Nov 2010

Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada, mountains, landscape
Mitsaya Canyon, Banff National Park: ISO 200, 18mm, f/8, 1/15

I have to make up for the spider picture. Got some complaints. ;)

Hope you enjoy this one more. Took this in October when we went to Banff National Park for the day. A few hours drive from the house.

Macro Spider Red Deer Alberta Canada © Chris Bates 2010
Tiny Spider on Bee Balm Leaf: ISO 200, 90mm, f/8, 1/750

A friend of mine in Australia posted an image of a white spider on her blog this week. I found it some what similar to this spider which I found in our garden this past July.

We live on opposite sides of the earth and have different climates and habitats, yet there are still some things we have in common.

Snow, Christmas, White, decorations, Canada, Red Deer, Alberta
White Christmas: ISO 200, 90mm, f/5.6, 1/320

We have received a lot of snow this past week. We have also received January like temperatures (-20 degrees celcius). No worries about a white Christmas this year!

Mugo Pine, Snow, Winter, backyard
Canadian Cactus: ISO 200, 90mm, f/5.6, 1/320

The snow has fallen. It looks like it will stay around for awhile. Sub zero temperatures all week. BBbbrrrrrrr!!

This is our small Mugo Pine covered with the fresh fallen snow. Kind of reminds me of a cactus.

Remember!

Soldier, Remembrance Day, Hero
Remember: ISO 200, 30mm, f/6.3, 1/15

Poppies Remembrance Day Veterans Day
Poppies: ISO 400, 250mm, f/4.5, 1/250

Remembrance Day is coming up. I have a few images I want to share this week in honour of this very important day.

Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae wrote a poem called "In Flanders Fields." From this poem poppies have become a symbol of the sacrifices men and women have made during times of conflict.

The colour of the Remembrance Day poppy is significant as well. Red is a symbol of the bloodshed of trench warfare during World War I. In Canada, we wear the poppy close to our heart.

We grow poppies in our backyard garden and they alllow me to remember sacrifices whenever they bloom. These two images I am sharing today are identical. Top image is in colour and the bottom is in black and white.

It was interesting when I did some post processing work on the original image and discovered that the red colour turned to white, which is a symbol of peace, when converted to black and white.


Poppies Remembrance Day Veterans Day

House Sparrow, Rose Bush, Autumn, Fall, Fence, Colour
House Sparrow on the Fence: ISO 320, 240mm, f/4.5, 1/2000

My previous post I showed you the rose leaves on the ground. This post I will show you the ones still remaining on the bush.

It has been unseasonably warm here and the animals in our neighbourhood are taking full advantage of this. The house sparrows were playing in our backyard this morning paying me no attention.

Rose Leaves, Nature, Concrete, Chris Bates Photography
Rose Leaves on Concrete: ISO 100, 10mm, f/5.6, 1/80

I was walking to the garage this afternoon to dig out our outdoor Christmas decorations today and noticed that a few rose branches had fallen to the ground. They were showing off very autumn like colours (Red, Yellow, Gold).

I grabbed my camera and picked up some of these leaves and placed them in the sun. Since it is close to winter here our sun now tracks in the southern sky and does not cross directly above us. Because of this we get very long shadows this time of year. I wanted to show these shadows so I placed the leaves on a somewhat plain background.

The top picture is after some post processing work done with an Apple Aperture Plug-in that I have talked about before. The image directly below is the original image.

Rose Leaves, Concrete, sidewalk.
Rose Leaves on Concrete Original Image: Same setting as above