What Happened to Summer?
It has become chilly out, only temporary but a reminder that the hot weather won’t last forever.My thoughts are with those who are suffering from the effects of the many forest fires across our lands. It is green here in the city but many trees are chaging colour due to stress from lack of moisture. the leaves look wilted, too.
I am moving to a new neighbourhood and my computer is full to almost bursting so I will upgrade but not until the next month or month after. It makes it hard to go out and shoot away so am slowing down photo ops and replacing them with packing.Not as much fun,I tell you!
in the meantime, here are some photos from the summer months.
Belly dancers at the Heritage festival
scenes from EdmontonFolk Music Festival
A Visitor on My Hat
Main stage- Edmonton Folk Music Festival
bark abstract from a walk in the woods
A Weekend of Music and Fun
I volunteered at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival recently and enjoyed seeing people from my crew again and enjoyed listening to new artists that were previously unfamiliar to me as well as seeing some familiar ones. I came away from the experience feeling creatively and spiritually inspired. Here are some shots from the weekend.
Here’s from behind the scenes in the kitchen where food is prepared and served up to over 2,000 people per meal at the peak of the festival.
the food is fresh and delicious.
And outside, facing the hill.The stages all face hills in the ski club in the middle of the city..
Some of the musicians Oysterband and Mike Farris
The light of the hoops at night.
Final Act of theFirst Evening with the City in Background
The Colours of Summer
When the bright spring green disappears, and summer arrives, there are other colour combinations to delight the eye. I can’t believe that July is almost over. I want to get out more and capture various light conditions and the birds.
This is what I have seen lately: the changing of the colours of the grasses and shrubs, the ripe berries and the duck weed and algae in the ponds.
the red leaves and berries
duck weed inthe ponds
yellow flowers
combination of grass and leaves of trees
shrubs and bushes
The Oohs and Ah-hhhs of Sunset
There was a bright shining red ball lowering in the sky as my friend and I raced for the beach at Astotin Lake. People were in the way so I used them as impromptu models because the sun was sinking fast and I didn’t want to miss it.Yes, their heads are merged with the background islands but I felt there was so little precious time. We stuck around after the sun set to see the more sublte colours in the surrounding sky.
Last Days of Summer
After the cold and snow flurries last week and the inevitable whining, I felt so relaxed and grateful today as I walked along natural paths, observed the changes in the trees and bushes. and watched the squirrels as they hurried back and forth, with mouths full of food , preparing for the inevitable cold days ahead.It was a good day to be out doors with temperatures back in the normal zone.
Except for a few territorial squabbles, and the odd chase by children, the geese mostly ate grass and relaxed. I took photos of the things that caught my eye. hope you enjoy my look at the world.
Glorious
I had a visit with a friend the other evening to welcome her to Edmonton and we both got something we will not forget. As we came up out of the river valley, the sun was setting and rain was drizzling. There was a glorious double rainbow in front of us , in fact we could see the end of the rainbow right in the bushes below us. That prompted a lot of comments from passers by about finding “the pot of gold.”
My friend couldn’t get the entire rainbow in the lens of her point-and-shoot and my camera was at home a couple of blocks away so I ran as best as I could knowing that I might miss it all.The light had changed as had the position of the rainbow that had mostly faded out I still got some images of wonderful colour and light.
Some More Cuteness
It is a pleasure to go to this city pond, one of many, and see the young ducklings.Some are Lesser Scaups, some American Widgeons, and the Mallards.
Mother Scaup with her two balls of fluff.
Crow Talk
This crow was by itself in the lower branches of the tree, observing the ducks, geese and myself. It was muttering under its breath, making all sorts of vocalizations as if talking to itself. Once in a while it cawed back and forth with its clan in nearby trees, even matching the number of caws, then there would be a lot of noise as they all excitedly called back and forth to each other.
I tried to capture this in these photos as I snapped happily away and it seemed quite obliging in the process.At one point when it was talking to itself, there was a scolding squirrel above it and the crow took this in stride but did did keep a series of mutterings going on with its head down and the eyelid semi-closed, perhaps protection from the debris that was coming from the squirrel.
Some Close-ups of Babies at he Pond
First are the grown-up babies. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. Click to see enlargements.
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- Gosling
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- Male Goldeneye Duckling
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- Widgeon Duckling
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- Gosling
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- Mallard Duckling
Close-up of Field Flowers
Since the flowers in my field guide are not always as clear as I would like, as are my photos, I am guessing that rather than lupine, this might be Tufted Vetch. Gosh, I could start another blog on this topic of wild flowers alone, but not sure that I have the patience.
Fields of Flowers
On my way to the ponds I often pass through luscious fields of wild flowers and try to capture their presence in photos . Can’t say I know what they are, some may be clover or Alfalfa but I sure enjoy them up close and from a distance as a massive blanket of hues. I share them with you as best as I can, it was a little breezy.
Oh, Just a Couple More
When the ruddy duck showed up at the pond, I was clicking away, if not always focused, but getting some good shots. When you get close to a bird, or it gets close to you, it is always, “Oh, just a couple more…”
So bear with me as I continue to show off the male Ruddy Duck after he came closer.
Interesting Display from a Male Ruddy Duck
I had no expectations of seeing this fellow but on this day had great luck with spotting the Ruddy Duck.He not only appeared, but also gave quite the show with splashing and sputtering , even coming closer than ever before.
