Favourite Image of 2009

The choice wasn’t easy for me but it ended up being boiled down to an experience. This past summer I spent an evening with a herd of free ranging bison on the prairies. Those moments will forever be etched in my memory. Rutting, noisy bulls, cautious cows – dusty – beautiful.

Grasslands National Park – Saskatchewan. If you get the chance, go.

Heavy snows

Winter is most certainly here and the snow is piling up at higher elevations in the Okanagan. The Mule deer are toughing it out digging through the snow for feed at ground level. Check out how deep this doe has to dig.


Zoomed in...

Note to our Canadian Government.

A position on climate change policy does not have to be a choice between jobs OR the environment, that just is not the case. Our environment minister talks about protecting jobs, deflecting the real answers that he should be offering and feeding these divisive politics that are hurtful within Canada and outwardly for our image as Canadians. Please take a lead on these issues instead of dragging us down.

Fall colours, up close

Details, details.

New Life

Without a doubt forest fires can have devastating consequences for people. In this past fire season, in the Okanagan, we witnessed this again. (See West Kelowna Forest Fire post by clicking here) People seem to be able to bounce back and surely, the forest does as well. New life is already springing from under the burn.

Fall Kokanee from Okanagan Lake

Kokanee are landlocked sockeye salmon and like their ocean-going relatives they turn beautifully red as they spawn. They can be considered as a conservation success story, in progress. Due to a number of factors, numbers had plummeted in Okanagan Lake, striking up significant action to change the decline in the 1990s.
Numbers of fish have returned to levels that now allow for a short angling season in the summer in Okanagan Lake.

Further Reading:
A Case History: The Kokanee Stocks of Okanagan Lake
BC Government Information Bulletin

Prairie Wind

Shot on a recent trip to Winnipeg and back...

Striking

BC Interior Camping
Summer weather equals evening heat.

West Kelowna Forest Fire

Photographs taken on Sunday evening from the Kelowna side of Okanagan Lake include the Terrace Mountain fire, Rose Valley fire and the Glenrosa fire.

Canon 1D Mk III, wide with 17-40, tight with 100-400
Post – Photomatix, Noise Ninga and blending with Photoshop CS4

Fun in the Sun

Kelowna. Sandy beaches, plenty of sun and a beautiful lake for swimming. I love living here.



Canon MkIII, Canon 24-70 f/2.8 L, @48mm, f2.8, ISO 100

POST - Adobe Lightroom, Photomatix (HDR), Noise Ninga, Adobe Photoshop CS4

Rock Creek Beauty

This beautiful panoramic vista is looking over the small town of Rock Creek, BC.
This image is a panoramic composition of two side by side HDR images. The HDR image was then shifted to Infrared Black and White in Photoshop.

Canon MkIII, Canon 17-40 f/4 L, @17mm, f9.5, ISO 100

POST - Photomatix (HDR), Noise Ninga, Photoshop CS4

Strobist Boot Camp II

I love following the Strobist blog for info, ideas and the atmosphere of sharing. Assignment 2 - a little food photography.

Fish out of water



Strobist Info: Single bare Canon 550EX zoomed to 105mm directly overtop of the plate. Removed the snoot and like the highlights in the riffles...just enough spilling. Flash 1 stop over the rest of the scene. Ambient doing the heavy lifting, flash for detail and a little punch.

Buzz

A busy little nest in our garden. By using an extension tube on my Canon 100-400mm L lens I had enough space as not to expect a stinging (sort of anyways). All of these images have been processed to HDR and blended back with the optimized single image. This gives a greater sense of depth in a very high contrast scene.





Canon MkIII, Canon 100-400 f4.5-5.6 L, Canon 25mm extension tube, f4.5, 1/180s, ISO 400

POST - Noise Ninga, Photomatix (HDR),Photoshop CS4

Recently Wild

A little wilderness, a little time -- oodles of fun.

Okanagan Life – Cover Shot

The Okanagan Life “Best Restaurants” issue is now out on newsstands. I had the privilege of working with a number of genuinely nice people on this assignment, a pleasure to meet all of you.

Here is a link to Okanagan Life page where they have the Editor’s Choices Awards.

Little frog in a Big world

This little frog was just warming up and getting going for the spring...therefore slow moving. We took a couple of pictures as it pondered it's reflection in the lens and let him on his way. Good luck little buddy!

Small girls - Big hearts

Meet Jenna and Kiera. They have been pledging all birthday money to spinal cord research. I remember a birthday at their age being something wonderfully big and exciting. To give a big piece of that away...well, it’s inspiring. Their inspirational story is being told in an upcoming magazine published by the University of Calgary and I was fortunate enough to be the one they chose for the photography. It has been a pleasure to meet and work with you Robert, Lisa and especially you Kiera and you Jenna.