Mistaken Point Fossils, Avalon Peninsula, Newfoundland

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Mistaken Point Fossils Avalon Peninsula, Newfoundland

I came upon a place in Newfoundland I’ve been waiting to see for ages, a place that certainly wasn’t waiting for me given it’s full of fossils that are up to 575 million years old. This is long before trees existed on land and fish were found in the ocean. These first multicellular organisms are the first things to experience this world!

I used an off camera flash to highlight the textures of the fossils. I’m very happy with the result!

 

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African Worlds Photo show

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I know there are so many people watching my work from so far away but if you happen to be in Calgary I'll be putting on my latest photo show, African Worlds. A beautiful presentation of photos and fun stories from my adventures in Kenya and Tanzania. Please help get the word out and share as some of the proceeds for this show goes towards the Calgary Zoo conservation outreach program, benefiting the wildlife and the lives of people who come in contact with them!

When: Tuesday, June 19th 2012 7:00-8:30 PM

Where: Esso Theatre at the Calgary Zoo

Admission: $20   [button size="medium" full="false" link="http://africanworlds.qrickets.com/" bgColor="#ff9900"]Order tickets online[/button]

Portions of the proceeds goes towards the Calgary Zoo Conservation Outreach Program.

Ensure your entry and Order tickets online at africanworlds.qrickets.com now!

[button size="large" align="center" full="true" link="http://www.kylefoto.com/photographic-african-safaris/african-worlds/" color="blue"]Click here to find out more[/button]

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Google Currents App

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Stay inspired on the road For those of you who like reading my photo stories and would like to be able to read them in a very nice simple mobile format you will have to check me out on google currents!

Google has been hard at work and they've created a fantastic app for Android, Iphone and Ipad. If you check out the curators section in the library you will find me and many other inspirational photographers, I'd love to see your support on currents so please add me, you subscribe to me by following this link:

Kyle Marquardt on Google Currents The worldly explorations of a full time photographer

 

 

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Supermoon, Airplane and Calgary Tower in one

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Calgary, Alberta, Canada I really wanted a photo of the supermoon against something that was iconically Calgary. At the same time I didn't want to photoshop the moon to make it look bigger. In order to show a large moon I had to use a telephoto lens and be somewhat far from the tower itself. This meant mapping the path of the moon ahead of time and knowing where I had to stand to get the Calgary tower visible. After a few calculations I knew that I had to be at the Jubilee auditorium, a place I've always gone to and had a fantastic time watching Alberta Ballet or other fantastic shows.

One other problem with shooting such a bright object is that the camera can't capture the comparatively dim lights of the towers and the bright moon at the same time. This required that I take two photos at different exposure levels and mash them together to get the combined details of the moon's beautiful craters and the city's vibrant textures. I had the lucky bonus of an airplane flying in front of the moon while I took the shot, creating a cool streak across the sky.

I have to stress that the the size or shape of the moon has not been manipulated, the only "photoshopping" in this photo is the combining of the two exposures, the large size of the moon is magnified just as much as the tower is by using my 400mm lens on a canon 7D.

Exposure 1 for the city: 4s f/8.0 ISO200 400mm (Brighter) Exposure 2 for the moon 1s f/8.0 ISO100 400mm (Darker)

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Just sitting by the camels

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Wadi Rum, Jordan I rarely get the chance to photograph myself, but when I do I don’t do the typical one armed pointing the camera at my face with something in the background thing, for me that’s too contrived. The thing I like most about my photos is that they are shot just the way I see them, and express exactly what it was like to be there. Because of that every scene is an extension of myself and my experiences. Because of that the need to plop my face in front of the camera to express where I’ve been is moot.

However I wanted to express that after a long day wandering in the desert, I just plopped myself down and watched the camels graze. The two front legs of the animal are hobbled just like what’s depicted on the petroglyphs I posted yesterday. This ancient practice keeps them from galloping off into the sunset, and instead they graze on the sparse but nutritious grasses popping out of the sand without straying too far from “home”. Including my feet was the perfect way to express this unusual relaxation scene that I found myself in.

