I’ve been to Edmonton and back quite quickly in the last two days – through a snow storm on the way down and upon slick roads on the way back. I’ve brought my son home from University.
The image I present is one taken, standing in line waiting to pay for items needed in the long, upcoming night drive homeward. It reminds me that the concept of a subject’s duration is the core feature of still-life paintings and photographs. Perhaps this image taken ‘while-waiting’ adds a new aspect to the concept of still-life. This image is a while-waiting shot – one that gives me something to do while our cashier scans each item of the customers ahead of me in queue. This shot precedes eight hours of driving, a time I would spend with my son listening to music, listening to a few of his ideas and a shared joke or two. And, through those times that he slept I’ve been able to make good headway in digesting a couple of lectures presented by John O’Donohue.
20 December 2011 – daylight, winter images around High Level, Alberta; we’re nearly at 60 degrees North. So, sunrise happens quite late (9:00 a.m.) and sunset happens quite early (3:30 p.m.). Daylight is diminished and there’s more dusk at this time of year. The day’s images have been about lines, texture, atmosphere and colour – children sledding in silhouette and a fire burning down to coals.
A House Well Lit – On Backroads Between Fairview and Grimshaw
Exploring Bokeh – Blurring a Truck
GPRC – Merry Christmas Message
Christmas Lights down Grande Prairie’s Main Street
Christmas Decor within Reflection 2
It has been a whirlwind weekend traveling to Grande Prairie and back, all in pursuit of Christmas.
Of the landscape travelled through, weather’s interaction at the Dunvegan Bridge over the Mighty Peace was shifting mist and cloud against a backdrop of conifers laced with snow – beautiful picture taking weather, mountain weather. I stopped for a few shots, then was presented with excellent colours of the Dunvegan bridge in the two kilometre descent before crossing the Peace River – a snowy, wet world from which the yellows and browns of the suspension bridge stand above the metal grey of the river. With my SUV I trekked down and up a couple of times searching for a safe and easy place to park; no safe place suggested itself. With an abundance of time (one of these times) I will park at the Dunvegan landing and hike back up the North embankment for about a kilometre with camera bag and tripod and get a few good shots … one day.
At Christmas, Grande Prairie adorns itself well with seasonal lighting as does Grande Prairie Regional College and the Automobile Dealerships – I like the shallow depth of field in working with the Christmas lights on the Dodge truck image and the bokeh that was found. The final shot is taken of a farm, well lit, within a dark, dark landscape last night – colourful schtuff.
Canon Lock-up Issue – I did have lock-up issues with my Canon 60D on Saturday night … it probably had to do with using live view and inexact button pushing with gloved fingers; I was sorting things through yesterday morning and by supper time the camera seemed to have good integrity with the shots I took of the farm house. If the problem persists I will most likely re-install the firmware as a means to conquer the issue. If any of you have experienced a similar issue I would appreciate hearing from you.
Leaving school, against the blackness of night, I encountered beautiful hoarfrost on an Aspen Willow tree – a reverse silhouette (white against black). I started my pickup truck and used the engine’s warm-up time to explore the silhouetted Willow. Again, the camera is atop the tripod and again I’m using the 60D’s live view to ensure that I find crisp detail in manual focus. I took three shots of the tree – one I include here; the composition needs work but I’m happy to have captured this image. Consideration – my shots are better and more well-composed when I’m warm and taking time to look seriously around the frame to see what’s there and to capture the image; in winter photography I’ll have winter outwear on … something I didn’t have leaving school tonight.
Later, at home, in front of our Christmas tree the recommendation of photographing Christmas lights against a reflective surface came to mind. Our Christmas tree, like most others, stands in front of our window as Christmas beacon to others in our neighbourhood; this evening, I just needed to recognize its beauty and its potential. I put my Canon 50mm prime f-1.4 lens on my Canon 60D and attached the 60D to my tripod; I worked with live view to find focus detail and to establish bokeh (blurring of lights). I turned out lights in our living room and kitchen making all dark except for our Christmas tree and its lights. I began exploring bokeh, using a small depth of field (lens aperture f-1.4) and blurred Christmas lights against the reflective surface of the window. The images I include appeal to me in terms of shape, colour, texture and mood.
Tonight (15 December 2011) – listening to Martyn Joseph’s ‘Have an Angel Walk with Her,’ from his ‘Evolved’ album http://www.martynjoseph.net/ .
