And I'm Still Learning...

Photo by Leif Kjaer

Danish photographer couple, Kiki Kjaer and her husband, Leif, travel the world in pursuit of adventure and the perfect picture!  You’ll love Kiki’s humorous self-deprecating style that takes you on a journey that will keep you smiling; and all the while you will marvel at the artistry of her photography.

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Thanks so much for visiting "Tales of Relentless Pursuit." If you have a free moment or two, please check out my Photography Website, Your Best Shot, and sign up for the mailing list! And also consider sending the link to this blog to your circle of friends.

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Michelle Alton

P.S. To enhance your viewing pleasure, click on a photograph and it will enlarge.

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And I’m Still Learning...

I love to travel!

And I’ve been a traveler all my life.  My parents took me traveling before I could walk.
I got my first camera when I was 13 - and I can’t remember a time when I didn’t use it to capture moments that I wanted to keep.   And I never travelled without some sort of camera. But it wasn’t until I got my first digital in 2006 that I started to enjoy capturing  subjects other  than family and friends and ‘holiday shots’ – you know – the kind of shots that scream: “I was here!”

I started with a pocket digital camera, that I can’t even remember the name of - and my husband, Leif bought a Minolta Dimage Z1.  I soon found out that he took far better pictures than I did, so I swapped mine for a better camera, but still a small pocket camera of some sort.

Still Leif took so much better photos than I.

So I upgraded myself to a Minolta Dimage Z5 – only to discover that my image quality didn’t improve much. That’s when it hit me: Leif WAS a better photographer! HA! He notices everything in a scene and quickly decides what to include and what not to include. He sure has that gift of ‘seeing’ what is in a scene and for choosing the best and most unusual angles.

I spent most of my time taking pictures of what I thought I saw (mind you – I can stand in front of a cathedral without noticing it!) and then returned to my computer only to find out all the things I had missed!  This I usually found out when I looked at Leif’s pictures and saw all the things that he was able to capture.

But I started learning.

Traveling in the USA and Canada

In 2007 I bought my first mirror reflex camera: a Canon EOS 350D. Later I got a Canon EOS 30D, then a 40D and latest a 50D. And I also started to find out the value of good lenses. Today I mostly use a Canon EF 24 – 105 mm f/4 as my all-around lens, a 100 – 400 mm f/4.5 – 5.6 for wild-life photography, a 24 mm f/1.4 for portrait photography and a 100 mm f/2.8 macro lens.

And I started to teach myself everything I could about my cameras and photography- from A to Z and took on-line courses as well. Leif never bothered with any of that – he just went out and took awesome pictures.  Lucky bastard :}!

Okay – now is probably the time to tell you all that I love and adore my wonderful husband.   He is my reason for living. It’s as simple as that.

My Cowboy, my Love -- My Life!

Leif and I have toured the States (The Southwest is our favorite) and several areas in Canada for the past 16 years, almost every year.

Leif and I in Sedona, Arizona

Monument Valley. Camera: Minolta Z5

Sandstorm in Monument Valley. Also captured with Minolta Z5 – and
 the first image I ever entered in a competition

We simply love the grandeur of the landscapes. Coming from a country where the highest point is 170 meters above sea level we of course LOVE the Rockies!

Turquoise and Green. Alberta, Canada

  Columbia Icefield Reflections. Also from Alberta, Canada
 

Everywhere Leif turns – I turn, sure that there’s something worth capturing. Mostly there is.  So he shows me where to look – and more often than not he ‘gives’ me the first – and best – shots.

And I’m learning.

As I’ve revealed ‘seeing’ is not my strongest point. But sometimes it seems that Heaven and Earth get together and decide that today they’re going to give me an awesome experience – to take home to Denmark with me. Another explanation could of course be that I just happen to be in the right place at the right time :)

That happened for example last year when we were on our way back to Calgary after a 10-day stay in Jasper and Hinton (Alberta, Canada). I was very keen on visiting Peyto Lake.  I had heard of its beauty and wanted to see it for myself. It had snowed in the mountains  the days before and this day was cold and foggy. The path to Bow Summit, from where you can see the lake, was icy and slippery. And people coming down from the Summit reported that they could barely see the Lake because of the fog. The path was long but I continued. When I stepped onto the platform and saw the lake, I also saw that the mist that had covered the lake was beginning to evaporate – disclosing the bluest lake I had ever seen.

I gasped – and so did others who were standing there.  It was truly magical. I could almost hear a symphony!

I enjoyed the view for the next five or ten minutes (and took pictures of course) and then turned to walk back. When I turned my head again to see the lake for the last time, only a moment later I saw that the lake had again disappeared into the mist. I almost got goosebumps!

