Hi guys!

It has been an interesting week this week. This week has been amazing Summer in Alberta, Albertans will understand. The week has been filled with blue skies and the changing of the leaves. Every autumn makes my spirit fly and I have been doing a lot of short drives this week searching for the ultimate tree, culminating with this Saturday and very long drive with one of my photographic friends.

Drew May Photo20140212IMG_0319

Brothers and i love them both!

This week I thought I would start a short review of a lens that I have been in love with since the day I bought it. Four years ago I contacted Canon Professional Services and ordered two loaners for the weekend. Those loaders were of course the TSE 24 mm F3.5L Mark II and it's brother the TSE 17 mm F4L. It was a very cold weekend but I still forced myself to go out and try both of them. I traveled to Jasper for the day that was utterly amazed and smitten. My thanks and many of them has to go to CPS Canada, over the last few years they have been fantastic to me.

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The 24 sporting the Lee Filter system, I got to comment on that filter set another day. 

Well I've had difficulties making the final decision when it came to the 17 mm, with the 24 mm there was no pause. I had to have it! And a few months later I did! For me a 24 mm on a full frame camera is a no-brainer. The focal length of 24 mm has been my go to focal length for landscapes for some 30 years, and this Version of the 24 mm to me is absolutely perfect. Not only is it optically perfect but it adds the ability to have Full control [as much as a D SLR can logically provide] to the perspective, and the ability to correct some truly aggravating perspective issues.

_20160916-_7D_3923© www.drewmayphotography.com the tilt and an upward shift, try that with your conventional lens!!

Let's start with a note on construction… it's fantastic!!

The Note applying to the Image quality… astounding!!

The Note applying to the sharpness… sensational!!

Crescent Falls up CloseScrabiling down to the valley of the Bighorn River at the foot of the second deck of Crescent Fall.

No modification, cropping or further editing is permitted with out with the expressed permission of Drew May Photography.

© www.drewmayphotography.com Crescent Falls just "fit" with a TSE-24  

When it comes to any other words that might be used to define the perfection of a lens be it verb or noun, this lens has it in spades. This Lens is without doubt one of the very best I have ever used in my lifetime. To understand the adjustments of this lens dose create a steep learning curve, and that makes it somewhat of a difficult Lens to use. But once you have it down you will never regret owning this piece of Canon perfection.

Brich Trees a studyI have always been fascinated by trees and i continue to experiment with views of a forest.

No modification, cropping or further editing is permitted with out with the expressed permission of Drew May Photography.

© www.drewmayphotography.com if there is a mood of something special it allies seems it is my TSE-24mm F3.5L MKii that took it.

Truly, it is not a very fast 24 mm. It also is a little heavy at 780 g. it is also is a little expensive, as is the same monetary issue that the 17 mm has. But when you figure this lens out, and understand how to use it, it is virtually impossible to beat [at its price point, I am sure the Germans make something much better, They always seem to anyway]. For this price point,[approximately $2100 Canadian give or take] there are cheaper 24 mm but none are better!

Lower Tangle FallsDecided for the first time in a long time to wander down to the lower Tangle Creek Falls. I haven't been there in a long time and it is just as pretty as always.

If you ever go to Tangle Falls, in Jasper NP, take an hour and walk the other way from the crowds. Be careful the walk is a little steep but the view is worth the trip and best of all, I bet you will be completely alone. ;)

© www.drewmayphotography.com

When ever I need to walk into a valley or some place that is a hike to get out of I always choose one lens and almost every time it is the TSE-24

I will continue over the next few weeks to add a few things here and there about my experiences with this lens, the 17 mm and also about my awesomely sharp TSE 90 mm. It seems that there's very little information out there about these TSE lenses and I'd like to help some make a decision to buy one. They clearly are a specialized bunch of lenses but when they're used for what they're designed to be used for they are astounding. To be honest, I think if I included the TSE 45 mm F2.8 I could get rid of all other lenses except my 70 to 200 and I would be covered with every eventuality that I could encounter as a landscape photographer. Stay tuned!

