Driving toward my favourite park in the pre-dawn glow, I had to stop. The sky to the southeast was magical, but there was nothing but open fields. To the north, however - to my left - there was a tree.
I stepped over a low barbed wire fence. Walked into a field. Looked back and made this shot. Remembered that during my BC years the great challenge was to simplify the visual cacophony in a land of mountains, coastline, and rainforests with gigantic trees and lush, prolific undergrowth. Here, most of the simplification has been done for me.
And I was also thinking of how this land once looked, before settlement from eastern Canada began in earnest just over a century ago. Take away the power line and poles, the road and the fence. Un-plow that field. Take away the tree, too, and the non-native grasses.
Much of the time that is what I'm looking for "out there"... traces of what we've lost. Something pure, something pristine and clean, untainted by modernity and our technology. But tainted, I suppose, by my presence in my horseless carriage, with my hi-tech imagery tools. Ask the wildlife; they never lie.
I was in that field for less than ten minutes. Dawn in northern latitudes takes much longer to unfold than it does closer to the equator. I remember visiting relatives in Houston in 1965 and being shocked at how quickly a sunset could dissipate - night really fell. Wham! Here, our transitions are more drawn-out. Half an hour later, I was in a valley bottom, looking at the vast circle of snowy hills around me, and dawn was still happening. That will be tomorrow's upload.
Photographed near Val Marie, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2025 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: landscape dawn sky pre-dawn glow tree fence silhouette power poles winter prairie light beauty fields prairie Highway 18 Val Marie Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page 2025 Explored
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It's coming. Longer days, more light. Northern residents will start noticing the change in another week or two.
Currently where I live the sun rises at 9:04 a.m. and sets at 5:30 pm. The darkest days - a couple of weeks on either side of December 21, the Winter Solstice, have passed.
Make no mistake - winter light is fantastic when it comes, when the sky isn't white or grey, when ice crystals hang in the air and sundogs appear in the sky, or when hoarfrost arrives overnight to set the prairie a-glitter. But there have been very few such days so far this winter. Instead, a lot of uninspiring white sky.
So let there be light! Warmth and colour will follow.
I made this shot in October. Walked into a field with my camera and tripod, set up facing the eastern horizon. The light coming through those slats is a small component, but I thought it would be a key one, so I shifted right and left until it felt right. Pink and blue. Sweet light.
Photographed near Val Marie, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2024 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: light sky landscape dawn silhouette buildings sheds ranch abandoned empty pre-dawn glow beauty beautiful prairie Val Marie Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page 2024
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From a midsummer morning, the start of a 4 image set. It was difficult to even get out of town that day - when I saw the low mist rolling over this field, I had to stop. I'd been driving for less than two minutes and had just cleared "city limits"...
To most people, grass is grass, but here on the prairie we have many, many species of grass, at least three of which are visible in this photo. And I should know what they are by now, but I don't.
Anyway, this isn't about species so much as sheer beauty. The light, the ground fog, the wet roadside ditch, the fence line, all quite subtle but I was breathless, in awe of the commonplace. After all, it's just a ditch. But Blake saw eternity in a grain of sand...
... more to come!
Photographed in Val Marie, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2024 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: landscape field ditch fog mist dawn morning morning light beauty grass grassy prairie Val Marie Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page 2024
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I made this shot just a few minutes after the previous one, on the same stretch of road. That's an old windbreak for cows, still used occasionally by a local rancher's livestock. It is faintly visible in yesterday's photo, near the upper right - low fog like this has a tendency to dissipate as you drive through it.
What a great start to the day! I could have turned around and quite happily gone home and back to bed... but early morning is a good time to look for critters, especially during the summer months when heat and humans deter them from being too conspicuous later in the day.
Photographed at the edge of Val Marie, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2024 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: landscape dawn mist ground fog fog windbreak pasture prairie light Val Marie Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page 2024 Explored
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Starting a new set today - photos from my recent brief getaway to photograph migratory birds at Reed Lake.
It sounds insane, but I set the alarm for 3:30 a.m. in the motel so I could have a leisurely cup of coffee and arrive on site at dawn. Sunrise comes early to the northern prairie at this time of year.
With no way to get out to the birds across very wet sand and mud, at first I had to shoot from shore. That necessitated some fluid thinking; we all want close ups of our wildlife subjects. What to do when that isn't possible? Look at the light. Look at the graphic components. Look at what may be possible. This is what I came up with.
I did get my close ups a little later. Stay tuned!
Photographed at Reed Lake, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2024 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: dawn vertical shore American Avocet Recurvirostra americana wildlife bird shorebird silhouette 2 two water sand wild nature prairie Reed Lake Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page 2024
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