January 2010 - Page 2 of 3 - Sean Phillips Photography

Irrigation Pivots in Winter

It was amazingly cold out the other day and the ice fog hanging over the prairie landscape turned everything pure white. These irrigation pivots were beautiful as they loomed over the fields below. I’m always amazed by how the changing seasons completely transform the places around us. Something as simple as a little bit of snow on the ground can make the familiar things look completely foreign, and the mundane things beautiful. It’s worth it to pause every now and then and to take a good look at the things around you. You might be amazed by what you see, and by how little you really remember about what it normally looks like.

Fulton Farms (Since 1904)

I pass by this farm almost every day while driving out of Calgary to the prairies to the East. I have only very rarely stopped to see it, and never from very close. The farm is nestled into a stand of trees, and I always assumed that I wouldn’t be able to make any good images of it from the perspective I would have when I was close. When I drove by the other day I saw the beautiful morning glow developing behind the farm, and so I decided that it was time to try.

I’m so happy that I did because the farm has never been more beautiful than it was that day! I’m a sucker for the indigo and magenta sky that forms to the West just before the sun rises (in the East) on a clear sky day, and I can’t resist the urge to make some new images. It’s nice when I can be near something that I’ve never photographed before, and this was one of those magical mornings!

American Robin taking a Bath

I saw this Robin taking a bath in the river at Carburn Park way back in the spring. It was the first time I had ever seen a Robin in the water, never mind actually bathing. It was pretty neat to see!

I’ve been going through a bunch of old photos from the past year that I never got around to processingm so there will likely be quite a few out-of-season posts like this one coming up in the coming weeks.

Sunrise Starburst

The winter landscape on the prairies can be so beautful that sometimes I find it hard to decide what image to make next. This was one of those examples where I was torn between wanting to make images of the grain bins that I knew would be glowing a beautiful red as the sun rose, or to try to create the starburst effect you see here just as the sun peeked over the horizon. In the end I managed to do both, but I really only got to try one composition for the starburst shot, and then I ran back over to the bins to make a few more images there. Fortunately this old fence was close enough to the bins that I was able to use it to give the starburst shot some foreground interest.

More Grain Bins

Here are a couple more images from my sunrise photoshoot the other day. Some of these images were made using a new lens I got for Christmas, called a Lensbaby. This is a very creative lens that allows the photogrpaher to select a very specific part of the image to be in focus. I love the look that is possible with this lens and it’s going to be fun to play with it over the coming months!