First shot – Christmas Lights against Ambient Light
Second shot – Christmas Lights against Ambient Light
Third shot – Christmas Lights against Ambient Light
From school I drove home on streets that are slick, polished ice. They are not quite treacherous, only difficult to begin moving on in a half-ton truck without weight in the box.
So … Christmas lights – I arrived early and had good post-dusk light. The homeowner did have the Christmas lights on already and clouds feathered against a silver blue sky as background. I framed the shots taken to include more sky but ended up cropping to balance things out in the images. In terms of setting, I had the white balance set to Tungsten and the blue derived from the sky was more tending to a dark turquoise than royal blue.
The matter of having a reflective surface in the foreground is really the idea that reflection of lights within a foreground surface should artfully double or duplicate the subject photographed doubling the number, size and shape of the Christmas lights. As I thought this through the hood of a vehicle was my first conceptualization of this technique; but, Kyle Thomas www.kylewith.com has demonstrated that the side of a vehicle can be used artfully to bounce or reflect different subjects … the side of a clean, glossy vehicle should serve to reflect among other things … Christmas lights. The snow does reflect light, but it does so more in an atmospheric glow of the dominant colour among the Christmas lights.
I did use a tripod to steady my 60D. But, using the tripod is forcing me to think through composition because manoeuvrability of the camera on top of a tripod has some limitations; usually I see and understand the composition as I move toward it and find it. The movement of the camera to the best composition on top of a tripod is more mechanistic and I suppose I have not only to think through the lens but through the tripod structure and its movement, as well. I’ve been using the live view display with the pistol grip to position the camera in terms of composition; then I’ve been using manual focus with the plus ( + ) settings within live view to focus accurately upon the subject.
Tonight, I worked with an ISO of 100 and f-stops between 8 and 11. The duration of the exposures is anywhere from 8 seconds to 30 seconds. I did shoot once every minute or so and can track the sky’s darkening through the pictures. I took fifteen shots tonight, three of which I include here. Point of Consideration – in these town shots the mix of Christmas lights and ambient light combines with street lights that light the roadway, the yard and the house. The effect of Christmas lights against ambient light should be more striking if street lights are excluded; I may need to find a farm in the vicinity that has used Christmas lights well and on their own, away from powerful farm lights.
Other thoughts – I am taking public shots of Christmas lights around town; watching someone photograph your home and its lights must be a bit awkward if it’s not happened before. Maybe I’ll present a photo of the sight to the homeowner as a positive, goodwill gesture.
The shot I like is the one with grey skies; my daughter and wife like the other two.
Winter Wonderland – The Shot that should work best in Fading Ambient Light
Black & White with Colourful String of Lights
Christmas lights were the subject of last night’s foray into picture taking around town. A friend’s home had good oblique angles and provided dark architectural landscape that her Christmas lights outlined and accentuated. And, in most instances Christmas lights highlighted architectural shape against night’s darkness, making homes look like Gingerbread houses. Beyond this, Christmas lights add atmosphere and mood with their reds, greens, blues, purple and clear white colours, all of which have a gradient of reflection upon surrounding snow. So, I began the endeavour of capturing Christmas and the Christmas spirit around town.
Tonight, I’ve just read an article on the Strobist blog, ‘Photographing Christmas Lights,’ http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/12/how-to-photograph-christmas-lights.html and it contains six recommendations for capturing the outdoor beauty of Christmas. One key concept is that Christmas lights reveal themselves best in fading ambient light following sunset and that the trick is to balance the Christmas lights against the ambient light. Here, framing shots would make intentional use of the sky as background to composition; I would need to shoot across the subject (lights) into the ambient light. And, where I began shooting Christmas lights at 8:30 p.m. I would need to move the photography three hours ahead to 4:30-5:30 p.m. to find the sweet spot of the ambient light fading into background glow. In terms of camera settings, where I had my white balance set to custom at K 10000, the Strobist article recommends using the tungsten setting to bring out a royal blue in the sky. I did use my tripod and took shots from low level, eye level and from the deck of my pick-up truck box as a means to find best angle of view. Strobist recommends a low level shot so as to use much more of the sky as background in the composition. In terms of foreground in most shots I did utilize the light, reflective surface of the snow to create foreground interest; here, there may be better ways to explore foreground use. In the shots I took last night snow tends to add the feel of a large blanket insulating the earth below it.
