Sibbald Meadows Pond - June 29, 2013

I had been itching to get out and see if the wild flowers were blooming. Many areas west of Calgary in the mountains are inaccessible due to flood damage. Conor and I drove out to Sibbald meadows pond for a bit of fishing. A few years ago I shot some wildflowers there and was worried that they'd be out by now and that I was missing an opportunity to get out there and shoot. As it turned out, many of the wild flowers I shot before were in late July and I was a bit early. There were still some out though. Conor and I fished the pond for a little while, without much luck, and after a while I traded my fishing rod for a camera and tripod.

I had climbed up a pretty steep hillside and was trying to frame the prairie smoke. Unfortunately I`d forgotten my cable release in the car and so I had to make do without it.. the challenge is that at macro views if there is any motion in the object at all, the picture will be blurry. Even pressing the release on the camera can induce motion and make the picture blurry from camera motion. Using the cable release takes away one of these variables by keeping the camera steady during exposure. After taking many photo`s, I was able to find a composition that I liked and to position the focus where I wanted with out much blur.




After leaving the flowers I spotted a butterfly sitting on a blade of grass.

I had many of the same issues shooting the butterfly as I did the flowers. Wind and motion.. there was a few seconds where the sun peeked out from behind a cloud and suddenly the butterfly was backlit in a very nice light. Unfortunately the wind had picked up and I wasn`t able to get a sharp photo before the sun slipped back behind the cloud. I was able to make this shot in the shadows during a lull in the wind.

I walked back to my car and got the cable release and walked around the pond looking for more wildflowers. It was staring to get dark when I came across this fellow resting on a blade of grass. It was quite an ordeal to get the tripod setup in the right spot that I could get the butterfly in focus. Then it was more of the same, waiting for a lull in the wind and tweaking the focus to try and get the eye in sharp focus.

In the end, it took some work but I`m pleased with the results I was able to get.

After leaving Sibbald Pond we drove down 68 to Highway 40. At the intersection the police were setup and directing traffic north towards highway 1. Highway 40 was still closed due to the flood. Driving back toward Calgary, the sun was setting and I stopped near Morley to try and capture the light.

Thanks for looking
brad