I did not see the reason for this display until I looked at the photos after downloading them. It was then that I saw a female Mallard possibly on a nest.
See for yourself,as this male Ruddy gives quite the performance in this next sequence of photos.
By the light of the Moon
Now that the hullabaloo over the fireworks has passed as has the opening night of the show of lights of the High Level bridge, I returned to a park where I could take some photos of both the High Level and the Menzies bridge which serves as a way fare for both pedestrian traffic and Light Rail transit. Usually I like my lights sparkling but not the moon. Will have to work on that.
I used my tripod, put settings on “Bulb” and kept the shutter open for 5-10 seconds with the ISO at 100.
Bridges-Filling the Gap
Bridges are playing a major theme in our city lately. Two are being torn down to make way for new ones.Another, the High Level Bridge, has been adorned with over 50,000 lights to entertain us in the dark of night.
Today’s post focuses on the 102 Avenue bridge that joins the west end to downtown and stands beside the Royal Alberta Museum. It is more of a functional bridge than “pretty” but that does not make it any less important.The 102 Avenue bridge is over a hundred years old and spans a deep ravine.It has flaws and weaknesses and needs to be torn down. The road under it is a major road as is the the one that runs over it. so that means temporary detours for Groat Road as well as the bridge road for the next 15 months.
It has some flaws but as you can see in these photos , the structure still has strength because it didn’t fall apart as easily as expected. The clean-up is going to take longer than first estimated.I felt it important to record some of this moment in time.
I am looking from the museum side to the High Street shopping area off of 124 Street.
It feels like Summer
When I go to a pool and wade in the water with a young friend, it reminds me that I am living in the days of summer. Cold refreshments to keep hydrated, wading pools to explore in and find leaves, the smell of the peonies in the garden, listening to live music by Asani. Life is Good.
Fireworks for Canada Day 2014
I was so excited this year, I looked up articles for taking fireworks and scouted spots ahead of time. When the evening came, I arrived 1 hour ahead of time to find that my first couple of spots were already taken but found p”plan c” and planted myself in position, checking the lens, set to manual focus and battery. I held down the shutter release in some cases as long as 19 seconds, periodically covering the lens opening with the cap to get multiple images in one shot. Sometimes it was blown out but got a good effect in a few.
The nice thing about a shutter release cable is that I could watch the fireworks live. It was fun and I got a kick out of the line-up of photographers dotted around the hill at different levels. The people next to me were newcomers to Canada and we hugged each other and I welcomed them. meanwhile they were recording and sending texts or emails back to their relatives.
I discovered a new feature here in WordPress. I put the photos into a” gallery”. if you click on one, a slideshow opens AND you can see the exposure settings.
So here are a few from last night:
Florals of Early Summer
While I have posted some photos of blooms in other posts, I will try to post here what I have not included yet. I love the effort and creativity that people put into their lawns and gardens and enjoy capturing the shapes and colours.Timing is so important because so many of these blooms do not last long. I appreciate the planning that goes into a garden that continually has colour so that when one flower fades, another rises to take it’s place.
I find it a challenge to capture an image of flowers and blossoms, especially lilacs, and come up with a pleasing composition.This is dedicated to all the gardeners and all the people who appreciate them and their work. Maybe I should give back by helping with the weeding once in a while…
Light the Bridge!
There has been a campaign in the city of Edmonton to donate money to light the high-level bridge after the waterfall proved too costly and full of flaws. There are 50,00 lights due to the generosity of the citizens of Edmonton and I do not think that it cost the tax-payers anything. While out on an evening walk I thought that I would take my camera and tripod and practise some shots for the fireworks and bridge display on Canada Day next Tuesday.The lights seem to move in lines from one end to the other, changing colour and rhythm.
Last year I got pretty good fireworks but black sky and was envious of the blue skies of my fellow photographers.I did some research on exposures and decided to try putting my speed on “bulb”, pressed the remote shutter down for 5, 6 and 7 seconds. I used manual mode and manual focus, and kept my ISO at 100 and tried f/8 to f/11.I used my zoom lens at 70mm up to 300mm and prefer the wider shots, and probably move the viewfinder up,which will be good for the fireworks. The blue bridge in the foreground is the pedestrian and LRT pathway. Here are the results:
A Well-Deserved Drink
The others followed Mom and Dad but this one that ran to the water stopped for a drink.
Skyline in Early Evening
Went out on a photo club outing on Sunday evening and caught the rays of the setting sun just before and after sunset which took place at 7:46 p.m. The days get shorter by 3 minutes a day.
I used a variety of exposure settings, manual, aperture priority, shutter priority…nice to be open and I found that I was wishing that I had checked my notes on fireworks about what exposures to use to get those cobalt skies. It wasn’t a blue sky, there was more grey and yellow so I will have to get out there again. There was good conversation with others about what people were using and I enjoyed being out there.
1/80 sec @f/11 ISO 400
1 sec @f/8 ISO 400
2.5 sec @ f/13 ISO 400
Strolling along the River
Just the other day it was sunny with record warm temperatures (30 degrees celsius) and the water was lower so I was able to walk along side the river.It was a great afternoon.I enjoyed the heat, the sound of birds and the sound of the waves lapping at the shore. The latter is a nostalgic sound as I so well remember listening to the water as I lay on the dock at a cottage when I was a child. Got a taste of both summer with the heat and autumn with the changing colour of the leaves. Sigh…
My Heartsong 