park, in the evening. That usually means a sunset photo session. Now I only take one or two lenses, and none are wide angle. I challenge myself to take a good image of the sunset, with a 90mm or a 400mm for example. It's not easy having only a Canon 5D full frame with a 90mm tilt-shift lens, and a Panasonic G1, with a M42 ring adapter and a 400mm old Minolta lens.
Yes the tilt-shift is a little easier to use, since it can quite easily create dreamy, partly focused images. Still the focus length at 90mm is not really designed for landscape. I would say the 400mm is more of a landscape lens than the 90mm. Of course the having the big 400mm on a G1 micro 4/3 camera is not an easy thing to work with either. The lens is manual focus only, and the Panasonic camera only a digital view finder to look through (or it's little screen), but when pointing the lens at the sun, everything becomes washed out. Thus the challenge of it all. Learning to work with the gear that you have. Is it frustrating? A little. Many times I was wishing I brought my wide angle, but then I just narrowed my view, and captured what was available. Enjoy.
The future of Cokin and it's filters is still really unknown. There were some rumors that Kokina had bought the now bankrupt french filter company, but personally I haven't heard anything definitive. The supplies of Cokin filters are dwindling, and the actual lens holders are almost impossible to get. As the owner of the Cokin P Series, I've been always on a hunt for different filters. Lately I've turned to Ebay, as there seem to be a lot of filters for the Cokin P Series, straight out of China. They were fairly inexpensive, so I ordered them. Once they arrived, and decided to take them out for a little spin at Elk Island. There are 6 filters in all, ND8, ND4, ND2, graduated ND, graduated blue and graduated orange. I was a little surprised that the ND filters turned out to be more purple/orange instead of grey, but I can definitely work with that. No complains just a bit of a surprise. Here are some shots taken with the filters. The last image is with ND8, ND4, and was a 25 sec exposure. Enjoy
Over the last few weeks I traveled to Elk Island numerous times. It was either for the purpose of photographing a sunset, or sunrise, or stars. One animal that you cannot miss at Elk Island National Park, is the bison. They are found almost everywhere. I can never escape taking at least a few shots of them. It never gets boring. They are magnificent creatures, that at times seem docile and slow, but trust me, you don't want to find yourself facing a charging one. So when visiting Elk Island National Park, and you happen on a bison, slow down, stop, roll down your windows, and enjoy!
Enjoy!
Alberta landscape, somewhere west of Edmonton. This was taken during one of my little road trips to nowhere. Just aimlesly driving the less traveled Alberta country roads, in search of little gems like this one.
Or this one. The most elusive Sid the Moose. This guy was shot almost at night. Had to crank my iso setting to 1600, to get this, thus the noise. Sid the Moose, lives in Elk Island National Park, and he is very hard to spot. Comes out in the very early mornings or late evenings. I've been trying to get a good picture of him for a long time, and so far this is as best as it gets. Now why Sid the Moose? Well you should ask this great photog.... she may tell you, or she might not. :)
Last night I noticed that the sky was clearing up nicely, so immediately decided to go down to Elk Island National Park, for some night photography. I called and texted a couple of friends, but none had the time to go.... so I had to go alone. When it finally started to get dark around 11pm, I setup my tripod, programmed the remote for the 35 picture sequence, and settled in for a long wait. Unfortunately there were a lot of activity at that spot. At 1am couple of cyclists went through one frame, then a car showed up and drove around the parking lot. The best thing happened when the sequence finally finished at around 1:45am. Right behind me there was a spectacular display of norther lights. Here are some fruits of hanging around at night at the lake. Enjoy.
Here are the last pictures from the Elk Island excursion on the weekend. Yes, this is a special Tilt Shift lens. No photoshop magic, just lens camera, and me. Enjoy.
Here are some more shots from the little Elk Island excursion yesterday. Just trying out something new, and I think I'm slowly falling for it. Enjoy.
This year started slow for me, on the photography side. So I finally decided to break the spell, and after clearing off the snow around the house, I decided it would be a good idea to drive out to Elk Island. And it was. It is such a peaceful place. Snow was falling hard, and I could barely distinguish the white, featureless road ahead. I almost drove into the ditch, because I was paying attention to the scenery. I didn't see any cars around. It was absolutely awesome. I was trying to spot any kind of fauna, and I got lucky. I found these guys laying about, trying to keep warm. Enjoy!
A few weeks ago, and good friend of mine and a vet went out to Elk Island National Park, to see if we can catch the sunset. We arrived at our favourite spot by Astotin Lake. I've photographed a lot of sunsets on that lake, and they are always different. Every one. One always meets some interesting people either watching the sunsets, or like us trying to capture it. This time we met Brian. Very interesting character. On the first glance you would not say he enjoyed sunsets. It was not the case. Here are some pictures of Brian, and his little puppy. Enjoy!
Shooting with the Canon 1D Classic is a pleasure. I really like how it feels in my hand. It's big, heavy and solid. The shutter button compared to my 5D is a little sensitive and I found myself firing shots by mistake. Also adding a 70-200mm lens with a canon 2x extender adds a lot of weight. Shots at 1/100 shutter speed become challenging unless on a tripod. Still I did manage to get a few good shots handheld. Here are the last shots from my trip to Elk Island.
I know I'll be showing my ignorance of the animal kingdom.... but I think this is Elk....
What is the best way to finish off a picturesque trip to Elk Island? With a beautiful sunset of course :)
So a couple of days ago, a package arrived at my door.... post marked from Australia. I almost cut myself opening it. My hands were trembling a little when I dug into the styrofoam. What I uncovered was a beautiful black Canon 1D. Yep no other designations, no Mark this or Mark that... none of that nonsense :) . This is an original Canon 1D and right now I could easily call it Classic. The camera is in perfect condition, apart from little scuffs on the top. Works great too. Yes it's only 4.5Mpx, but the megapixel race is over, and this is a 10 year old camera, so I'm not concerned. I charged the batteries the same day, and decided to take it out for a spin in Elk Island.
I took both of my Classics, the 5D and the 1D. I put a 70-200mm plus 2x extender on the 1D, and a wide angle 17-40mm on my 5D. I mainly concentrated on the animals with the 1D. Luckily they were very photogenic that evening.
Also our canadian beavers were out in full force building their new house. There were 5 of them and they really didn't pay any attention to me. I was standing at the edge of the pond maybe 8-10ft from them.
The pictures have minimal editing on them. White balance adjustment, levels, and a little sharpness. I have to say that the 1D passed with flying colors. More pictures from the trip, on the next post.
Elk Island National park, provides some spectacular vistas, every season. I think winter is my favourite time to visit though. The silence and peace, under a thick blanket of snow is so relaxing. Enjoy!
