Tag: edmonton

Wildlife Photography Class

Business, Classes
Wednesday, December 30th, 2015

Lynx Edmonton Valley Zoo

On March 12th I’ll be teaching a Wildlife Photography workshop at the Edmonton Valley Zoo. This will be the first winter course at the zoo, and should give us some simple snowy backgrounds which should let the animals really stand out – a great opportunity for photographs. If you’re interested in registering you can go to ereg.edmonton.ca website (the course code is 554483) or call 311 in Edmonton.

I’m living in Camrose now, so I’m starting to think about teaching some classes down here if there’s interest. I haven’t had a lot of time to look into it yet, but if you’re interested, please either send me an email at joel.koop@gmail.com or in the comments below.

Lynx at the Edmonton Valley Zoo
210mm, f4, 1/250 of a second

Zoo Wildlife Photography Courses

Wildlife
Friday, March 20th, 2015
sleeping snow leopard.jpg

This blog has been quiet for a while now. I have a lot of photos I’m excited to share, but only so much time to share them. In addition to teaching for St. Albert Photo Classes, I’m now employed by the city of Edmonton to teach photography classes at the Edmonton Valley Zoo! We’re starting up this spring with a full day class and we’ll see where it goes from there. I’ll keep you updated with links to register once they’re available.

Edit: You can sign up for the course at the City of Edmonton eReg page

In preparation for the course I’ve been around the zoo quite a bit lately, taking photos and getting to know the animals just a little bit. If you’re going to the zoo soon, make sure to visit the bactrian camel at the back – he’s always been super excited to see me. There are also some super-cute baby takins that were recently born.

mother licking baby takin.jpg

I’m really happy to be teaching at the zoo, and I hope some of you can make it out to classes there!

Taken at the Edmonton Valley Zoo.
1. 600mm, f6.3, 1/400 of a second
2. 300mm, f5.6, 1/320 of a second

Summer Storms

Business, Landscape, Prairie
Monday, July 15th, 2013
storm-and-rainbow-over-canola-field

We’ve had some spectacular storms here this summer, and I finally got out to enjoy one last week. Fortunately here in Edmonton they haven’t had the devastating effects they’ve had in the south of the province.

These days I’m busy getting ready for Folk Fest, and all my supply orders are starting to trickle in. I just got a shipment of a few hundred prints that I haven’t finished inspecting yet – I need to get the mats, bags, and backing for all of them yet. Pendants, earrings and cufflinks are starting to be assembled on my worktable as I’m waiting for a shipment of fresh resin. Despite a brief lull of activity due to sickness, things at the humble headquarters here are humming along. Looking forward to seeing all of you who can make it to Folk Fest – it’s always a great time!

7mm, f5, 1/640 of a second

Edmonton Folk Fest

Business, Flowers, Forest, Galleries and Shows
Thursday, August 2nd, 2012

I’m not doing many shows this summer – in fact only one. I’ve had to narrow them down, but the one I’ve managed to keep is Folk Fest, which I’m super excited about! It’s always a great time, with lots of amazing music and friendly people. And I’ve got lots of new stuff this year. So if you’re one of the lucky ones who managed to get tickets, I’ll see you there!

wild-asters-in-a-mossy-pine-forest

17mm, f5.6, 1/200 of a second
Taken in Bellis Natural Area

Chaos Photographed

Abstract, Macro, Plants
Tuesday, August 16th, 2011

This week has been crazy. My computer, fridge and car died. We’ve had tons of errands to run. I have design work which I’m trying to get to, a chaotic house, and guests staying over. Anna’s candidacy is next week (after which we’re leaving to see my parents), I have a wedding to photograph this weekend (I get to drive a borrowed car for that), and I work at McBain on Friday. We were planning on camping this week. That seems laughable at this point. I have to frame my photos for the VAAA photo competition before Saturday, and for that I need an art store to have cool white matboard in stock.

But good things are happening. I’m looking at getting my photos into another retail location in Edmonton (more to come once that’s finalized). I’m typing this on my shiny new Mac Mini. The Daffodil has been busy selling our photo pendants. Oh, and I had the best ice cream I’ve ever had today — at Kirstin’s Chocolate shop on 112 street — amazing.

This photo is a fairly accurate expression of my current state of mind. Things are in complete chaos around me, but it’s a centered chaos.

wild-seed-head

Edmonton Folk Fest

Business, Galleries and Shows, Prairie, Water
Monday, July 25th, 2011

I’m looking forward to seeing whoever can make it out to Folk Fest this year. Last year we had a great time, met some wonderful people, and heard some amazing musicians. This year we’re adding the pendants (see one at our Artfire store) to our booth! Anna and I just finished making another batch, so we’ll have a few, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we sell out. If you’re looking to buy one, come early! As always, we’ll have lots of prints and cards as well. We’ll be in the crafter’s tent between August 5th and 7th. We also have someone helping with the booth this year (hi Leah!), so we can have lunch breaks and maybe even catch a show or two.

Until then, I’m driving out to BC to go camping with a good friend, so this will be my last blog post for at least a week. But I promise to come back with lots of photos to share.

Here’s a photo to tide you over — a small creek near Camrose, which flows into the Battle River.

small-creek-edge-and-reflections

Snowy Letters

Abstract, Forest, Photo of the Day, Winter
Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

I’ve often seen the alphabet photo people spelling out “love” or “joy” at craft fairs, and always thought the letters are kind of interesting and a little cheesy at the same time. But our minds often see random shapes and interpret them as symbols we recognize.

Anyway, I’m sure this photo says something, not quite sure what.

Taken in Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park.

mg_9379

The Purpose of Parks

Photo of the Day
Wednesday, December 8th, 2010

Lois Hole Centennial Provincial Park was created in 2005 just north-west of Edmonton. In fact, it’s almost in the city. Cars are constantly driving by and industial buildings are quite close. The park is hard to get to, except for one wildlife viewing platform on the east end of the lake. Not sure if this is the result of wildlife conservation and not wanting people to disturb this area or if it is just poor planning. On the north side of the lake there is a road that goes in, but it is a gated private road going to oil wells.

I’m pretty annoyed at the park actually. I think parks should either be for the public or for the wildlife. This park seems like it’s for corporate interests trying to look conservationy and not succeeding. There are huge power lines going through it, traffic going all around it, private oil wells in it.

Taken a few days ago on Big Lake.

mg_9295-1

No Photos?!!!

Business
Thursday, August 12th, 2010

It has been a very full summer. I was selling photos at the Edmonton Folk Fest last week. There was a last minute scramble to get the 11x14s and 16x20s mounted and bagged. We couldn’t find anyone in the city to sell us print racks, so we had to build our own in the space of a couple days. I’m pretty proud of what we came up with – if you want to see them, I’ll be at Kaliedo from September 10-12. There are a number of other changes I want to make to improve my display, but overall I think it looked pretty good, and I had a really good response. I got to meet and talk with a bunch of great and interesting people.

I have a couple photos in the VAAA Open Photo Juried Exhibition. The opening is tonight (August 12, 6:00 – 8:00pm) in the Kaasa Gallery in the Jubilee Auditorium. It will run until September 23.

So no photos for today. I’m hoping to get away from it all for a bit this week. It seems like the more I get into this business of photography the less time there is for it.