Peyto Lake

 Peyto Lake III

New Family

Photography has also given me a new sister and brother-in-Law!  It’s true. In Alberta Canada lives this  wonderful couple named Laura and Dale Swan. Laura and I are both part of the “Better Photo” community and ‘met’ there. We started our friendship by talking about photography. And over the past couple of years we have become very close friends.  And we’ve sort of adopted each other.

Leif and I visited our new family last year. And it was the most wonderful and unforgetable trip. And it turned out that Laura has the very same talent of seeing things that Leif has. So on this trip whenever we enjoyed the company of Laura and Dale, it was Laura who gave me all the best shots.  We love them both dearly.

Capturing Wildlife 

Leif and I are always on the lookout for breathtaking views, which of course in the States and Canada are where we find ourselves – or around the corner.

But it’s when I see an animal in the wild that I go crazy. And I must admit: I really do go crazy. I leave my brain in the car and just head out thinking that I’m safe. I simply LOVE animals!  On a trip to California in 2007 Leif and I visited Sequoia National Park.
 
There are always places that will ‘call on’ us. And one day we stopped by the road and went only a few meters into the forest among the giant Sequoia trees when Leif spotted a big brown Mama Bear with two little cubs, heading our way.  At this time my longest lens was a 70-200 mm and it just wasn’t enough!  And I was so anxious to get a good shot of these magnificent animals that I forgot all about boundaries.  I couldn’t get close enough.

Leif walked away from the bears, knowing that they were heading his way (why didn’t I see that?). I just moved towards the little family. At some point they were hidden from me behind some big bushes and I moved closer. In my immense wisdom I thought I could sneak in on them – or I didn’t think at all.

Suddenly Mama Bear came charging through the thick bushes – right at me – with a roar that almost blew my cap off.  I never imagined that a bear could move that fast and I just stood there - absolutely still with my camera in my hands – and stared at her while she came roaring at me. I was spell bound and I was like: WOW!!!

It was awesome! I enjoyed every second of being in contact with this big animal. Why was I not afraid? Because I DIDN’T KNOW I WAS SUPPOSED TO BE AFRAID! And that’s probably what saved my life.

Mama Bear stopped suddenly - probably about ten meters before me. Her thick coat took a little longer to settle as it sort of rolled and swayed to a stop. Funny the things I noticed. Then she stood there and stared at me and I stared back.

Oh, I knew she was ANGRY.  She was VERY angry. But it never occurred to me that she would hurt me – I was convinced that she just wanted to tell me to back off!

After what seemed forever, probably only a few seconds – she turned her head and the rest of her followed – back to her little ones.  She continued her walk deeper into the forest. We followed her for a while – but at a more respectful distance.

Later I learned that every year many people are killed in the States by bears.   And most of those “crazy tourists” are still holding a camera in their hands!
I came to realize that this moment – awesome as it was – was not one of my most brilliant moments. Crazy tourist!!

Hmmm! This bear I captured in Yosemite

 Mamma Bear and Cubs, as they walked away from us

The next year we visited Yellowstone.  Also here we met a bear. And like always I was out of the car before it stopped and before anyone else got out of their cars
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This bear was alone and didn’t bother about all the crazy tourists in their cars. And he didn’t mind me. I was standing about 2½ meters from him – in the middle of the road – and he was lying on the roadside when I took this shot. He never even looked at me. I know! I took about 100 photos of him.

Wildlife – Stop and Smell the Flowers

Only later – a couple of years later – when we saw bears again - in Canada - did I remember Sequoia  - and I am a little proud to say that when we saw bears in Canada, I kept a safer distance.

Photography

For the past six years I have been submitting my images to various photo competition sites and so far I’ve got over 400 Pictures-of-the-day, several Pictures-of-the-week, some Finalists and Pictures-of-the-month plus 3 Pictures-of-the-year. So I must have learned something!

But I am still learning!

I love to capture the beauty that constantly surrounds me and I love more than anything to watch – and photographically capture animals. I can get almost as excited about seeing a chipmunk as I get seeing a coyote or an elk.  And I do respect them. Only my eagerness to capture them often comes in the way and I don’t ‘see’ their boundaries.   Happily most animals will just disappear when I get too close.

And I am learning that too.

A curious chipmunk

In the Wild - Marking Territory

Wildlife - On the Move!

I also very much enjoy macro photography.  Getting that close to an insect or a flower and later looking at them on my computer, seeing detail that I didn’t know was there is to me one of the biggest wonders of photography.

