Lean

Winter in Rural Manitoba

I was a little more aggressive with the processing for this image. In photoshop, I added not one but two texture layers and played with their opacity until they were both just right. I wanted to play up the beautiful sunshine on this cold winter day. The heavier texture was manageable because this image has some strong design elements, the hydro poles. Without the poles, the textures would have overwhelmed the composition.

Fenced In. Fenced Out.

Autumn Memories

Prairie Diamonds

How beautiful, these prairie diamonds! Soon to disappear, like riches can and do, these glistening gems of frosted wheat were to be enjoyed in the present, not hoarded nor wasted, but enjoyed...and shared.

Positioning myself and lens so the sun was shining just right on on the subject with the right amount of glisten and silhouette, I began to shoot. My shutter speed was 1/640 with an aperture of f/9. As is my habit, I used ISO 100. This was no problem with such bright conditions.

I softened the image by adding a gentle texture layer over top in Photoshop.

A Time Before

Off-Kilter

Sometimes when I feel off-kilter my images will show it. Though there is a strong structure in this shot, the ground feels like it is shifting, moving.

The moon's presence reminds me that though things seem chaotic, busy, crazy even, there is Someone much bigger who hasn't lost control, who is not off-kilter no matter what.

When I can see that by training my eye to look for it, then I can begin to see beauty in scenes like this while in the midst of chaos and uncertainty.

I took this image in a moving vehicle, which is why the foreground shows blur and movement. Making sure to focus on the poles and wires while essentially panning my camera by way of movement in my vehicle, I was able to keep the rest of the scene in acceptable focus.

I shot at a faster speed of 1/500 and used a greater depth of field at f/11.

Once on my computer, it is obvious that I played with layers in processing, adding texture and a little chaos to the feeling of this shot. This also deepened the colours and brought out the moon.

Landscape Shooting

East Braintree, Manitoba

For this kind of landscape shot, it is important to have a significant depth of field. Having an overall clarity to the entire scene is key. The detail in the old wood on the bridge, the frost on the grasses beyond, the dirt road leading to the treed area in the background are important, each one.

Because of this, I chose to use an aperture of f/20. This required a slower shutter speed to allow as much light in as possible. Because I didn't have my tripod handy, I used 1/50, a reasonable speed for a hand-held camera.

Rural Storage

Showing Heat

Yesterday it was a blazing hot thirty four degrees celsius on the prairies! By 9:00 in the evening the temperature was still high as we drove over the dusty roads. We pulled over as the sun briefly found its way behind a tree. The sun's flare and evening's haze were brilliant alongside this weathered home and tree's lattice.

Sometimes it is difficult to show temperature in an image but it wasn't yesterday. The haze and flare both lent themselves beautifully to speak of the heat. Making sure that the sun wasn't 'full on' was important. The tree's leaves gave just enough of a filter without shielding too much of the light.

Landscape Photography

Around the corner we drove and then we began descending the hill. Seeing this view disappear as we drove on, I needed to see it again. Backing up, there it was. The evening sun touched the landscape, turning it to gold. How beautiful!

To capture this landscape scene with fairly good clarity both in the foreground and the background, I used an aperture of f/13 which afforded me a greater depth of field. In processing I bumped up the exposure a touch in the shadows. Had I not, the dark horizontal centre mass would have overwhelmed the image.

Urban Fields

They come together and stand side by side, urban and rural, concrete and wheat. They are so different yet together, beautifully so.

To accentuate the differences, I brought this image into Photoshop and added a texture layer. Still not enough, I played with the colour and contrast until I felt it represented well what I felt the image was saying. The contrasts were key to this image...but the contrasts needed to live well in community with each other.

Roll of Field

Remaining Walls

I've had the incredible opportunity to see many old abandoned homesteads this winter as we've travelled to and from a camp where our daughter is staying. I'm trying to figure out what draws me to these places. Maybe it is that they mark a time in history. Maybe it is the stories that are held inside the remaining walls. Maybe it is the textures found in the decaying wood or shingles.

Whatever it is, I am happy to share some of the images I've captured with you and invite you to imagine along with me, what these walls might hold for you.

Look. Look Again.

Look. Look again.

So often we pass by the worn without a sideways glance. When we look and look again we see what it is and also what it might have been at one time. We make room for stories and people who have gone before us...or are beside us. In our pause, we remember and in our regard we acknowledge importance and value.

Maybe it is an old building that we've driven by countless times. Or maybe it is a person, worn and weathered, but with a present and a past. If we stop and look and look again, I wonder how the future might be shaped.

Fenced in or out?

Time's Threshold

I wonder if I crossed over the threshold, would I be able to sense what came before? Would I see remnants of the past that would give me clues into history? I could cross over and stay for a time, imagining, pondering and then I could leave out the back way, my life enriched, perhaps changed.

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.