RH Speirs | Photographer - Late Summer, 2022, Various

Went to the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area in Foothills, Alberta to take some family photos on August 18th, 2022, and managed to squeeze in a landscape photo as well :)

Sunset looking West, from Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area, Foothills, AB - August 18th

Pulled out the macro lens on August 22nd, 2022..had a bit of fun shooting some of the tiny things that were frequenting the front flowerbed :)

Fly, Bridlewood, Calgary, AB - August 22nd

Spider, Bridlewood, Calgary, AB - August 22nd

Fly, Bridlewood, Calgary, AB - August 22nd

About a half hour after the Sun had set I captured this very faint Crescent Moon, along side the Calgary Tower, while on its way to setting shortly behind it :)

Setting Waxing Crescent Moon (3.3%) along side the Calgary Tower, from near Max Bell Centre, Calgary, AB - August 28th (9:05 PM)

About three quarters of an hour after the Sun had set I captured this Crescent Moon, aligned with the Calgary Tower, while on its way to setting shortly behind it :)

Setting Waxing Crescent Moon (8%) aligned with the Calgary Tower, from Memorial Drive E roadside, Calgary, AB - August 29th (9:14 PM)

Almost an hour after the Sun had set I captured this Crescent Moon, aligned with the Calgary Tower, while on its way to setting shortly behind it :)

Setting Waxing Crescent Moon (14.5%) aligned with the Calgary Tower, from Tom Campbell's Hill Natural Park, Calgary, AB - August 30th (9:19 PM)

Continually trying to find my niche, and still very much a rookie when it comes to thoughtful picture making, I wanted to give something different (for me) a go..simply pulled over on the side of the highway in Foothills, Alberta, took in the views/scene for a few moments, then captured these images from the roadside on September 1st, 2022. The sky was hazy with just a few clouds. In a few of the images you can see just the tops of some of the tallest Downtown building from relatively nearby Calgary.

Red barn, Foothills, AB - September 1st

Hay bales, Foothills, AB - September 1st

Horses, Foothills, AB - September 1st

Hay bales, Foothills, AB - September 1st

Farm at Sunset, Foothills, AB - September 1st

While sitting out on the front steps, after getting home from shooting the roadside farm photos, I could very clearly see the Crescent Moon in the darkening Southwest sky..it looked nice. I'm not really sure what prompted me to do it, perhaps it was the shooting of the Moon on three out of the four previous evenings, but I just thought I'd better get my camera gear out to take a picture of it. I'm really not one for taking photos of the Moon while it's up high in the sky, all by itself, but did decide to on this occasion :)

Waxing Crescent Moon (32.4%), Bridlewood, Calgary, AB - September 1st (9:04 PM)

While I was out taking the roadside pictures on the evening of September 1, 2022, I was thinking to myself, I should come back to this spot early tomorrow morning when the sunlight is coming in from the opposite direction..so I did :)

Hay bales/farm field, Foothills, AB - September 2nd

Horses, Foothills, AB - September 2nd

3x1 Panoramic Cityscape of the Downtown Calgary skyline at Sunrise, from Edworthy Park, Calgary, AB - September 7th (6:25 AM)

Plan A didn't work out on the evening of September 7th, 2022. It was going to be a photo of the Moon rising directly over a Downtown building, or two, with the camera lens zoomed in tight. You can faintly see the distant clouds just over the horizon in the image below that prevented that shot from happening. Plan B turned out not too bad, though a little on the dull side. It's an 8 shot 3x1 Panoramic Cityscape of the Downtown Calgary skyline with the Waxing Gibbous Moon rising above it..once it got above the clouds :)

3x1 Panoramic Cityscape of the Downtown Calgary skyline at Sunset/Moonrise, from West Hillhurst off-leash area (Grasshopper Hill), Calgary, AB - September 7th (8:24 PM)

These next three images (below) are simply cropped out variations of the 3x1 original (above).

