Canadian Rockies - Lake Louise Village, Mountain Vista

Probably one of my favorites of the mountain shots.  Think it looks sort of like a painting.

In the past I've sent out "alerts" warning viewers that we're getting into the more mundane, clichéd shots common in landscape photography.  While not a huge fan of those, here I couldn't help but get drawn in to these magnificent views, capturing them in order to share their beauty on this platform.  No doubt there are millions, if not billions, of pictures taken and shared from this area; however I've concluded that, well, maybe these pics have not yet been seen by the few followers of this blog.  So here we go...more to come!

Canadian Rockies - Lake Louise Village, Visitor Center

Thought this building was very cleverly designed, obviously influenced by its surroundings.

Since we're still well into the 90's here in Houston, the most common question we got upon our return was about the temperature.  We couldn't have asked for better weather!  Upon our arrival the low was in the 40's and highs were in the 60's with abundant sunshine.  A front blew through after the second day, which pushed temperatures down to the upper 20's at night and into the 40's by day.  So long as the wind wasn't blowing we were very comfortable even when it was colder.

Of course I went through the regular vacation-inspired round of thoughts along the lines of "Yes, this would be perfect for us, and the Canadian cold isn't so bad after all, so we should move here", etc., but know that if we were up there in the dead of winter those feelings probably would change...

Canadian Rockies - Lake Louise Village, Information Booth

A few more while in town.  This presumably was set up to help alleviate staff workload in the Visitor Center, a pic of which will be posted tomorrow.  After having gone through Banff, we were glad to have chosen this little village for our stay...much less crowded, and free of all hassles related to overcrowded sidewalks, the party crowd, etc.

Canadian Rockies - Lake Louise Village, Mountainscape

As stated in an earlier post, from our second-story balcony there was a photo in every direction.  As an extension of that, the same applies wherever you go in Lake Louise Village.  We were fortunate in that the weather permitted vistas such as this one.  Looks like something you'd find on a remote wilderness hike, but not so:

Canadian Rockies - Lake Louise Village, Bookmarks from Lodge

 

Canadian Rockies - Louise Lake Village, Fuji Lookalike (sort of)

Our hotel/lodge room was on the second floor, which afforded excellent views such as this.  With the sun coming in at such a low angle on the mountaintop, couldn't help remembering this shot of Fuji from a trip to Japan.

Standing in the same place just outside our door, zoomed in to capture the shot below:

Canadian Rockies - Lake Louise Village, Fall Leaves

Still on the balcony, I swung the Bigger Cahoona up and down, back and forth, seeing a photo in every direction.  Later in the trip I saw some standalone trees that were a much brighter yellow than these and appeared as though they were on fire.  That was on the road, though, and with five others in our rented van I just couldn't stop whenever I saw something.  So this will have to suffice for the first half of our journey.

Wider view below of same frame:

...an even wider view here, to get a perspective on the layout of the lodge property; we were in building 4 of 5:

Canadian Rockies - Lake Louise Village, WARNING Resulting from First Balcony Shot

This is a view from the balcony just outside our hotel room door.  I'm not posting this because it's a great picture - it certainly is not - but as a reminder to WATCH YOUR SETTINGS!!  I went into this trip mindful of the ISO, exposure compensation, bracket setting, and everything else WITH THE EXCEPTION OF METERING!  Landscapes with snowy mountaintops are extremely contrasty, and it was not until the second day that I discovered that all pics captured to that point were using spot metering instead of matrix metering.  This rendered useless many otherwise acceptable shots.  Live and learn I suppose; this is one of the reasons I'd like to take a class and learn from the experts how to really use a camera.

The zoomed-in pic below was taken from the same vantage point, but much later in the day when it could be crafted into a silhouette shot.  Why they kept Christmas lights strung around that one tree in the foreground we never found out...

Canadian Rockies - Small Towns from Above

A thought occurred to me as I sat taking pictures of the scenery below.  Small towns such as these have distinguishing features that could make them easy to locate on a map.  Would it not be interesting to identify them later on?  I could duplicate the flight on my simulator at home, then look for the features and patterns that would zero in on exactly which towns these are, then get to know them a little bit.  What is the population?  What is the relationship or dynamic between the larger town at the bottom and the two smaller towns strung along the highway going up?  How do each use the river for recreation and/or commerce?  Etc. etc.  Might be a fun little exercise to keep the synapses firing during retirement...

