2010_1765 Into the Past - a photo on Flickriver

2010_1765 Into the Past

            While waiting for the blue moon to rise on Halloween, I amused myself by shooting some black and white landscapes. I had just been looking through a couple of books of old photos from the early days of the Canadian West - going back as far as 1858 - and that was the look I wanted, minus the scratches and blotches. I imagined sepia toning while shooting; the digital frame was an afterthought. 

At first glance it appears that this view could be a window into the past, identical to the same view in 1858. However, those bunched grasses in the foreground, the key textural component of the bottom half of the image, are an introduced species, Crested Wheat Grass. It is useful as a soil stabilizer during drought conditions, and as early feed for grazing livestock. The downside: it chokes out native species. To quote from one of my field guides to prairie plants: "Where sown, it becomes pervasive and dominant. Once established, it allows few, if any, other species of plant to co-exist." Park managers have been trying to get rid of it for decades. 

All of the land you see in this photo has been acquired from local ranchers. Apart from a few historic structures, most traces of ranching activity have been removed. Plains Bison have been re-introduced, after an absence of more than 100 years, and are thriving. The various ecosystems contained within the park's perimeter fencing are generally healthy and they support a broad range of prairie wildlife.

But the Crested Wheat Grass remains. 

Photographed on a hill overlooking Police Coulee, in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2020 James R. Page - all rights reserved.

Taken in: Canada / Saskatchewan / Gergovia (show map)

Taken on: October 31, 2020

Tags:

landscape

black and white

B & W

sepia

toned

digital frame

dusk

nightfall

end of the day

Crested Wheat Grass

Agropyron pectiniforme

nature

wild

prairie

Police Coulee

Grasslands National Park

Saskatchewan

Canada

copyrighted

James R. Page « less

Sets appears in: • Best 2020 • The Classic Black and White Landscape

Groups appears in: • Monochromatic world • A Better B&W Group more » • Joy of Black & White • the things you see « less

Camera: Nikon D850, f/22.0, 2.5 sec, 19mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D850
Lens:	Nikon AF-S Zoom-Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8G ED
Aperture:	f/22.0
Exposure Time:	2.5
Focal Length:	19mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	-0.33 EV
Flash:	Unknown (0x70)
Exposure Program:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Macintosh)
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