Monday, December 14, 2020

Taking photos after a weekend of being lazy - December 14, 2020

I wasn't sure about stopping for photos this morning... it'd been a long weekend of just hanging out in the house and I wanted to get out but it was pretty cold out at -14degC. Driving out of downtown after dropping Jen off I turned at the zoo turnoff and parked in Bridgeland close to Edmonton trail.. I made my way over towards the river and there was Ice floating on the reflective water.. I took a few shots as the sunrise intensified.

In the east the sun was burning the clouds but it wasn't quite reaching over towards where I was.. I swapped lenses and turned my camera the other way.

Wednesday, December 9, 2020

A little bit of this, a little bit of that.. - December 9, 2020

After dropping Jen off, I hummed and hawed about taking photos (this seems to be a common occurrence.. but I will say, deciding to go and take photos always works out, whereas deciding to "just dive home and sit on my ass" does not work out photographically.. but my ass does get a good sitting on.

So I parked and started walking over towards the peace bridge.. I brought my tripod along just for kicks.. and also because it was still a little bit dark out.. the tripod might come in handy for longer shutter speeds.

As I got towards the Peace bridge it started to snow a little bit.. you can't see it below but it exists in other photos that I took. The shot below was after waiting a while for something to happen once I decided on the composition.. indeed, I had set the 20s delay and walked into the frame myself so there would be a human element to the shot.. fortunately the bikers showed up and I don't have to post a "selfie".

I explored the bridge looking for new and innovative photos to take.. 


Monday, December 7, 2020

A quick view - December 7, 2020

Today is Jen's birthday.. I'd made reservations for dinner at 5:30 and had to pick up Jen from work. Clare worked at 4:30 so after dropping her off at 4, I still had a little bit of time. The sun sets early and driving along I saw some pretty light coming out of downtown.. I made my way to a lookout above Bridgeland and took a few photos of the setting sun.

I wasn't there long before it was time to leave.. it was a short session but still I was able to come away with a beautiful capture.

Thanks for looking.

Sunday, December 6, 2020

Chamber of secrets - December 6, 2020

I was driving Clare to work along 16th ave.. we were stopped at a red-light as so often happens when driving around the city.. I swear, some days I stop at every-single-light, and tbh, if I notice what's going on, it drives me completely nuts.. for example: when driving along Barlow trail this morning (this morning being today, the day that I'm typing this up, not today, the date of the blog.. ) I was stopped at a light, it turned green so I started driving and as I approached the next light it turned red - for no reason. There wasn't any traffic, there were no car's waiting to criss-cross Barlow trail, it just turned red. OMG I hate that..

Anyway.. I was sitting at a light and looked towards my left and noticed the sun was directly behind the bus shelter and the light was AMAZING!  I quickly reached around to the back seat for my camera and fumbled to get a shot before the light turned.. I felt lucky to get the shot below as frantic as it was.. I think it's everything I've always wanted out of a bus shelter since the city started putting these glass boxes in.

For context, the city upgraded these bus shelters a few years ago (!?).. and I've been eyeballing them ever since waiting for the opportune tine to get a photo.. I've been watching and waiting on a few spots and all of a sudden, this was it.. the two dudes standing to the right are just perfect.. I was so happy I got this shot.


Wednesday, November 25, 2020

St Patrick's Island - November 25, 2020

After dropping Jen off, I drove towards the east village and parked for a few minutes.. somehow I became distracted with my stupid phone and started reading stuff that doesn't' really matter. Once I came to my senses again, I looked up at the sky and tried to determine if there was going to be any colour. I guessed that there might be some so I packed up my backpack/camera and started walking.. I had just under an hour of free parking.

I headed towards the skipping stone bridge, took some shots and kept on walking.. the sun wasn't quite up yet and the colour was still muted.  Once on the bridge, I headed down towards the island.. I could see the sun was starting to crest the horizon. I bobbed along the river's edge looking for a spot to stop and get some photos.. the light was happening!

I'd followed the river's edge for a while, looking for a spot that had calm water (for reflections) and was accessible without committing to walking across sketchy ice-bridges.. I'd gone a ways and found this spot where I could get low to the ground to try and capture the reflections on the river.


Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Scotsman's Hill - November 24, 2020

After leaving the house I could see that the morning sky was going to be amazing.. There were no clouds out east which means the clouds to the west would catch some light. Driving into downtown the sun wasn't quite up yet, but it was coming.. the eastern horizon was starting to glow.  

I dropped Jen off and circled back around to 9th ave heading east.  I didn't have a lot of time because Clare had to be at work by 10 and I had to be home by 9 so I could get her to work on time. Also, I was almost out of gas so I needed to stop and fill up at some point or my morning of drop-offs might come to an unfortunate end. Driving down 9th, I thought of where I might stop and grab some shots and soon found myself driving up towards Scotsman's hill which has an overlook of the stampede grounds, the saddledome as well as downtown. I'm not sure what was going on, but there were a bunch of temporary no-parking signs all along the road.. I ended up parking in a residential zone thinking I was only going to be there for a few minutes to try and capture the sunrise.

The sky towards the west/north west was looking pretty good but the sun hadn't yet crested the horizon. In a rush I looked around for compositions of the skyline trying to place the tower in a nice position.

The next 15 minutes was a rush of trying out different compositions, swapping lenses, and hoping I wouldn't get a parking ticket. Above is a shot that includes my muse and a side view of the Saddledome. The sun was just starting to graze the tops of the building.

Monday, November 23, 2020

Unexpected sunset - November 23, 2020

Earlier this morning I waited in the east village to see if the sunrise was going to do anything. The cloud cover was such that there was no pretty light and everything was a dull grey.  So, I drove to the grocery store, got some supplies and went home to pack them all away.  It's been unseasonably warm for November, temperatures today got up to +3degC, the morning clouds burned off and it was a clear, bright day.