3x2 Cityscape of the Downtown Calgary skyline at Sunset/Moonrise, from West Hillhurst off-leash area (Grasshopper Hill), Calgary, AB - September 7th (8:24 PM)

4x5 Cityscape of the Downtown West End Calgary skyline at Sunset/Moonrise, from West Hillhurst off-leash area (Grasshopper Hill), Calgary, AB - September 7th (8:24 PM)

16x9 Cityscape of the Downtown West End Calgary skyline at Sunset/Moonrise, from West Hillhurst off-leash area (Grasshopper Hill), Calgary, AB - September 7th (8:24 PM)

Was hoping to see the Aurora in the sky for this photo (below). The Aurora app on my phone gave me an alert, just as I was about to turn it off for the night for charging, on the evening of September 8th, 2022. It said there was a chance of seeing the Aurora if the skies were clear in our area, so I decided to give it a try..unfortunately it didn't work out.

Downtown Calgary skyline, from near the Ann & Sandy Cross Conservation Area, Foothills, AB - September 9th (12:02 AM)

Of the six separate photo plan outings I had in mind that involved the 2022 Harvest Moon cycle this is the one I was looking the most forward to (below). It involves the Bow River in the foreground, the Downtown West End Calgary skyline in the mid ground, and the Full Moon in the background. What more could you want!? Well, to be honest, I wanted the Moon to be reflecting off of the River differently than it did. I made a note of how it worked out this time around, and will fine tune the plan for a better result the next time the Moon rises in a similar way involving this location :)

5x4 Cityscape of the Downtown West End Calgary skyline with the Harvest Moon aligned at the top of the West Village Towers, from Edworthy Park, Calgary, AB - September 9th (8:25 PM)

4x5 Cityscape of the Bow River, and the Downtown West End Calgary skyline with the Harvest Moon aligned nicely above, from Edworthy Park, Calgary, AB - September 9th (8:30 PM)

4x5 Cityscape of the Bow River, and the Downtown West End Calgary skyline with the Harvest Moon aligned nicely above, from Edworthy Park, Calgary, AB - September 9th (8:34 PM)

About a half hour before Sunrise I captured the setting Harvest Moon aligned with the Calgary Tower :)

Setting Harvest Moon aligned with the Calgary Tower, from Tom Campbell's Hill Natural Park, Calgary, AB - September 10th (6:33 AM)

Setting Harvest Moon aligned with a Downtown East End Calgary building, from Tom Campbell's Hill Natural Park, Calgary, AB - September 10th (6:42 AM)

Since the local weather forecast was calling for totally clear skies, I was really hoping to catch the Harvest Moon rising, in a photo, as it crested the horizon. However, forest fire smoke filled the air for most of the day, and well into the evening, on September 10th, 2022 in Calgary, Alberta. I decided to head out with my camera at the scheduled evening time anyway. Wasn't able to get the planned photo I had in mind due to the thick haze, but the Harvest Moon did eventually emerge. Wow, couldn't believe how red it appeared once it did make its eventual appearance! Haven't ever shot photos in those kind of conditions before, and to be honest, I could barely see the Downtown buildings (over 6 km away) as I was trying to acquire manual focus. These photos are far from good, but I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to come away with some interesting, somewhat salvageable, in focus images from the experience. Anyway, had fun and learned a thing or two as well! :)
Proper processing of photos like this is still something I'm working on..getting the right white balance for each photo, as the conditions are ever changing, is proving to be difficult lol.

5x4 Cityscape of the tops of some North Downtown Calgary buildings with the Harvest Moon, from Edworthy Park, Calgary, AB - September 10th (8:44 PM)

4x5 Cityscape of the tops of some North Downtown Calgary buildings with the Harvest Moon, from Edworthy Park, Calgary, AB - September 10th (8:47 PM)

4x5 Cityscape of the tops of some Downtown Calgary buildings with the Harvest Moon, from Edworthy Park, Calgary, AB - September 10th (8:54 PM)

Due to the local haze it looks quite faint, but about an hour after sunrise on September 11th, 2022 I captured this setting Moon (98.1%) aligned with the Calgary Tower :)
I actually wanted a photo of the top of the tower with the Moon completely encircling it, but by the time the Moon lowered enough in order to do that it became all but invisible due to the haze.

Setting Moon (98.1%) aligned with the Calgary Tower, from Barlow Trail SE, Calgary, AB - September 11th (8:10 AM)

Late Summer, 2022, Various - Alberta, Canada

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