Rural landscapes: Butchart beauty
TULIPS AND ROSS FOUNTAIN, BUTCHART GARDENS, VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA
This 55-acre National Historic Site is a stunning tourist attraction on Vancouver Island on Canada’s west coast. My wife and I toured it recently and came away pretty stunned at the display of flowers and shrubs (and the roses weren’t even out yet). I took the Nikon D90 with me, but left the tripod behind and still came up with compositions like this. I used a flash on this to fill in the shadows and make the foreground flowers more prominent.
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Rural landscapes: Relic of the past
GRAIN ELEVATORS, DRUMHELLER, ALBERTA
There was a time when these elevators dotted the Canadian prairies like dandelions. But during the past 30 years they’ve been steadily torn down and replaced, when needed, with concrete silos. This one, photographed during the 1990s with my old Pentax 6×7 medium format film camera, is one of them. It’s quite sad, really. This distinctive architecture is quite unique to the prairies. Tripod, Velvia slide film, polarizing filter.
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Natural landscapes: Lighthouse Park
POINT ATKINSON LIGHTHOUSE, WEST VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA
Living on the Canadian prairies, many hundreds of kilometres from any sort of major body of water, I rarely get the chance to photograph lighthouses. So when I found out about this park during a visit to Vancouver, on Canada’s west coast, I put it on my bucket list. Vancouver is often rainy, but I scored with a fabulous sunrise and near-perfect conditions on this morning. I crouched down as low as possible to get the lighthouse reflected in the pool.
That strange concrete box you see to the right of the lighthouse is a searchlight bunker dating back to the Second World War. Lighthouse Park was staffed by people who watched for potential Japanese attackers between 1941 and ’45. Nikon D90, tripod, polarizing filter, two-stop hard-edge graduated density filter (to darken the sky).
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Natural landscapes: Peace at sunrise
DAYBREAK, PIGEON LAKE, ALBERTA
Photographed in the mid-1990s with my old Pentax 6×7 medium-format film camera, tripod and polarizing filter. This was an incredibly still and glorious sunrise and I came away with several compositions that are still among my favourites today.
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Natural landscapes: a mushroom moment
SPRING MUSHROOMS, PRESQUILE PROVINCIAL PARK, ONTARIO
I didn’t realize mushrooms grew in spring…always thought they were a late summer-autumn thing. So it was a nice surprise to encounter these beauties amongst a sea of spring green on a cloudy morning in this park along the shores of Lake Ontario. A shallow depth of field was important here, to ensure the background would complement, rather than compete, with the main point of interest. Photographed on slide film with Nikon FM2 camera and tripod, then scanned onto a CD.
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Natural landscapes: Cathedral Grove trilliums
SPRING TRILLIUMS, VANCOUVER ISLAND, BRITISH COLUMBIA
I don’t know where trilliums grow outside of Canada, but in this country I always thought they were only found in southern Ontario. So it was quite a surprise to encounter them in glorious MacMillan Provincial Park in Canada’s westernmost province. My wife and I toured this old-growth forest, known as Cathedral Grove, right after a rainstorm and that made for wet, saturated colours. Perfect for flower photography. Nikon D90, tripod, 70-300 mm. zoom lens, polarizing filter.
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Urban landscapes: missed a spot
CLEANING THE BELL BUILDING, CALGARY, ALBERTA
Would you want to be doing this at 7 a.m. on a Sunday? Alone and with nothing but a few ropes holding you up? The weather was grey and I was not hopeful for good photographs when I spotted this dude doing his thing. I detoured, parked on the street below and hand-held my Nikon D90 and 70-300 mm. lens to make this composition, twisting the camera to create diagonal lines. I don’t think he ever knew he was being photographed.
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Natural landscapes: spring dew
APPLE BLOSSOMS, GREENWOOD CONSERVATION AREA, AJAX, ONTARIO
After my very wintery previous “spring” post (you can see it here: http://wp.me/p2ccTX-ij), I had to go for a REAL spring photo. Those of you who check out my work regularly know that Greenwood, east of Toronto (Canada’s largest city) is a favourite photography locale and I often go to that stock of pictures to find you something appropriate to enjoy. Nikon D50, tripod.
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Natural landscapes: the glory(?) of spring snow
SPRING SUNRISE, KANANASKIS COUNTRY, ALBERTA
Yes, this photograph was made in April. In the Canadian Rocky Mountains, snow is a possibility any month of the year, though it’s not likely during July and August. You’re looking at Hwy. 40 in Kananaskis, a region that’s little known to tourists (they go for the world-renowned Banff National Park), but a favourite destination for Albertans. The peak is The Wedge. Nikon D90, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Natural landscapes: the slow rush of spring
APRIL ICE, DUFFINS CREEK, GREENWOOD CONSERVATION AREA, AJAX, ONTARIO
Spring is a fitful season in many parts of Canada, appearing to arrive one day, then vanishing the next. But that creates wonderful icy scenes like this, captured in one of my favourite photo locales east of Toronto (Canada’s largest city). Nikon D50, tripod, polarizing filter.
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