 Glowing dogwood behind bare aspen saplings Another sunset photograph taken while doing owl surveys, this one was taken on a clear evening which made for less interesting skies as the previous night but allowed for more predictably progressing, steady light on the ground.
This time of year, my eyes ache for colour after the long winter and the red-osier dogwood shrubs are often the first real glimpses of spring colour as they flush red in the very early spring — even before the snow has melted. In this image, I like how the intense red of the willows in the last, warm rays of sunlight contrast with the cool blues of the aspen saplings that are already in the evening’s shadow.
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 Fiery sunset over snowy horizon I’ve been out conducting nocturnal owl surveys in south-central Alberta for the past few weeks, which has given me the chance to take some great sunset photographs, and to try out photographing at night — lots of fun (but lots to learn too!)
This photo came after a whole day of cloud that finally broke at just the right time to allow the setting sun to peek through. If they cooperate, a sky full of clouds sure makes for more interesting photography than a “perfectly” clear sky.
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Just a quick note to mention that the “Forest Show” art exhibition that I’ve mentioned before is moving to Edmonton, and will be on display at the McMullen Gallery at the University Hospital from March 19 to May 22. There will be an opening reception on March 24th — I’ll be there, and would love to see you all there.
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 Three autumn birch It’s been a long time since I’ve posted a new photo, and to be honest, it’s been a while since I’ve made any new images. I have been working on re-processing some images into black and white, including this one here.
I love a great B&W photograph, and after listening to this podcast by LensWork editor, Brooks Jensen, I’ve been inspired to figure out for myself what it takes to make a great B&W image, rather than a pretty-good image. And, thanks to the flexibility afforded by capturing and processing digitally, I’ve been going through my image catalogue and giving it a try.
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As I mentioned in a previous post a photograph of mine is on display as part of the “Forest Show” curated by the Alberta Society of Artists. I just thought I’d write this quick note to mention that the exhibition has just moved to the Edson Library (Feb 2 – 28), and later this spring will be moving to the McMullen Gallery in Edmonton (opening reception on March 24, 7 – 9 pm), and the Leighton Gallery in Calgary (opening reception June 4, 2 – 4 pm).
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 Blackbird flock in bare trees I recently received a request from a woman to use this photograph in a blog post she’s writing, which gave me the great excuse to re-visit this image and to share it here (it hasn’t made it into the new website yet, but watch for it in the Birds section of my catalogue, hopefully in the next few months).
I took this photo near the Beaverhill Bird Observatory near Tofield, AB in the spring of 2007. At the time, I was experimenting with defocusing images, or portions thereof, for creative effect. In this case, the original image was mostly sharp, and I “painted in” the blurred effect in post-processing. I was inspired to try this technique by another photographer who would create the same effect in the darkroom by spilling chemicals over the drying print and using a brush or sponge to blur the image.
It’s always fun to try new techniques, and although I haven’t taken many defocused photographs lately, you can view a selection of these images in my “Boreal Impressions” portfolio. I’d also recommend having a look at William Neill’s “Impressions of Light” portfolio for more great blurry images that were an inspiration to me (although he achieves the effect mostly through long shutter speeds and camera movement, rather than manually defocusing the lens).
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 Dried grass calligraphy on fresh snow Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny winter day in Edmonton (although a bit too warm — things shouldn’t be melting yet!) and I took the chance to take the snowshoes (and kid, and dog, and camera) out to the Cooking Lake-Blackfoot Provincial Recreation Area. I like going into the park from the south end, parking at the Islet Lake staging area.
With all the snow we’ve gotten, the lakeshore topography has been smoothed out to gentle undulations of perfect, smooth snow. That, combined with the low sun this time of year, provides lots of chances for photographs with simple, elegant lines and minimal visual clutter.
 Cooking lake post-top snow cones (And then there’s this one — pretty much on the other end of the spectrum — using the same basic elements for slapstick rather than elegance… but can you guess which one my daughter preferred?)
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(Click photos to enlarge)
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