Photography Journal by Jonathan Martin-DeMoor :: Silvicola borealis Images

Mountain sunset under heavy clouds

Jonathan — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 05:14:46 +0000

Sunset under heavy clouds

If you’ve signed up for my newsletter you’ll recognize these past few images that I’ve shared—this one is from a trip to Jasper National Park that I took this spring. I was lucky enough to drive into the mountains just as the sun dipped below the clouds for a few minutes before sinking behind the mountain peaks. I don’t recall my camera settings for this particular image, but I was definitely thinking of the golden rule for landscape photography—“f/8 and be there”.

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Greyscale tones in a boreal lake

Jonathan — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 22:11:57 +0000

Greytones in boreal lake

I took this photograph at one of the five lakes in Emerson Lakes Provincial Park, northwest of Edson, Alberta—a great little place that was almost completely deserted the weekend I was there. If you don’t mind a little bit of gravel road, I would definitely recommend this spot for a quiet boreal retreat.

Although the middle of the afternoon is not normally the best time of day for making photographs of the landscape, great photographs are still out there—and (if you ask me) any photographer that tells you otherwise isn’t looking hard enough. In this image, made at just past 4pm on a nice sunny day, I just love how the lake holds nearly the full range of tones from the nearly black shadows along the shoreline to the bright white reflections of the high cirrus clouds and the midtones of the shallow lakebed itself—all mixed together by the slight breeze causing the ripples on the water’s surface.

Add in a couple Bonaparte’s Gulls, a pair of Belted Kingfishers, and a chorus of songbirds—and you’ve got yourself a pretty good spot to sit for a while, making photographs as the clouds shift by (which is exactly what I did…)

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Golden sunrise on boreal lake

Jonathan — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 21:31:09 +0000

Golden sunlight on spruce shoreline

This photograph is from a gorgeous morning that I spent in the Obed Lake Provincial Park in western Alberta. This is not actually Obed Lake itself, but one of the smaller lakes in the park. There were loons swimming around, sparrows and warblers singing, and it was too chilly still for the mosquitoes to be flying—perfect.

The yellow colour in the image is actually toned down a little from what it looked like straight out the camera—it was really yellow. (I guess that’s why they call dawn and dusk the “golden hour”.)

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Spring rain over Devona Flats

Jonathan — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 16:24:15 +0000

Spring storm over Devona Flats

I recently had the chance to get away for a few days, and had the pleasure of being able to do some photography in Jasper National Park. The day that I took this photograph started out clear and sunny, and as the day went along these large clouds spilled out of the Athabasca River Valley to the west, coming east towards Pochahontas where I was staying. And while the clouds made it less appealing to sit out on the deck in the afternoon, they sure made for much more dramatic photographs later in the evening—well worth the trade-off.

I really like the contrast in this image of the heavy, wet sky and the falling rain streaking down—contrasted with the dry river flats still awaiting the melt of higher elevation snow and the start of spring and summer weather patterns.

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Photography show at 'The Works' 2011 festival

Jonathan — Wed, 25 May 2011 03:36:09 +0000

Strathcona Refineries #307, August 2010

I am very excited to let you all know that I will have a solo show of my photography at this year’s The Works Art & Design Festival here in Edmonton. If you’re not from Edmonton, The Works is a large festival that runs for a couple of weeks in the summer, with artists from all over the world displaying their work in various downtown venues. My show will be displayed at City Hall from the start of the festival on June 23 through to July 5 and there will be a reception for my show from 2-3pm on Saturday the 2nd of July.

As for the work itself, it is much different in content than my usual landscape and nature photography, but I think that my personal photographic style still shows through quite a bit. The exhibition will be twenty large prints of images I made last August when smoke from large forest fires in BC shrouded the refineries just east of Edmonton (and everything else in central Alberta) in a dense, orange haze. I wrote an entry about it at the time (click here), but haven’t shared any of these images since then. I am busy setting up a new website for this collection (it just doesn’t fit on this site), and I’ll post here once it’s up.

*UPDATE* The new website is now live! I invite you to have a look at www.strathcona-refineries.com.

*UPDATE* The exhibition is now up! Thanks to the whole Works crew that did such a great job—it looks terrific. While The Works Festival isn’t “on” yet, if you’re downtown you can drop by City Hall and have a look at the prints on display. I would really appreciate hearing your reactions and comments—either here (by leaving a reply below), by contacting me personally, or in person at the show reception on July 2nd.

*UPDATE* You can read a short interview that I did with Steve Waldner of The Works Festival about the show at http://theworksfest.wordpress.com/2011/06/16/strathcona-refineries-august-2010/

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ASA Forest Show in Calgary

Jonathan — Sat, 21 May 2011 22:20:53 +0000

Leighton Centre Forest Show Invite

The Forest Show art exhibition that I’ve mentioned previously (here, here, and here) is moving from Edmonton to Calgary after this weekend. So if you’re in Edmonton and haven’t checked it out yet—now’s your chance, and if you’re in Calgary, watch for the show at the Leighton Art Centre from June 4 to July 9. There will be an opening reception in the afternoon of June 11. I will actually be out in the field doing songbird surveys at that time, but I may be in the area and will try to make it if I can. There is a lot of great art on display in this show, so definitely drop by and have a look if you get the chance.

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Great Gray Owl hunting from thin aspen

Jonathan — Sun, 01 May 2011 21:52:00 +0000

Great grey owl hunting from thin aspen sapling

The photographs from my two previous posts were both taken while I was doing owl surveys and waiting for the sun to set (with camera at the ready, of course). So I thought I’d post an image of what we were out there looking for.

I don’t shoot a lot of wildlife, but I simply could not resist filling up a memory card while watching this owl hunt for rodents under the thick, spring snow. It was amazing to watch him (or her, I’m not sure) listening from the tops of these small aspen trees before swooping down and diving feet-first into the snow after his prey. I had the pleasure of watching from a distance for over an hour before he finally gave up, or got full, and slowly moved off.

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Early spring dogwood colour

Jonathan — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 21:37:17 +0000

Glowing dogwood behind bare aspen saplings

Another sunset photograph taken while doing owl surveys, this one was taken on a clear evening which made for less interesting skies as the previous night but allowed for more predictably progressing, steady light on the ground.

This time of year, my eyes ache for colour after the long winter and the red-osier dogwood shrubs are often the first real glimpses of spring colour as they flush red in the very early spring—even before the snow has melted. In this image, I like how the intense red of the willows in the last, warm rays of sunlight contrast with the cool blues of the aspen saplings that are already in the evening’s shadow.

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Fiery cirrus clouds at sunset

Jonathan — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 21:11:12 +0000

Fiery sunset over snowy horizon

I’ve been out conducting nocturnal owl surveys in south-central Alberta for the past few weeks, which has given me the chance to take some great sunset photographs, and to try out photographing at night—lots of fun (but lots to learn too!)

This photo came after a whole day of cloud that finally broke at just the right time to allow the setting sun to peek through. If they cooperate, a sky full of clouds sure makes for more interesting photography than a “perfectly” clear sky.

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The Forest Show art exhibition in Edmonton

Jonathan — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 21:55:55 +0000

Just a quick note to mention that the “Forest Show” art exhibition that I’ve mentioned before is moving to Edmonton, and will be on display at the McMullen Gallery at the University Hospital from March 19 to May 22. There will be an opening reception on March 24th—I’ll be there, and would love to see you all there.

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