Photographic details: I used a higher aperture of f9 to keep things sharper, but not too sharp so the image will lose depth. Using a wide angle lens at 35mm helped to easily keep my legs in the shot. I just laid back in the soft sand, got comfortable and snapped a few shots while the camel was chewing his cud. I would have preferred the camel move a little to the left but I think that was asking too much of him on his down time. Normally I could have moved to the right to get the camel in the right position but I would end up falling off the sand dune.

Camera Settings: 1/100s f/9.0 ISO200 35mm

 

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Petroglyphs to the Past

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Wadi Rum, Jordan Written by the pre islamic people of the arabian desert and sinai areas, some of these Petroglyphs are up to 2400 years old. These "photographs of ancient times" even depict wildlife that are either extinct or do not live in the area, as over time the local climate has since changed to a more arid one. This area being famous for Lawrence of Arabia and the filming of "red planet" I can't help but think the deep history of this place is often overlooked. This is where people have lived and thrived for thousands of years, whole lifetimes written out like a story book for us to see so many years later. I feel almost like I can touch the rock and go back and time and ask these people, "What are your hopes and dreams?".

The largest petroglyph of the camel on the bottom left shows a hobbled camel, the practice of tying the front two legs together so the animal can't run far. This allows them to slowly graze without ever needing fences and is still done by the people who live here today.

Photographic Details: Using a polariser I was able to darken down the blue sky into a much deeper blue. The clouds seem to erupt from the cliffside pronouncing the deep history of these images. I didn't keep the aperture too sharp as I wanted some of the wall to blur into the distance, farther away objects fade from view just like the passage of time obscures our view of the past.

Camera Settings: Canon 5D Mark II 1/80s f/7.1 ISO100 16mm

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Gateway to Wadi Rum

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Wadi Rum, Jordan I had the afternoon to myself to explore the area surrounding my camp. My guide told me there was some fun climbing in the cliffs and rocks overlooking us, he sure wasn’t kidding. The inner child in me came out to play on the fantastic formations of granite and sandstone, every curve, cave and crack was a gateway to new worlds and fantastic views.

Photographic Details: This is another great example of framing. When I’m out and about I search for something (usually trees) to use a real world object to frame a scene or subject. In the case of the desert it’s the rocks themselves. Not only does this frame show us what the rocks looks like up close, but you can see the very cliffs they make in the distance; It’s a two in one shot. In addition the multiple angular lines made up of the rock is pleasurable for the human eye, providing many paths for the eye to follow, like a visual roller coaster guiding your view over every stone and texture in the image.

Camera Settings: 1/160s f/7.1 ISO100 50mm

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Via Camel

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Wadi Rum Desert, Jordan The warm unmoving desert air was stifling, a day riding these four legged beasts felt like riding an oven with square wheels. Never the less I enjoyed it! Spending the day wandering across the desert free of the sound of any vehicles, journeying our way to a place where there is shade and water before the heat of the high noon sun arrives. It was actually slightly overcast, the thin clouds above acting like a giant blanket keeping all the heat of the day in, instead of letting it escape into space.

Photographic Details: These camels had a lot of attitude but of course by now we were used to each other. This guy was laying down and in the clean soft sand it was easy enough and really comfortable to lay down as well. I wanted to get a unique perspective, this is a classic example of a photographer either getting as low or high as possible but not at eye level. Because of his incessant chewing of cud his jaw looked unusually blurred, I had to use a shutter speed of 1/250th of a second to freeze that motion.

Camera Settings 1/250s f/5.0 ISO200 70mm

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Sunset in one shot

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Ndutu, Tanzania, Africa The sun was shooting towards the horizon, here I desperately searched for a giraffe to put in my silhouette shot, alas I did not find one in time. I have tried stalking giraffe as the sun sets in hopes of getting them in one of these shots, but even then the giraffe would not cooperate, I think they know what I'm trying to do. The funny thing is that the other safari vehicle got a similar shot but with the giraffe! They were listening when I told them I wanted giraffes in a sunset.

Photographic Details: This was shot on the way home, I used a high shutter speed simply because we were driving and I didn't want any motion blur. I took just one shot and processed it in lightroom 4 to bring out the details. This is something that may look like HDR but is nothing like it. To the unprocessed before shot look below:

Before raw processing

After

Camera Settings:1/800s f/4.0 ISO100 73mm

Processed in lightroom 4 see the before and after at www.kylefoto.com