After losing my lens hood off the pedestrian bridge a few days later I decided to head back and try again at sunset. The following are my three favourite shots (favourite first). I merged a couple photos together in photoshop to make the road seem busier than it was.
Fujifilm X-T1, XF 18-135mm
Fujifilm X-T1, XF 18-135mm
Fujifilm X-T1, XF 18-135mm
For the last couple of months I have been a fairly lazy photographer, not getting out much to take photos and any photos I have been taken have been from our condo balcony. With no plans lined up the last two days I thought I would get out and hit a couple of pedestrian bridges in Calgary that I have driven under hundreds of times but never been on.
The first one is at the top of Mcleod Trail as you exit downtown going south. I arrived 30 minutes prior to sunset and got setup, next time I would plan to arrive 15-20 minutes later as most of the good shots happened after sunset. I wanted to get some headlight trails so used a variable ND filter to get the long shutter speeds required. The sky was not as dramatic as I was hoping for but I am fairly happy with the results. Below is my favourite shot from the session.
Fujifilm X-T1, XF 18-135mm
The second bridge I wanted to check out is on Bow Trail as you exit downtown to the west. The plan was to head out there first thing in the morning for sun rise. I arrived there 30 minutes prior to sunrise. Unfortunately the sky was fairly cloudless. I knew this before heading out but then thought why not. Probably should have stayed in bed...
While setting up the tripod the camera lens barely brushed up against the railing but this was enough to pop off the lens hood. There was a ledge that it came to rest on, but there was no way for me to retrieve it. I did go back with a golf ball retriever but unfortunately it fell down below before I returned. Here it is taunting me for the rest of the morning:
Lens hood hanging on the edge
I Eventually started taking photos until I realized I hadn't put my memory card back in the camera. I guess the coffee had not kicked in yet, but fortunately I had an extra one in the bag. I only took ~20 photos as the lighting wasn't the best as the sky was too plain. The best of the bunch is below. The next time I go to this spot I think I will try the evening, or actually look at the weather to ensure a more dramatic sky.
Fujifilm X-T1, XF 55-200mm
When we were in Buenos Aires this past May, I stumbled upon a vendor selling pinhole cameras in a market. They were painted nicely and I knew this was the perfect souvenir for me.
Pinhole Camera
The camera consists of a spring loaded shutter, empty film canister and box with a pin hole to expose the film. You take a new roll of film, open the empty film canister, tape it to the post and seal it up. You then slide the film into the exposure box. Place this all inside the outer case and you are good to go.
There is a little tab on the back of the exposure box that fits into the film sprocket holes. When you wind the empty canister with a key the tab makes a clicking noise as it moves from sprocket to sprocket. When you hear 13 clicks you are onto the next frame.
I went out on a sunny day to give it a try. A roll of 24 photos gave me 15 exposures. It was fun not knowing what you were framing and I was eagerly anticipating the results. Unfortunately most of what I got back was a blurry mess... I should have known better and brought along a tripod to stabilize the camera while I was shooting, it was tough to know how long to keep the shutter open. The exposures looked close enough but there was just too much camera shake. The following 2 photos were the best of the bunch. I might try again with a small tripod one day. Overall it was a fun experiment and one of the best souvenirs I have picked up on my travels.
A Blurry Wonderland
Downtown YYC