Parade Day!

I love parades. I think they are a ridiculous amount of fun and silliness. Consider yourself forewarned for a few days of parade-ness!

Before a parade, you often find different costumed people, clowns, etc. wandering around entertaining the waiting crowds. Here we had someone in an awesome snail costume! Note the brilliant skateboard under the snail shell, to keep it from dragging on the ground.

Taken from an office window, a block away, and then cropped to reduce the busy-ness.

Wordless Wednesday: Chalk art

Artist Ulla Taylor

Wordless Wednesday: Muttart

Bird Stalker Pt 1

Once again, I have been a bird stalker lately. For me they are a great challenge because they don't usually sit still for a long, involved process of composition and fiddling with settings. Especially these little guys.

I haven't got a clue what kind of bird this is. I love the contrast though between this very lively little bird and the old bars and concrete around him.

1/80 sec exposure, f/5.0 aperture, 44.5 mm focal length, ISO 200

Owl in the City

I looked out the office window the other day, and the City was hosting an event downtown, where they were showing off city services and attractions. It seemed like a fun way to pass lunch, so I headed out to see what was what... and discovered that the local zoo had brought 3 raptors to show off!

This is Cortez, a South American Spectacled Owl from Edmonton's Valley Zoo. He was very calm, but definitely aware of and interested in what was going on around him. He only tried to take a nibble out of one person, and even then it seemed like only a half-hearted attempt - he didn't move very fast! It was also quite warm out, so he may have been feeling a bit lethargic. The zookeeper was paying close attention to signs that the heat was getting to Cortez.

And this is a close-up of the foot of Cortez! I'd rather not find myself on the wrong side of those powerful talons. The detail of the feathers is also great, I love how sharply in focus this image is.

This was an amazing experience. To be so close to this bird - I even got to pet his chest! Beautiful bird.

First image: 1/250 exposure, f/4.5 aperture, ISO 80, 19.8mm focal length (the slight zoom was just to minimize the background)

Second image: 1/200 exposure, f/4.5 aperture, ISO 100, 22.4mm focal length (slightly zoomed in to focus on the foot)

Scale

I was taking a series of images of several large pieces of equipment. Starting up close, I would move back and take another picture every few steps. I held the camera at the same position throughout, without recomposing the shot. Several times I paused to allow people to pass easily, including for this man.

Except as he passed, he stopped and asked if I wanted a picture! I said sure, if he would like, and he happily walked up next to the huge tire. I did stay with my same purpose, and I did not recompose the shot. I actually think it looks neat with part of it cut off on the top and right. And the man in the picture really gives it a sense of scale. He's also got such a pleasant, easy smile. I got one shot and said thank you quickly as he carried on his way.

1/200 sec exposure, f/4.0 aperture, ISO 80, 5mm focal length

Looking through lines

This man spent a few minutes joking with me and teasing me good naturedly as I took pictures of some large machinery in a downtown square. When he left, I set up a shot through these tubes and wires, only to have him pass on the other side. He made a joke about being in my way, but he really made the picture!

I loved the idea of shooting through the linkages, but there was nothing really to focus on on the other side. The other picture I took just looks messy and confused. But with his great, laughing face in the middle, this man gives a bit of focus to the other side of the tubes.

1/200 sec exposure, f/4.5 aperture, ISO 125, 25.2 focal length

Random Saturday: Stroller

I was walking downtown and saw this stroller...  just sitting at a bus stop, alone. It was there for several hours, but did eventually go away, so it may or may not have actually been abandoned.

My first thought definitely was that it was abandoned, so I intentionally took the shot from a ways back. With no people in the picture, it seems to me that it adds to that lonely feeling - a stroller alone on a city street? No parent, no child? It would be even better without the bright strawberry on the bench ad. Then all the colours would be of a drab grey or brown nature and just add to that feeling of abandonment.

1/160 sec exposure, f/4 aperture, ISO 80, 5mm focal length

Chess... as it would be in Alice in Wonderland

As I mentioned last week, there are some great games brought out to the square outside my office each summer. Sometimes, this includes a rather large chess set. Over the course of the day, I caught several different groups using it.

I seem to have caught these two right at the end of their game, and it looked like they were cleaning up. Thanks guys!

Then I caught these kids...

They were obviously having fun, although no chess playing occurred.

These gentlemen seemed to be having a pretty serious game - they even brought chairs!

Anyway, it's always fun watching the comings and goings on the square, and as it's the centre for many summer events, you may well see more pictures of it on these pages in the future!

A view of the future?

It's a grey and grumpy day, so I thought a happy type of picture was in order!

These two girls were enthusiastically (and badly) playing a game of pick up hockey in the square the other day. Perhaps we are getting the first glimpse of the next Olympic champions in women's hockey!

1/800 sec exposure, f/5 aperture, ISO 43.4, 80mm focal length

Table Tennis from above

I was recently reading a book from a photographer who has a strong preference for shooting from above. This got me intrigued, and I also wanted to try it, however, I do not have the resource (or the nerves of steel) to rent a helicopter and strap myself inside the open door to shoot like that. I do, however, have a 6th story office window that overlooks a popular downtown square. A safe and easy place to start! So over the next couple of days, I will share with you some pictures I took from my window, all the while feeling like some kind of stalker! (Please note in advance that my zoom is not really powerful enough for what I was trying to do, but it's not bad!)

