Craigdarroch Castle - Fuji X-Pro1 in low light

Craigdarroch Castle

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.

Fuji X-Pro1 and low light

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!

Craigdarroch Castle,victoria,bc,architechture photography 01

Craigdarroch Castle,victoria,bc,architechture photography 01

Craigdarroch Castle,victoria,bc,architechture photography 01

Craigdarroch Castle,victoria,bc,architechture photography 01

Craigdarroch Castle,victoria,bc,architechture photography 01

Craigdarroch Castle,victoria,bc,architechture photography 01

Craigdarroch Castle,victoria,bc,architechture photography 01

Craigdarroch Castle,victoria,bc,architechture photography 01

Craigdarroch Castle,victoria,bc,architechture photography 01

Craigdarroch Castle,victoria,bc,architechture photography 01

Ghost farm at sunrise - Part 2

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

Ghost farm at sunrise

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

Abandoned Farm - Part 2

Since Mac has mentioned his back log of pictures to process I've decided to post some more of my images. There were a few of us, crazy people, shooting and it's not a surprise that some of us made for an interesting subject of a picture as well ;) It's hard to describe how beautiful the world looked that morning. But since a picture is worth a thousands words... Enjoy! Kasia

Falling..

Dedicated Photographers

Painted by time

Where the road leads us..

Still standing

Waiting for the light

Drumheller - Part 2: Portraits

Here is the continuation of our little escapade to the Dino-land.  This time it's the just us in the pictures.  Enjoy!

Drumheller - Part 1

Last weekend the whole family decided that we all need to go for a little day trip.  After this long winter, it was necessary.  So we decided that we haven't seen the heart of Alberta's dinosaur graveyard in a very long time.  Walk up in the early morning, packed lunch, and off we went to Drumheller.  Enjoy part one of the series.

On the Whyte

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.

Landscape in Film

I just had to try out the 40 year old film camera, on a little drive I took over the weekend.  A good friend of mine, a specialist in photographing pets, agreed to go for a little drive in the country, just exploring.  We took the backroads, and after a while, because I was paying more attention to the scenery, then to where I was going... I got lost.  I mean lost, completely utterly lost.  To make matters worse, it was a grey, overcast day, and no sun peeking through at all.  Didn't have a clue if I was driving north, south, west or east.  Luckily my iPhone found the way home.  Here are some shots taken with the film camera.  Again almost no editing, just a little crop here and there.  Enjoy.

Gloomy End of Summer

So despite being in denial about the end of summer here in Edmonton, I do have to finally acknowledge that it is ending.  Usually the end of summer is one of my favourite times of the year.  It's usually an explosion of nature colours, wonderful time of morning mists, and cold blue skies.  Technically we are still in the summer months, but it wasn't it like this last monday.  The beginning of the week woke up cold and gloomy.  Like this.

I think I should find some happier pictures.

Fort Edmonton – Highland Gathering Part 2

Here are more photos from the the Highland Gathering at Fort Edmonton park.  Enjoy.

Fort Edmonton - Highland Gathering Part 1

Fort Edmonton Highland Gathering, is a yearly event for my family.  We stumbled upon it at one time by accident, and got hooked.  No we are not Scottish, but watching bands practicing their instruments and watching big burly men throw telephone poles, makes for a very fun day.  The best thing of course is haggis. It's all hand made in the traditional scottish way, and if you visit the park that day, you get to try it too.  It's actually quite good, if you stop thinking what it's made of.  Here are some shots from Fort Edmonton and The Highland Gathering. Enjoy.

Hipstamatic

I found this great little app for the iPhone, called Hipstamatic.  It's a combination of old film, lenses, and flashes from old manual cameras.  It can create some very interesting effects with your photos.  I've been playing around with it for a bit, and I really like it.  You can pair up different lenses and different films, or you can just shake the iPhone and the application will randomize everything, giving you a very different and unique effect.  Like this.

Being a fly on the wall in California

I love observing people.  Specially when they do not know they are being observed.  Yes, it's a little voyeuristic of me, but people are fun in their natural environment.  No posing, no artificial smiles, just pure humanity at it's best.  Most of these shots were done during our outing in Santa Monica, and some at Disneyland.  It was fun shooting those.  I find that having a long zoom for these works best.  One can be pretty far away, to be noticed.  Enjoy.

This guy was all over the park by the Santa Monica beach.  He was just moving from place to place, and dancing away his little routine.  Quite interesting display.

Junk Yard

Visited a lovely Junk Yard today with two friends of mine. One could spend days there. Unfortunately the grounds were still wet, and all of us got soaked feet. It's really a huge place. It was quite amazing to see all the old, very old cars. Here are some pictures, and the rest can be found on my Flickr account.

Enjoy :)