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.
I've found myself bored recently, stuck at home and not willing to go anywhere with my camera. There was a very Canadian reason for it. It was freezing outside with winds bringing the cold close to -40 Centigrade and sun making almost no appearance at all. Depressing, if you ask me, so I decided to use my go to therapy for winter blues: play with color.
It's been a while since I have shared some of my shots taken during our summer travel on Vancouver Island ( you can check the last installment from that trip - record of our visit at Victoria’s Craigdarroch Castle in Beautiful British Columbia - Part 7). During our stay on the Island we have been lucky to spend an evening at Qualicum Beach, being guided by one of our photographic friends, who was kind enough to take us to his favorite part of the coast and, though, the tide was high and most of the beach was covered with water, we still had a chance to take a wonderful walk, admire the views and, of course, snap a few shots ;D. It is such a pleasure to watch the sun disappear behind the horizon, making the sky burn! Landscape photography can be so much fun!!! I miss those summer days.. I hope sharing these pictures will take your minds away from this long and cold winter. I took mine off, for sure. Enjoy! :D Kasia
It's been a long time since I have dedicated a post to just macros.. It's gotten cold yet again and, it looks like, winter is not ready to move on at present. Not that there was a chance of that but .. eternal hope and the like ;D Oh well, we'll have to wait for spring some more, but don't despair. At least in pictures we can find some wonderful color, borrowed from other seasons. I'm in mood for yellow in nature today and I do hope you'll find it as enjoyable as I do. I love macro photography. Love the fact that one can concentrate on a detail and that one can have wonderful colors in the background without sacrificing the main subject. Grant it, it it's not so easy to make macro interesting, but I hope, I have ben close enough to it that you'll take a moment to look at these ;D Have a wonderful day 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
Considering that we got, yet again, a foot of snow and the temperatures are dropping, most everybody here in Edmonton, I'm sure, is thinking of taking off to some tropical island to bask in sun and heat.. Well, since such a trip is out of the question for us, at this time, I am tempted to look at my pictures from our summer trip to BC ( to check our previous adventures on Vancouver Island see Beautiful British Columbia - Part 7), this time, from our short visit at the famous Butchart Gardens in Victoria. Such a lovely place to explore!! So many beautifully growing, disgustingly luscious (sorry, a bit of a gardener's envy on my part, here) plants, beautifully arranged for the viewer to see.. I could spend hours with my macro lens there, surrounded by all that splendor.. Alas, we didn't have too much time and I did not take my 100mm lens, just the 200mm one and had to work with that, along with my 17mm. Travel photography forces us to make the most of what we have (equipment and time -wise).. Lets see what I have managed to do with the two lenses I brought with me. Hope you enjoy!
Kasia
I don't know about you guys, but we have seen so many photographs with canola fields over the years that we have been reluctant to shoot them ourselves. One evening, however, when we were traveling Alberta back roads we have encountered one such field, with beautiful clouds painted by setting sun that we could not resist stopping and taking pictures... I could not resist a few close ups, as well... So we have done our part to add to canola landscape photography... Shame on us! But, just look at the pictures. Wasn't it a beautiful evening?! Kasia
Yes, we got snow! It seems it's been a regular occurrence at the beginning of November for the past few years.. Well, can't do much about it but try and enjoy the event, so we have taken a trip to Elk Island with a group of photographic friends and went exploring. Here is a few shots from that outing. Must say, the world looks quite beautiful in a fresh layer of white! Hope you enjoy :D Kasia
It's been a while since we last visited and posted something from Elk Island National Park (Spring at Elk Island). We went for a short trip there to capture a sunrise a couple of weeks ago. The sunrise was not very spectacular due to the thick layer of clouds, but soon after the sky started to clear a bit and we decided to stick around for a moment longer to go and check a few of our favorite places. We got lucky and spotted a few animals as well. The thing about nature photography is that it really brings me a lot of pleasure to be able to capture some animals in their natural environment, but it also allows me to experience that environment. And if I'm lucky it is as spectacular as it was that day! Here is a few shots from that trip. I must say, I really like Elk Island dressed in fall colors ;D Kasia
Long Beach, one of the most known places in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve on Vancouver Island. Quite a beautiful place, full of sand and driftwood. We have visited it one misty morning (with one short stop in the evening), taking a long walk, enjoying a breeze and the sound of waves. Lot's of cool stuff to find and take pictures of! As beautiful in the morning as it is in the evening sun.. We were lucky to get a very good light both times (which is not always the case with travel photography) and here is a few pictures I have taken while visiting. To check our previous post, just click on the following link: Beautiful British Columbia - Part 5 - Travel Photography. Kasia
When we were leaving the beach the second time, I could not resist taking picture of these shoes hanging on the wires. It's funny, but I think I have seen such things everywhere I have visited.. What is it with people's need to leave them like that?!
To be continued..
After a day of hiking around Vancouver (see Beautiful British Columbia - Part 3 - Travel Photography - our visit to Lynn Valley) we've decided to do a bit less walking and took a drive to the Horseshoe Bay to explore it a bit and search for a location for a sunset. We've stopped at a few places along the way and ended up staying for a few hours on a little rocky beach. Don't ask me where these shots were taken, because after a while I completely lost any idea of where we were.. The tide was still pretty low, when we've arrived and it allowed me to take my macro lens and take a closer look at some barnacles and seaweed as well as the surrounding views. The unfortunate thing about travel photography is that we can't always wait for a better light, having limited time at a certain location. But even with that in mind, using a bit of a different angle one can manage to get a few lovely shots. Here is a few of those from that outing.. Kasia
To be continued..
Couple of weeks ago we have driven to a spot we've found about a year ago to see how is the spring progressing out in the country. The distant silos on the horizon reminded me very much of castles in Europe and if you don't look too close you can actually pretend that that's what they are. Works for me ;D. It was a bit of a chilly evening, and mosquitos were out in quite a force, but being armed with a big old can of bug spray we were not afraid of them at all (one must be quite brave to venture out this year, for there is literally millions of them, considering how wet everywhere is..). The world was full of frog and bird calls and it was so wonderfully relaxing to just sit and watch the spectacle unfold. What can I say, I'm a complete sucker for a nice sunset.. And if you can witness such, pretending you are traveling in Europe, with a wonderful accompaniment of natural music of nature... Let just say, it doesn't get much better than that.. I hope you will enjoy a few shots from that trip, considering how gloomy it is outside today. It is such a pleasure to ignore the wet, cold, cloudy outdoors and concentrate on the sunlight, sunset colors and a beauty of surrounding world.. With a touch of imagination, the magic is on! Kasia
It is a wonderful thing to see the trees bloom as well as get green all over. I've been getting a lot of images here and there while walking with our dog, or just simply taking my camera to my own back yard recently. Such a delight to see all this wonderful color. Hope you like it as well!! Kasia