Flower and the Bee

Still Holding On

I also do portraits and find it very rewarding to communicate with other people in this way. I do like to work in Photoshop and sometimes I even do something creative.

The Artist at Work

Big Charmer

Just an Apple. Inspired by Laura’s work

But mostly I use it to make improvements on my images.

This I’ll never stop learning.

About Kiki Kjaer

Me (photo: Leif Kjaer)

I'm 59 and  married to Leif for almost 27 years. We live in Denmark; we have no kids (sadly).   I’m a vegetarian, a horseback rider and  have a Black Belt in Taekwondo.

Me on horseback in Canyon De Chelly (photo: Leif Kjaer

In my younger years I worked at a travel agency and have been all over Europe and also visited Greece, Turkey, Sri Lanka and West Africa as a tourist.  But since Leif and I visited the States for the first time in 1994, it has been the States or Canada for us ever since. We love the sceneries and the wild-life and we love the American and the Canadian people.

But we also love living in Denmark – especially at this time of year when a light green carpet gently covers the whole land.

Forest Walk

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  Unless otherwise specified all photography is by Kiki Kjaer.

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What do you think of the "Relentless Pursuit" series. Please leave a comment below or email me with your suggestions on what you'd like to see on this blog.


I need your Story!

If you have a story to post on this theme, contact me.  We have Zero stories on tap and I shall have to resort to posting my own work!  Please consider sharing your tales of Relentless Pursuit!  And be sure to take a look at my Photography site. I'd love to hear from you!
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Michelle Alton

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Brag, Brag, Brag...

Laura Swan is a transplanted Californian who now calls Calgary, Alberta Canada “Home.” This story, with magnificent shots of her beloved Rockies, delightfully depicts her unabashed passion for her adopted country and plays on her propensity to shamelessly boast about it! You’ll find yourself gasping at the extraordinary beauty and blushing at Laura’s embarrassing adventures in Braggadocio! 

Laura credits her dad, a professional photographer, for instilling in her the basic technical photographic skills—though she takes pride in the fact that he told her she was a “natural.” Much later she began to delve into digital art and she openly admits to adoring that art form. To see more of Laura’s artistry, please visit her BetterPhoto.com gallery .
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I'd love to know what you think of the "Relentless Pursuit" series. Please leave a comment below or email me with your suggestions on what you'd like to see on this blog.  If you have a story to post on this theme, contact me [at this moment there are only two stories still on tap--we need YOURS!]. And be sure to take a look at my Photography site. I'd love to hear from you!


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Michelle Alton

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Brag, Brag, Brag....


What started with harmless bragging ended in a perilous hunt for wild bear. Let me tell you the story.

I live in western Canada, at the eastern edge of the big, beautiful Canadian Rockies where the lakes are turquoise blue and the animals run wild and free. The air is fresh; the water is straight from our glaciers. The crime rate is low. We get more sunshine, here in Calgary Alberta Canada, than anywhere in ALL of Canada.  It's heaven here on earth. Oh. Was I bragging again? I thought I had learned my lesson???  There I go again!

I was born and raised in California. At age 21 I went on a blind double date as a favor to my roommate, Kathy. My blind date was a nice, hard working Canadian fellow--Tall, blond and handsome with tight speech, so clearly Canadian. He had a logger’s beard and the strongest arms I'd ever seen on a man.  (Oops! More bragging! I MUST learn my lesson!)

Dale Swan

Engagement of Dale and Laura (Photo by Alan McKeegan 1984)

Well, that date turned into many dates and finally turned into marriage three years later. Five years after that, in 1990, we moved to Calgary, Alberta, Canada to be near Dale’s family and we have been here ever since.

That November, so long ago, I left my own "people" behind. It was very hard for me, so my mission became to get my family and friends to come and visit as soon as possible. That is where my bragging troubles began.

I wrote regular letters to them telling of my new adventures here. Trying to sound up and positive and to be the entertaining person they always knew back home. I took many beautiful photos to enclose in each letter, hoping someone would come see us here.  We moved here in the beginning of the Canadian Winter season so my first letters were filled with tales of survival in the great white North!!! The very night we arrived, U-hauls in tow, it was -25 degrees C. This was unheard of to someone like me or my "people." We were all accustomed to mild and bearable weather. I had to explain to my family and friends what -25C really meant--that it was way worse than sticking your head in the freezer for a prolonged period of time! And how we had to dress in several layers of clothing wearing Kodiak socks on our frozen feet. Walking outside with huge big Alaskan boots on and parkas was the “norm” for Rocky Mountain “garb.” Oh, and of course, not forgetting to add the final fashion touch. face masks to avoid frost bite.

