Along with the new year comes a time to take a look back and refresh ones perspective. As I look back at this past year I see it as a year of moving forward in a few different ways.

1. I’ve begun to work on a couple projects that will be ongoing for a couple of years. One of those projects is a book of children from around the world. My hopes for the project are to create passion in others to help maintain our world and be responsible for the coming generation.

2. My photographic vision has begun to change. I have slowly but surely becoming able to focus on the big picture and be able to capture it. Along with this my style has been changing as well to reflect this change.

So what does this new year have in store? A good place to start would be where am I now?

I have another eight months of my contract at Qwanoes, which will take me to September. After that I will begin to fully focus on my future as a professional photographer.

1. Prints will be a large part of my focus for this coming year. I hope to continue to add to my collection of images that are for sale. Not only bring in a much needed source of income but to allow others the opportunity to enjoy these images.

2. With the ending of my contract I will now have the freedom to pursue some freelance work and doing some weddings for friends that have been desperately asking me to help.

I am optimistic for this coming year, I feel there will be lots of opportunities and great images to be had!

As a side note - This is the 2 year anniversary of the blog! A huge thanks to all the readers for putting up with my wild antics and random posts at times. I hope to focus more on sharing my passion about photography with you this year.

Have a safe and wonderful Christmas! Make sure to snap lots of pictures of this great season!

This has been a long time in the works, and it is with great satisfaction and joy that I introduce to you all that a select group of my images are now available as prints. I was able to select a service that allows me to use my favorite print service, Mpix. All the prints that you order are going through the same pro-service that I raved about earlier this year. 

Along with this new announcement, I will be giving 25% off to the first ten people who order prints! Just type in this code: JNPHOTO

You can access the prints portfolio via this link HERE or by clicking the link on the sidebar to the left. The print portfolio will grow with the coming weeks so check back often!

   Frozen Aurora, originally uploaded by Jordan Nielsen Photography.

It’s been a cold one here in Alberta. The temperatures have barely gone higher then -17 C and as low as -42 C with the windchill. Needless to say, my body is not used to this type of cold anymore.

On the upside, I have finally been able to rest enough that I can start focusing on being creative again. Over the past few months I have been having a hard time actually wanting to pick up my camera and take pictures. The creative side has been rather lacking to put it lightly. Today I spent some time outside in the freezing cold taking pictures of the prairies winter conditions. It felt great to have the time to be creative again, even if it was -30 outside!

   Bow-tie Tree, originally uploaded by Jordan Nielsen.

It’s here once again, the craziness that is the Christmas season in North America. I am officially on my holidays from my work at Qwanoes for two weeks, which will be spent spending lots of time resting and relaxing.

I hope your holidays are restful! Make sure to be creative and bless those around you with your work.

As a special note - click the image and a high res version of this image is available to you to use as a desktop for your computer.

I will be offering the wallpapers through my Flickr account from now on for better access and less confusion. To get to the file just click on the image and it will link you directly to the file on Flickr.

Have a great December!

With the recent weather around the Cowichan valley it has been ideal conditions for the leaves to turn a brilliant yellow, orange and red color. 

Download HERE!

With the recent events of SALTS I have been able to capture a new desktop for the month of October. So without any further fanfare, here it is!

Download it HERE!

A little while ago a friend of mine David duChemin ran a bit of a contest for some new types of camera straps. They were BlackRapid’s R-Strap. No unfortantely he did not pick me (DOH!), but I did do some more research into these straps and man, what an awesome evolution of the camera strap this is. 

Yes, that is excitement you read there, excitement about a camera strap. I never thought that I would ever get excited about a camera strap either, but these are so different from any other out there that they deserve some face time. Now most will look at the strap - like I did - and just see your usual strap without much difference from another. What actually sold me was the video they had posted, while it is corny, it explains how it works and why it is so revolutionary. Watch the video HERE.

These are fairly expensive for a camera strap, but I feel that they allow the user to hold your camera in such a different and better way that it’s worth it. I’ve ordered two and will have a quick review of them once I get them.

As promised, it was coming, but just had to be finished.

Download It Here!

There was a particular project which I worked on for a large part of Advance Crew at Camp Qwanoes this past summer. It has to do with a music video and they wanted me to shoot a sequence of images that would tell the story of many different people. You can check out the sequence of images called “Portraits Project” in my portfolio.

As well, since I have been home I have been re-interested in the place that I once grew up at. I have been capturing the landscapes and the details of the Alberta Prairies. This will be an ongoing project throughout the next couple of years. You can check that sequence of images in the “Prairies Project” section.

QUICK UPDATE: Yes I am still working on the September wallpaper. It has taken me longer then expected to get around to it. Hopefully within the coming days it will be out.

There has been a lot of commotion over the upcoming release of the new 5D, and now Canon has added some new fuel to the fire with this rather familiar looking 5D figure. I don’t like to be that guy but this has me excited!

With the end of summer comes a nice piece of paper that allows me to gather up some new gear. At the moment the new gear list is as follows:

Canon 50MM F1.2L

Sandisk Extreme III 8GB x 2

Western Digital 250GB Passport x 2

I have been in need of a few good high volume memory cards for a while now and since Sandisk has updated their Extreme III to 30MB/s from 20MB/s and kept at the same price (and possibly going down) it was the perfect time to purchase some nice CF cards. 

I have been wrestling over which lens I should be buying this fall for a while now. But after handling the 50MM f1.2 L and taking a few snapshots with it I immediately fell in love with it. Slapped down the cash and have been having a lot of fun with it all afternoon. Here are some samples:

Lastly, I heard that Costco was selling Western Digital 250GB Passport HD’s on sale for $99.99 and I couldn’t pass that up for some cheap back-ups. Their USB 2.0, and completely bus powered which is great for those on the road back-ups.