Addiction

Ok I have to admit, the storm last week was really incredible.  I had never shot anything like it before.  I still have this deep down desire to see a tornado.  It will happen, someday. Until then I will have to feed this addiction I now seem to have.  Shortly are dinner tonight an alert popped up that there was a severe thunderstorm warning for Calgary.  I heard the deep roll of thunder close to 8pm.  The sky was a hazy reddish colour with pitch black behind it. It was like I had no choice.  I had to go out.

 

We flew out to the East end of the city then went south.  Though the clouds were not swirling like last time, the intensity was still there. Deep inside the cloud, you could feel the power that was inside them. Mixed with the setting sun, this string of thunderstorms and hail was almost tranquil. 

I think I will have to start a storm gallery if I keep going out shooting these aggressive acts of mother nature. It's amazing how something that sounds so angry can look so beautiful. One thing happened tonight, something I have been wanting for a while. I got my first lightening photograph. It's not super spectacular, but I am super excited I got it.  It took a while, a lot of patience but gave me sometime to get acquainted with the remote trigger I picked up off ebay a little while back.  It is the same as the Canon one. Programable etc. looks identical and works perfectly, but only a fraction of the cost. Using it along with a tripod makes for a less stressful shoot. 

Again I saw another lesson for myself in tonight. We were about to sit down and watch a movie for the night. But I felt compelled to go. Grab my camera and head out the door, and got to watch the storm unfold before our eyes.  I have to say I am more than excited to have missed out on watching a film.  It seems so far that trusting my gut has really been the motivator I have been needing. Make the most I can out of all the photographable situations. Enjoy the results I have. I know I am.  

Right Place. Right Time

Was relatively light Friday, so I was able to finished a little early and said good bye to my day job until tuesday.  On my way home I decided to drop my local camera store (www.thecamerastore.com)  to pick up a circular polarizer for the wide lens I bought just over a month ago. I had one of these a few years ago, but it broke. I have missed the pop that this filter can bring to my photographs. Upon leaving the store looking north I saw this massive big white full of texture cloud (you know the ones, they look like they could be 10 miles tall) moving east.  With my previous blog still fresh in my mind (http://bit.ly/pZpLMv) I decided to eat my words, jet home grab my camera and race out to the prairie.  

When I was young I was terrified of storms.  It kinda all started when my family was camping at Bon Echo Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada.  Swimming and lightning struck the 400 Foot cliff directly across the lake from where we were. It was one of the loudest cracks of thunder I have ever heard. I was told later by my parents that I had successfully ran on the water to then jump onto my bicycle take off in 8 different directions at once to find our camp site and locked myself in the car hiding on the floor.

Over the years I have out grown the fear. Add in photography and I have always wanted to capture that fear, the face of it.  After a number of attempts over the past couple of years I have always seemed to come up short. So I was kinda hoping but when I checked and there was no warning about yesterdays storm when I had left kind of disappointed. Decided to go to some places I have been in the past. Bright yellow fields of canola with the towering clouds over head I thought would make for a good shot. I stopped at this flooded field now seems to be a wetland. Wanted to put this new filter through it's paces with the reflections i maybe able to get. The thunder from the North sounded like carpet bombing, it was quite intense but soothing compared to the sounds of traffic and planes of the city. The little kid in me was starting to whisper in my ear that maybe we should go when the white puffy monstrosities had turned into a low dark apocalyptic rotating mass. When the lightening started to be in abundance it was time to head to the car. Standing on a peninsula of this wet land didn't seem like the smartest of ideas.  Now the fun began.  I took my next right and headed south and right again to a field of hay bails. Jumped out shot for a couple of minutes, jumped back in and took off. This game of cat and mouse with the storm went on for the next hour or so. All I can say is that I am really happy I am very comfortable driving on gravel roads.

A friend of mine, Vanessa whom I had mentioned back a few blog posts ago (http://bit.ly/oXFRNw), had gotten the opportunity to shoot with Greg Johnson from http://tornadohunter.com  Talking with her about her experiences, one thing she stressed was "if you go out, don't go alone". I realized how nice it would have been to have someone else with me yesterday, as no one really knew where I was.  When the Emergency Broadcast system message that over took  the news was saying that there is a tornado warning in effect and if you are in these particular areas take shelter, I was sarcastically yelling at the radio, " You don't say! It's just less than a kilometre behind me!"  

