Recent photo rambles

One of the joys of being re-re-retired is being able to schedule my time as seems best to me. The classic example is sleeping in, but I don't do much of that. One of the issues to fall out of doing shift work many years ago is that I often don't sleep well, and rarely longer than 6 hours in one go. Even if I don't have something to be up and doing, I like making coffee and slowly waking up while working on my various novels. Preferably out on the patio, looking at the garden.

Before taking that last contract I was busy, and wondered if I'd have time for work again. Well, you do, it just displaces other things. Those first couple weeks I was dragging my butt. Well, enough of that. I'm suspecting that's the last time I'll work full time hours in an office.

What do I do instead, you ask? Lots of things. I'm still getting into the groove. One of them is concentrating more on photography. I've been out for a number of walks and drives, some alone, some with buddies.

I find this to be an enormously restful activity. Several of them have been near water, which leads to the sound of water trickling over rocks. This is one of the most soothing sounds in the world, right up there with a purring cat. There were times I just stood there, or sat there, listening.

Part of the joy is being able to walk slowly and look around. Much of the time I'm looking for the next shot, but even more importantly, I'm appreciating what I'm seeing. Humans have evolved to see more colours of green than any other, and I can't get over how many different colours we call green. Trees, plants, shrubs, grass, vegetation in water, each has hundreds of greens. Then add in all the other colours for bark, rocks, dirt, flowers, in all the different lighting conditions, and it's a feast for our eyes and brain.

The first two are during a road trip down towards Chain Lakes with my buddy Sean.

The next two are downtown, just before a lunch with my buddy Andrea. This was one of the smokiest days during the summer, it was brutal being outside.

A solo walk through Fish Creek. I'm in the creek for this photo. The water is warm and seldom any deeper than calf. I walk really carefully on the wet rocks. I was looking for dragonflies but didn't have much luck.

A walk through the Weaselhead with my buddy Michelle. The mama moose was giving us a bit of stink eye, but didn't seem too worried.

A solo drive out looking for an excuse to use the borrowed 150 to 600 lens. Still hazy but not as bad as it had been.

A solo walk through Big Hill Springs Park. This is handheld, no filters.

The biggest thing for me right now is to check my settings before the shot. All too often I'm eager to get the shot before the light changes. That has led to a shutter speed ever so slightly too slow for the size of lens I'm hand holding. What looks good on the back of the camera doesn't always look good when you see it on screen. I need to build the habit of double checking the settings, and tweaking before taking that second shot.

I'm looking forward to more rambles. It would be good to get more gold and blue hour photography done, and maybe even some dark night shots, even if it means staying up way past my bedtime. Don't be afraid to get in touch and ask when the next ramble is, or propose one.