Laura

Frost on the Window

My tales must have gripped them, as they’d reply saying that they were at the edge of their seats waiting for my next letter and more photos to arrive. My bragging about Canada, and about the unusual, was paying off big time with every description of crunching snow beneath our feet.

Well when our first spring and summer finally came, and our nose hairs no longer froze fetching the mail from the box, and song birds returned to Canada, windows opened and I had much better things to report. The beauty of the Canadian Rockies was emerging. We were able to make the drive up into the woodlands of the mountains where waterfalls and nature became available to me for the first time. My letters and photos of Canada made Calgary a bigger temptation for them as a travel destination!

Friends and family began to trickle up, even in that first summer. Then more arrived in the next years where they experienced the immense beauty for themselves, returning home to spread the word that all that Laura wrote about was true! Turquoise lakes, bears in abundance, moose, eagles, foxes, elk, all
running and flying wild and free. The beautiful Canadian Rocky Mountains. They all returned to their homes doing their own bragging about this heaven on earth!!!

Visiting Friends from the American Midwest, Ron and Shirley McEwan

Kiki Kjaer (from Denmark) and Laura Swan  (Photo by Leif Kjaer)

There was only one person in my immediate family that I just couldn’t seem to talk into coming here. My eldest brother. My sister flew up to visit as did my nephew; then a second cousin’s wife, my aunt, cousins, friends, and the list got longer from there…Everyone that was able, came. But not my brother.

Nothing I'd say would get him to come see me. No bragging seemed to do the trick. He seemed determined not to visit. ”Too far away” for him. “Too busy working -- No time, no time, NO TIME...

Then one shocking happy Summer 17 years after we moved here, he changed his mind and said, "YES!", he'd come. He wanted to see me and to see some wild life--The BEARS-- The ones I always bragged about.

At some point during my absence from California my big brother had become a hunter. Wild Boar, Bear, Deer...So the notion of seeing animals running wild and in abundance, (under protection of the land), seemed to spark his interest.

He stayed for ten glorious days as did many of our visitors. I guess the word spread that ten days was a good amount. Not too short and long enough to see the BEARS!

As we did with everyone else, we took my brother sightseeing all around the wilderness of the Rockies. I drove; Dale and my brother sat in the back seat in style. Almost every day we got up early and headed straight into the Rockies. Banff, Kananaskis, Johnston's Canyon, several lakes...all the famous spots...My brother salivated at each huge wild elk that we'd see.  Each deer, each eagle, fox
or whatever. We stopped to take photos when we could.

I was glad he didn't have his rifle or a permit! (Insert nervous laughter here on my part!)  Each day someone would remark that we hadn't seen a bear yet. We searched hard and strained our eyes! It was uncanny that we hadn't. We drove to the tops of Rockies, around secret roads that only the locals like us know about.  We hiked, nature trailed along rivers and took gondolas. Not a bear in sight. So we brought picnic food to eat in the car and had fun, making the best of it anyway. Each day brought different weather. Sunshine, rain, sleet and even snow at the mountain tops! Each day brought everything but a you-know-what!

My Brother On the Banff  Gondola, Sulphur Mountain.

Moraine Lake, Banff Natioanal Park, Alberta Canada

Lake Minnewanka, Banff National Park

Cameras were clicking. We did have so much fun. Yet his goal each day for over a week now, was still unrealised. Not a grizzly in sight. Not a black bear to marvel over and take photos of. The one animal we are the most famous for eluded us! The ones I had so often bragged about in my letters. Dear readers, it was Day 8 and we had not seen one measly bear. Not one!  I shouldn't have bragged so much about the bears. After all, the BEARS were his main reason (besides a family visit) for coming to the area. As his little sister, I felt like a failure and thought to myself that this might have ruined his trip because he had come such a long way to see them! I had blocked from my mind that it was his little sister and his brother in law he had most wanted to see!

That 8th day, when I woke up something hit me. OH MY GOSH. I felt it in my heart. TODAY WE WILL SEE Three BEARS!  ("Huh?!" I said to myself,  “Three?  LAURA. Don't you DARE say that to anyone. That is just going too far with the empty hopes! A dead worm on a fishing hook!”)

So I marched to the breakfast table, and contrary to my beliefs, said to the boys, “Today we are GOING to see three bears!!!" Well, this got a good laugh and I said "You just wait and see!" After I said this, I said in my heart to myself, "Laura, listen to you! WHAT DID I JUST TELL YOU ABOUT BRAGGING??? Your bragging has just gone too far this time! What if we don't see a bear today?"

Wedge Pond, Kananaskis Country Alberta

Well, I learned my lesson in bragging. Now today I would pay the piper and be silenced for life.