Even though I yet to fulfill my wish of seeing a tornado in person, this experience was nothing short of incredible. I feel like I have learnt a lot but cannot really pinpoint what "a lot" is. Maybe it has nothing to do with photography. It was something like when I was up on my hike a week ago, something deeper.  Something I feel I have been chasing for many years, and getting close to it now.  Not trying get to weird about it, and have you dive deep into my personal life. My guess is that if you are reading this maybe you do have some interest in it so I shouldn't apologize for it. Can't wait to see what the rest of the long weekend will bring! 

 

The adrenaline mixed with fear and wanting to stand my ground was almost as peaceful as it was chaotic. Enjoy viewing what I had the opportunity to experience.  

Note to Self

On the weekend we went out for a short hike. Short because we were somewhat rushed due to a dinner commitment we had.  Rawson Lake, in Kananaskis, AB was the destination. Mainly a tree lined trail with the water falls pouring into upper kananaskis lake before it turns south and up. From there it's just 2.7 km in and up almost 300 meters. I know that my description of the hike is not really something really worth reading for some, and I wont apologize for that . I keep forgetting the beauty that is so close to Calgary. This was a short hour from my doorstep.  Why am I not out here more? 

 I think i may have found something out there. I have been so dedicated to shooting the prairie, abandoned farms and big open skies I kinda forgot what it was like to shoot something a little more restrictive. I have always loved looking at other photographers work of the mountains. I find them really inspiring, motivating.  And that is something I struggle with. The big nasty Motivation.  Sitting on my ass and reading about how to make good photographs and day dreaming about the gear i would maybe like to have is the much easier option.  Driving out to fail at making the shot doesn't always seem so appealing.  Now I am not one for an easy way out, trust me. But sometimes the uphills get a little tiring.  I think something clicked out there (no pun intended). When I got out of the trees at Rawson Lake. I knew what i wanted and I knew how to get it. There was no way I was going to fail at this one. This is the result. Did i have the gear I wanted to make it happen, no not really. Ideally i would have had a tripod and some GND filters, but all I had was me my 7D and 11-16 lens balancing on some wet logs trying not to fall in.

 

 Why am I writing this?  Maybe it is for myself to come back and read, maybe someone will get something out of this. But mainly it's to say get off your couch, get off your computer and go out and shoot. Stop making excuses.  I have been doing that for far too long, and I am no further along than I was this time last year. I can say I am somewhat embarrassed in myself for that. No this isn't a self pity fest. It more that I have come to the realization, and maybe I should have a while ago and maybe I had but didn't want to believe it. That no one is going to hand me the guide of how to make it as a photographer. There is no magic pixie dust that someone is going to sprinkle so I will have my break.  Yes I have had some tips here and there and am grateful to the photographers that have shown me some of the technical side I have needed to know .  It doesn't matter how many books and magazine articles I read on how to make the perfect shot. Unless I go out and shoot, nothing is going to happen.  I need to make my own path and be proud of it and stop making excuses. 

Rocky Mountain Rally 2011

This was a rally I was supposed to be competing in. I had been planning on it since the last event I had entered back in November 2010. My car was the best prepared it had been in a long time. I was ready. But with my day job’s instability at the time I ended up having to withdraw from the rally during registration, but I signed up and got my media credentials. I do my best to never miss a rally.Crazy Leo / Martin Brady  Funny thing is I find shooting a rally just as exciting as driving in one. I recognize that may not sound possible – flying down a gravel road at 140kph, flying over blind crests getting all four wheels in the air – but there’s something about being behind a camera. I think it's my deep passion for both the sport and photography that aligns the two joys. Rally in Canada is not terribly popular, like it is in Europe. I try to do my part to change that by covering the events I cannot enter and creating the absolute best photographs I can. It can be difficult shooting rallies. Unlike other forms of motorsports where cars are on a race track and will go through that corner you are shooting at repeatedly, in rally you got one chance to make that click of your shutter count. Maybe that’s where the excitement for me lies. The challenge of getting the shot with only one chance at it.

