The snow is mostly gone, here on the prairies, but it will be some weeks before we see greenery and flowers blooming. I can’t wait! It has been a long winter and I sure could use a bit of color. Late spring or early summer images are great for it because all is fresh and green is bright and not dimmed by dust of late summer days.
We are lucky here in Alberta, because some nights are full of light show. We had a couple of gorgeous Aurora showing last fall and I have managed to capture some shots without leaving the city.
I know, I know it is winter and everybody posts winter photography, but I am not ready for it yet. I see it outside my window every day, so I want to see something warm, colorful and pretty. Hope you are in need of this as well.
It has been a while since I’ve posted anything about Elk Island National Park. So, I think, it is time for some lovely sunset from the beginning of summer, when all was green, flowers were blooming and days were warm and long.
It is an interesting experience to visit Elk Island at night. We are a city creatures, not very comfortable with being in nature without the ability to see. And then, there are the noises. It is so eerie to stand in the middle of nowhere, where it is pitch black and so quiet that every noise carries a long way. Hard to judge the distance separating us from the animals making that noise.
Even during the coldest days, there comes a time when sitting at home is no longer an option. I have been very lucky to be able to escape the city as often as I have. Even if it is only for a couple of hours, just being able to spend some time in the open, with sun shining above and a big Alberta sky..
It is a bit nasty outside today, so it's not a huge surprise I have turned to pictures, I have taken during our early morning trip to Rundle Park, here in Edmonton's River Valley. I can't believe it has been a month since we have visited, though the world looks much changed from that morning. We have lost all that brilliant foliage that was covering all the trees, glowing beautifully in sunrise light..
After a brief moment of spring, winter has returned to our corner of the world. Snow is back on the ground that temperatures are back to normal. With fond memories I was looking through my back catalog of images taken in 2015. All those little trips we have taken, getting lost in the back roads of Alberta.
Spring in the Rockies can bring an unexpected weather. We left sunny Edmonton and were greeted with rain and snow when we approached the mountains. I don't complain when that happens, mostly, because the heavy sky adds to the moodiness of pictures and makes the view much more interesting than when skies are blue.
Early morning. Hordes of mosquitoes, tall wet grass, and me, frolicking with my Fuji X-Pro1 camera and a Fuji 10-24mm lens, trying to get a good angle on a beautiful Alberta sunrise. I stopped on the highway near the back of Villeneuve airport, trying the catch the Boing 737 parked there in the middle of a canola field. I really like the juxtaposition of a big passenger jet just sitting there in a farmer's field.
Our little evening outing culminated at the Hastings Lake. We have never been there before, so a perfect ending to a great drive through unknown Alberta roads :) The first thing we have noticed were hoards of flying insects.
As you can see we are still in the snow covered Rockies. I will get back to our Vancouver trip soon, once I finish editing all the photos. Silly me. Still winter, and still Fuji cameras. I've been talking about the camera I use quite a lot, but essentially does it really matter what camera you use. Not really. I've said it on my podcast Shutter Time with Sid and Mac numerous times. The camera does not matter. It's a tool, a brush if you will. It's what that camera sees, being pointed by the operator, that matters. I've used Canons, Sony, Fuji, and I still own most of that, but the pictures taken with Canons aren't any better than pictures I've taken with Fuji or Sony. They are just pictures. Moments in time, captured, and shared to show the beauty of this world.
A whole day frolicking in the mountains. What could be better. The light conditions were wonderful. There were low diffused clouds, high clouds, sun, and snow. Driving around and stopping every few minutes because new vistas opened up. Great times... really great times. Here are some examples of those vistas. Yes Alberta is simply put, gorgeous. Enjoy!
When I finally got this lens, I had my doubts that it might not be wide enough for landscapes. I like to shoot landscapes at least at 17mm on full frame camera. and this 14mm translates to roughly 21mm, when factoring the crop of Fuji X cameras. I decided to give it a try. I was really impressed with the results. I think 21mm is wide enough for me, although I'm still looking forward to the new 10-24 f4 Fuji lens. Best of all, all this equipment is light, easily transportable, which makes shooting with it so much more fun.
It was a perfect day. The morning was beautiful and we found a few photographers already positioned at Vermillion lakes waiting for the sunrise. The weather conditions were quite perfect for a great sunrise shoot. After the sunrise, we traveled to Lake Louise. Another great iconic location for landscapes. A day of beautiful light, beautiful mountains, and great time shooting it all.
I have shown you some of the pictures from our December trip to the Rockies in my post Beautiful Lake Louise. Today, I would like to share what I saw (along with landscapes, I could not help but take some close up shots, yet again..) when we took a gondola ride to the top of Sulphur Mountain in Banff. Such gorgeous winter views! It was relatively warm up there and the light was lovely. We were able to stay long enough to see the sunset and the night taking over the world. Unfortunately we had to get off the mountain (gondola closing time) in order to shoot Milky Way. Landscape photography is so easy when you have such wonderful vista to work with! :D So here it is, some more of winter beauty! Enjoy! Kasia
One of the most beautiful places I have ever visited in Canadian Rockies is Lake Louise in Banff National Park. I am drawn to it over and over again regardless of the season. It is simply picturesque and one cannot blame me, really, for taking lots of pictures while I am there.. We have visited it again, during our December trip to the mountains. I have already shared some of the pictures from this trip in my post Solstice Sunrise in the Rockies and, with a great pleasure, I'd like to show you some more. Hope you find them pleasing. Winter really can be beautiful and since we are stuck with it here for months on end I'd rather concentrate on it's better aspects.. And if you can add to it a little bit of travel that's even better. Travel photography is a beautiful thing! ;D Have a wonderful weekend everybody! Kasia
I think it's time for some color, don't you? It's been so long since we've seen more than whites, blues, blacks and grays, so why not go back to late summer and beginning of fall, when all the world was covered in beautiful colors? It's seems to me that Mother Nature gives us this opportunity, every year, to soak it all up in preparation for a monochromatic season that lasts too long.. Today, I would like to share photos from two trips of ours that took place just as the seasons were changing.. Last day of summer, first day of fall. Two sunsets in rural Alberta. A little bit of landscape photography, a bit of rural architecture and nature and, of course, a macro shot (one cannot admire the world without looking close at things, don't you think?) and all of it full of beautiful colors, complements of Mother Nature. I am so very glad to have seen it all and have my memories recorded so that I can look at all this splendor when I'm feeling deprived of color. Hope it is as enjoyable to you as it is to me :D Kasia