The Colour Overtakes _20150918-_MAY4023the forest is all green above and full of colours at eye level.

© www.drewmayphotography.com Colour everywhere 

Now what I have been doing for the rest of this past week! 

This week I kept relatively close to home, mostly because of a few personal items that I had to deal with, and Lily needed a change of oil and a bath. Lily has been an absolutely fantastic companion and without question fantastic on fuel and she has been truly comfortable. I know that long trip aversion won't last long as I'm planning to take a little tour towards a small forest that I know that should have some serious colour in by now. Stay tuned for those pictures maybe next week. I am thoroughly excited about this, it has my tree orientated mind going a mile a minute.

Km 16825 Cropssing the Athabasca_20160916-_MAY6490Lilly and me crossing the Athabasca River at the Klondike Crossing

© www.drewmayphotography.com Crossing the Athabasca on the Klondike Ferry one of the few remaining ferries in Alberta 

I've been spending a little bit of time trying to figure out the cost structures and all that other business stuff. Not something that the artist mine can easily tolerate but there're things that have to be done. I think there is going to be some need for new cost structure, at a more defined identification of truly limited edition work. Another thing to stay tuned for.

Also last week was the first time that my Facebook fan page reached 3000 followers and stayed there. Some people don't really qualify or quantify any advancements in Facebook as worth anything, butI can tell you for my own personal feelings it feels very good when there is a large group of people who expressed an interest in your work. Sometimes I think people belittle Facebook or any achievement on Facebook because of some form of avarice. To be quite honest I'm getting tired of how people act when somebody else succeeds in something.

Km 16865 Lilly and Me in the Sandhills Ecological Reserve_20160916-_MAY6497Lilly and me in the Fort Assiniboine Sandhills Wildland enjoying a quiet drive in the country looking for autumn colours.

© www.drewmayphotography.com Long dusty road in to the back woods and Lilly did wonderfully. 

I continue Think of some kind of reward for those people who have shown loyalty to me over all these years, Something else to stay tuned for.

The Blue Bells Hold On_20160917-_MAY6563Windy Point David Thompson Country, this place couldnt be more aptly named!! Man it was windy! I had little choise but to raze the ISO and the shudder speed just to stop the movement!

© www.drewmayphotography.com How the Bluebells stay in the ground at "Windy Point" {David Thompson country} is truly beyond me. It was just blasting down the valley on Saturday. 

I also have been debating the course of my life, whether I should stay in this little hick burg that I call home, or run for the hills. Last couple weeks I have been spending some time in the local cities and larger towns. I can say without a pause as a person who likes quiet simple things, City folk are to wound up! They're like a scurrying bunch of ants all going in different directions and the lack of courtesy is absolutely astounding! That alone would make it very difficult for me to live in a larger centre. I sit here in my small little house in my little Town, and I strain to hear anything other than the fan going in the refrigerator upstairs. I suffer from the sound of thundering trucks going by, driven by sexually challenged men. I don't hear or have fear of the teenagers in this town, I actually praise them because they're actually decent young people. Some might say the life in a small town is a special thing, and as time goes on, I'm starting to have that same feeling.

The Trickle in The Forest_20160917-_MAY6635There are some of us who go to one of the most famous locations in the Canadian national Parks and spend hours trying to capture that postcard image. I, just to be difficult, spend more time looking into the forest on the trail that leads to these postcard locations. I don't know why I am drawn to trees in the forest, but for some reason it feels "Just right".

© www.drewmayphotography.com I have hundreds of photos to go though from this past week This is the first one I finished from Saturday in Banff NP more are coming!!

I might have to change this blog to the Lamentations a landscape photographer. :)

Anyway, if there is anything you would like to hear or have my opinion of, feel free to comment. Remember, I live in a small town, any kind of human interaction is interesting. That is until I get into a place where I got a camera in my hand that I don't want people around me at all. :)

No matter what you think your gear is not the best, it is only the best to you, so shut up and shoot!!

We'll talk to you all next week!!