 

Canadian Rockies - The Wonder of Flight and a Wonderful Sight

It still amazes me that people - lots of people - can enter a tube which rises high in the sky, then travels at more than 500 mph to a destination, then can safely land at that destination!  Never lost a sense of awe that such a thing can be done.

And of course the view!  From miles up in the air you can look down to see entire cities and towns, along with the surrounding topography.  Not to mention sunrises, sunsets, storm clouds with lightning, and occasionally other jetliners passing underneath or overhead to their own destinations.  Even some airline pilots appreciate their unique vantage point, and carry along a DSLR to take pictures from the cockpit when something amazing appears before them.

One of the most memorable sights I've ever seen was on a flight over the Swiss Alps going from London to Athens.  It was a crystal clear June day, and the gorgeous mountains with their snowy tops were passing below when I spied a jetliner going the opposite direction underneath our flight path.  I will never forget the beauty of those mountains along with the uniqueness of seeing the other jetliner passing below, leaving its contrail as if bisecting the scene.

On this trip up to Canada I was fortunate enough to get a window seat far enough back in the cabin to (mostly) avoid the wing or the engine, and decided to grab the Bigger Cahoona to try a few shots.  It was not without its challenges, however; you're in constant motion, and need to be careful not to bang the lens against the window.  And it's important to have lens cleaners handy to wipe the film and nose prints off of the window before beginning.

So I did those things and took pictures of what I considered to be interesting, this being the first one.  In spite of the precautions and cleaning of the window, a lot of post-capture was needed to yield a passable snapshot, as can be seen from the original below:

Yu-shin's Wedding - Outdoor Venue

The outside venue, before it started raining.  Interesting that this is well within the City of Houston, but you wouldn't know it.

This is it for the wedding pics.  So where do we go next?  The wife and I, along with two of her sisters and their husbands, are about to embark on our first hiking vacation in the Canadian Rockies!  Flying into Calgary, then driving a rented van north of Banff.  Our first of what we hope will be many post-retirement trips.  Of course the Bigger Cahoona will be tagging along to capture photos that hopefully will feed the blog for another little while...

Yu-shin's Wedding - Bauble Chandelier

Still focusing on the decorations inside, one of those pics that had potential but didn't know what it was until I started fiddling with it in post-capture.  Why not just make a layer of the fixture, then apply a black background?  Not as easy as it sounds, as selecting only the fixture entailed using the round marquis tool to duplicate the exact roundness of each ball, then inverting the selection after it's been feathered by one pixel.  From there it was just a matter of erasing the background, the easy part.

Original pic below:

Yu-shin's Wedding - Coffee Candy Containers

I once went with a friend to shoot a wedding in Austin but, since he has a gift with people and I prefer to capture inanimate objects, made it clear that I would mostly just capture decorations and the occasional candid.  He was OK with that and the shoot went well.

And taking pics such as the one above is just as satisfying as - maybe even better than - those of people, who have to be corralled and posed.  Love the color and content of this one...

Yu-shin's Wedding - Multiple Orchids

Debated a while about whether this one should be posted, but here it is.  There was a stick holding these guys up that was very distracting, but didn't want to crop from the right once it was removed because I wanted the flower in the upper-right to remain intact.  Otherwise I very much like this composition.

Original pic below:

Yu-shin's Wedding - Single Orchid

Back in March of this year (2023) we attended a niece's wedding here in Houston.  The venue was awesome, but unfortunately the weather forced us inside, which was still awesome because it was just a neat place.  Because of that change, however, I didn't take many pictures at all since the Bigger Cahoona's middling lens doesn't do too well in low-light conditions.  Anything posted here was possible only if able to use my handy radiulna tripod.

Such as the flower above, which follows a theme also posted here and here.  Did not have to select out the flower and create a black background; this is how it really turned out due to the darkened interior plus the fact that flash was used.