Every summer some lovely organization brings out various games and toys each morning that stay in the square all day. This even includes a Table Tennis (Ping Pong) Table! These two guys were quite good, and I'm very pleased you can actually see the ball as a ball-like object, not a vague blurr! (If you haven't spotted it yet, it's yellow and on the left side of the table, coming at the man in the plaid shirt.) I like action shots, I like sunny shots, and this fits the bill. I don't like the guy in the top left who is yawning, but I couldn't crop him out effectively.

1/640 sec exposure, f/5.7 aperture, ISO 125, 100mm focal length

Blurry bird

This little guy is out of focus. I may as well admit that right off the bat! However, there is a reason I'm sharing this anyway.

There are many steps involved in becoming a good photographer. One that I've been struggling with it right place, right time. In the past, a bird in flight has been nearly decapitated. With a faster shutter speed, this would have been a great picture, because the other elements are all there. He's well within the frame, the rest of the picture isn't too busy, there's no wires or other interfering objects. It's maybe a smidge dark, and issue that would have been exacerbated by a faster shutter speed, but that's a risk when shooting in the shade.

I was zoomed waaaaaay in and looking up about 1 storey to get this image and several other uninspiring pictures of this guy and others.

1/400 sec exposure, f/5.7 aperture, ISO 200, 85.2mm focal length

Lines, lines, everywhere a line...

So many incredible lines going on here!

I lined up the image with the lights across the top, and I think I should have used the top or bottom of the windows instead. I took several where I used one of the verticals as my point of reference, and that wasn't good at all, the whole picture ended up looking skewed.

1/100 sec exposure, 3.5 aperture, ISO 100, 9.2mm focal length

Random Saturday: Car

Last Saturday, a random house I passed. Today, a random car!

It's a cell phone picture, it's nothing fancy, photography-wise. But it's a really bright, cheerful car! (And it's parked on the yellow line.)

Brick and Shadow: Challenge Brick

Another thing I've been reading about is the power of side lighting. In my head, I always equated shadows with bad, but the pictures they use as examples are really stunning. So I thought I would try it.

It's very true that without the shadows on this stone brick, you lose most of the texture, and you don't get to see how rough and beautiful it is. I have to remember not to always shoot only in full light or full shade. 1/640 sec exposure, 4 aperture, ISO 80, 5mm focal length, macro on

Challenge Brick, take 3

Here's a 2-in-1 so I don't bore everyone to tears with a million days of bricks. Today, painted brick!

The paint here is cracking and peeling in really interesting ways - it looks almost like eyes and a nose. I also like the way the 2 colours work together. 1/320 sec exposure, 4 aperture, ISO 80, 5mm focal length, macro on

I admit it! This doesn't look like brick. You'll just have to take my word for it that that cracking paint is on brick. And looking very cool with the texture of the brick underneath and the cracking on top combined. 1/200 sec exposure, 4 aperture, ISO 80, 5mm focal length, macro on

Day 2: Challenge Brick

I got in close! Actually the problem here was that I was so close, I was blocking the light. So I had to tilt the camera a bit in order to shoot above the shadow. It makes for a bit of an odd picture. Perhaps at another time of day the problem would have been less - or maybe I should have used a zoom to get close, instead.

1/250 sec exposure, 4 aperture, ISO 80, 5mm focal length, macro on

Graffiti in the city

I saw this and with the lighting at that moment, I really wanted a picture! And all I had with me was my phone. So it's not of stellar quality, but I still like it.

Last time I posted a picture of graffiti, I also tagged it with art. This time, I don't think that's the case.

Random Saturday: house

There is no major photographic aim here. It's just a very random house that caught my eye as I was walking around. In fact, I like this idea so much I'm going to begin doing Random Saturdays. These are just strange or interesting things I've seen.

There's at least 3 different major artistic elements going on here, 2 on the front of the house and the glass brick wall to the right side.

Yes, it would be better without the large branch, but otherwise I was shooting straight in to the sun.

Challenge: Brick

The last time I undertook a challenge, I called it Challenge Blue. Here, here, here, here, and here. Bonus here. This time I took up Challenge Brick. I work at the edge of downtown, and there are some beautiful older buildings around. I've been admiring the variety of bricks for a while, and now I will share some of them with you!

I took this picture. An old, broken wall. Very cool, in my humble opinion. But the picture doesn't really do anything for me. And then I thought, all the stuff I've been reading, they keep saying GET CLOSER! 1/160 sec exposure, 4 aperture, ISO 80, 5mm focal length

So I did. What do you think? I love it. I think it's a much better picture. Way more interesting, less cluttered. 1/160 sec exposure, 4 aperture, ISO 80, 5mm focal length You can see the settings are identical to the previous photo. I moved me to improve the picture. I didn't even use macro setting.

I'm taking tomorrow off and then posting some other images. Challenge Brick will continue next week!