Frequency | Alberta Lifestyle Photographer

click on image for larger version

I have been wondering lately if I should be closer to the mountains but my buddy Mike and I went out with the Jeep tonight to scout a few locations. I found some amazing features but when we got to the top of this coulee I was stunned. The right time and the right place I was so glad to have my camera with me.

Maybe it's alright to be between the prairies and the mountains. This is such a beautiful area especially now that it has greened up. Even being as busy I am, I am still getting out and shooting a lot, I am loving the frequency of it.

Boneyard | Adventure Sports Photographer

This morning I met up with Paul Zizka and Oliver Du Tre for another Coffee and Cameras. We met up this time at Yamnuska and hiked around in the rain for a few hours before heading to Canmore for Coffee. I am not primarily a landscape shooter so it is cool to go out with these two amazing photographers and learn a few things. While I am in between commercial work I might as well be getting out and learning something new. Unfortunately I just didn't get what I was looking for which was the grand cliffs of the Yam.

So tonight I headed back into the prairies to a previously scouted place to shoot into the sunset we haven't seen in about a week. This time I used the Gold Blue polarizer and reset the white balance for a more natural look. 2 stop ND grad was used for the sky.

More About Feeling | Places We Play

I hate to go away from a location that I photographed and not have any excitement about it. I am not sure if it was just so early last Wednesday or the fact that I nearly hit a moose but I just wasn't feelin it. I came back to this image tonight and processed it with the crazy color that I got in-camera from the sensor loosing its white-balance. I don't really care about reality with this one, I just like the feeling from it. It was windy, cold and muddy at this spot. The image feels lonely, isolated and somewhat barren. Negative emotions maybe but good or bad, I want to feel something. This image makes me feel something, and sometimes I can relate.

Are You Next? | Adventure Photography

While a lot of the work I do is for editorial (magazine and print) and commercial, I love working with private clients. Especially those people who want to share their stories and passions and who love to play hard.

You might think it would be a big deal or super expensive to have a professional photographer tag along with you and your crew on a trip but really it is not. And to have images that tell the story and are good enough to be published by world class magazines is awesome. Or maybe you just have a series of shots you can put up in your home or that giant one over the fireplace of you on that 11,000' peak last spring.

Either you are looking for images covering your favorite sport or pastime, a trip project, or just want to be a part of my outdoor stock work, give me a call and we'll put something together.

Way Early | Canadian Adventure Photographer

Yesterday started extremely early, like alpine start early except I only had to drive for 2 hours. After getting a close-up look at a Moose while traveling 100 km/hr (I think I found hair on my bumper) in the dark, I met with Paul Zizka and a few others for a sunrise session on Vermillion Lakes. It was cool to get together with other photographers for photography and coffee and thanks to Paul it may be a regular Wednesday thing. Always great to see Paul and Megan, as creative professional they do so much for the Valley and this side of the Rockies.

In the Afternoon I hit Heart Creek to hook up with climbers Brad Warne and Jordan Ramey to do a little early season sport climbing. I spent about 2 hours moving comfortably across the second pitch of the slabs while Brad and Jordan worked their way across. The sun was pretty harsh until we got a few breaks of clouds and the light was a little less contrasted and I could include the belayer in the shots. I am hoping my folding boom will be done soon and I can get myself another 6 feet out from the rock to get another good point of view. A good friend of mine is designing and fabricating a folding rig that can attach to a pack, and is super light so it's not such a cluster to bring climbing. Can't wait.

Back Roads | Adventure Lifestyle Photographer

It's about 1 am and I just got home from a trip out near Torrington, Alberta to have a look at a place I had found a few years back. I was able to find it again even in the dark so I was able to get a few images. I am hoping to come back here again for another full moon but it needs some more elements like maybe some moving clouds and about an hour long exposure. This shot was 10 minutes long and it was super windy as can tell by the trees and the grass.

Vertical Again | Adventure Lifestyle Photographer

Ah it feels so good to be back.

Tonight Scott Henderson and I raced out to Wasootch to get a few warm-up pitches in and get a feel back for the rock. Scott and I had never climbed before and this was the first time in ten years for Scott to be on trad so it was fairly easy climbing.

It really just feels good to be leading on gear again and having my head in the right place. I also tested out a bag and lanyard system that I can use while on route. Simple and clean and fast felt good tonight and no real clusters at the hanging belays. A few more times out and I'll have the pro body and good lenses for photographing and not worry about managing them.

Twisted | Landscape Photography

Thought this was cool. Was trying any new technique while shooting something for Guy Tal's creativity competition and came across this. It's the Spirit Tree (in the badlands) with a twist, literally. I held the zoom ring and twisted the body of my camera while pressing the shutter. Shooting at about 1/40th of a second gave a nice swirl and even with movement this works just about every time. When I look at this shot now I think it looks like a bird.