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 of course in the half hour or so since I first drove by, the initial orange glow was gone and been replaced by a bluer sidelight, which was still pretty nice.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.

Happy Halloween - October 31st, 2020

With Covid running rampant and our kids all grown up we decided that we weren't going to be doing anything for Halloween this year. So my evening was free which was good because there was going to be a blue moon rising right at sunset and I was hoping to get some photos of it against the skyline.

I have an app on my phone called 'photopills' which allows you to map out where the sun and moon will rise and set and will give you the times and so on. Using the map I looked for a spot west of downtown that will have the moon rise occur near or between the buildings.  I'd left the house a couple hours before sunset/moon rise so I could scout out a few of the locations ahead of time. 

McHugh Bluff - October 30, 2020

There was fog along the low areas in the Deerfoot valley as we drove towards downtown. Rounding the corner at Memorial drive we could see a dense fog bank along sections of the Bow river and further west of the downtown core. 

After dropping Jen off for work I decided to stop up at Rotary park and take a few photos as the fog was hanging around.

There was a low hanging cloud over the center street bridge. There was little traffic as I crossed the road and I was able to take a few shots of the tower. The light hadn't quite arrived yet. 

Grey - October 19, 2020

It was cold and grey out with low clouds. As I left downtown I wanted to capture some photos where the tops of the buildings would disappear into the gloom. 

I spied the tower peaking out from behind the buildings and took a photo as I made my way towards the center street bridge and Rotary park.

Tom Campbell's Hill - Oct 20, 2020

After dropping Jen off at work I was driving out of downtown and I thought to stop at Tom Campbell's hill which is just above Memorial drive and close to the Zoo. There's a dog park there and a nice view of downtown. After making photos yesterday I wanted to get some shots again today and see if I could pick up on my hobby.

It was busy, so I parked the car up the street a little bit and walked through the entrance. To my immediate right there were some tall grasses and a view of the skyline. I stopped to make a photo, trying to position the head of the Calgary tower between the grasses.

Grey - March 28th, 2020

If you're reading this in the distant future we're in the early stages of the Covid-19 epidemic. Jen's been working at home for the last week and a half and we're staying away from other people as best we can when going to the grocery store. Lots of things are closed off. I've not really checked what the malls are doing or other stores are like but overall it's been pretty quiet. We've been taking walks 'around the circle' at noon-ish as a break from work and for a bit of exercise. I've been out in the evenings at sunset looking for light and see few, if any, other folks on those excursions.

Today being a Saturday, the walk ended up being a bit later in the afternoon. It was chilly and overcast at -3 degC with a light wind. Normally I don't bring my camera on the walk but we decided to head down towards a wetlands area with a bit of trees and I thought there might be some photo opportunities, and who knows, maybe there'd be owls (spoiler: there wasn't..)

Grey skies

Frost and fire - March 20, 2020

When I first got up in the morning I peeked outside and it looked like the sky was cloud covered and that there wasn't going to be an interesting sunrise. I had thought that if it looked like the light was forming that I'd head out for some photos. A while later, as I drank my morning coffee, I noticed that the sun was indeed out and brightening the neighbors house. After deliberating back and forth for a few minutes I decided yes, I'll go.

Being that it was later I wasn't going to head towards downtown because all the great light would be gone. So I soon found myself driving east on McKnight towards Conrich behind a big truck that wasn't going very fast.

Usually when I finally decide to do something like this and I feel like I'm late to the game, I notice ALL the little delays.. like all the lights turning red as I reach the intersections, being trapped behind another car that doesn't care that I'm chasing light and so on. It's a test in patience.. Soon enough though, the truck pulled off and I had nothing but open road before me.

otherside

Center Street - March 19, 2020

Yesterday, I went out after dinner thinking that there would be a sunset. I had been fiddling with a photography app on my phone (photopills) using it to determine where the sun would set and what the best position to be in would be. I knew as soon as got outside I knew it was all for not.. there was heavy cloud in the west and the sun hidden. I quickly lost interest in the plan but drove around anyway. I couldn't really find the motivation to stop anywhere and with all the flat light so eventually I just drove back home. Today, after dropping Conor off in the Northwest I thought I'd make my way downtown to see about taking some photos. The light still wasn't great and it was pretty cloudy but I wanted to go anyway, possibly to make up for last night.

On the way, I needed gas and stopped at a station on 16th ave over by the Foothills hospital. As I was filling up I noticed the group of workers gathered across the street. It looked kind of interesting (to me) so I parked the car, changed lenses and tried to frame up a photo. For some reason I felt very self conscious about the whole thing. Because I was across the intersection I needed to wait until there wasn't any traffic between me and the scene so I'd end up standing there out in the open waiting to take a photo. Some workers were making their way across the intersection and buying snacks at the gas station or coffee at the Tim Hortons behind me.. As they came close I'd put the camera down and sit in my car and for them to move out of the way. It got a little silly because I'm sure I was in and out of the car about four times before being able to grab a couple shots and then decide that I was going to move on.

