The Golden Hours

Waldron Conservation Area, Alberta, Canada

I'm a little bit amazed at how many different looking photos of cows I got in one place. All the other photos I posted in the last few days were all taken in the same place, just a few hours apart footsteps from each other. The time before sunset can be incredibly magical, then there is sunset itself, and the afterglow and twilight after that. All of which combined with weather can create a huge variety of looks and colours.

Photographic Details
The original image of this is about 100 megapixels in size, this is just a small crop of the original. I shot this with my telephoto lens in a portrait orientation and stitched together multiple photographs to create a behemoth of an image.

If you like my techniques and also love the wilderness, check out these horseback expeditions I'll be on with +Wayne Sawchuk at http://www.go2mk.ca/

Canon 5D Mark III, 70-200mm f2.8 Iso 100 f8 1/100th of a sec.
#canada   #alberta   #natureconservancy   #cows   #conservation  +Nature Conservancy of Canada 

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Cows in Paradise

Waldron Conservation Area, Alberta, Canada

This shot commissioned by +Nature Conservancy of Canada was one of my favourite moments. A pretty violent thunderstorm was sweeping through as I sought shelter for me and my camera gear. I had previously frightened some cows (by accident) and was looking for a lake I had seen on google earth. Finally I found it and the cows were not happy to see me again. Although this time they realized I wasn't chasing them, and probably noticed I was behaving strangely. Because of this, many of them stuck around to see what I was going to do next. I was sticking around because I was expecting a spectacular sunset, I was not disappointed.

Photographic Details
As sunset was imminent, I knew that I had to be in a good spot for it. Having a tour of the land by local biologists and land owners I knew where a lot of good stuff was, but I could have ignored a lot of that advice. During sunset I wanted something else to add to the image, and reflections in water can give a photo an incredibly heavenly feel. Therefore I ended up on google earth looking for lakes. This seasonal pond was luckily quite full and in the perfect viewpoint for what I was trying to achieve: sunsets, prairies and mountains and hopefully some cows too. My camera is hovering about an inch above the surface of the water, causing the grass and moss growing on the pond surface to blur out and creating a surreal symmetry that most people aren't used to. It takes a bit of effort and trust, especially since I was basically mucking around in mud and cow feces, but it's all worth it!

If you like this, don't forget to check out the horseback expeditions that I'm teaming up with +Wayne Sawchuk on! http://www.kylefoto.com/horseback-expeditions/

For #thirstythursday  curated by +Mark Esguerra and +Giuseppe Basile 
#alberta   #canadaphotography   #canada   #cows   #moo   #conservation   #thenatureconservancy   #googleearth   #horsebackridingvacations  

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