Global Travel

Farzin Ghayour

A Ride in India

On a spontaneous trip to India with his mom in the Summer 2008, Farzin Ghayour was leaving the New Delhi airport when he saw a taxi drive by with a small boy in the back seat peering out of the window.  Farzin was taken by this child’s wonder, as if he was discovering his very own country for the first time.  This little boy’s look of awe and bewilderment made Farzin ponder how we travel the world to see the exciting, worldly sights, whereas this little boy was experiencing similar admiration in his own country as if for the first time.  This photo was taken using a Holga camera and film.  As Farzin is a current student at ACAD (Alberta College of Art and Design) in Calgary, he was able to develop his own photo in a dark room himself.

Nature

Lake O'Hara Morning

Canada, Yoho National Park, Lake O'Hara from the lodge dock. A mid-September morning after a thunder storm laid a blanket of snow down. The shot was gone a half hour later when the sun broke over the mountains. Serendipity - you just have to be ready when great shots like this reveal themselves. Have the right gear and know how to use it.  Nikon D80 w/ AF-S VR Zoom-Nikkor 70 - 300 mm f/4.5 -5.6 G IF-ED lens set at 140 mm, F/10, 1/200 sec, ISO 200, 300 dpi, sRGB.

Global Travel

Kieron Nelson

Dawn of the Li River

Guangxi Province, China
Cormorant fishing is a traditional life style for the fishermen of the Li River. This art is still practiced today among the few fishermen who still dwell on the Li and earn their living from fishing.  The cormorants are trained to dive into the river among the school of fish that live in the clear water. After catching a fish the birds return to the boat where the fisherman removes the fish from the bird. The bird is prevented from swallowing the fish by a ring that is placed around the neck of the bird. The bird is rewarded for its work by its owner. A bamboo raft used by the cormorant fisherman is made by tying bamboo poles together. It is also the most economical means of transportation for the fisherman. The light of the lantern attracts the fish.
Photo taken with NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3, f/2.8 @ 24 mm, 1/40, ISO 1600, No Flash, Singh ray filter

1st Place

Andrew Farquhar

Blizzard

"Blizzard" was taken a couple of years ago in a farm area that has now disappeared to a housing estate. I was driving  (somewhere), had my camera - a Nikon D70 with velvia film and shot off a couple frames which I subsequently had digitised. One of my patients saw it and wrote this poem for it:
This north wind blows so very cold, My pony stumbles, and moves on.  The snow is drifting deeper, Will we live to see the dawn? 
Cattle are scattered by the wind, I'll save the ones I can.  My pony stumbles once again, The reins freeze to my hand. 
My feet feel like a block of ice, I give my horse its head.  I hope that he can find his way, Or we may wind up dead. 
My pony struggles onward, Do I see a hint of light?  The barn is there ahead of us.  God this wind is cold tonight. 
Written by Dave Madill

2nd Place

Robert Postma

Magical Evening

While working in Fort Simpson, along the banks of the MacKenzie River I decided to go out to the shores and watch the annual Perseids meteor shower. After bundling up for the cold, I ventured down to the river and beheld the hauntingly beautiful aurora borealis dancing above me. I also was able to capture one of the meteors streaking through the skies to the left of the moon but one has to look very closely in order to see it. Having lived "North of 60" for the last 13 years, the aurora are still my favourite phenomenon to watch in nature.

3rd Place

Cheryl Alexander

Venus Rising

Taken on the West Coast of Canada, southern Vancouver Island, overlooking the Juan de Fuca Strait at dawn, just prior to sunrise. Venus (the Morning Star) is rising in the top right of the image. The sea is magically calm and the slight wind ripples give a good foreground contrast.
Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: Nikkor 50 mm f/1.8
Exposure: 1/100 at f/2.8
ISO: 800
Date taken: September 12, 2009

1st Place

Greg Heath

Father & Son

India- A boy and his father leave a temple after a pilgrimage and stop before me at peace.

2nd Place

Greg Heath

Indian Woman

An elderly woman begs for offerings outside a temple.

3rd Place

Sean Caffrey

Tuareg Nomad

This Tuareg nomad is relaxing by having a smoke with his camel bone pipe, after preparing tea for the guests visiting his camp. His camp was located in the desert just north of the legendary Timbuktu in Mali.

1st Place

Kieron Nelson

Dawn of the Li River

Guangxi Province, China
Cormorant fishing is a traditional life style for the fishermen of the Li River. This art is still practiced today among the few fishermen who still dwell on the Li and earn their living from fishing.  The cormorants are trained to dive into the river among the school of fish that live in the clear water. After catching a fish the birds return to the boat where the fisherman removes the fish from the bird. The bird is prevented from swallowing the fish by a ring that is placed around the neck of the bird. The bird is rewarded for its work by its owner. A bamboo raft used by the cormorant fisherman is made by tying bamboo poles together. It is also the most economical means of transportation for the fisherman. The light of the lantern attracts the fish.
Photo taken with NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D3, f/2.8 @ 24 mm, 1/40, ISO 1600, No Flash, Singh ray filter

2nd Place

Jason Auch

Tibetan Prayer Flags

These Tibetan Prayer Flags were located on a mountain ridge just above the Mahakala cave where Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) meditated. It is in this cave that he realized that fasting and mortifying the flesh would not bring him enlightenment or divine knowledge. This cave is located 12 km from the main town of Bodh Gaya, India where Siddartha later became enlightened under the Bodhi Tree.  The flags were put up by Tibetan monks from a nearby Monastery. After sharing some tea with me, they encouraged me to climb up the mountain and see the flags they had just hung.
The photo was taken with a Leica M8 using a 28mm ASPH Summicron at F2 with a 1/6000 sec shutter speed.

3rd Place

Bernardo Cioppa

A Little Place in the Mountain

The mountains surrounding Lake Como in Italy are dotted with villas, the majority of which are usually clustered together as you near a local town or village. But every so often you come across a villa in solitude, like the villa in my photo. This villa seemed so perfectly situated on this vast, colourful, vegetation-rich mountain.

1st Place

Walter Nussbaumer

Male Calliope Hummingbird

Courtship Display

The image was taken at the Bull River Guest Ranch in British Columbia on 22 May, 2009 with a Canon EOS 1D Mark III digital camera set on manual exposure equipped with a Canon EF 100-400 L series IS lens.  ISO 100, shutter speed was 1/250 at f/16  using 4 x sync flashes set at 1/16 power. Manfrotto tripod equipped with a WH-200 Wimberley head.

2nd Place

Heather Simonds

Delicate Umbrellas

Oyster plants are widely found in ditches, parking lots and other neglected areas across North America and are a scourge to gardeners and naturalists, especially as their seeds disperse. This is a photograph of an ordinary and common plant, usually detested, turned into a thing of beauty. The camera can turn this negativity into something admired.

3rd Place

Gary Nissen

Canopy

This was taken at the botanical gardens in St. Lucia, Lesser Antilles, Caribbean in Feb 2006.  I just looked up and saw the beautiful canopy and thought it would make a great photo!