I had been up most of the night, photographing the annual Perseid Meteor Shower. As dawn began to lighten the eastern horizon, the sky gradually faded from black to blue, and the stars became progressively fainter. This was my final frame. No meteor flashes or fireballs, so it sat in a folder for more than a year (the Perseids come in early August), until finally I noticed that it had its own merit.
Photographed near Val Marie, Saskatchewan. Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2016 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: landscape night sky stars old farmhouse granary farm abandoned pre-dawn dawn morning clouds silence beauty beautiful wow horizon wide open spaces prairie Val Marie SK Saskatchewan Canada copyrighted James R. Page
© All Rights Reserved
Driving west from Victoria in the dark, we stopped at Jordan River as the pre-dawn glow began to spread across the eastern sky...
Don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without explicit permission.
© All rights reserved
Tags: landscape dawn sky coast coastal beautiful water mountains trees silhouette wild nature Juan de Fuca Strait Jordan River Vancouver Island BC British Columbia Canada
© All Rights Reserved
I was up very early, wandering the edge of town with my camera. Still half an hour away from sunrise, a willet landed on a fence post nearby and began calling. I had to drop down low - into the ditch, in fact - to silhouette the bird against the pre-dawn glow... and in doing so I silhouetted the fence and grasses, and realized in an instant that this was different from other image in my collection. I don't normally shoot wildlife with an 18-105 mm lens! Luckily the bird didn't fly; in fact, it was still sitting there when I walked away a few moments later.
Don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without explicit permission.
© All rights reserved
Tags: landscape Willet bird wildlife silhouette fence barbwire barbed wire sky dawn grass prairie near Val Marie Saskatchewan Canada updatecollection
© All Rights Reserved
Tags: Douglas-fir tree dawn morning landscape water wild nature wilderness Becher Bay Juan de Fuca Strait East Sooke Park Vancouver Island BC British Columbia Canada
© All Rights Reserved
I had a dentist appointment and left home in the dark, which in mid-December at this latitude lasts until 8:30 a.m. or so. Saw the full moon from my driveway and ran back into the house for my camera and one lens, the 70-200 mm VR, no tripod. Travelling light.
Man it was cold! And the moon, so stark against the dark sky when I left, gradually softened as it sank toward the horizon, almost dissolving into the layered atmosphere, hauntingly beautiful above the clean, snowy fields. The hour-twenty-minute drive took two hours because I had to keep stopping. This was the final moon shot, as the first sun rays touched the distant hilltops.
Directly below the moon, in the middle ground, is a small dark smudge: a lone mule deer. I didn't notice it at the time. This happens fairly often, I open a landscape shot in Photoshop and discover an animal, sometimes staring at me. Makes me wonder how often in mountain country I've been watched by cougars.
Photographed near Cadillac, Saskatchewan. Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2016 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
Tags: landscape moon moonset dawn morning pink magenta blue snow snowy hills pasture range land sky winter beauty wow beautiful serene subzero c-c-c-cold prairie pano outdoor cold December full moon Cadillac Saskatchewan SK Canada copyrighted James R. Page
© All Rights Reserved