On this day we would take my big brother to Lake Louise. It is a very famous lake far into the Rockies. When we arrived it snowed a little. It was so beautiful...I was hopeful because it is Lake Louise that we ALWAYS see bears! ALWAYS! Well always, for 17 years, except on this day.

On our way home, with my head hanging low, we drove back through the Banff National Park. All of a sudden, we saw a crowd of cars on the right shoulder of the road!  HA! This was a good sign! People always crowd around and park their cars on the road if they see an animal! Could it be my three bears?

Well...NO! It wasn't! But it was ONE BEAR! One big, beautiful GRIZZLY BEAR eating dandelions, peacefully. Hurray!!!!!!!!! One bear was better than NO BEARS. Excited for my brother, I watch as he opened his car door slowly and crept out of the back seat like a true hunter, leaving the door open behind him as not to make a sound. He was in his element. He had found what he was waiting for. He set his camera and zoomed in for his prized photos to take home with him to show the family.

A very ignorant male tourist with a fancy camera ran up the hill there charging the fence trying to startle the bear to get a better shot of its face, maybe hoping the grizzly bear would rear up!  Little did he know that with one retorted charge that bear could have easily plowed that fencing down and we'd all have been history!

Gratefully the bear had more sense than the man and soon ran off into the woods, roaring. Several other tourists then roared at the ignorant tourist and we all got back in our cars and left. As we drove off my brother said, "Well Sis you were right. We saw a bear today.” With renewed confidence and obviously no sense in my head I said, "Yes, but that was only ONE bear. We have two more to go!" They laughed. I smiled.

Before exiting the Banff National Park gates there was one more place I wanted to show my brother and felt we had time to do so: Mount Norquay. Many postcard photos are shot from there overlooking the Banff Townsite. It’s so very pretty. There is a huge ski hill at the top and it is always very worth taking the riveting two lane road up and back. On the way back it's a bit of a “white knuckle” ride down because it's on the outer edge and on cliffs. The views from there are spectacular. It would be our last thrill for the day.

My brother, tired but very impressed with another fun filled Canadian day, sat in the back seat of our car with his window down enjoying the fresh mountain air. As we slowly made our way back down Mt. Norquay we almost got into a wreck around one of the tight and blind bends in the road. Thankfully I was driving very slowly at the time. That is all that saved us.

There were three vehicles stopped in their tracks. Something was happening there. Up on the side of the green grassy hill, but what? We couldn't see anything yet.  As cameras ahead of us hung out of camper and truck windows we waited our turn in the back of the line.  I said "Get your cameras ready folks. We have wild life ahead. Maybe more mountain sheep or MAYBE OUR BEARS?" I said in
suspenseful and joking tones, raising my eye brows at them! Okay. I know you readers here are clever right? But at the time we were not and had no idea what it would be.

"It" was a "them"!

It was a Mama Black Bear and her two new little springtime cubs!!! Her darling babies were little and round and fat and brown (as many cubs can be until they age). They couldn't have been more than 20 pounds each. It was so exciting. She had them there at a fallen tree trunk and she was banging on it to break it up for them. There were maggots inside the rotting trunk and she was teaching them to eat!

Black Bear Cubs

With the bears acting completely unaware of any of us, we took many respectfully quiet photos and eased away so the next car could see what was there. We never got great head shots but with bears you take what you can get, and quietly move on.

This all happened four years ago now, and my brother is still busy back in California bragging about our Relentless Pursuit of the bears and the final victory that his little sister Laura foretold with confidence on that eighth day at the breakfast table.

"Not three bears, like she predicted, but we actually saw four!"

So friends, my bragging rights and reputation unscathed, my stories are still much revered back home. Have I learned my lesson about bragging? Hmm...I don't know. Oh say, have I told you yet about the time we...Oh never mind. Maybe I'd better not?



Laura Swan’s Bio

Born and raised in Northern California with a professional photographer for a father, I learned very early how to compose and shoot photographs. Although digital art is my first love, I have always enjoyed the challenge of making a great shot.

I feel very blessed to now live just a short drive from the Great Canadian Rockies, where there are always new and exciting things to shoot and on which to ply my digital artistry. I shoot with a Nikon D90 and a great point-and-shoot Canon PowerShot SD800 IS.

My work can be seen at my BetterPhoto.com gallery.

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 All photos, unless otherwise stated, are by Laura Swan.


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Thanks so much for visiting "Tales of Relentless Pursuit." If you have a free moment or two, please check out my Photography Website, Your Best Shot, and sign up for the mailing list! And also consider sending the link to this blog to your circle of friends.




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