Dallas Visit with Allison - Dried Flowers

This is a case where I caught myself looking at something over and over, scrutinizing a way to make it into a picture, and eventually settled on what you see here.  The arrangement was on the coffee table, but the background was very busy, so draped the couch with a blue blanket and began snapping away.  Think it's one of my favorites from the trip.

Dallas Visit with Allison - Hindi Temple Tree

Allison told us of a lunch thing they had going at the Hindi temple, so we headed over one day to grab a bite and experience a bit of culture.  Saw this tree on our way out.  Don't know what it says, but it's artistically done and I've always been fascinated with their writing, so here it is.  Will remove the wire if one day I decide to print or do something else with this pic.

Dallas Visit with Allison - Frontiers of Flight Museum, Boeing 747 Model / My First Ride in a 747

Took a bit of time to select out this near-direct frontal view of the mighty Boeing 747, the Queen of the Skies.  Original picture is below.

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I'll never forget my first ride in one of these.  Chenjean, my then fiancee-to-be, and I flew in one on our trip to secure her father's permission to marry this crazy American.  It was such a colossal beast!  Once we were able to get out of our seats and move around, I walked up and down the length of the aisle, marveling that this behemoth was up in the sky flying at more than 500 miles per hour.  And to add to the hugeness, there were stairs leading up to a second floor!

Of course I had to go there to see what it looked like and what the rich folks were up to.  I half expected to be stopped by a stewardess, but wasn't so hastened up the spiral staircase.  The seats were much larger, of course, but what caught my attention most was a big bowl of fruit at the top of the spiral staircase.  This bowl of fruit had the biggest, golf ball-sized grapes I'd ever seen!  Had to have some.  So as inconspicuously as possible, I picked three or four and slipped them into my pocket before heading back down to our side of the tracks.  After extracting my prizes and showing them to Chenjean, was surprised when she peeled them before eating!  First time I'd seen that, and was equally as surprised to later see her peeling the small American grapes also.

We've traveled many times since on other 747's, and later the 777's, but nothing will match that first awe-inspiring, wonderful ride on the Queen of the Skies.

Dallas Visit with Allison - Frontiers of Flight Museum, Indoor Panorama

One of my all-time favorite pics in this blog was posted here from a visit to the Frontiers of Flight Museum, back in 2008, while in the area on business.  Thus I was thrilled that our daughter, Allison, suggested a visit here as an activity while we were at her place last month.  Interestingly, I didn't take many pictures at all, but considered this 4-shot panorama and what will be posted tomorrow to be blogworthy keepers.

Nasher Sculpture Center - Arranged Junk

Now this is one for the ages.  We all stood around this piece marveling that someone could arrange a pile of junk and call it art.  All it takes is a name...

Nasher Sculpture Center - Random Pieces

The solid wall in the background makes for a good silhouette-like photo of this piece and the one below...

 

Nasher Sculpture Center - Piece with Shadows

 

Nasher Sculpture Center - Chain Shadow

Venturing indoors to view the sculptures on display, this is the first thing that caught my eye due to its similarity to this post from long ago.

Nasher Sculpture Center - Moth on Chair

Don't know what kind of moth this is, but it didn't move at all while we were walking around so decided to get this image featuring my favorite color combination.

Nasher Sculpture Center - Bookmarks of Glasses

Decided to make two bookmarks from the image posted yesterday - the one above showing the stems, and the abstract below:

Nasher Sculpture Center - Glasses at Stem Level

Though my old knees complained, was able to crouch down long enough to capture this stem-eyed view.  Glowing Edges effect applied below:

Nasher Sculpture Center - Wine and Water Glasses

Of everything they had set up for the wedding, these things caught my most focused attention, there being not one but two patterns to capture.

Nasher Sculpture Center - Chair Backs with Glowing Edges

This time from the other side of the chairs, got a closer-up view of the chair backs, which I thought created a good effect in Glowing Edges.  Original below:

Nasher Sculpture Center - Wedding Chairs

Our destination on this jaunt was the Nasher Sculpture Center there in downtown Dallas.  Fortunately for me and the Bigger Cahoona, they were in the process of setting up for a wedding later in the day.  Naturally I was drawn to and had to capture the pattern made by these chair backs.

Dallas Visit with Allison - Cathedral Reflection Shot