Spring at Elk Island

The last time we've ventured to Elk Island National Park the world was covered in deep snow.. (Hunting for Bison at Elk Island). Now all this snow has melted and turned the land into one almost everlasting wetland.. There was no silence when we arrived there about a week ago in the evening. The music of frogs and mosquito buzzing, interrupted on occasion by a bird call or two was everywhere..  Thank Goodness for bug spray!!! If it wasn't for a heavy layer of it we would have been eaten alive!! But, we were rather well prepared, having a tube of the heavy stuff stashed inside our vehicle at all times :D.  And it was great because if we weren't prepared we would have missed all the sights we've seen: beavers going about their supper, lots of birds and a surprisingly beautiful sunset - which we didn't really expect due to the clouds gathering on the western horizon.  All in all, it was another wonderful trip, made better by the fact that when we started our drive we never planned to arrive at Elk Island.. It just happened ;D.. And, since today, the sky is rather heavy with dark clouds a little bit of colorful sunset and vibrant spring world will do us good, I think.. So enjoy! Kasia

Missing Summer Skies.. Part 2

Due to our long winter this year, I have been missing very much the colors and drama of summer skies.  I am very happy, I have a bit of a back log of images to share with you guys, because now I can show some more of these to you and remember our photo adventures when we traveled outside the city to get them.  You've seen some of my summer skies in my post: Missing Summer Skies.. Part 1 and today, I would like to share some shots I took one time, during our visit to Elk Island. It was an evening of storms, when the sky was changing from one minute to another and we were quite lucky to be close to our vehicles in order to hide from nature's fury, shoot some pictures in between the storms and hide from them again.. I have never experienced a more severe storm being out in the country. It was, definitely, something to behold.. And no, I was not going to be outside our vehicle shooting the lightning. I was cowering like any other smart human being inside it, emerging only well before or after a while, when all this fury has moved well away from us.. Kasia

Night Skies at Elk Island - Catching a Comet

I love photographing night skies! It's much better outside of a city (light pollution) and, in order to do so we need to travel away from it. We are lucky to be close enough to one of the 7 Dark Sky Preserves in Canada, located at Elk Island National Park. Mac has mentioned our recent trips to Elk Island in his post Two Sunsets - Alberta Landscape Photography.  We've traveled there a few times during last week, taking our kids with us, in hopes of showing them the elusive comet Panstarrs.  The first time we came searching for the comet the western sky turned cloudy and there was no way to see it. We have finally managed to accomplish it on Saturday night. It was freezing cold (temperatures dropped to -22 degree Celsius) but the skies were finally clear. The comet was very faint and barely visible, even, using binoculars, but it was there!  I have attempted to capture it using my 200mm lens, but was not successful.  Instead, I concentrated on capturing some beautiful night skies. The constellations were very well visible, regardless of a bright moon, and I did have a lot of fun capturing the stars and the colors of the sky turning from evening to a dark night.. I did not harbor much hope for capturing the comet, though, after the fiasco with the long lens.. Imagine my surprise when I saw it on pictures I took with our fisheye lens.. It is small, very faint and one has to look very closely to find it, but it is there! Veni, vidi, vici! ;D Kasia

Aurora Painted Sky

Sometime ago, in my post Waiting for Aurora, I have shared some of my photos of northern lights, taken at the end of September at Elk Island National Park.  Today, I would like to show you some more of the images from that night when magic was happening in the sky.  Such amazing views!! We are so lucky being able to witness and record this amazing phenomenon.  So here they are , the pretty colors of  the night sky that always fascinated me.  Enjoy! :) Kasia

Waiting for Aurora

It was Sunday night when we got a red alert about northern lights... Regardless of a working week ahead of us we've decided to take a trip to Elk Island National Park and see if we'll be lucky enough to witness this spectacular event.  Because of the almost  full moon blasting it's light on the sky, there was a chance we won't see much, but we were lucky yet again.  Though the beginning was slow and we were waiting for a while before we would see any activity on the sky, we were awarded at the end with a wonderful display!  The way I see it, we are very lucky to be able to experience these fairly often. Such wonders!!  Enjoy! Kasia