Wednesday 30 August 2017

View From Above - Saskatoon Mountain, Alberta, Canada

Saskatoon Mountain, Alberta, Canada
Enjoy the view from atop Saskatoon Mountain without the drive! I set this one to a combination of peaceful guitar music and soothing bird songs. I hope you enjoy it!

Be sure to watch for the duration of the video. There's a couple of vehicles that come and go, kicking up dust from the gravel road in the process. You'll see a truck drive along the bottom left then make a turn and drive out of view at the very beginning. Later in the video, another vehicle makes the opposite trip.


As an aside, this little guy/gal came to see me just as I was setting up my camera to shoot the video of the lay of the land below. I quickly turned my camera around and caught him/her nibbling some seeds on the old stump before he/she disappeared back into the bush. I left it some almonds as a thank you when I was done recording my video. :-)


If you would like more information about Saskatoon Mountain, you can read a little more about it in my other post here - Path in the Woods.

Tuesday 22 August 2017

Deer Walks By - Soothing Native American Flutes and Birdsong for Meditation

mule deer in Medicine Hat, Alberta
Not much to say about this one. It may look like the middle of nowhere but I shot this over the fence of my parents' backyard in Medicine Hat, Alberta. In case you haven't put it together yet, we went down for a visit at the beginning of July, hence all the Southern Alberta videos. And there's still more to come. :-)

Not going to give specifics on the whereabouts, but here's the video. It turned out even better than I thought it would with a little creative audio editing. And just in case you're wondering, it's not the same as the deer video I shared in this post. That was a doe, a deer, a white tail deer (sorry, I couldn't help myself). Seriously though, this one is a mule deer buck.



I edited the video twice. Once with the flute above and another with only birdsongs and insect noises. You can watch that one here. BTW I'd love to hear from you which of these you prefer. Feel free to leave your opinion in the comments below!

Saturday 19 August 2017

Calming Giant Red Rock Meditation - Red Rock Coulee, Alberta, Canada

red rock coulee
One of the most unique landscapes in Southern Alberta, this place looks exactly how it appears in the video; very austere, expansive and a bit unnerving.

I ran into some production issues while making this, hence why it's a slide show and not a long take video. It is VERY windy there. Always. The wind caused the camera to shake and vibrate and no amount of stabilization through my video editing would get rid of it. Thankfully I took a bunch of pics with my phone when I was there! Anyways, here's the video.



I set this slide show to Moby's LA6; I felt that it matched the feeling of the place. And as a quick side note, it's a part of his Long Ambients1 album (which I'm sure I'll use again). He's given this away for free and you can download the entire recording from his website here - Moby - Long Ambients1. It's awesome and you should.

A little more about this place. Many of the rocks are wearing down and they slide apart in perfect layers.

giant red rocks

And they're really, really BIG! My son, who's in this pic, is over 6 feet tall. I included this grainy image so you can get a perspective on the size of these things.

giant round rocks

The rocks are buried in what I'd describe as a clay like material. When it rains it washes away and leaves the harder red rocks. Just think, in a couple hundred years, this rock may be completely exposed like the one above.


A little about this place. There is literally nothing here but wide open prairie, large red rocks in various stages of weathering, a picnic table and this sign. There isn't even a port-a-potty so plan wisely, people.


(Yes, you are in rattle snake country. I never encountered one there myself, but have seen a dead one on the highway in the general area. But that was years ago...)

If you decide to take the trip out to see this area for yourself, be sure to bring everything you need including water, food, toilet paper, extra clothing (it's either windy and hot or windy and cold), etc. It's a little off the beaten path but you can get out there in about an hour if you are starting in Medicine Hat. There's not a lot to do but walk around and look at the rocks and get some good photo opps (just think of the instagram photos!) but sometimes you just are looking for something to do in a day. 

Friday 21 July 2017

Waves on the River

The latest in my videos shot that day we went down to the South Saskatchewan River at Police Point Park. This particular video was done on the suggestion of my son. He thought it would make for a great video. Guess he was right!


I tried to make a good balance between the sounds of the water and birds and the guitar music I selected. If you're interested, you can listen to both pieces of music at full speed (I slowed it down for a more relaxing and zen-like feel to the video).

The Encouragement Stick by Doctor Turtle
Also available on Spotify and Apple Music. 

Which That Is This? by Doctor Turtle
Also available on Spotify. 

Photo of a genius with a good idea.




The video was shot a little further down the river from where this photo was taken.


Once again, I can't stress enough how lucky the city of Medicine Hat, Alberta is to have such a wonderful natural area that runs through the city! For more info on the location you can use this handy map and go to the interpretive centre's page here -  http://www.natureline.info