nature prints Archives - Paterson Photography Ltd.

Waterton Park – Prince of Wales

June 17, 2019June 17, 2019 by Mike

I love Waterton Park!!! Get me started on the management of the park and you will not be able to stop me as I truly want Waterton protected for the future!. I think Waterton is perfect in so many ways. Now ask me what I think in the dead of winter when the wind will not stop blowing and the snow keeps drifting and I may say something else but that is all part of Waterton.

On amazing days there is no place any better than Waterton! Saturday morning was one of those times. I was suppose to teach a class in Waterton on Saturday morning. Just before they confirmed the class I agreed to head out to Yoho for a shoot. Then the Yoho shoot got postponed as the parkway was not open yet. So I headed to Waterton on Saturday to see what was out and about. It started raining sometime in the early morning on Sunday and got harder and harder all night. Sometime around 4 I got up for a drink and I realized that I had a window open and the rain had been hitting that window. Closed the window and went back to sleep and listened to the rain on the roof. Around 6 I woke up to still more rain. I thought if it was raining I may as well stay in bed. Woke up again at 7 and the rain had stopped and some sun had started to peak out. Got up and headed out to shoot! WOW what a morning!!! No wind, the clouds were breaking up and the sun was starting to poke through.

Where to go???

The only problem with a morning like this is where to go, there are SOOOOO many places that you want to go to when it is perfect out. After a drive up to the lookout just before the border on Chief Mountain Highway I headed back towards the town site. I passed a number of good photo opportunities as I had some ideas in my mind what I wanted to shoot. As I got closer to the town site I made up my mind. I turned off the road to a lookout over the valley that I have always wanted to use. Today was that day!!! Got up to the lookout only to run into a couple bears. So much for getting out here. A few pictures of them then to location two, Driftwood beach.

The weather was still perfect so I got a amazing shot of the POW. Some days it is just a perfect place to work at!!!

Visit my Gallery about Waterton

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Red Rock Coulee

April 11, 2019April 10, 2019 by Mike

Red Rock Coulee – Great in all seasons!

If you are looking for an amazing road trip may I suggest Red Rock Coulee. I have driven past on highway 3 a number of times and always wondered what was there, now I know. It is well worth the drive for a day or even if you want to stay in the area for a couple days.

Will be heading back that way soon for some more pictures and exploring! Funny thing is that all the rock pictures that I took and I like the flower ones the best!

This place is amazing, a little out of the way and NO services. There is one broken picnic table and that is all the extras that are there. But it is well worth the drive. I do suggest that you go WELL prepared. When it is hot out this place is even hotter. If it is dry this place is drier. When it is cool this place is COLD!! There is no shelter to get out of the weather unless you hide behind a rock and they are not that big!

Old Farm Collection

March 3, 2019March 3, 2019 by Mike

Winter Fence At Sunset

~ Old Farm Collection ~

I started a collection of old farm prints many years ago. Most where black and white with a few color added for contrast. Somehow the pages for the collection got removed from my website over the years with all the updates and the collection was forgotten to the passing of time.

When I shot this image I immediately knew what collection that I needed to add this to. SO after 15 plus years I am working on rebuilding the collection and will be bringing it back to the web site and for sale once again.

I am starting with these two and I will work on the entire collection in the next few months.

Winter Fence At Sunset

Printed on gloss metallic paper. Image size is 12×18, paper size is 13×19
Ready to mat or frame
Limited edition of 250 prints

I was out driving through southern Alberta one cold winters day and I kept seeing fences that were in a state of major disrepair. They seemed to be more prominent with the snow around them separating them from the rest of the prairies.

The saying “In the winter of your life” kept playing in my mind. Adding to the overall look of the image is the long reddish rays of the low sun. In late winter the sun starts tossing more color and longer shadows on the prairie just before it makes it climb back to the high summer arch. The low late day sun works perfectly to light these scenes and brings out the rough texture of the wood and adding a warmth to the wood that counters the cold blue of the shadows.

The barbed wire in the background plays against the force of the foreground posts.

Order Winter Fence At Sunset #1

At one time you know all the wire had a purpose, now it forms a metallic spider’s web.

Order Winter Fence At Sunset #1

Order both prints and save on the prints and shipping

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Mountain Frame

February 6, 2019January 2, 2019 by Mike

So this past Saturday I made another mountain frame. I like the ones without a back but I wanted this one to have a picture behind it, after all I am a photographer 🙂 Made the frame, stained and painted it and took it with me to the studio. Then I started going through my files to see what I wanted to put behind the mountain frame.

Found a really nice picture of Red Rock Parkway from this past summer. It was PERFECT!!! I resized and cropped it and was getting ready to print when I thought I should look at a few more and BINGO. I hit on the best picture yet for my mountain frames. My son and I were in Waterton this past fall and we stopped at Maskinonge. It was a perfect day with snow, blue skies and blue water. I shot a few dozen pictures and made a really cool pano, from that series one picture stood out and was saying I will look great in a mountain frame.

Now my issue is that I have another frame I don’t want to sell 🙂 Oh well as soon as it warms up I have another idea for a frame and will make another one like this one and try one with my new idea as well.

Mountain shelf — I like them without anything on the shelves

Mountain shelf hung on the wall at the studio, I do like!!!!!

If you are interested in a mountain frame I do sell them. At this time I have three at the studio – two without pictures behind them and this one. This would look amazing in a den, living room, bedroom, office or cabin.

Contact me for pricing and any special requests.

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Planning for 2019 – my goals

February 25, 2019December 28, 2018 by Mike

So as 2018 comes to an end I am planning what goals I want for the next year. I have the same general items for each year that I am in business …

Improve my photography
Keep my website & blog up to date
Improve print quality and types of prints offered
Add more courses and workshops

But those are general and if I did not have them then there would be a big problem as everyone or every business should have something to work towards.

So what do I have to work toward? I have heard many experts say we should have three types of plans / goals in our lives. The first are the BIG ones, or the dreams. The second is the more achievable ones (medium goals) but still will require some work and the third is the easy ones. SO for the next year so far I have the following…..

Big Goals

Drive to the Northwest Territories
Drive to Ontario for the fall colors
Go to Churchhill to photograph the polar bears
Get out kayaking more

Follow my exploring here

Medium Goals

Upgrade my 70D’s to the promised Canon 7D mark III
Add a vacuum press to the printing department
Head back to the coast for a whale watching trip
Head to Jasper to photograph Caribou
Add more premade frames to my selection
Update some of my display prints in the studio
Build a copy center for artwork and get polarizing filters for lights
Market more of my nature / wildlife work

Little Goals

Clean-up the backroom and the attic
Clean up my camera gear, and organize
Get out shooting more
Organize the shooting room more
Update my outside sign
Switch out my main hard drive in the office
Build more specialty frames

I know that these will change but I like having things to work towards. On last years list was a major rebuild of my website and I FINALLY got to it with two weeks remaining in the year, but it feels great to have that mostly done.

So what is one of your goals / plans for 2019?

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Christmas Day frost

February 6, 2019December 25, 2018 by Mike

Came back from walking the dog and really wanted to do some more pictures of the Christmas day frost. It was so nice I did not want to drive any place and possibly miss it. Grabbed a macro lens and headed out to the front yard to see what there was. Sometimes the best pictures are those right in front of your face. This was the case with my front yard, there were lots of photo opportunities.

It was actually a great day even with the clouds and the frost as it felt really warm with zero wind. Could take a few months of this temperature to enjoy getting outside and shooting. So one of my best presents had to be the Christmas day frost but I don’t think it will hang around.

View more of my images in the gallery

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