BC – heath ofee dot com

Late Summer Fun

Heath OFee — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 13:10:45 +0000

A couple of weekends ago my wife and I took a made a trip to her family cabin in BC with my parents, sister, bro-in-law and two little nephews. We had some pretty great weather and had plenty of fun relaxing out on the deck and in the big back yard. I decided to shoot exclusively on film for the weekend, so I filled my camera with some Kodak Portra 400VC and did what I could with it.

To say I was excited to get the film developed would be an understatement. I had done a fair bit of reading up on the film I had chosen, and all reviews and sample photos I saw were fantastic – great colours, fine grain, nice contrast. Unfortunately, when I got the roll developed and scanned the negatives at home, it appeared that all of my shots came out underexposed by between one and two stops. I wasn’t impressed. I’m not exactly sure where the process broke down – poor processing by the lab, crummy scanning at home, (dare I say it) poor exposure control in camera? Regardless, I used the wonders of Lightroom to bring the images back to where they should have been without losing too much detail. I guess a bit more experimentation is in order.

Have a great weekend!

Equipment:
– Canon Elan 7
– Canon 50mm f/1.4
– Kodak Portra-400VC

New Growth

Heath OFee — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 13:10:19 +0000

This is a shot from my trip to the Kootenays earlier this year. I think I mentioned the huge forest fire that took out an enormous portion of this forest in a previous post. You can see more of that devastation in this shot, but you also get a peek at the new growth that will form the base of the new forest that will continue to grow in years to come.

Meet Chris

Heath OFee — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:10:32 +0000

Since I started this blog almost a year ago, I’ve learned an awful lot about photography and I’ve applied quite a bit of this knowledge to help further my skillset as a photographer. Aside from this though, the most important thing that has happened since I started this blog has been the forging of new relationships. Through the magic of social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook, I’ve become good friends with a number of like-minded individuals – something that never would have happened just a few years ago. Although I haven’t had the chance to meet most of these people in the flesh, I did get the chance to meet two such people last month. Chris Lazzery and Chris Halford made the long journey from the northeastern US to the Canadian Rockies for a week of shooting, and I was lucky enough to join them for a weekend. While the shooting was amazing, the best times of the weekend were had sitting around the table in our rental condo chatting about our passion…and snapping photos of each other, of course So, everybody, meet Chris Halford (he likes red wine):

Two for One

Heath OFee — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:10:59 +0000

This past weekend I was in Moyie Lake, BC for an annual boys golf trip…and I’m currently in recovery mode. An awful lot of beer was consumed and there wasn’t much sleep to be had, so my body is a little bit angry with me.

I didn’t have the chance to do any serious shooting, but I did get a few shots of the boys hanging out around the firepit. I’ll probably be sharing a few more later in the week, but for now, here’s a combination portrait/self-portrait. When my buddy Fraser put on these super reflective Ray Bans, I couldn’t help but use them (and him) to shoot a self-portrait. I guess I could have stopped down the aperture a bit so both he and I were in focus…but there was beer to be consumed

Awesome Power

Heath OFee — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 13:10:02 +0000

The title for this image is twofold today. Firstly, this image shows the awesome power of the Kicking Horse River. At one point, the river flowed overtop of the rock bridge that you see in this image. Over years and years of erosion, the water eventually carved its way through the rock and formed this amazing natural rock bridge over the river.

Secondly, this image shows the awesome power of graduated filters. While I always knew grads were extremely useful for landscapes such as these, it wasn’t until I bought some of my own and started using them that I really understood how fantastic they can be. This is a single exposure using a 2-stop graduated ND filter to bring the exposure in the sky even with that of the rest of the frame. I can’t tell you how excited I was to shoot frames like this, check my histogram, and see absolutely no blinkies. Revolutionary.

Golden Stone

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

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

Alien Abstract

Heath OFee — Mon, 30 May 2011 13:55:38 +0000

While driving to Invermere a couple weekends ago, I noticed a large pool of standing water in the ditch on the side of the highway. The pool was directly underneath an interesting rock formation, so I made a note to myself (and my wife) that I needed to head back to that location with my gear the next day. What you see below is the result. The pool provided a perfect reflection of the rock above, and I felt that an abstract crop worked well with the subject.

I hope all my American friends remember and enjoy the Memorial Day holiday.

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.