Winter mornings - November 9, 2020

The weather over the weekend was cloud covered, snowing and really windy and so I spent most of the time huddled in the house avoiding winter's onslaught. It was kind of sad, really, as I was browsing Instagram it looked like the bad weather was localized ?! with bluer skies out in the mountains.. I dunno. I haven't been to the mountains for a while now and I'm starting to wonder what it's going to take to get out there again.

This morning the sky was clear and the sun was out with no wind it was a brisk -12degC though. As I drove into downtown to drop Jen off, the beautiful orange sunrise light was just scraping the tops of the buildings. About 25 minutes later I was looking for a place to park in Bridgeland so I could get out and grab some photos.

I'd seen the view below as I drove into downtown and wanted to take a closer look at it.. of course in the half hour or so since I first drove by, the initial orange glow was gone and been replaced by a bluer sidelight, which was still pretty nice. Of course it's another photo of the Calgary tower, how could you expect anything less. I don't think I can take a picture downtown without including the tower.

Downtown again.. April 16, 2020

Earlier this morning Conor and I drove out to the mountains west of Longview. Some friends had figured out how to get around some of the covid-19 restrictions that are in place to keep people from parking at public land use zones or recreation areas as everything is currently closed. The workaround involved parking at a spot more than 1 km from the trail head. They used bikes to get from the parking spot to the trailhead which seemed like a good idea. I'd hiked the trail in the past and thought it would be a fun objective for Conor and I to try.

Driving out there was nice and we both were excited to be out after spending so much time at home. Turning onto a secondary highway we discovered that it was covered in about 6 inches of fresh snow. We'd packed the van with bikes and our hiking gear and as we drove further into the back country I was getting more and more nervous about the potential of getting stuck. There wasn't any cell service and the van wasn't really meant to be driving these conditions. I was worried that later in the day it would be slushy, wet and really bad.. We ended up turning around and driving home but I was able to grab a few photos.

Winter? O Sure.. 

In the photo above, some skiers head up highway 40 at the winter closure.. note the fresh depth of snow.

Again with the river - April 9, 2020

Less than an hour until sundown and here I am just parking at my new Bridgeland spot to start my photo walk/ride.  If you read yesterdays entry you might remember that I had discovered a new spot to park and unpack my bike and access the river paths but unlike yesterday I didn't start by getting lost in the heart of Bridgeland. Instead I made a beeline straight to the river pathway. To cross Memorial drive I went up and over the c-train bridge.

At the end of my journey yesterday I saw the view below but decided that I didn't want to stop an take any more photos. Since I'm now emotionally invested in the building on the right I stopped to take this shot thinking that it'd probably make a better sunrise location as the light would be a lot better. The sun currently sitting in the top left behind some clouds blowing out the corner of the image.  I waited for a view clear of cars on the road.

curvy

Sunrise on Monday - March 23, 2020

I woke up early with the intent of trying for some sunrise photos. Looking out the window squinting at the sky to see if it was cloudy or not and if it'd be worth heading out.

I'm still looking for a mixed sky and cloud sunrise/sunset to occur where the light catches and burns the clouds across the sky.. it's going to be so awesome when it happens ! (I've only really been at this for about a week or so, lol.. I'll happen eventually.. right?!)

I could see a few stars in the sky so I got dressed. There was still time for a coffee. ;) Sipping my coffee and browsing The Photographers Ephemeris website I angled around and looked to see where the sunlight was going to be and decided I'd try Memorial drive and Edmonton trail.. There's a few bridges and the river's right there. Should be great!

When I finally left the house I saw that there was a cloud bank in the east with a small gap at the horizon. As I drove, with about 20 minutes until sunrise, I could see in the rear view mirror that that cloud bank was starting to catch some colour. I contemplated aborting my plan and just going east of the city but decided to keep on with my original destination.

I found a place to park that had 1 hour street parking starting at 8:30am so I had until 9:30.. perfect! Looking back towards the east the little cloud was having a colour party. Sadly, downtown was still in shadow and there weren't any clouds to catch the light.

Maybe I should have gone east!

Calgary Skyline - June 25, 2013

I'd parked near rotary park just above center street. I had my bike on the bike carrier, and used it to ride along the bike path's near the river. I rode down the hill and across the center street bridge to the suoth side of the river and ended up going east. The new foot bridge on the end of St. George island that is being constructed was in pretty bad shape because of the flooding and I tried to get a shot but the light quickly changed and it started to rain on me.

I moved towards the Langevin bridge and ended up hanging out underneath it to avoid getting soaked. Eventually the rain stopped. Actually, it didn`t really stop, it just kind of paused. I could see there was a pretty strong rainbow in the east but didn't feel like I was in a good position to capture it. I was on the bridge and was able to make a composition I liked that included the rainbow. The sun was very low and there were lots of very interesting clouds in the sky. The light was almost magical.

Another view of the Langevin bridge.

On my way back to the car, I paused and made this shot of the Center street bridge and some downtown buildings. There was lots of colour and reflections on the buildings. I think this shot turned out pretty good, I've tried in the past to get a similar view but I've not had nice sunset light to complement it.

Thanks for looking.

Brad

Bow River flood - June 21, 2013

The river has flooded due to heavy rain the past few weeks and a lot of the city is under water on this, the first day of summer.

For part of the after noon I played tourist and went down to the river at Center street to see it in person. There were a number of curious on lookers walking around the area. The river is high and flowing very fast with a lot of debris racing by in the muddied water. I could hear the roar of the water and feel the unrelenting power of the river as it forced its way past the bridge. The railing in the foreground is part of the bike path that leads under the lower deck of the bridge. Normally the river water is about 15-20 feet below the lower deck, here the water is slipping just below the road. Curious onlookers risked walking onto the road in order to take some candid photos with the long exposure some of them have turned into ghosts.

There are a lot of people affected by this flood and the cleanup will be a long time. My thoughts go out to those who have lost or damaged property.

Thanks for looking
Brad.

Bow River Kayakers - July 11, 2012

On my way to pickup Clare from the Stampede on Wednesday night I was a little early so I decided to park at Pearce Estate Park in Calgary near the Bow river. The city rebuilt the weir a year or so ago and by doing so introduced a new recreational area for water sports.

I initially walked through the park thinking I was going to shot some macro or landscape shots but I came across these two kayakers in the water and there was a nice low sunset light so I started shooting.

I got a few shots of them from upstream then moved downstream for more rim and side lighting. The fellow in the Blue helmet was racing back and forth across the waves and the fellow in the Red helmet was doing summersaults in the rapids by diving face-first into the river.

After making a few shots I was able to talk to them and give them a contact card so they could reach out and find their pictures. If your interested you can see the rest of the shots by clicking here

Thanks for looking.
Brad.