The Work of Winter
Back from a great couple of weeks in New Zealand.
This image is from one of the first couple of frosty mornings at the start of the trip. As the morning sky was starting to light up I settled on this composition with the frozen pond and frost covered trees.
I hope everyone is well
Worlds Away
I tried to escape the heat here in Perth on Monday (40 Degrees Celsius) by going through my archives and finding an image of a winter scene. This image here caught my attention as I remember it being particularly cold at the time. As I said… I TRIED to escape the heat. Processing this image didn’t drop my core temperature but I enjoyed reminiscing.
Banff, Alberta. Canada
frame of mind
I find it hard to escape visualizing images. It’s not that I want to stop, it’s just that it can often send me on a wild goose chase trying to capture the image. More often than not those visualizations remain just that. They tend to occur the split second I wake up or as I am trying to get to sleep, the latter can be frustrating. Some of you might be thinking “ok fruitcake” but I’m sure the rest of you can relate to what I am talking about. I think it is an important part of photography and any other art form (oh no, did I just refer to photography as an art form. better be careful) as it keeps us motivated and in pursuit of “that image”. I am sure that over time some of them will come together. Some may not quite stand up to what you initially visualized while others may exceed.
Here is an image I managed to capture less than 30 minutes after visualizing it. It doesn’t happen very often but it’s pretty magic when it does. I was out scouting locations and stopping here and there in aspen groves capturing some movement blur images like previously posted. After hoping back in the car and continuing to scout I thought it would be cool to do some movement blur on some wild life to create something different. I visualized deer in front of some aspens as I thought it could make an interesting image. I continued to drive keeping an eye out for deer and within no time at all there it was, right there in front of me. Three deer nibbling away at grass in front of an aspen grove. I slipped into stealth ninja mode and crept up on them. Luckily one of the three decided to participate and I was able to come away with something very similar to what I envisioned in my minds eye. It was a strange feeling.
Motionless Mornings
This is a 4 image stitch that was taken at the beginning of October in the Kananaskis Region here in Alberta, Canada.
I was eager to get out shooting on this particular morning as the seasons first snow had fallen the previous afternoon. I headed out well before sunrise hoping that the grey skies would begin to clear. It was a very still morning so I had to wait around for a while until the clouds began to pass over. I had absolutely no problems sitting, waiting, watching, and listening while the skies slowly cleared.
Sausalito – San Francisco
This image was taken from Sausalito looking out toward Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay area. Myself and Neal headed to the location about 30 minutes before first light which proved to be a good move as this is when I found the light to be at its best for this particular morning. It was still dark so the city lights reflected nicely off the low lying cloud and light fog that was about. We were also hoping for a spectacular sunrise but unfortunately the cloud was too heavy on the horizon.
Luck comes into play in a big way when you only have that one or two days to shoot a particular location. You can do as much research as you like, and have allllll the gear at hand, but having the weather do exactly what you want, when you want just isn’t going to happen. I bet if Jesus was here today and into this whole photography thing he would capture some incredible images.
6 image stitch
Back in Canada
Well I am now back from my little road trip throughout Northern California with Neal of Spool Photography. It was a great trip and we got to shoot many stunning locations. The main locations for our shoots were the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Lee Vining, the ghost town of Bodie, Mono Lake, and Yosemite National Park.
I am now off to Montreal for a week, mainly just to relax and have a look around. I am also hoping to catch some of the Autumn colour while I am there, so I may just have to get the camera out from time to time. 🙂
I have not yet had the opportunity to go over any of my images from the US trip, but will do when I get back from Montreal.
Below is an image I shot a little while ago here in Alberta, it is one of my favourite locations to visit early morning. This was taken when we were getting the first few mornings of frost in the valleys. I really want to shoot the same scene when it is snow covered and under some beautiful morning light. A few clouds here and there would be really nice too 🙂
For the time being this image will just have to do.
L U K E A U S T I N P H O T O G R A P H Y 