October Dawn - October 8, 2011

Peeking out the window this morning at 6:30 I saw that the sky was mostly clear after week of rain and nondescript cloud. There were some light clouds in the east and I thought maybe the rising sun would catch them and they'd light up real nice. I checked to see what time the sun was going to rise today (7:48am) and figured I still had enough time for toast.

When I did leave the house there was a nice orange band of colour along the horizon and the clouds were just starting to show some pink. I was hopeful. I drove east to the same location as last weekend because I thought maybe this time the clouds and colour would let me use the trees in the composition. I had this thought of being low in front of the line of trees with them receding into the background, the sky above rich with colourful clouds. When I got to the field it looked like the clouds were going to end up blowing past the trees and probably wouldn`t catch the light the way I'd hoped.

Walking into the ditch so I could get access to the field and see what the composition would look like I was struck by this tall grass against the gradient in the sky.. Actually what struck me first was the red and yellow hues in the leaves of the tall grass, but I didn`t think I could make a meaningful photo given how much light there was. That`s when I became distracted with how the grass was silhouetted against the sky and that's what I ended up shooting.

I never did make it into the field where the trees are. I guess I`ll have to try again some day.

I made a few other shots of the sunrise, and if I end up posting any, you'll find them here.

Thanks for looking.
Brad.

Prairie Creek - October 7, 2011

On Friday afternoon I drove out to Powderface and walked along Prairie Creek. It has been cool and raining all week and I was hopeful that the leaves in the forest were still on the trees and hadn't all been blown off by the wind. There was a light rain when I got to the parking lot. The sky was grey and overcast with almost no wind. I love walking through the forest when it's like this. It's so calm and peaceful.

I`m intrigued when water droplets form on flowers and leaves like little spherical jewels. I really love it when the leaves have turned yellow and are edged in a nice deep red colour. I was fortunate to be standing in a forest with an infinite number of opportunities because everything was wet and yellow and red and orange.

Calgary Skyline sunset - October 3, 2011

I was driving home from work, the sky was overcast with high thin clouds but the sun was low and there was some muted colour. I was heading north on Deerfoot from Memorial drive and it looked like the sun was directly behind the buildings downtown. When I saw what was happening I imagined shooting the skyline silhouetted against the colourful sky with the sun directly behind the buildings. I often get the impulse to stop and take a photo but more often than not I just keep on driving. Tonight I circled back to a spot that overlooks Bridgeland and has a pretty good view of downtown.

When I first got there I could see light spilling around the Bow. I quickly took a couple shots because I didn`t want to lose the opportunity before it went away. It did not last long before the sun moved and the light changed. This shot wasn't quite what I originally had in mind but the sunlight spilling around the building is quite nice. Sometimes you get more than you asked for. The little black specs are birds that were flying across the scene. I waited a little while for them to pass but they just kept on coming.

Fall Colours - October 2nd 2011

Took a short drive on Sunday afternoon to try and capture some fall colours before they disappear. I was hoping to get back to Highway 40 because the trees all looked pretty spectacular on Saturday when Conor and I drove out to King Creek Ridge. I left Calgary and drove west on the 1A towards the mountains.

Without any real destination, I decided to stop at Mt. Yamnuska. I wanted to find a place where there were lots of deciduous trees and at Yamnuska the trail winds through a nice aspen forest before it starts to climb. I kind of thought I would spend a bit of time there then hop on over to Highway 40 and see what else I could find.

This first shot is a bit busy, but I think it works in terms of showing off the colours. I like the reds and browns in this photo.

Sunrise and King Creek Ridge - October 1st 2011

I got up early on Saturday to try and shoot the sunrise. I'd seen too many nice sunrises through my rear-view mirror when driving in to work this week and I wanted a chance to try and catch the light. There is a line of trees east of the city in a field that I thought would make a nice foreground object if the sky did catch fire. So I headed out there.

As it turned out the colour stayed in the east and the whole sky didn't catch the whole sky the way I had hoped it would. I swapped my wide angle lens to the telephoto and tried to fill the frame with colour by zooming into the horizon. This first shot was well before the sun reached the horizon. There were some nice blue and orange hues. There isn't really much for foreground interest in the flat prairie so I tend to use power poles and wires to provide some interest.