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).

Related entries:

1. Goldeneye flock flying over river
2. Magpie tracks in fresh snow
3. Flock of waterfowl at Ministik

I am really excited that one of the photographs from my “Talbot Burn” portfolio has been chosen to be a part of the “Forest Show” curated by the Alberta Society of Artists. The exhibition is currently mounted in the Hinton Public Library (Jan 5–31), and will be moving to the Edson Library (Feb 2–28), 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). My piece was also selected to be one of just a few pieces that will be in a travelling exhibition showing throughout Alberta until 2013. I hope that you can make it to one of these venues, but if not, you can have look at the image in my “Talbot Burn” portfolio (it’s the third image, entitled “Talbot Fire Valley”), or simply click below to view the image full screen.

Talbot fire valley

Related entries:

1. The Forest Show art exhibition in Edmonton
2. ASA Forest Show in Edson
3. Talbot Lake Ridges

Cooper’s Hawk

Today, after a couple days of bad weather, I went for a walk at the Strathcona Science Park, a provincial park on the eastern edge of Edmonton (follow 17th street north from baseline road (101 ave)). The early autumn colours were starting to come out, but most striking was the number of raptors moving through the river valley. During my relatively short walk, I saw a pair of Swainson’s Hawks, several Red-tailed Hawks, a Bald Eagle perched in a snag, and a Cooper’s Hawk hunting Yellow-rumped Warblers in the shrubs along the river bank.

I didn’t get any photographs of the birds I saw today, so I thought I’d share this one—a Cooper’s Hawk that I caught while working as a bird bander at the Beaverhill Bird Observatory in Tofield. As you may judge from the photo, he was none too happy about the situation, but I really enjoyed getting a close-up look at one of these terrific birds.

Related entries:

1. Goldeneye flock flying over river
2. Magpie tracks in fresh snow
3. Grouse tracks

View from Wilcox Pass

I will be away from posting for a little while (although to be honest, I haven’t been posting a whole lot anyways—sorry), as I’m off to Banff National Park to go camping for a couple weeks. I’m pretty excited—I spend most of my time photographing in the Rocky Mountains in Jasper National Park, so it’ll be fun to explore some new areas (with my camera along the whole time, of course).

Hopefully, I’ll be able to share some new work with you once I get back, but in the meantime I thought I’d post this photo taken half-way between Jasper and Banff, along the Icefields Parkway (one of the most beautiful drives in the world). We parked near the Icefields Interpretive Centre, and climbed up along the Wilcox Pass trail on the other side of the valley as the glaciers. What I love about this photo is the scale of the view. If you click to enlarge the image, you can just see the trail running down to the right, and there’s even a couple of (very small) hikers on it.

Related entries:

1. View from Sulphur Skyline trail
2. Bright sun on Whirlpool Mountain
3. Mount Geraldine in winter

Bright morning after rain

I’m slowly working my way to a major update/revision of my galleries (which, I apologize, have not been updated in a long time), and part of that process is a ruthless editing-down of my collection to best showcase my favourite images. Unfortunately, that sometimes means leaving out ones that I really like, and this image is an example of that. While it’s currently in my “Summer 2007″ gallery, and I like it at least as well as some of the ones that “made the cut”, it just didn’t fit with the other selections. So, I decided to post in the journal here instead, where hopefully it can still be enjoyed all on it’s own.

I made this photograph between Rocky Mountain House and Nordegg, Alberta in early June 2007. It had rained heavily the night before, and the branches and lichens in this dense black spruce stand were dripping wet as the sun came up. Each drop acts like a tiny prism, catching the light of the low sun. When the lens is de-focused as I did here, each specular highlight becomes a glowing circle of light, each with a slightly different colour depending on the angle. I know my blurry, out-of-focus work is not everyone’s cup of tea, but in this case I think it really made for an interesting image (I’ve included a “straight” shot of the same stand below for interest’s sake), and it’s also a great example of how the optics in a lens can create effects “in the field” that are unattainable using post-processing software (i.e. Photoshop). I’d love to hear your reactions to this image, just click below…

Bright morning after rain–in focus

Related entries:

1. Early spring dogwood colour
2. Spring rain over Devona Flats
3. Dried fireweed detail

I’ve posted all of the photos below as a group (in chronological order) but I will also create a separate entry for each photo to provide extra details about the image like I usually do—just click on the link below each photo to go to it’s detail page. (It will take me a little while to get them all up)

I hope you enjoy this small collection, and I do always appreciate it if you leave a comment with your thoughts or reaction. Happy New Year, and I wish you many fine photographs in 2010!

Mountain Geraldine ridge

Pale winter sky through poplar canopy

Chickweed blooms and fern

Brooding cloud over Ministik Lake

Athabasca River island at dusk

Birch stems and early autumn colour

Late autumn willow thicket

Ice fog frozen on alder saplings

Related entries:

1. Sunrise on Mount Edith Cavell
2. Bright sun on Whirlpool Mountain
3. View from Sulphur Skyline trail

Grouse tracks in fresh snow

I was sent a photo recently of an unidentified bird out at Elk Island National Park that turned out to be a Ruffed Grouse. The same day I had been out taking photographs at Ministik Lake Game Bird Sanctuary, which is just south of Elk Island, and had come across a fair number of grouse tracks in the dusting of fresh snow that had fallen overnight (this photo was taken at Ministik, but a couple years ago). The tracks are quite distinctive with the wide snowshoe-like toes, and it’s interesting to see where the birds come and go. Keep an eye out for these next time you’re in the fresh snow.

Related entries:

1. Magpie tracks in fresh snow
2. Portrait of a Ruffed Grouse
3. Flat light and high-key greys

Mountain Ash berries on bright morning

A good friend of mine recently asked if I had a photo of a mountain ash tree, and this one sprang to mine. I took this photo in January 2004, having just traded in my film camera for my first digital SLR camera. I still remember the walk—it was a classic sparkly, crisp, bright Edmonton winter morning. This is one of my best-selling christmas card images, so I thought I’d share it, and wish you all the best for the holidays and in the new year.

Related entries:

1. Bright sun on Whirlpool Mountain
2. Mount Geraldine in winter
3. Raindrop mosaic

Mountain Geraldine ridge

I took this photograph while driving south from Jasper along the Icefields Parkway on a very chilly, and very bright, (and very beautiful) winter morning. While it was nearly mid-day when I made this exposure, the sun is so low at these northern latitudes at this time of year, the ridge was still sidelit—defining the jagged line between the eastern and northern faces.

Related entries:

1. Talbot Lake Ridges
2. Sunrise on Mount Edith Cavell
3. View from Sulphur Skyline trail

Oyster mushroom folds

While sitting at the art sale this past weekend a good friend of mine dropped by and asked me to make her a print of this image. It has been a long time since I’d looked at this photograph, but I’m glad she asked because I’m really enjoying revisiting it. This was one of the largest Oyster mushroom clumps that I’ve ever come across. I was employed doing bird surveys near Calling Lake, AB in the summer of 2004, and it’s one of the best places I’ve been for photographing mushrooms (and black bears). I like how I was able to fill the frame with the folds and gills of this mushroom, emphasizing the organic shapes and colours. And it smelled absolutely terrific.

Related entries:

1. Mushrooms at Ministik
2. Merry Christmas
3. Raindrop mosaic