Day 50 / 365

Not sure what is inside of this white globe, but it made a nice contrast agains the stormy sky and yellow canola fields. *Apparently there is a satellite dish inside this globe*

Day 46 / 365

Day 37 / 365

Calgary has some of the most beautiful sunsets.

Day 27 / 365

I am off to a week long scenic photography road trip, so today was packing day. And no, this is not a narcissistic post - self portraiture is actually a legitimate photography technique.

Light posterization effect applied in Photoshop CS4

Day 24 / 365

The most dramatic storm clouds I had ever seen formed near Lacombe this evening. These were the clouds as the storm moved in over Gull Lake. The clouds constantly and rapidly changed, so they actually looked much more dramatic shortly after. I even saw what I thought was the formation of a funnel cloud!

Day 23 / 365

Central Memorial Park at night. The fountains are beautiful and change colours like the rainbow. So pretty!

CLICK ON THE IMAGE for a larger view.

Day 22 / 365

Dicentra formosa with ボケ. Shooting macros with a landscape lens is a really limiting attempt at what I actually wanted to capture. I desperately need to invest in a telephoto zoom lens. Excessive cropping resulted in the noise in the green space, but I think it adds character in this case.

1/100s @ f/5.6 ISO 200

Day 21 / 365

Bokeh progressively zoomed in with several stops over the duration of the exposure.

CLICK ON THE IMAGE to view a larger version.

5s @ f/4.5 ISO 200

Day 18 / 365

Centennial Place at night. The colour spots on the columns are light reflections from the parkade across the street.

3.0s @ f/13.0 ISO 200

Day 3 / 365

This is the Lougheed House in Calgary's beltline district. "Lougheed House, also known as Beaulieu, was home to Senator James Alexander Lougheed, Lady Isabella Hardisty Lougheed, their six children and staff. This grand sandstone prairie mansion was built in 1891 and enlarged in 1907; the impressive scale and the high quality of the design, materials and interior furnishings of the house reflected the wealth and prestige of the Lougheeds. An article in the Calgary Daily Herald claimed it was one of the finest residences in the Canadian northwest. In their day, when the population of this pioneer town was under 4,000, the Lougheeds were among Calgary's most influential citizens; they would remain so for decades. Their house was a political and social hub of this young and fast-growing prairie center, and received many renowned visitors. Lougheed House received important state visitors on many occasions. In 1912, the Duke and Duchess of Connaught and their daughter Princess Patricia stayed at the house. In 1919, the Lougheeds entertained the Prince of Wales at a garden party. Prince Edward visited again in 1923 and 1928. Other notable visitors included Prince George; Governor General Lord and Lady Byng; Prince Erik of Denmark (1928); Lord and Lady Willingdon; and the Right Honourable Stanley Baldwin. James Lougheed was appointed to the Senate in 1889, and worked to grant provincial status to Alberta in 1905. Following the Conservative victory in 1911, he held a number of key portfolios. He was knighted in 1916 for his role in establishing hospitals and services for Canadian veterans after the Great War. Successful in business and property development, Lougheed also supported the arts, building Calgary's Lyric and Grand Theatres." (http://www.lougheedhouse.com/)

I walk past the Lougheed House and its beautifully planted garden on my way to and from work every day. I am always drawn to the texture of the stone walls and the fact that it has a sense of history, which is rare to find in Calgary and I entirely miss quite a bit from Europe. The building with today's perfect photography sky looks quite dramatic as a vertorama (vertically stitched images to allow for more foreground AND more sky) with a 10mm lens, but it is taking me too long tonight to figure out how to fix the distortions. So, here is a less dramatic but also undistorted look. The cloud scattered sky nicely diffused the sunlight, creating a perfect naturally lit scene.

1/100s @ f/10.0 ISO 200