Prairie Archives - Sean Phillips Photography

Snowy Owl East of Calgary

I love these birds! They are so incredibly beautiful and I really get excited every time I find one. I’ve been lucky enough to find two this year, and also lucky enough that they both allowed me to make a few portraits!

Snowy Owl’s are considered to be very common on the Prairies east of Calgary, and there are reports of them almost daily during the winter months. But that certainly doesn’t mean that they are easy to find. I’ve actually seen very few in the wild yet I look for them every time I’m out and about on the country roads.

The Running of the Deer

I saw this big Buck standing in a farm field watching me as I drove past, and I really wanted to make a great portrait of him. Unfortunately the whole herd of Deer took off running shortly after I stopped. It was already past sunset and really quite dark, so my shutter speeds were very slow. Instead of trying to make really sharp images I worked on making some pan-blurs (where the background is blurred by panning along while the main subject moves, keeping the subject relatively sharper) as they ran past me instead. I really like the granularity of the final image and to me it has a great vintage look and feel.

Prairie Glow

I love the way the morning light glows in the prairie fields. These stalks of grain seemed to be reaching for the sun as it rose and the sparkling dew drops added to the mood. The sun rises so early these days and I haven’t been able to get out to enjoy it as much as I do at other times of the year, so this was a pretty special morning for me. Never forget to look around you and appreciate what you have!

Invasive Beauty

Canada Thistle is an invasive weed that spreads rapidly in open grassland and farm fields. It is considered to be a serious pest and it must be managed carefully to prevent major infestations. It is also very beautiful when it flowers, especially in the glowing morning light. I found these beauties on the side of a grain field and they were just asking to have their portrait made. The morning light was amazing and the sparkling dew on the stalks of the thistle and the surrounding grasses made this a powerful sight to see.

Prairie Fence at Sunrise

I drive the prairie roads almost every day and I’m always searching for something new and interesting to make images of. Although I find the prairies extremely beautiful, I have to admit that sometimes it all starts to look the same. Sometimes I really have to look really hard to find something different than all the images I’ve made before. Sometimes that can be extremely difficult. Sometimes it just doesn’t happen.

But there are other times when the picture just jumps out of the scene and there’s no question about what the final image is going to look like. When I saw the deep golden glow of the sunrise light up the farmland in front of me, I knew that if I just turned toward the sun I would see something magical. And it was.