On break

Photo walk - March 15, 2020

Oh no.. another photo walk, which will likely result in a horrifically large number of posted photos. I'm not sure we can keep up with the processing and uploads that I add to my smugmug site. So to compensate, at the end of this post I'll link back to the smugmug site that will link all the photos that are not featured here.

It's Sunday. It feels like I haven't been out of the house much the last week other than to get groceries or to drive Conor somewhere. I've been following all the panic buying on twitter .. wow.. it's nuts out there. Luckily I was able to grab some groceries last week before it all blew up.

Regardless, it was sunny out for a change.. and cold (-12 degC). After dinner, I decided I'd head out to see about taking some photographs. I left the house around 6:30pm. Sunset would be after 7:30 so I felt I had some time to find some compositions.. I drove towards downtown and while driving I tried to think of different places to go and decided to head towards the Deane house on 9th and see what the light might give. From there I could walk towards downtown.

Elbows deep.

After finding parking on the street I started walking west behind Fort Calgary.  I came across a scene where the light was grazing the snow and creating nice textures.  The view in this photo is quite low, I was scrunched down a snow drift propped up on my elbows trying to get the frame. The sunlight here is actually a reflection off the distant building. The sun was setting on the left side of the frame. I'll be a while before the sunset is that far north..

Nifty Fifty - Feb 27, 2020

I had an appointment downtown so I was gathering up all the stuff I'd need for all the things I wanted to do. Some gym clothes, runners, a book, laptop, notebook, pencil case, phone, water bottle.. When it came time to grab the camera (always take a camera) I started poking though a few lens choices. I was going to be downtown at sunrise and maybe nice light would hit the buildings so I thought of a wide angle but also maybe a zoom then I realized I wouldn't be able to carry everything with my two bags.

The other night when shooting the bridge I'd had the 50mm prime with me and it was already on the camera and is rather small so I settled on just bringing the one lens. I'm not a huge fan of the 50mm because it's too narrow for wide angle views and too wide for telephoto shots. For me it's kind of a no-mans-land.. I remember thinking maybe it'll be a fun challenge to shoot with something unfamiliar.

As we drove into downtown the light from the east was reflecting off of the buildings. Nearing the end of February the light is starting to get brighter earlier and earlier. I'm not out every morning these last few months so it felt like a sudden occurrence to have all this light. I made a few photos out the window of the van. I have a large collection of photos that include a very similar view but I find it doesn't get old for me and I'll just keep on adding to my collection. I especially like the way the light was in a gradient on the buildings.

From the bridge

Also from the bridge

I have this thing where, when I photograph the Calgary skyline, that I need to include the Calgary tower if it's visible.. so that second shot makes me feel uncomfortable in ways that I can't explain.

Day and night. Feb 18, 2020

I had an appointment downtown in the early afternoon and rather than take the train downtown I grabbed a ride with Jen. It was a pretty lengthy time to hang out so I started by going to the gym to get some stairclimber time in. Instead of watching netflix like I usually do, I had some reading to do to prepare for the meeting. After the gym, I grabbed a coffee, made my way up to the building's cafeteria and did a bit of work before finally walking over to the appointment at around 1:30.

On the way I was distracted by this frosty tree  It was somewhat cold out so frost was forming on the branches dressing it in white.

Frosted

After the appointment I walked back towards downtown. The sky was clear with the sun lower in the sky making some nice colour. I had packed the 70-200F4 for zoom and a 24mm tilt shift for wide angle shots in my bag. I like the 24mm for building shots because I can 'shift' it instead of pointing the camera upwards and the buildings stay straight.

Pawn Shop - October 15, 2012

Hello. It's been a while since I posted anything on the blog (last post was July 11th). I guess this happens sometimes, you get busy and don't post anything. What I'd like to do is back post entries until I'm all caught up. I've taken a bunch of pictures since July and even thought you could go look at them, there isn't any context. I'm hoping to rectify that.

I took this picture over lunch hour after walking around aimlessly for 30 minutes. I was intrigued by the way the sunlight was reflecting on the buildings across the street. At first I felt a little funny taking my camera out on the street with people around but after I put the viewfinder to my eye I was able to block it all out and concentrate on the photo I was trying to make. I hope you like it. I used the tilt-shift lens to try and isolate part of the street.

Thanks for looking.
Brad

City Park - May 16th, 2012

Conor was at his piano lesson and I had less then 30 minutes until I had to pick him up. Honestly - I can't get over how quickly 30 minutes passes these days. I had driven to the Starbucks and was having a coffee and reading RSS fed blog postings on my iPhone. I was already feeling a little frustrated and grumpy when I came across a blog posting from Moose Peterson entitled Can we talk. In this particular article he goes on about using various excuses to NOT go and shoot. Towards the end of the article he states "simply go shoot".

So I did. I got up, drove over to the park and made some shots of this tree. I looked at the frames on the back of the camera and it was satisfying to see that I was able to get something worthwhile in less than 10 minutes. Five minutes after that I was picking up Conor.

Doing something I love to do was enough to calm me down and get me back on track.

Thanks for looking
Brad.