Linda and I enjoyed our photography shoot last Friday in Heritage Park. We met for the first time at the park and spent the next five hours exploring and photographing.
We were fortunate because Friday was a warm day at about 20C (about 70F), whereas Thursday and Saturday were cooler.
I knew in advance of working with Linda that she has a strong background in dance. When I was working with her, I noticed how she was able to incorporate elements of dance into her poses. If I have the opportunity to work with Linda again, I would like to focus more on her dancing. My photography skills, however, would need further development. I know there are photography courses that focus on capturing dance movement. Perhaps that is something I can look persue in the future.
Working with Linda was tremendous fun. At the end of our five hour session, we both felt as though only two or three hours had elapsed. That told me that we both enjoyed the experience. I tended to be very methodical in that I set up my tripod at almost every location, metered the scene, and then had Linda pose. That whole process took a fair amount of time, especially because we moved from location to location frequently. So even though we had plenty of time, we did not take a large number of photographs. What we lacked in number we made up in variety.
We walked through some houses but found that they were too constraining for photography because the best locations for photography were near the windows in the individual rooms. The rooms, however, were sealed off and guests were only allowed access to the hallways of the houses. Thus, we could peer into the rooms, but not photograph there. The Prince House was especially beautiful, but unfortunately too small for me to get far enough away to get a great shot.
We took some photographs near some trees and the Vulcan Ice Cream Parlour 1910 / Rotary Historical Hall, which is a white building that served as a natural reflector. We then walked along a series of stores en route to the Wainwright Hotel. We experimented with a few pictures there. Afterwards, we took some pictures of along the railing of the Wainwright Hotel. Following the Wainwright Hotel railing pictures, we explored the Railway Roundhouse, a building that houses older trains. The challenge we had inside was a lack of light. Moreover, Linda was wearing primarily black and trains themselves were black. Black on black photography is challenging. We took a break for lunch at the Wainwright Hotel. After lunch, Linda changed into a white dress. We took more pictures of her near the trees and Vulcan Ice Cream Parlour 1910 / Rotary Historical Hall. A local stage actor, Cameron, kindly assisted for a few shots. You will see some of the pictures of Linda and Cameron together later in the series. One of Linda's ideas was to take some photographs near a fountain. My favorite photograph, the one shown above, is Linda at the fountain.
After the fountain shot, we went back to the Railway Roundhouse and took more pictures, this time with her white dress. At the end of Railway session, our time was ending. We began making our way toward the entrance, stopping periodically at various venues. We did not take many photographs on our way back.
As mentioned at the outset of this post, we both thought time had passed quickly. I could have spent more time and explored more. It would have been great to go on boat ride on the reservoir. There were still many parts of the park that we did not have an opportunity to explore because of time constraints. Heritage Park itself is a fantastic location for amateur photographers because there are so many buildings and props to work with. And guests can find places to eat and shop too. I highly recommend Heritage Park for both photographers and tourists alike.
I thoroughly enjoyed working with Linda. She is a fun person with an engaging personality. Her dance background helps her with various poses. Linda travels a fair amount and is leaving Calgary soon. Because I enjoyed working with Linda so much, I hope that our paths cross again and that I have an opportunity to work with her in the future.
The photograph of Linda is hosted at Flickr. If you click on her picture above, you will be taken to where you can view a larger version. And if you click here, you can see more pictures of Linda. I will be adding pictures over the next few weeks.
Leave a comment