One evening in early November I looked out my window and saw that fog had moved in. Fog transforms whatever it touches. I had to go out and take a look. I took a single lens and the tripod.
I have great appreciation for the solitude and stress-free living here in a tiny prairie village. And the quiet. There were few signs of life. A few pickup trucks were parked outside the hotel. A cat materialized out of the dark and tried rubbing against my legs and the legs of the tripod. I told it I was working and to go and find a fence post.
This is my favourite shot from the walkabout; I thought it looked cinematic. I could imagine many possible scenarios playing out here. Comedy. Tragedy. Nothing happened, of course, and I walked home.
There are times when I'd like to be able to roam city sidewalks again, but that urge passes quickly. It doesn't take much to make me happy. A parked truck, a tree, a fence, an alley, a street light at night, a little fog for atmosphere, and the deep stillness and quiet of a prairie night.
Tomorrow, a new image set...
This one was photographed in Val Marie, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2023 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: night street fog tree parked pickup truck fence quiet calm stillness dark prairie village Val Marie Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page 2023
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After the mayhem of my recent 5-photo rodeo set - for which I received only one angry comment attempting to shame me - on to more tranquil subject matter. In October, early one morning, I had to stop at the little bridge on the village outskirts.
The scene, lit by a rising sun that had not yet appeared above the horizon, was one of breathtaking beauty, stillness, and silence. Although labelled a river, the Frenchman would be considered a creek anywhere else. Its headwaters are to the west, in the Cypress Hills, from which it twists and winds across the prairie of southwestern Saskatchewan, past Val Marie - where I made this shot - and through Grasslands National Park, where it finally crosses the border into Montana (and is labelled "Frenchman Creek" from that point on), until it finally empties into the Milk River. Subsequently the Milk adds its volume to the Missouri.
Up here in Canada, the Frenchman provides wildlife habitat, and irrigation for ranchers and farmers. It also gives me a focus for some of my landscape, wildlife, and macro photography. And thus it makes a good theme for the latest photo series, in which I hope to share some interesting views of "my" prairie. It's arid country, but - to borrow a phrase from the great Norman Maclean - a river runs through it. Without the river... everything would be different.
Photographed in Val Marie, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2023 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: landscape vertical river water trees dyke morning light dawn stillness tranquility placid creek flow beauty beautiful Wow! wild prairie Val Marie Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page 2023
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The River - continued. I arrived late in the evening, and watched the sun disappear behind distant hills. This is a very remote part of Grasslands National Park, not far from where it borders on the USA (Montana). (Flickr's map incorrectly identifies this location as inside Montana - it isn't.)
As twilight began to plunge the prairie into deep shadow, I set my tripod up and made multiple exposures, two of which I combined for this shot. Yes, it's HDR! For the most part, I loathe HDR - the garish or cartoon-like results that were so popular a decade ago but thankfully are seldom seen today (at least among my Flickr friends). So... on those rare occasions when I use it, I try to keep the look as natural as possible. In this case, one shot captured shadow detail, another the highlights.
It was a place and moment of perfect calm. Half an hour later, when the murky dusk had obliterated almost all detail, there were splashing sounds in the river: two muskrats. I drove home slowly on the dirt roads, watching birds fly up from the still-warm surface, watching the roadsides for deer, rabbits, coyotes, badgers... all these species and others with nocturnal habits.
My biggest complaint about visitors is that many of them drive too fast. Trying to reach the next highlight? Wired from life in the fast lane? Photography did a great thing for me many years ago: it slowed me down. And the prairie itself invites a slower, deeper connection, which can be immensely rewarding for anyone able to attain it.
Photographed along the Frenchman River in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2023 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: landscape river oxbow dusk twilight afterglow stillness summer evening wide angle HDR wild prairie Grasslands National Park Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page 2023
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Night Shots, part 2, although this is more twilight. The placid Frenchman River at dusk, midsummer, is at its lowest ebb. Some years, in early spring, it overflows these banks. I blended two shots for this image - yes, that makes it a dreaded HDR image. I generally dislike HDR as people overused it for years, often creating cartoon-like images. However, it can be a useful tool from time to time.
My intent here was to get as close as possible to how I remember the moment. The summer grass was luminous in the clear air, warmed a little by the sunset's afterglow. For me this is a deeply calming image.
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2022 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: landscape dusk nightfall river grass green blue sunset afterglow placid calm tranquility beauty nature wild prairie HDR two exposures Grasslands National Park Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page 2022
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Hiking the shore of Lonetree Lake, I found myself on a grassy hill, scanning for birds. At that moment, all the birds in view were some distance away, and while considering my next strategic move, I happened to notice this row of plants in the shallows.
I try to keep a fluid mind. Years ago, I vowed to act on every idea and not allow a photo op to slip away - and to turn off that negative inner voice telling me, "No, that's no good; that will never work!" It's a self-defeating mechanism that tends to keep us in a safe zone, repeating what we already know we can do well. To be willing to risk failure is really the beginning of the creative process.
And so, I shoot a lot of bad photos. Really. Countless thousands. It doesn't matter, especially in the digital age when we're no longer looking at $4.95 or $12,50 or $20 per roll of film. But even then, I poured a lot of hard-earned money down the drain by shooting unlikely subjects: trash cans in alleys, weeds in a vacant lot, landscapes in light so poor that there was no chance of getting a decent image. That's how I learned. Boxes and boxes of old slides from those years attest to my failure rate. I am finally tossing them out by the thousands.
The point of all this? Have no fear. Push your limits. Break through limitations imposed by others - or that nagging, inner voice - and shoot any which way you feel inclined.
And what are these plants? Well, I don't know. I suspect they may be Western Water-plantain, in their pre-flowering stage, but I can't be sure. I like the cool blues and ragged shapes springing up from the still water, and I'm glad I took the time to frame this shot. It didn't cost me a penny, and it didn't detract from my bird quest that day - as you will see over the next few uploads, starting tomorrow.
Photographed at Lonetree Lake, near Bracken, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2022 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: landscape plants water lake shapes lines textures mini-landscape telephoto cool blues stillness calm beauty beautiful tranquility wild prairie Lonetree Lake Bracken Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page
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