Frosted - March 26th, 2011

We've had a lot of foggy, frosty days here the last while. I`m surprised at how long it`s been hanging around. I was driving out past Cochrane looking for bald eagles as they've been migrating through the area. I'd seen lots and lots of opportunities to photograph the fog and the frost but it's hard to pick a spot when you're driving down the highway. Oftentimes I`ve seen a scene that moves me but I`ve already passed it and the decision to stop and turn around gnaws at me. Almost always - I don`t stop.

I have a catalog of potential shots that I missed because I didn`t stop. Next time, I think. Next time I`ll stop. Next time the light and the fog and the frosted trees look like that I`ll stop and make that photo. Until then, they`ll just be my private memories. In reality, the moments are fleeting, there most likely isn`t going to be a next time. I drive myself crazy thinking I need to capture everything I see because I`m just overwhelmed with the beauty of it all.

Here, I did stop - walked across the highway and tried to compose a shot of the frost and the fog. I like how the curves of the hills rest against the sky and the curve of the fence cuts across the frame.

Not much later, I was driving down another road in the area and came across this guy in the top of the tree. I stopped just past him and got out of the car and took a few shots before he decided that he`d had enough of me and flew off into the distance. I was able to get a couple of shots of him in flight. When he was lower to the ground I was impressed at how big he was.

Later, looking on the internet to find out if it was a juvenile bald eagle or something else, I discovered that he might have been a golden eagle because of the light brown patch on the back of his head. I don`t know about you, but I`m impressed.

Thanks for looking.
brad.

Short Eared Owl - March 20th, 2011

After finishing up with the hockey games earlier in the day I took a short detour on the way home. Actually, the hockey rink is just down the street so from a detour perspective I guess I really went on a short drive.

I was on a road just east of the city looking for birds when I came across a field where there was a fair bit of activity going on. I think there were at least two owls flying around and maybe a hawk or falcon it was hard to tell. I stopped the car and walked into the field to see if I could get close to the owls but didn't have much luck. Soon they were all flying far away from where I was so I left. I figured that I`d found an area where they might be nesting.

Later that evening I thought I'd go back and see if I could find the owls again. So I drove to the same location parked and made my way into the field. I was moving slowly, trying to be quiet. I had my camera, tripod and the remote release because it was reasonably dark and I wouldn't be able to hand hold the camera to make a shot. While I was walking an owl flew up from the ground quite a ways in front of me and landed on the ground again. I took a couple of shots and then tried to move closer. He saw me and flew to a fence post. I followed him taking a few shots then walking about 20 paces and taking a few more. When I got too close he would fly away and land on another fence post further down. This is as close as I could get.



Soon it was too dark for any more photos so I made my way back to the car. I drove down the road a little ways to see if the owl was still around and found him flying low above the fields. I watched him for a while until I lost sight of him in the darkness.

Thanks for looking,
brad.

PSA Hockey PM - March 20th, 2011

The final game of the tournament and PSA won 4-3 in a pretty exciting game. I would like to thank the team for letting me take pictures from the bench, I appreciate the opportunity.

Click on the photo below to see the gallery.



Thanks for looking
brad.

PSA Hockey AM - March 20th, 2011

Matthew's team was scheduled to play two games today - one at 9:00 am, the second at 3:15pm. The 9:00 game was against Crowfoot which turned out to be a physical game. A lot more hitting than I saw at the two games I've seen recently. I was wondering if body checking was frowned upon at this level before I saw this game. There were lots of hits and, as a result, lots of penalties. Unfortunately PSA wasn't able to beat Crowfoot. It was close with PSA giving up an empty netter in the last minute. The final score was 3-1.

Because Crowfoot won the game, these two teams will meet up again at 3:15pm. Should be a good one.

Meanwhile, click on the photo below to see the gallery.

Look closely, everyone is looking at the puck - can you see it ?

Thanks for looking.
brad.

PSA Hockey - March 19, 2011

I was invited to shoot photos at my nephews hockey game again on Saturday. They were able to pull off a 3-1 victory over the Lake Bonavista Breakers. Click on the picture to go to the gallery.

Thanks for looking.
brad.

Arches - March 18th, 2011

After parking the car on my way to work this morning I stepped out onto the street and was stopped by the morning light streaming down 9th avenue. I hesitated with indecision - go get my camera from the car or head up to work. I decide to go get the camera from my car and try to get a couple of pictures.

I should have taken the stairs cause the elevator took forever to come. Then the doors didn't open quick enough, once they did open I got in and pushed the button for the floor and now the doors wouldn't close.. I was cursing the doors and urging the elevator to hurry up. A person walking through the elevator lobby looked at me funny, but when the light is there, its there - and it usually isn't there for very long so I was in a desperate hurry.

Eventually I got the camera and made my way back to the street. The sun had moved off of where I first saw it but I noticed the light pouring in under the arches above the sidewalk. The air was heavy with dust from the road. I waited for some pedestrians to walk into the sunbeam and took some shots.

I like how this one turned out.

Thanks for looking,
brad.

Sunrise - March 15, 2011

I'd booked the day off work to volunteer at Conor's school field trip to Fort Calgary but that wasn't happening until later in the morning so I thought I'd go out and see what the sunrise was going to do. With daylight savings time in effect the sunrise is suppose to happen around 8:00am or so.   I left the house around 7:30 and started driving out east of the city again.

 I stopped the car on Garden Road near Conrich and got out the tripod and cable release. The sky was on fire I wanted to compress the line of telephone poles and fill the frame with the colour on the horizon so I used my 300mm lens. Using a long focal length, the camera is susceptible to any kind of motion so the tripod was necessary. I used the mirror lockup function - which raises the mirror on the first shutter release and takes the picture on the second shutter release and then lowers the mirror. To reduce the vibrations of the mirror slapping up and down you raise the mirror wait for five or ten seconds then take the picture. I use a cable attached to the camera to work the shutter so that I'm not touching anything.

This is the photo that I was able to get.


Out on some back roads I tried to find something interesting to shoot as the sun was breaking the horizon. A stand of trees presented itself. Same kind of setup here tripod and mirror lockup.

The prairie is pretty flat and I think you need to really search to find some interesting things to photograph. I drove around for a while until the sun was up far enough that the day had begun and all the drama of new light had moved on. I was looking for wildlife now - last week I saw an owl flying around and I didn't have a chance to photograph it. So secretly I was looking for owls. They are supposedly active 60-90 minutes before and after dawn and dusk. So I kept driving randomly long the township roads and eventually came across this fellow in a tree.