My Sweet City

Winnipeg

City Thaw

The Forks

Each one of these images has a design element that leads the viewer into the picture and straight to the subject.
In the top picture, we have the rubber mats that act as our pathway to the skating rink. Once there we might look up to the tower and see the Canadian flag waving but then our eye travels back down the trees and back to the pathway and to the rink once more.
In the cityscape scene, we hop onto the train and take a ride straight downtown to the corporate highrises. Our eyes hover over the cluster of buildings and then down to catch the train back again.
The last picture has us traversing the stairs to the front entryway of Johnston Terminal. The trees on the far right keep our eyes from traveling off the picture.
Keeping the viewers engaged by giving them a subject to visit without distracting pieces that pull the eyes off the picture is important.

My Winnipeg

Autumn's Canvas

Winnipeg's skies and fields are painted by Autumn.

I shot at f/5 and 1/640 with a focal length of 190. Once in Lightroom I used a preset but then increased contrast in the buildings and changed the hue of the golds from there.

Presets can be a great starting point. When I use them I'll continue to play and tweak until the image looks as it does in my mind.

Choppers over Chicago

NYC

Rain first arrived in NYC and then we pulled in. We shared our day in the city with the drops and drips and took in the sights and sounds as best we could.

Originally I thought the pictures would be disappointing because the rain was. Seeing the haze and low lying clouds reminds me how it felt, jumping over puddles and sometimes into puddles. I remember buying four umbrellas as we stepped off our bus into the driving rain. I can almost see our tour guide holding her umbrella high so we could see where she was. Seeing Lady Liberty standing tall in the rain and wind somehow made her presence that much more impressive.

As it turns out the rain took nothing from our experience but only added to it.

Cityscapes

I've started a Cityscapes series. This is a shot I took back in August of 2011 that I will add to this collection.

Calgary, Alberta

Riding the Rails

The Space Between

Looking at the cityscape, I saw a space between land and clouds where the corporate offices sat, but also between urban and urban. In between my residential neighborhood, where I stood to get this shot,  and the downtown highrises was this rural patch of land, a farmer's field.

I like looking for these types of exceptions to the landscape. What is unique? What makes this interesting? How does this present in the viewfinder? All of these questions that run through my mind help me with composition.

Chicago Blues

Blue washes over Chicago, leaving patches of sepia only where the sky couldn't reach. Almost like a dream, the boats and buildings blend together. Though strong and edgy, there is room for the heart in the flow of one to the other, here in this city.

Esplanade Riel - Featured in the March edition of More of Our Canada

Esplanade Riel

Love it when this happens...

I checked my email this morning and found a message from a magazine company. I had entered a contest awhile back but didn't win. That was not the reason for the correspondence today. My image was not what they were after for the contest but it turns out they liked it so much, they kept it on the back burner for a future spot in their magazine. That is almost better than winning the contest! I won't share the name of the magazine until the image has been published but will share the image here.

Esplanade Riel