Stop and See

This was a good reminder for me to stop and see.

Stop for a minute, maybe a few, and see the beauty.

Look Up

We pay nothing.
We just need to look up.
Look up.
See the beauty that is in our skies.

Desert Sun

Sun's Presence

Isn't that just like the sun? On this foggy day, it appeared and disappeared, rose above and hid behind the urban landscape. But it was always there.

Hope

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.

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.

Silhouette

These tree seeds almost have a halo effect with the sun shining through from behind. New life emerges and is easily found by the sun, silhouetting the recent growth beautifully.

Though the blue sky was lovely on this day, I chose to take out the colour, turning it into a black and white image. I felt that the lines and form of this image were better shown in greyscale. When contrasting light and dark in an image, colour is not often necessary.

Exceptional Hoarfrost

We've had frost and fog for a few days now but today was an exceptional one where these were concerned! When the sun came out this afternoon to play with the frost I was in the right place at the right time. I will share one of my shots now with promise of more to come once I've had some time to go through my images from this day.

Bites of Beauty

Sometimes the very beautiful is to be found in the harshness of winter. When the cold bites, this is precisely when the sun shines brightest and dances in and around the dormant branches and fallen grasses. This is one of the prettiest sights.

Had I chosen to stay warm, not risked getting cold and bitten by the frost, I would have missed out on this today.

Kind of like life, no?

Grass

Lighting makes all the difference. If the sun was not shining through the golden leaf in the background, this single blade of grass would not be so captivating. Because of the incredible back-light, the grass is really quite exquisite.

There is beauty in the ordinary all around. Look. Closely.

Sun's Reach

Ever moving. Never still. The sun is always reaching to warm.

Flame

The flames dance all around the sun in honour of autumn's arrival.

 

When showing movement, like the illusion of flames dancing in this shot, it is good to have some blur but it is also good to have spots of focus and clarity. Zeroing in on the sweet spot with a loose nod to the rule of thirds, clarity is found in the flower's center. Our eye also moves there initially because of the yellow colour - yellow draws our attention. The movement is all around in the petals' reach up and around.

Choosing the appropriate depth of field by way of aperture and a speed that blurred some movement while still enabling me to hold the camera without camera shake was key to this shot.

Don't be afraid of blur; sometimes it is a photographer's friend.