So, I’ll be out and about in the next few nights, right after work.
Colourful Road – Between Fort Vermilion and La Crete, Alberta
Backroads – Between Fort Vermilion and La Crete, Alberta
Sawmill – La Crete, Alberta
Sawmill – La Crete, Alberta
Sawmill – La Crete, Alberta
Sunset – La Crete, Alberta
Round Bale – La Crete, Alberta
Round Bale – La Crete, Alberta
Christmas Lights – Fort Vermilion, Alberta
Christmas Lights – Fort Vermilion, Alberta
Homesteads – Fort Vermilion, Alberta
Homesteads – Fort Vermilion, Alberta
Shack – Fort Vermilion, Alberta
Shack – Fort Vermilion, Alberta
Fort Vermilion School Division – Central Office
Fort Vermilion School Division – Central Office
Looking on to the Flamingo Inn – High Level, Alberta
Colourful Christmas Tree – High Level, Alberta
Main Street High Level – Another View
Main Street High Level – Christmas Decor
A few years ago I had a job requiring travel among the back roads of Alberta’s MacKenzie Municipal District No. 23, a region that would encompass three smaller European countries. It was a job in which I could pay attention to the region’s movement through the seasons in terms of weather, light and darkness. One year ago today, I took my camera and tripod out and away from High Level to revisit these same backroads, though for an afternoon and evening I remained oriented to the rural landscape between La Crete and Fort Vermilion, Alberta. I began taking photos in the mid-afternoon working my way from La Crete toward Fort Vermilion and then rounded out the evening with photos of main street High Level and its Christmas decor. Here’s a look back to photographs taken a year ago today.
Midway through this December, Saturday afternoon, my daughter and I were in the Cab of my white 2000 GMC Sierra half-ton working our way through town and our list of errands. Not having read this week’s newspaper, The Echo, and without the town of High Level having a Twitter-feed we chanced upon the Santa Parade moving through mainstreet. Later, at supper, I learned about fireworks being among today’s events – at 6:00 p.m. the High Level Fire Department would begin a fireworks display. With all the night photography I’ve done, I hadn’t yet captured fireworks. I found my blue folder of Night Photography notes from Darlene Hildebrand (Her View Photography http://www.herviewphotography.com/ ), skimmed them, briefly, put my Canon 60 D on top of my Manfrotto tripod, changed lenses to my Canon 15-80mm zoom and set the shutter release for a 2-second countdown. The camera settings for the photographs I took are ISO 100, f-8 with an exposure of 13 seconds. I got to the fireworks site, aimed my camera into the sky toward an anticipated fireworks target area and made rough calculations for focusing to subject; using live view I adjusted composition area against where fireworks were bursting open and fell from; each of the 79 pictures taken are at a range of approximately 200-300 metres from the camera. Above, you’ll find some of the better exposures I snapped.
I’m going to study this picture. It does capture a sense of this being an outpost and a place to refit and refuel in night’s darkest hours. The intent, however, was to capture something iconic, a gas station lighting the night … it being more of a beacon for a point of rest before continuing on, more something you’d expect listening to John Mayer sing ‘Route 66’. High Level’s Shell Service Station is open 24/7 year-round and is midpoint between Edmonton, Alberta and Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. In terms of the shot taken, it may be that the 50mm prime lens limits what can happen with plane of focus and composition; more movement on my part would be needed to find the right location and composition. Still, I like the crispness of most parts of the photograph. I may try a few shots looking more straight across to the service station one of these nights.
This evening I was working with a prime lens, a Canon 50mm f1.4 lens. I’m getting a sense for the distance to subject it accommodates. With my 60D’s sensor having a correction factor of 1.6, the 50mm lens behaves more like an 80mm lens; so, this evening I’ve been putting distance between me and my subjects. In this shot, I’ve created some blur (light trail) with a 10 second exposure and the tail lights of a vehicle moving through the photo from left to right. Working with live view is helping focus manually to different parts of the landscape; this is f-10 for five seconds … I’ve probably focused on the second lamp post to the right.
I also listened to episode 6 of Sid & Mac’s Shutter Time podcast, a discussion with Randy Pond regarding social media and its uses – good discussion of flickr, google +, facebook, tumblr, wordpress and how an upcoming photographer would use them.
In My Back Pocket - Photography 
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