Round Bale in Spring Color

Round Bale in a Field

Spring on the prairies in the Calgary region is a world of monotones. Monotonous browns and yellows that is. The fields are dull and boring and as a photographer it can be very discouraging at times. By this time of the season every year I am absolutely dying for a little splash of color in my world! While new signs of spring are appearing every day (there are lots of Canada Geese and Mallard Ducks in the fields, so the spring migration must be almost here), the bright colors of fresh new spring growth are still a long way off…

Fortunately there are still many interesting subjects to capture and I still find the agricultural objects littering the fields to be fun to shoot. There always seems to be lots of texture in the farms and the fields and there are many images within the images. And there are still lots of bales out in the fields that never got piled in the spring, and on partially cloudy days they practically glow while sitting in the fields.

Bales in Black and White

Bales in Black and White

I posted several pictures of some hay bales the other day. The main reason I was attracted to that particular field, and to those particular images, was because of the vivid colors of the field and the sky. But after processing them something made me think that they might look really good in black and white. So I converted them all and I’m really excited about the new images that I was able to create!

I don’t do a lot of black and white photography, but every once in awhile certain images lend themselves to it. I don’t necessarily think that all of these images look better in Black and White than they do in color, but I really like them. This is a simple reminder or me that there are almost always several ways to make every image look great, and that experimentation can be lots of fun!

Bales in Black and White

Bales in Black and White

Bales in Black and White

Round Bales in Morning Light

Round Bales in Morning Light

I’ve seen this field of hay bales many times recently and I was really looking for a good opportunity to make some nice images. It always seemed that I was in a rush as I passed by and never had time to stop. I finally made an opportunity to stop one morning just before sunrise. The soft morning light was amazing and I could have spent hours there if the lighting conditions had held up longer.

Round Bales in Morning Light

Round Bales in Morning Light

Round Bales in Morning Light

Round Bales in Morning Light

When even the bales are cold…

When even the bales are cold...

We’ve had some really nasty cold weather on the prairies this winter. You can tell it’s cold out when even the hay bales look cold!

Normally the Chinook winds we see in the Calgary area bring warm air with them as they blow in from the West Coast. But this year it seems like the winds have been cold and harsh. We’ve seen lots of snow and the temperature has regularly been below -20 °C. Now that’s cold!

At least I generally get to go inside when I want to. Not like these poor bales…