Farmland photography: April update (2023)
Setting out on a photographic odyssey across the Canadian prairies has felt akin to a 5-year all-you-can-eat photo buffet, with Alberta's farmlands playing the role of irresistible finger food. My goal? To dish out monthly platters of photographic anecdotes and, when I can butter up the local farmers enough, add a tasty side dish of authentic flavor to my tales.
April felt like a film festival – some hits, some misses, but all worth the popcorn. But I promise, no spoilers here; you'll have to scroll down to see the visual feast I've prepared for you. Let's dive right in.
April 1, 2023
First of April, and no pranks here, just an evening drive to the neighboring farmlands. Blame it on a glorious sunset I'd glimpsed a couple of days ago; I decided to swap my usual dawn patrol for dusk. Alas, the venture was less Spielberg, more student film – except for a couple of unexpectedly good shots. There I was, eyeballing familiar farmland buildings, daydreaming about a shot worthy of National Geographic, filled with billowing clouds or painted with a vibrant sunset. Alas, the weather gods played a different tune, so I turned the lens the other way, and voilà, an unlikely composition, stole the show. Snowflakes like icing sugar, minimalist structures, and a Technicolor evening sky weren't the award-winning piece I had hoped for, but it was enough to make a decent lemonade out of those lemons.
April 2, 2023
Not one to mope, I revved up my engine for a Sunday drive, heading toward Calgary. The snow was relentless, and my GF 100-200mmF5.6 was having more trouble focusing than a kid on a sugar rush. Eventually, I switched to manual and managed to score a decent shot. As I navigated the snowy labyrinth, I managed to freeze a few more moments onto my memory card. Despite a color palette that was as diverse as a grayscale, I managed to capture the stark beauty of the snowy farmlands, culminating with a backdrop of an iron horse at work under a reasonably colored sky.
April 9, 2023
My journey next Sunday resembled an extended director’s cut with just one climactic scene at the end – a skeletal building caught in the glow of the breaking dawn. Chasing the light, I felt like a character in a noir film, forever awaiting the perfect shot in the unforgiving pre-dawn light. Both winter and early spring had their challenges, but the best part about photography? The unpredictable magic that unfolds every day.
I had to work on some detailed masks to ensure the overall scene looks less processed (the foregrounds were almost dark in the original photograph)
April 13, 2023
Today was a blockbuster. Dropping my son off at a birthday party, the clouds looked promising – a fluffy opera about to unfold in the prairie sky. So, I dashed off to Nisku farmlands, camera in tow. An exhilarating photo shoot followed, the star attraction being a thick layer of clouds over a farmland building. I could almost hear the drumroll as I locked the lens onto this epic scene. What I captured soon became the talk of Instagram, Nextdoor, and Reddit forums – my own Oscar moment!
The Oscar moment
Winding up the day, I caught a massive cloud formation, the grand finale of my cloud-chasing saga. I also managed to photograph a dreamy barn scene under the dissipating mushroom cloud. The post-processing was like a high-stakes poker game, but I came out on top with one of my favorite photographs of April.
I have been imagining this composition for some time, and it finally fell into place.
This trip is loaded with amazing clouds and many stellar images - one such is the Edmonton Airport under the same mushroom cloud. My only gripe is that I should have taken equipment for a panorama to do justice to the airport scene.
In summary, April was a rollercoaster, a photo fiesta filled with hit-and-miss adventures. But if I’ve learned anything, it’s to embrace the low points because they often lead to something surprisingly beautiful. And yes, to carry my wide-angle GF 20-35mmF4 lens because you never know when the prairies decide to put on their Oscar-worthy show.