British Columbia – heath ofee dot com

Golden Stone

Heath OFee — Tue, 31 May 2011 13:10:18 +0000

Another long exposure from the Kootenays this morning. Enjoy the view.

Bump on a Log

Heath OFee — Thu, 26 May 2011 13:10:50 +0000

Another shot from Marble Canyon today…but this time at the other end of the chasm. Tokumm Creek exits the deep canyon just to camera left, makes a 90 degree turn and continues its flow downstream. I spent a good 30 minutes at this location making long exposures and just enjoying the scenery.

Marble Canyon

Heath OFee — Wed, 25 May 2011 13:10:56 +0000

I woke up bright and early on Saturday morning for what would hopefully be a day of fruitful shooting. My first stop (other than the side of the road for yesterday’s image) was Marble Canyon. Just west of the TransCanada Highway along the 93, Marble Canyon is a pretty impressive display of the erosive power of water. Over the years, Tokumm Creek has whittled it’s way through the mountain rock and at it’s deepest point the canyon must be almost 100 feet deep. The pathway to the top of the canyon is relatively short, but well worth the trek. The sheer power of the falls at the top is absolutely amazing…and a little bit deafening. Today’s shot is of Tokumm Creek just before it makes it’s plunge to the canyon floor.

I’m sure some of you may be wondering what happened to all the trees. Well, a lightning strike in 2003 set this entire forest ablaze for a few days, destroying a jawdropping amount of trees. While this seems sad, it’s natural for these forests to go through these type of changes every few hundred years. It leads to new growth and helps to revitalize the ecosystem.

The 93

Heath OFee — Tue, 24 May 2011 13:10:12 +0000

I’m completely spoiled living where I do. The Rocky Mountains are only an hour and a half away, and my inlaws have a cabin in Invermere, BC which is just outside Kootenay National Park. I think I’ve taken my proximity to such beauty for granted in the past, so this summer I’ve decided to try to spend as much time as possible photographing this amazing natural beauty.

I spent the last three days at the cabin in Invermere, and spent a good deal of time shooting some of the popular stops along Highway 93 which runs through Kootenay National Park. Before I get to any of those stops, I thought it would be appropriate to share a view from the side of this very picturesque highway.

Antix Caboose

Heath OFee — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 14:59:49 +0000

This is another shot from my trip to Invermere back in August. Brei’s family has a place there, so we try to get out as often as possible during the summer and fall months. In the summer, water sports dominate the local lake and there are plenty of fantastic golf courses in and around the Invermere area for those of us who don’t enjoy the water as much. When out there, I’m usually in full relaxation mode and don’t often get out to shoot many brackets, but the weather was less than ideal back in August so I felt the need to fill up a bit of my weekend with some shooting. Most of the decent shots I got were from along the train tracks along one edge of the lake, so I thought I’d share another one with you today.

Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5, 12mm, F 11, ISO 100, 3 Exposures

Switch?

Heath OFee — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 22:45:30 +0000

To switch or not to switch? A question that I’ve been asking myself for a couple of years now. What am I thinking about switching, you ask? Well, currently I’m running a Windows PC that is about 3 or 4 years old and I’ve been considering making the switch to a Mac for quite some time. I predominantly use my machine for editing photos and I’ve heard nothing but great things about Macs from other photogs. I think it’s really only a matter of time before I make the switch…although it’s a little bit scary thinking about moving all my photos and Lightroom catalogues over to a new computer. I guess the next big question is what Mac do I go for? I definitely don’t have the cash for a Mac Pro and I don’t think a Mac Mini will have enough power to keep me working away for the next several years, so I guess that leaves me with the iMac. Thoughts? Dual-core vs. quad-core? Processor speed and RAM? Refurbished to save some $$? Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Oh, and here’s a pretty picture of a train track switch.

Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5, 12mm, F 11, ISO 100, 3 Exposures

Wheelset 046

Heath OFee — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 21:51:16 +0000

Have you ever felt completely uninspired by the shots you were able to get after a day out shooting? That’s mostly how I felt after the afternoon I spent hunting brackets in Invermere, BC this past weekend. The light was kinda flat all afternoon and there didn’t seem to be very much drama in the grey, overcast sky…so I had some trouble finding inspiration. I find in these situations it helps to distance yourself from the photos for a day or two before you go back to process them all. This way you can attack the photos with a fresh attitude that isn’t tainted with the crummy feeling you had while you were out shooting.

One of the places I knew I wanted to hit was the train tracks on the west side of Windermere Lake. There’s always at least one train just hanging out there and I’ve always found trains a little bit fascinating even though I know next to nothing about them. I shoot most of my HDR with a wide angle lens and try to take in as much of a scene as possible so this detail shot of a train is a bit of a departure from the norm for me. I have no idea if the wheels on a train are actually called a ‘wheelset’ or if the number painted on these wheels has any kind of significance, but I thought it would make a cool title anyway.

Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5, 10mm, F 11, ISO 100, 3 Exposures

Moyie Lake

Heath OFee — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 16:09:23 +0000

A few weeks ago some buddies of mine and I went on our 2nd annual boys golf trip. The first year we took advantage of Brei’s family cabin in Invermere and this year we switched it up and went to Jeff’s place right on Moyie Lake. His cabin is absolutely fantastic and he’s right on the water which made nights by the campfire just that much more picturesque. Between rounds of golf and playing poker I managed to find a few extra minutes to set down my beer and rattle off a few brackets of the lake right around sunset one night. This set of brackets was handheld at f/3.5 and ISO 250 using my Sigma 10-20mm, and I’m actually pretty surprised at how well it turned out!

Canon EOS 50D, Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5, 10mm, F 3.5, ISO 250, 3 Exposures

The details: 3 handheld exposure HDR tonemapped in Photomatix, Lightroom for color, contrast, Noiseware for noise control.