Black and White Photography Challenge

5 Day Black and White Challenge

Personal Photography Project

I was challenged by another photographer friend to participate in a personal project in which I published 1 new black and white image on Facebook each day for 5 days, and also challenged another photographer to do the same.

Personal projects are a great way to increase creativity and to expand the way we think about the images we make every day. I haven’t done many of these projects but it was really interesting to find realize that I was constantly on the alert for potential subjects that might make for great black and white images. I will definitely be taking on more of these projects and challenges in the future!

You can see all 5 of the images that I posted below, along with a short description of the image itself and sometimes some additional background information about the subject of the photo, why the image was made, or how I made the image. I realize that this post is a huge departure from what I normally publish here but I hope that you enjoy reading it!

The Images Used in the 5 Day B&W Challenge

Day 1 – Under the Peace Bridge at Night

This is a long exposure image that I created under the Peace Bridge in Calgary, with the Bow River in the foreground and the city skyline in the background. This was taken late at night on the first very cold day that we’ve had this winter. It took all the willpower that I had to make myself go out to make this image!

Day 2 – Skipping Stone Bridge at Night

This is a long exposure image of the brand new Skipping Stone Bridge that goes from Bridgeland across St. Patrick’s Island and into the East Village in Calgary. It’s another very interesting bridge in Calgary and it is well worth a visit if only to see the beautiful lines of the bridge itself.

Day 3 – Schaffer Lake and Mount Huber

This is a “panoramic” view of Schaffer Lake and Mount Huber that I created after Hiking from Lake O’Hara up to Lake McArthur at the beginning of October. We hiked the Big Larches trail and had hoped to see the larch trees in bright yellow before the needles all fell. Unfortunately we were about 2 weeks too late to see the peak of the fall colors.

Earlier in the hike my wide angle lens came apart at the seams (screws were coming out of places that they shouldn’t be). In order to get all of this vista into one image I had to make a composite image from 6 frames that I made with my telephoto lens. Perhaps not ideal, but in the end it worked out really quite well….

Day 4 – Feeding the Birds

I took an early morning walk along the Bow River near downtown Calgary to photograph the city skyline with the ice fog lifting off the river. I came across this man preparing to feed the birds under the 4th Avenue Flyover.

As he approached a flock of pigeons on the sidewalk they all swarmed toward him and dozens of geese and ducks gathered along the shore of the river. He started throwing out handfuls of bread crumbs and many of the pigeons and even some of the mallards flew up out of the river to grab the bread out of the air. It was quite a sight to see and he obviously does this regularly, probably daily.

Day 5 – Ice Halo and Sun Dogs over Highway 2 South of Calgary

We were heading out of the city to the south on Hwy 2 when we saw this Sun Dog form in the ice fog and blowing snow. We were able to see it for well over an hour as we drove through the prairie landscape and it was an amazing sight to see!

To learn more about Ice Halos and Sun Dogs check out this article about Atmospheric halos.

Purchase Black and White Fine Art Prints

All of the images that were shared in the Black and White challenge, plus quite a few other images that were considered, are now available for purchase in the Fine Art Print Gallery. A wide selection of print options are available, including framed prints, fine art canvas prints, and several other specialty products. Please feel free to contact me directly if you need help selecting an image or a finish.