SYSKA Snowboard Camp

Of all the snowboarders on this hill this day this fellow caused me the most trouble.  He'd appear out of nowhere and when I swung the camera toward him he'd have finished his jump or he'd have his back to me.  Near the end of the afternoon he gave it up for this shot - tongue sticking out and all.  One of my favourites from the day.

SYSKA Snowboard Camp

Careful composition in high speed photography is the result of good planning and happy accidents.  This photo demonstrates classic rule-of-thirds composition as the snowboarders limbs perfectly align at the 1/3 points of the 'photo space'.

SYSKA Snow Board Camp

A few weeks ago I was asked to photograph the competition portion of the SYSKA Snowboard Shred Camp.  The event was held to honour the memory of Nathan Syska; an Edmonton snowboarder who passed away in 2013.  I will present a few photos from the event in the days ahead.

Family Photos in Winter

Most often my family photo sessions occur in summer and fall - hardly ever in winter.  With the occasional exception of course.

Scottsdale, Arizona

We'll let this be the last of this batch of Arizona photos; sunset on a warm February evening.

Scottsdale

We're getting to the end of this short series of photos taken in Arizona.  Earlier I posted some photos taken at the Chihuly in the Garden exhibition - here's one taken of the Chihuly glass installations in the garden taken with the iPhone Hipstamatic.

Saguaro Cactus

The giant Saguaro cactus are  protected by law in Arizona.  It can't be because they are in short supply because they are everywhere.  It think it is at least partly because they look almost human in form and people like to shoot at them.

Scottsdale, Arizona

Guacamole is kind of like potato salad in that even cheap grocery store varieties are pretty tasty.  But guacamole made freshly to order table side is seriously good stuff.

Scottsdale, Arizona

Taken with the iPhone Hipstamatic in Scottsdale.

Old Town Scottsdale

I'm one of those city folks who doesn't know which end of the horse gets up first, but I still find the flavour of the old west appealing.

Scottsdale in Black and White

The simpler the scene the better it seems to look in black and white.  I converted this image to b&w using Nik Silver Efex Pro software.

Palm Trees and Blue Skies

Palm trees and blue skies; what could be better?

Reflections

To make this image without my reflection in the glass I set the camera (Canon G15) on a fence rail and used the auto timer.

Crosses in the Desert

I used Snapseed software to convert this photo taken in the desert outside of Scottsdale, Arizona.

There's Always Somethin'

Even when there's nothing around to photograph there's something if you look hard enough; like this out of season vine climbing on a trellis against a stucco wall in the Phoenix Botanical Garden.

Old Stuff in Old Scottsdale

This skull hangs on the exterior wall of a building in the old town of Scottsdale.

Orange Blossoms in February

This blossom will soon be an ornamental orange.  Disagreeable to eat but the look spectacular.

High Speed Photography with a Point and Shoot Camera

When in Scottsdale we attended a Cactus League game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the LA Dodgers.  I decided to see what kind of photo I could take of the action using my Canon G15 point and shoot camera.  I cranked up the ISO to around 1600 and set the camera to shutter priority of 1/1000 of a second.  In this photo you can see that the batter has swung and hit the ball; not a bad result.

Scottsdale Arizona

When you live on the Canadian Prairie the site of palm tree shadows on the green grass is a little startling - especially in February.

Old Town Scottsdale

The way the clouds move across the desert is a little different that on the prairie.  I decided to include more of them than usual in this photo of a church dome in Old Town Scottsdale.

Arizona - Chihuly in the Garden

Our guide told us that of the many Chihuly sculptures in the park this one entitled 'The Boat' is the most photographed.  So mots of the people in our group made a dash for it right off the bat.  I prefer to wait until the crowds have dispersed; I don't want the same photos as everyone else and I certainly don't want to have to fight for position.

Arizona - Chihuly in the Garden

Of all the sculptures I saw on my visit to the Phoenix Botanical Gardens these seemed to fit in the best. They look almost as if they grew in place.

Arizona - Chihuly in the Garden

It's rather obvious what these red obelisks are emulating.

Arizona - Chihuly in the Garden

The photographer who met our group told me that someone tried to steal on of the glass elements that make up one of the glass sculptures.  She lost her shoe when she tried to make a run for it and then got lost in the gardens as she tried to make her get away.  Barefoot amongst the cacti is a poor idea; but then so was trying to make off with a piece of sculpture.

Arizona - Chihuly in the Garden

Each of these glass spheres is about 30" in diameter.  There were about 80 of them stacked in a towering sculpture.  Making sure my reflection was not in the frame was bit of a challenge owing to the mirrored surfaces.

Arizona - Chihuly in the Garden

This is one of my favourites from my morning at the Phoenix Botanical Garden.  In this image the glass elements look a bit like snakes.

Arizona - Chihuly in the Garden

Here's a detail photo of this amazing glass sculpture.

Arizona - Chihuly in the Garden

Dale Chihuly is an American blown glass artist.  While in Scottsdale I attended an early morning photo shoot at the Phoenix Botanical Garden called 'Chihuly in the Garden'.  For a limited time a specially created series of Chihuly blown glass pieces are placed throughout the garden.  Over the next few days I'll present some of the images taken before and after sunrise.  Here's the first.

You can read more about Dale Chihuly at:

http://www.chihuly.com/

Arizona

...Just back from a short trip to Arizona.  It was a mental break and not a photo trip but I do have a few photos to share over the next while.  Here's the first of them.

Arizona

This image of these spooky old craggy tree limbs was made withe the iPhone Hipstamatic.

Arizona

I took this photo whilst out for the day in the old town district of Scottsdale.