                                                                              Michelle Laframboise / Elise Racette

Unfortunately over the past couple of years mother nature seems to throw everything she's got at this rally. During the recce it was raining in Kananaskis Country where the stages were. It was looking to be yet another wet Rocky Mountain Rally. During the evening I went back to Calgary to pick up a friend from the airport. The rains were incredible. Ark worthy. On our way back to the hotel that all changed. We hit deep deep wet snow. Slowing down to 30kph on the Trans Canada hwy, it was a struggle to keep the car on the road. J.C. Bourgeois / Matt VincentUpon arriving at the hotel I went and chatted to fellow a photographer who shoots for www.flatovercrest.com about the change in the weather and maybe jumping in his AWD SUV to reduce the amount of un-needed vehicles on what was to be expected deeply snow covered roads. The morning arrived and it didn't look too bad, so we headed out with our rain gear for both us and our cameras. Within about 8 Kms of the hotel and starting to rise in elevation, the scene had completely changed. Over a foot of heavy wet snow blanketed the mountain landscape, confirming that leaving my 2WD car behind at the hotel was a good idea.

Along with the deep snow came long delays and a shortened route. The heavy snow made it quite difficult for shooting. The flakes were so large that my camera would start focusing on the snow coming down instead of the cars. Then there was the lack of speed. Being a Canadian Rally Championship national event, all the top teams were there, and that usually means very fast, very committed teams. They were doing their best to stay on the road so I had to do my best making the most of the situation. The other challenge was Andrew Harvey (www.andrewharvey.ca) was now shooting from roughly the same location. So we had to make our photos not look the same. Despite the hardships and challenges of the snow it was an exciting day.

Hardy Schmidtke / John Hall

The second part of the rally was about 15 Kms from where we were for most the day. Again, completely different, for both the teams and the photographers. No more snow and the rain had stopped, but the mud on the road was deep. And being in a dense forest, the light was minimal. I can now see the benefit having really fast glass, and I think I am going to have to start saving for the canon 70-200 F2.8L My F4 version was just a little too slow, having to bump up the iso to close to 1600 to shoot at just 1/250. Thanks to the advancement in noise reduction technologies in software like Adobe's Lightroom there wasn't much of an issue. All a good learning experience. Every rally I learn something new to make my photographs better and better.Jan Zedril / Jody Zedril

Thanks to the organizers of the www.rockymountainrally.com for being so understanding with the situation I had with work at the time. And for letting me jump into the media ring with very little notice. Also thanks to Andrew for taking me in his vehicle so I was able to shoot for the day. Much appreciated.

My full gallery of the Rocky Mountain Rally can be viewed here: http://bit.ly/r5dtaX

Pat Richard / Leanne JunnilaAntoine LeStage / Nat Richard

Cochrane rally 2011

 Back in March I had the opportunity to shoot round 1 of the Western Canadian Rally Championship, www.cochranerally.ca. Rally is a sport that is as dear to my heart as photography is and when not shooting an event I can be found behind the wheel of my own rally car. Back in Feburary I wrote about a winter rally test day and how I got to borrow a monopod for a test drive. Well I liked it so much I ended up buying myself one. A manfrotto 680B. Nice and compact, good for when you need to hike into stages at a rally. I found that it helped me with making much sharper photos, maybe I drink too much coffee? In the uncontrolled and sometimes unpredictable lighting situations while out on the stages of a rally, I find you need to be prepared for anything.

When I showed up on the Saturday to Registration, to sign a waiver and get my media pass, I was introduced to photographer Vanessa Neufeld at www.vphotographic.com She had not been to a rally before. I was asked by the organizer to take her around to show her some good spots to shoot from. Being that I was planning on spending the day alone, I was more than happy to have the company.

 

We met up at the service park on the Sunday morning and headed out to the stages. It was a warm-ish day to spend out in the woods, lots of sun and good temperature. With a mixed bag of conditions for the competitors, I was looking forward to this day of shooting. It was some good excitement. There was a good battle between some new drivers like Max Riddle and Onur Tezcan, and the return of my biggest rival, when I am competing, former Canadian 2WD champ Kamunen Racing's Eric Grochowski. It was great to watch the commitment of the drivers pushing their rally cars to the limits and sometimes beyond.

At the end of the long day I was happy with what I got. My new monopod was awesome, especially as the sun was going down, the low light proved challenging, and also far less fatigue being that I didn't have to have a camera around my neck for the day. Shooting with Vanessa was awesome too. Go check out how talented she is and see her new found love of storm chasing at www.vphotographic.com

See my full gallery of the rally at http://bit.ly/mQxEuc