I was invited out by a friend and fellow photographer to the Headingley area bright and early on our Louis Riel Day Monday to try our luck capturing some female snowy owls in the wild.  These birds are beautiful creatures and its really sad when you realize that the lack of snow we've had this winter, despite us rejoicing in our good fortune, has really had a negative impact on these birds being able to feed themselves.  That being said, we did have the good fortune to see quite a few throughout the morning and early afternoon... getting good photos of these fast, people-wary birds is a whole other challenge, however. They like to hang around on the tops of hydro poles and fence poles and when they do, they are a little easier to spot:

But when they are sitting in the middle of a field enjoying their "catch of the day" they are almost impossible to see!

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I had another opportunity to head out shooting the aurora borealis this week and this time, rather than being just green bands as we saw during Week 4 of my project 52, Mother Nature put on an unforgetable light show for us.  We had quite a turnout of photographers from the Manitoba Foto Friends join us for this excursion. We headed out to Sandy Bay in the Grand Beach Provincial Park with a total of 8 photogs spread out over Lake Winnipeg (along the shoreline) taking in the show.  The swirling lights started up early in the evening (around 9 PM) which is quite a bit earlier than usual and they lasted on and off until about 1 AM when they faded away. Despite some difficulties getting all our vehicles out of the snowy parking area at the end, it was a fantastic night! The swirls and textures...

This week's challenge was photographing the snow sculptures at Winnipeg's annual Festival du Voyageur.  Taking photos of snow can be a bit of a challenge as all cameras meter snow at 18% grey.  In order to get the true white of the snow on camera, you end up needing to over-expose your image by anywhere from 1/2 to 1.5 stops.  This will create a different challenge, however as overexposing for the snow tends to blow out the sky.  So how to expose properly for the snow and yet keep the blue sky?  The solution:  HDR (High Dynamic Range)  This is where you take multiple shots of the same scene at varying exposures (usually 3-5 images with 1 stop in between each) and combine all shots in post processing to acheive the photograph that matches the closest to what your eyes actually saw. This first image is not an HDR and as you can see the sky is blue but very light and the snow is very grey.

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For week 6, I had the opportunity to try shooting "dancing paint."  What is dancing paint?  Exactly what it sounds like... liquid paint dancing to music! The setup for this type of shoot is actually more time consuming than the shoot itself but oh so worth it and so much fun! What you need: An old (but working) speaker removed from its case so the output is accessible, plugged into a stereo or other device that plays music Black garbage bags, clear plastic, white plastic... whatever you'd like for your base to put the paint on Tape Water-based paints (dollarama for $1 each and they have TONS of colours... a bottle goes a long way as you're only using one dilluted drop at a time.) Studio lights or a bright flash that can be triggered from your camera (can't give a whole lot of details on these as I piggy-backed on another's setup for the lights) Tripod and Camera Paper towels (LOTS), a garbage can/bag to throw them in, and a small dish of water for wet-wiping ...

My challenge for week 5 was supposed to be something completely different, but the plan must evolve to take advantage of opportunity.  Winnipeg and surrounding areas were completely transformed with an incredible display of hoar frost on absolutely everything.  Truly a photographer's dream conditions and the best part... it lasted for 3 full days rather than the usual few hours one morning! Along with the frost, came grey skies and foggy mornings and though I had a meeting with a client at 11:30 one day, I decided that it was just simply too beautiful not to get at least a bit of shooting in beforehand. So I headed over to St. Vital Park for a half hour before my meeting and afterward, spent some time capturing some of the finer details in a little park close to home. Here's a few of my favorites from that day:

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This week's entry is all about the Northern Lights. Over the past two weeks, there have been a number of large solar flares... and if you monitor various websites, muddle through strange dials and calculations, and cross your fingers for clear skies, these flares can translate into wonderful light-shows over our Canadian skies. If the stars align and you're lucky enough to be outside late at night (or into the wee hours of the morning) and the lights apear, then as a photographer you have another challenge... how to get what Mother Nature provides, captured on camera for posterity. Tuesday evening and on into Wednesday morning we planned to head out to try just that. So in the 24-48 hours leading up to the shoot (about how long it takes for any solar flares to reach earth), I decided to do some research into getting better captures. I've shot the northern lights a few times before and it always seems to be trial and error.  This time, as part of my project 52, I was determined to find those master shots...

As noted in Week 3's Project 52 Blog entry, I have been a little crazy busy this past week or so but all for a great reason!  Along with two other photographers/friends of mine, we have gone live with a brand new photography forum for local photographers to get together to share images, plan events, teach workshops to each other, and generally "Celebrate the joy of photography..." with one another.  As a group, we've been together since October of 2011 but only recently have decided to create some more specific structure and permanence for our little group.  Its very exciting to be a part of such a great group of people coming together to help one another grow in this fantastic hobby/profession.  Of course all the behind-the-scenes details don't take care of themselves so the three of us have been busy gathering information and registering ourselves with the appropriate places to ensure our legitimacy but despite the paperwork and research trails we must follow, we are all super happy about this new path for our...

I enjoyed a neat discovery on the weekend and while I didn't get the chance to post about it until now, it will fill this week's Project 52. While out viewing a rural property that friends will be building on soon, they showed me an old, rusty junk-pile, used by the previous owners for many years as their personal dumping grounds for all kinds of things.  Old glass bottles, metal cans, and even a bed spring were discovered but my favorite was an old rusty toy car.  They sure don't make toys like this anymore!  Its broken windsheild and missing tires reminds me of a full-sized car one might find rusting away in a farmers field... except that this one I could pick up and move for composition. No specific challenge was tackled this week as I have been super busy with another endeavor (will blog about that separately.)  Stay warm and next week I'll share some light-painting with you!

Yesterday, thanks to a member of the photoclub I belong to (Manitoba Foto Friends), the group and I were allowed exclusive access to Jim's Vintage Garage in Headingley to photograph antique cars... at least cars is all I expected to find.  Upon arrival, I realized just how many more opportunities there were for subject matter.  The entire museum is filled with old car-related memorabilia. As I am not a huge car-finatic myself, after a few shots of the vehicles themselves, I set out to spot and shoot the small details.... and details were everywhere!  I must have circled the place a dozen times and each time found something else interesting to shoot. One friend from the club even suggested I turn around and go the other way in order find things I might have missed. As such, I have decided this week's project 52 will take care of another item on my list called "The little things in life" and below are a few of my favorites....

I have decided I'm going to start a project 52 this year.  The original idea behind this for many who tackle it is to take one photo a week.  Sometimes there are themes in mind, sometimes its just a way to ensure you get out shooting.  In my case, I have a list of various photo- and post processing- techniques that I am interested in learning or perfecting and as such, a project 52 will allow me to focus on one item from my list every week and will hopefully make me a better photographer at this time next year than I am today.  After all, its about learning and growing in your chosen field, right? Week 1: Conformal Photography In doing my research to compile my project 52 list, I came across this link and I had the same question as the author... how do they DO this? After a bit of searching, some fighting with Photoshop and installing a plug-in (links below) I have managed to...