Oct 012015
 

Today is Thursday October 1st.  We fly home tomorrow…..(insert sad face emoji).  Slept in a bit.   My persistence paid off this morning.  I have begged My Bride to go to the Ammonite/Ammolite factory.  The Ammonite fossils (some 70 million years old) are found world wide.  The incredibly stunning Ammolite is only found in this part of Canada.  Considered one of the rarest gems, the opportunity to see how they are mined and finished was important to me.   The visit exceeded my expectations.

This past week was very stress relieving.   To be in the wilderness and carrying my camera is always top of my fun list.   To be with Karen the whole time made it supreme!

 

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For you photographers this next shot was taken at ground level.  I actually sat my D800 with a 16-38mm lens on the moss.  Laying on my belly it was extremely difficult to focus.    The lens was about 13″ from the mushrooms.   The upright mushroom is about 3″ tall.   Not a particularly great photo.  Just will always remember the location and the actual spot.

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 Posted by at 8:18 PM
Sep 302015
 

Karen suggested we go to the second largest glacier fed lake in the world.  So we did.   35km in the wrong direction.   I am so glad we went.  BEAUTIFUL!   We took a boat cruise two thirds of the way to the opposite end of the lake.   Stopped at a place called spirit island.  Not too many places like this on the earth!   Then we drove 224km back to Canmore.   Water falls, mushrooms, pano lake shots, all kinds of fun.  In fact too much to post tonight….

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This is a close up of the ice fields using a long lens.   The the 50 person buses in the bottom.   Gives size to the ice field.

This is the ice fields with a wider lens.   Really shows the size of the ice fields.  Since 1985 the ice fields has reduced in size by 65%.

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 Posted by at 11:27 PM
Sep 292015
 

Drove about 148 miles from Canmore to Jasper.   Wow! Wow! Wow!   Took us all day.   Next time I’ll walk.  Stopped at almost every curve in the road.  The only issue today was the hotel took me for $250.00!!!!  Small price to pay for the day with my bride and the remarkable views.

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This next shot is a lake next to our hotel we are staying in in Jasper AB.  It’s not saturated.  The sky is reflecting into the water as Blue.   Where the pine trees it looks like a crazy saturated green.  That is the actual color of the lake.  The greenest lake I have ever seen.

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 Posted by at 8:05 PM
Sep 282015
 

This morning we were on the road 1 hour pre-sunrise.  Heading to Lac Moraine (french for Moraine Lake).  Upon arriving the sun was just kissing the peaks of the “Valley of Ten Peaks”.   It was difficult to get all my gear together as it was -1 degree (centigrade).  Hey I’m in Canada.  Just doing and saying as a Canadian.   To get to the perfect spot I needed to cross the outlet river of Lac Moraine.  Easy.  A bunch of huge dead trees piled across the river.  Just traverse the logs.   Easy.  Until I fell in the river!  Yep up to my knees in glacier water….freezing cold!  The task was at hand.  Crossed the river, then climbed the rock pile to the perfect spot.  Shaking and numb to my knees I waited for the shot.   The peaks with that perfect morning glow.

A fun day.

 Posted by at 9:06 PM
Sep 272015
 

A ton of windshield time today.  Wow!  It’s beautiful here.  Around every bend is a new incredible scene.  It seems this week I will be photographing a ton of the rockies!  It’s late.  Karen and I are getting up before sunrise to see sunrise at a famous lake.  The following are quick grabs from about 26GB of photo’s I took today…

Grabbed the shots right out of camera, added logo and on a couple clicked grayscale.  Ok…..the last one I played a bit.   And of course I always have to put the Artsy Fartsy ones in……

 

 Posted by at 9:30 PM
Sep 262015
 

We flew into Calgary this afternoon.  Heading for Canmore, Banff and Jasper.   A dream come true.  One of my bucket list items!   And to make it the very best trip my bride is with me.

Driving out of Calgary was normal?   A lot of agriculture.   Slight rolling hills.   Then at about 50km’s …..Yikes!   My endorphins were on fire.  I pulled over on the freeway to take this shot.   Believe me.  This is NOTHING!   We are in Canmore now.   Holy cow, it’s gorgeous!  Could wear out my cameras this week…

Black and White or Color?   Actually this particular shot right out of the camera at road side I like the B&W.

I like this one!

 Posted by at 7:45 PM
Sep 092015
 

Between Phoenix and Pinetop Arizona is a beautiful canyon.  This particular mountain is covered in sequoia cactus.  In all my travels I’ve never seen so many in a area this small…..

 Posted by at 8:34 PM
Oct 092014
 

I’m always falling back to black and white photography.  Whenever I travel for work it seems that I see through black and white eyes.  Recently I was near Arches National Park.  Consistently the results of shooting there is black and white prints.  Yesterday while on a very long drive from Boise, Idaho to Winnemucca, Nevada, I stopped at a small acreage of sand dunes.  It was a blast!  Here is a few shots from Arches and the sand dunes.

 


 Posted by at 7:25 PM
Jun 082014
 

A few years ago we went to Brazil.  It was a great trip.  Though I probably would never go back.  Late one night we walked down the famous beach in Rio.  A night stroll with our spouses.  My wife was moderately scared.  I was calm.  She was on me constantly to put my camera away.  Is the sun coming up tomorrow?  I’m in a foreign country!  I’m taking photographs!  Most of locals are pretty small.  It would take a small army to get my camera from me.  So the question arises..what to shoot at night on the beach.  Actually I recently found some photo’s I forgot about.  It took me right back to that beach that night.  Some distance from the hotel  two statues.  A man and a women.  They looked like clay statues.  At a closer examination it was obvious they were live statues.  Painted with some sort of mud, crusty material on their faces.  the balance of their body was covered.  Just as you may see a monk with their hood up.  I am truly not sure what they represented.  Being the aggressive photographer that I can be I was right in their faces.  When I found the photograph’s I was disappointed that most of them were blurry.  It was dark.  And there was very little light.  Basically the street lighting off in the distance was the only available light.  I did get two pretty good photo’s.  The photo below is the male.  It is somewhat interesting.  As a subject and as a photograph.  Enjoy!

 Posted by at 3:23 PM
Jan 152014
 

I could spend a lifetime photographing different artistic renditions of graffiti.

We opened a store in Chubbick, Idaho this week.  Adjacent to Chubbick is an indian reservation.  Driving through Fort Hall indian reservation at first appears to be like any other rural setting.  As I drove further into the area it was clear that the standard of living was very low.  Most homes were run down trailers.  Commercial buildings have long been abandoned.  Numerous dog’s running about the area with no sense of belonging.  The vast majority of vertical surfaces are covered in graffiti.  Tanks, buildings, fences, signs, and anything that could be painted  had graffiti on it.

On some walls there was multiple layers of comments.

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I found myself staring at the graffiti in the photo and it took on a three dimensional feel.  Either the colors or just the way the paint was applied created an optical illusion.

Around the corner on an adjacent building is the word “PEACE”.  Why no one has painted over it with messages or statements is interesting.  Maybe it is the message of the reservation.  All the residents agree on the notion of PEACE?  Maybe.

 Posted by at 8:34 PM
2016