Nature Images

When I first ventured into digital photography, my primary interest was wildlife. My interests have greatly expanded since then, but landscapes, wildlife, and gardens still draw my attention.

Two Jack Lake in the Morning
Above Elbow Falls
This was taken while participating in a Scott Kelby World Wide Photo Walk (2018)
Listen
I love taking pictures of small birds, especially downy woodpeckers.
Spring Thaw
Fish Creek Provincial Park, Calgary, Canada
Alert
A young white tail stag
Bow Falls
Use of an ND filter to capture a smooth version of Bow Falls in Banff. Actually every image I have of smooth waterfalls includes the use of ND filters. I have filters running from 1 stop to 15 stop super filters.
Enjoying the sun
Savannah Sparrow, Calgary, Canada. I did say that I like small birds.
Spring Color
Lilies in the garden
Spring Colour
I have no idea what kind of plant this is, but it was planted in our garden and I loved the colour.
A Playful Miss
Come on in. The water's fine! For those wondering, this is a female common merganser. Some of the first wildlife images I ever took were of mergansers. They can be quite playful if you let them get accustomed to you and don't invade their space.
Chickadee on a Pastel Background
A study in blurred backgrounds. One of the things I love about taking pictures with a long lens (500-600mm) is what you can do with the background. This little guy was sitting on a log that had heavy scrub about 2 meters behind him. One of the things I don't like about that size of lens is how heavy it is and how hard to stabilize. I took this from a prone position about 4 meters from my subject. I let the ground help me stabilize the lens and the wide open aperture blurred out the background nicely.
The Moon was a Ghostly Galleon
Many years ago, when I was in high school, my favourite poem was "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes. One of the lines that stuck with me was "The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas". This image was taken at 3 in the afternoon and even in Calgary, it is still light at that time. However through the magic of post processing..........
Love of Chives
When I was a kid, mom and dad used to keep honeybees. Because of that, I've never really had a fear of bees and I'm willing to get quite close. I'm fascinated by them.
The Last Survivor
We had just experienced some cold weather and snow. The tree in the garden had lost nearly all of its leaves except for this twig with a little patch of snow cupped inside one of the remaining leaves. I couldn't resist.
Focus
Low key edit of a tiger
His Royal Highness
Black and White treatment of one of the lions at the Calgary Zoo. Some challenges in that I'm shooting through a fence and bars and he's sitting in direct brilliant sunlight. But open aperture with a long lens helps a lot.
Zebra Dreams
The colour version of this isn't special, but make it black and white and the spot of sun on the forehead really pops. This won third place in the FCC Image of the Year for 2016.
Harebells and Showers
My daughter and I were walking in Fish Creek Provincial Park. She wanted to try out her new camera. I never refuse an opportunity to go for a walk in the park with a camera.
Anticipation
We have a number of roses in our garden, and spring is a time for anticipating new flowers. A macro lens, a tripod, and a ring speedlite give some interesting results.
The Rose
As I said, we have roses.
Powered Take Off
Looks like it's taking off doesn't it? Actually this is the wing flare just before it touches down on the nest. Only processing done is a simple conversion to black and white and some cropping.
Winter Reflections
I have a favourite secret spot in Fish Creek Provincial Park that nearly always gives me great reflection images. I visit it over and over again at different seasons. This is one of my earliest images from there and still one of my favourite.
East of Columbia Ice Field
Not all landscapes can be bright and sunny or taken during the golden hour. Some are just cold and dreary. But they should still give you some sense of the place.
A Bee's Life
As I said previously, I'm fascinated by bees. This poor little girl was pretty cold when I found her though. It was late August and temperatures were hovering around 10C. She did eventually manage to fly away after about 20 minutes in one spot.
Sometimes I just like taking pictures of colours.
Great Blue Heron having a snack.
Another one of my "secret" spots. This GBH has been visiting this spot for several years. I have my favourite rock by the shore that I can sit on and watch as it wades and feeds. It knows I'm there, but has become accustomed to me.
Osprey Dinner
That's one less trout for the fly fishermen on the Bow River to catch.