 Aurora borealis over black spruce forest Finally—a photograph of the Aurora Borealis on borealisimages.ca! (Although, for the record, the title I’ve given these galleries—‘Silvicola borealis Images’—is derived from latin roots, and roughly translates to ‘inhabiting the northern forest’. The prefix ‘silvi’ (or ‘silva’) relates to the forest, as in ‘silviculture’ which is the practice of growing and tending a forest. ‘Borealis’ refers generally to things northern in nature, and is from ‘Boreas’ — the Greek god of the north wind.)
This is definitely the darkest photo that I’ve ever printed, and I’m quite happy with the way it turned out—the print literally felt heavy with ink! On-screen, I could see a little bit of detail still in the spruce trees, but I can’t see any of that in the print yet. We’ll see if viewing it in bright daylight will reveal some of those darkest details, but otherwise I think they look fine as solid silhouettes too.
I took this photo in northern Alberta while doing owl surveys this past spring. It was the first time I’d photographed the northern lights, and it was a lot of fun to try out a whole bunch of different techniques, equipment, and of course, patience… I’ll be doing a round of bat surveys in the next little while, and I hope to get the chance to apply some of what I learned this spring to making more images of these beautiful northern lights.
(Click to enlarge the image—you should be able to see the stars in the full-size image too!)
 Fine summer clouds over Jasper Lake In August 2008 I was working for the Canadian Forest Service, doing research in pine stands west of Edmonton. I made this photo after leaving from work for the weekend and driving through Jasper on the way to a friend’s wedding in northern BC. I could see the light getting good as I got closer to the park and, after a speeding ticket in Edson (d-oh!), I had a terrific evening making many images that I was really happy with. This Daily Print project that I’m trying out is a great excuse to look back into my archives to find these images that I’ve kind of forgotten about. Watch for more photos from this August evening in the next few weeks…
 Heavy clouds over Beaverhill Lake I made this photograph back in August of 2008 on a beautiful, calm morning at Beaverhill Lake but which didn’t last long—by mid-morning the clouds had completely rolled in, and I proceeded with getting soaked (all part of the experience).
I printed this photo today, as the first two prints (here and here) in my Daily Print project (explained here) were both highly-detailed, finely textured images with bold colours, so I thought I’d try something different, and a little out of the ordinary for me. It was interesting to see the finished print—the colours turned out great, but let’s say I need to practice printing more soft-textured images… (that’s what this whole exercise is about though, I guess, and I’m having fun doing it too)
 Spring storm over Devona Flats I recently had the chance to get away for a few days, and had the pleasure of being able to do some photography in Jasper National Park. The day that I took this photograph started out clear and sunny, and as the day went along these large clouds spilled out of the Athabasca River Valley to the west, coming east towards Pochahontas where I was staying. And while the clouds made it less appealing to sit out on the deck in the afternoon, they sure made for much more dramatic photographs later in the evening—well worth the trade-off.
I really like the contrast in this image of the heavy, wet sky and the falling rain streaking down—contrasted with the dry river flats still awaiting the melt of higher elevation snow and the start of spring and summer weather patterns.
 Harvest moon rising behind aspen I went out to the Ministik Lake this evening with the family (& my camera, of course) to celebrate the autumnal equinox, and to witness the “Super Harvest Moon” that occurred tonight for the first time in 20 years (click here for more info on that). For those of you who missed it—(it wasn’t much different than any other nice full moon-rise)—I thought I’d quick post this photograph that I made of the moon tonight. It was a lovely evening—geese & ducks whistling by overhead, a few quiet birdsongs (White-throated- & Lincoln’s Sparrows), beavers on the lake, and coyotes & bats as the moon came up. Welcome autumn.
 Altocumulus sunrise and willow Here’s another photo that I’ve prepared for the Goldbar craft sale (see previous post for details). I made this exposure in the summer of 2008 while working banding birds at the Beaverhill Bird Observatory near Tofield, AB. I saw many beautiful sunrises that summer, although I didn’t always get the chance to capture them in a photograph.
 Fiery altostratus sunset This afternoon I went out for a walk at the Cooking Lake-Blackfoot Provincial Recreation Area. I spent several hours happily walking the Lost Lake/Islet Lake trails in unseasonably warm weather, but with a flat, grey layer of drab altostratus cloud overhead. That is to say, there weren’t many good photographic opportunities. As I was driving home, however, the sun snuck through a gap in the cloud just above the horizon–with stunning effect. I had to pull over to watch the–all too brief–colours spread across nearly the whole sky, and of course, take some photographs. I find this type of sky can be very hard to get a good exposure, where it’s not too dark but the highlights (especially the yellows) aren’t blown out or over-saturated, leaving detail-less areas within the wispy strands of cloud. I think this one turned out quite well, and I really like how the pattern of the cloud could be easily mistaken for fire, which is just what the sky looked like for a few minutes–aflame. I hope you enjoy it too.
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(Click photos to enlarge)
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