My first fall in the North

Canon 1DS Mark III, 100-400 L f4.5-5.6

Well I guess my first fall in the NT is officially over. The colours are not as varied as they are from home (due to the lack of any maple species) but they are still worth while! My big surprise was seeing trembling aspens turning red!  I never knew this species was capable of this change and yet I've seen it a few times here in the north. The colours are predominantly yellow, with a litttttle bit of orange. One thing that was a bonus of photographing the fall in the north was the dry air. The dry air cut out any humidity in the sky and reduced any sort of haziness. The sky (when it was showing) was always a dark, clean, crisp blue. This blue provided some great colours in the background to contrast the fall colours against.

Canon 1DS Mark III, 24-105mm L F4, 1/100 sec, 24mm, F8

The same is true of the colours at home. They're more vibrant the closer they are to water.  Except that here, you won't find deer in the trees, you find buffalo! Just across the Mackenzie River you enter a buffalo preserve and you're bound to come across a few buffalo on your travels. I've yet to see the large herd of over 30 heads of buffalo, but I'm sure I'll come across them eventually. My goal for these shots were to contrast the size and colour of the animals against some bright colours of the aspens and pines behind them.

Canon 1DS Mark III, 100-400 L f4.5-5.6, 1/250 sec, 400mm, f5.6

Canon 1DS Mark III, 100-400 L f4.5-5.6, 1/125sec 400mm f5.6

Yellowknife's fall colours arrived about 3 weeks before they did in Hay River. I was in town for Labour Day weekend and Shannon and I managed to make our way to Cameron Falls on the Ingraham (sp?) Trail. The falls were very accessible (15 min walk in the bush), but it was so wonderful to tramp around the falls. You came to a wonderful view of the falls, then you're able to view them from down below and then, for the more adventurous, directly from the top of the falls. It's a great way to spend a few hours. I had the right light for doing blurred waterfall shots and it just turned out to be good timing to be there when I was there. The light was dark, flat and diffused. Nothing dramatic but you let the water make the drama. I set the 1DS mkIII on the tripod with my 24-105mm L F.4 on Av with my ISO on 50 and let the camera's light meter determine what the ideal exposure is. Then I adjust this from time to time, periodically bracketing a scene and then adjusting my angle.

Canon 1DS Mark III, 24-105mm L F4, 1/6 sec, F16, 65mm

Canon 1DS Mark III, 24-105mm L F4, 1/3 sec, 47mm, F11

I've been waiting to photograph a particular stand of aspens for about a year now and unfortunately the colours just did not come through here. The stand is between Alexandra and Louise Falls. Luckily enough the falls on both end of the trail made up for the lack of colours of the trees.
 

Canon 1DS Mark III, 16-35mm L F2.8, 24mm, F16, 1/2 sec

Canon 1DS Mark III,  24-105mm L F4

Canon 1DS Mark III, 16-35mm L F2.8

Canon 1DS Mark III, 16-35mm L F2.8

Canon 1DS Mark III,16-35mm L F2.8

I have a small nature trail outside my building next to the river and I've been watching it for the past few weeks to see when the right time. The last Sunday in September turned out to be the peak of the fall colours here and I was lucky to go for a walk. I did the typical 'fall walking trail' shots and to be honest, I'm extremely satisfied with them. On these shots I'm using my 24-105mm L f.4. It was a bright day so a 'slow' aperture of f.4 wouldn't come into play at all. I enjoy this lens due to it's versatility. The focal length range allows it to be a great 'walk around town' lens. It allows for great 24mm wide angle shots and it's 105mm extension allows for moderate telephoto use. I used my B+W polarizing filter to help darken the blues in the sky and help make the foliage colours really pop.

Canon 1DS Mark III, 24-105mm L F4

Canon 1DS Mark III, 24-105mm L F4

Canon 1DS Mark III, 24-105mm L F4

Canon 1DS Mark III, 24-105mm L F4

At the end of my walk the clouds began to blow over and I was disappointed but satisfied with what I had achieved. On my way back I spied one of our resident pileated woodpeckers. I was luckily able to switch to my 100-400mm L f4.5-5.6 quickly to snap some photos before the male flew away. I ran into a friend of mine and he was able to help me spot the pair of woodpeckers again. I chased the pair around the little stand of trees hoping to get crisp shots of them against the yellow colours in the background and I was successful.

Canon 1DS Mark III, 100-400 L f4.5-5.6

Canon 1DS Mark III, 100-400 L f4.5-5.6

Canon 1DS Mark III, 100-400 L f4.5-5.6

Canon 1DS Mark III, 100-400 L f4.5-5.6

We've been having some fantastic weather lately with varying clouds sweeping by and I've been lucky to capture a couple in panoramics down by the river. Once again, my camera is set on my tripod and I use my 16-35mm L f2.8 to photograph a sequence of photos from left to right keeping my mid line along the horizon to stitch into one panoramic. I have some advice on these photographs in an earlier installment of the blog.

Composite Panorama made with 1DS Mark III and 16-35mm L F2.8

Composite Panorama made with 1DS Mark III and 16-35mm L F2.8

1/500, F3.2, ISO 100, 1DS Mark III,  70-200 L F2.8

So this was my first fall. It's not the same as home, or as colourful but it still presents itself with some great photo ops.