Day 14 / 365

Calgary Skyline framed by a tree taken from the SAIT campus.

1/13s @ f/9.0 ISO 200

Day 13 / 365

Pine tree bloom.

1/30s @ f/5.6 ISO 200

Day 12 / 365

For today's post I am taking the liberty of posting an image from a few weeks ago, shortly before the start of project 365. The reason for this "cheat" is that even though I took a photo today, it is of my family BBQing in the Elbow River Valley, which I am assuming is not of great interest to any blog followers.

One of the techniques I am working on is the photography of children. They move quickly, and just as quickly change their moods. You have to buzz about, snap like mad, and kind of hope for the best. I am sure there is more finesse to it than that, but I have not discovered it yet in the past month. This is my niece P. in the bleachers of the High River Rodeo.

1/120s @ f/8.0 ISO 200

Day 11 / 365

From the information sign at the trail head to Hidden Lake in Kikomun Creek Provincial Park: " Western Painted Turtles: When hot weather sends most marsh dwellers into hiding, painted turtles come out to sunbathe. Turtles take full advantage of the sun to remain active throughout the summer. They survive the winter in pond-bottom ooze where little oxygen exists.

Female turtles reach maturity after 9 to 10 years. In June, they dig nests in open ground and lay 6 to 18 leathery eggs, which they promptly cover with gravel. Those eggs not lost to predators hatch in early September and the young remain in gravel until spring, enduring winter temperatures. These remarkable hatchlings survive despite being partially frozen with their heartbeat and breathing stopped.

Kikomun Creek Park is home to the most concentrated population of turtles in BC. Smaller numbers are only protected in two smaller provincial parks. Despite their ability to adapt to their surroundings, western painted turtles are threatened. "

Today, the turtles came out to sunbathe in droves by laying on logs in shallow water. They are not even all that shy and you can get quite close to them without scaring more than one or two away. I was waiting for over half an hour for the sun to go behind a cloud so that the belly of the turtle would not be in the shade, but the sky was nearly cloudless. Thus, I fired a flash as fill light, which worked beautifully.

1/250s @ f/9.0 ISO 200

Day 10 / 365

Before we strolled down to Surveyor Lake, we walked to another small lake in Kikomun Creek Provincial Park, called Hidden Lake. It is a protected lake in which all activity is forbidden to protect the hundreds of painted turtles that call the lake their home. As we reached the trail head that leads all around the lake, there was a sign from the rangers that read "Caution, cougar in the area". Sure enough, we found a skull, bones, and fur scattered in this one area down by the lake. Once we had completed the trail and reached the trail head again, the rangers had just attached a sign that now read "Trail Closed: Due to Cougar in the area", and then headed down to the lake with a garbage bag - perhaps to clean up the remains we had found?

We set up camp at the provincial campground, but the sun was not able to make a breakthrough that day. Looking at this photo you probably would not suspect that it was taken in a slight but constant drizzle.  If you don't plan to take shots where you include the sky, overcast or slightly rainy days make for excellent photography days. The colours are vibrant and not washed out from sunlight, the contrasts are natural, and the lighting even. We spent the day playing around Surveyor Lake, and the kids had a great time tossing rocks from the dock into the water. My Dad likes to fish to relax, and I caught him in this unobserved moment just before he noticed that I had directed the lens at him. When it comes to photos of people, I find ones where the subject is unaware of the lens turn out the best, because you capture the person in their own moment in their own space. Once there is awareness of the lens, the moment and the space changes, and so does the feel of the photo.

1/160s @ f/7.1 ISO 200

Day 9 / 365

This morning we left Osoyoos and drove to Norbury Lake near Creston, BC. There is a viewpoint at the top of the road up the pass on the east side of the lake where you have a great panoramic view over the entire lake and area. Unfortunately, there has been a large mud slide in this very area yesterday (June 13th), which resulted in this road up the bass being covered in 4 feet of mud and several homes being destroyed.

The image below is a panorama comprised of 7 images stitched together in Photoshop. What is interesting about stitching multiple images together is that the megapixels are additive. The panorama below is 46 megapixels, even though my camera is a 12.3 megapixel camera.

The US border line is about 1/3 from the left border of the image. The Haynes Point Campground is on that small peninsula about 1/3 from the right border of the image.

CLICK ON THE IMAGE to see a full-screen view of the panorama!

1/160s @ f/11.0 ISO 200

Day 8 / 365

You cannot go to British Columbia and come home without a photo of orchards or vineyards. It being early June, there are unfortunately no ripe inviting fruit dangling from any branches. With the sun rising so early these days, I tend to wake up before 6am, which is the perfect time to go exploring with my camera since the light is just perfect. It also allows you to explore in the stillness of the morning, when most people are still in bed and nature is just awakening. During this early morning light, everything seems so crisp and beautiful, and all you can hear are the sounds of the birds and waves. I find this time of day increadibly relaxing and calming, and taking the time to enjoy these moments leads to a very satisfying start to any day.

This morning, I took a stroll out of the Haynes Point Provincial Campground at Osoyoos Lake and snooped around the vineyard that is just up the hill. The clouds were slight and scattered, the vine leafs in a refreshing green colour (the way only brand new leafs are) - you could just tell it was going to be a beautiful day. I wanted to capture the grittiness of the vine bark, the beautiful bright sky, and the sense of endlessness you get when you look down the rows of vines. Hopefully you get that sense from the image below.

1/100s @ f/18.0 ISO 200

This morning I also stumbled upon freshly hatched Button Quails! Quails are small pheasants (4.5")  and the males are quite beautiful with their head dress feathers. The quail chicklets (Quailets? :) were only about the size of a bumble bee and zoomed around in the grass just as quickly as bees buzz about. They were bright yellow with brown stripes and just about the cutests little birds I have ever seen. Some moments cannot be caught on camera because they surprise you and happen so quickly, and this was one of them, but it was a really precious moment.