On a particularly nice day in mid-January, I went for a much needed hike along the Seaton Trail, south of Whitevale, Ontario, with my son. The day was an opportunity to enjoy the outdoors and make some photos.
The creek was partially frozen over and full of wonderful detail in hues of blue and green. Above is a view of the typical scenery showing ice coverage and flow. The plants are all brown or yellow. You’d expect it to be drab and washed out, but the bright snow lights things up so nicely. Despite the cold air, it was a great day to just be out and about and the light was beautiful.
Nikon D300
Tamron 70-200 mm f/2.8 @ 110 mm
1/250 sec, f/8, ISO 250
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Never the same twice
Wonderful patterns in the ice
Beautiful randomness of nature
Just add water
Nikon D300
Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm
1/320 sec, f/9.0, ISO 250
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Nature is constantly amazing me. The image above is a simple shot of a frozen Duffins Creek. It looks like some marvelous abstract art piece that you would see in an expensive downtown gallery. But, this one’s free and created through the natural freezing process.
If you take the time to really look, you can see how the layers may have built up, how the water ebbed and flowed between the rocks on the creekbed, creating intricate curves, and trapping air bubbles.
I may start a whole series of these and compare different creeks in their ability to create art.
Nikon D300
Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 170mm
1/320 sec, f/9.0, ISO 250
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To start this out, I’m stealing a wonderful quote from a fellow blogger spanishwoods.
“In my opinion, the most ordinary things, the most common and familiar, if we could see them in their true light, would turn out to be the grandest miracles . . . and the most marvelous examples.”
—Michel de Montaigne
The above statement resonates with me on so many levels. I don’t live in an area with grand vistas, mountains, or oceans. The countryside surrounding my home is, at first appearance, quite bland.
But, if you have the eye to see deeper, and appreciate the fine details, the landscape opens up into a world of light and colour.
Today, after nearly two weeks of not venturing very far afield, I got up, looked at the stunning, clear light, and despite it being -12 degrees celsius outside, headed out with the intention of a much needed walk in the woods (and some photos). I made about 40 photos of forest trails, frozens creeks, and plants along the way. As the quote above states, it’s often the ordinary things, that on further observation, become quite spectacular. On occasion, I’m surprised by some detail I did not notice as I made the photo. After all, I’m limited to what I see through the viewfinder. Along my walk I stopped in a few locations to photograph the tiny seed pods of a plant called Dog Strangling Vine. Apparently, it’s an invasive species, imported deliberately or accidentally from Europe some 150 years ago. I don’t know that a dog has ever actually been strangled by it. The plant’s real name is European Swallow-Wort. These plants often grow in thick tangles, clinging to and climbing up trees, but every now and then a single tendril reaches between trees and those tend to make good subjects for photos where I can isolate a single seed pod or two. They are quite ordinary, but unique in how they grow.
I was very surprised today, in reviewing my photos that, despite it being mid January, my camera picked up the most awesome purples, and pinks as a burst of colour bokeh behind the seed pods. I don’t recall seeing anything pink or purple in the background when I made the photo. So, I’ll take this as a special gift. It adds a real dream-like effect to the image, coupled with the burst effect of a few background branches. If I had planned this, I would have been pleased. But, to have a complete surprise is awesome and keeps me inspired to seek out more of these special moments.
Nikon D300
Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 @200mm
1/100 sec, f/5.0 -0.33, ISO 250
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Never let me say “There’s nothing to photograph”.
Though my preference is really nature and outdoors images, I also, occasionally, have a ‘thing’ for patterns and urban scenes. Today, after a day spent in several corporate offices, I took a walk through ‘underground Montreal’. It’s a series of connected shopping complexes that reaches several kilometers under downtown Montreal.
During the day, this is a very busy place, full of commuters on their way to work, students, attending the adjacent McGill University and shoppers, out for a bargain. In the evening, it is essentially vacant, and I find it a nice place to walk and stretch my legs after a day sitting through meetings.
Today, I made my way to the upper level of this section of the complex, the Montreal Eatons Centre, to get a view of the complex from a higher vantage point. The above image is the result. I like the strong lines and flow of the place and added a bit of ‘posterizing’ to accentuate that effect.
iPhone 5s back camera 4.15mm f/2.2
1/40 sec, f/2.2, ISO 40
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Hearkening back to milder days, as I ride the train through snow filled landscapes to Montreal. This image was made back in mid-October 2015, as I hiked the southern trails of the Secord Forest. I have made many photographs in the area, but as with many of the photos, the light is always a bit different and what seems familiar suddenly transforms into something altogether new and wonderful.
This image is a fine example of that phenomenon. There are many small poplar groves in this forest and I’ve sen and photographed most of them. Primarily because the long, straight trunks lend themselves so well to these painterly effects. As I recall, this was a mild afternoon on a Saturday and the light was soft and warm and the leaves had just started to turn to their bright yellow fall hues. I stood and looked at these familiar trees but there was something a bit different than previous visit because the sun lit up the background nicely so I made a few vertical pans. I was pleasantly surprised at the show of colour layers in the image and the retention of some of the finer details in the tree bark.
I hope you enjoy it.
Nikon D300
Tamron 70-200 mm f/2.8 @ 80 mm
1/4 sec, f/32, ISO 250
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Many years ago, just north of Pickering, Ontario, was a flourishing hamlet called Altona. There was a school, a couple of churches, a hotel and many beautiful farms, as well as a mill. In the 70’s the lands were expropriated by the Canadian government to build an airport. Well, the airport seems to have become a distant memory and the lands sat, essentially abandoned. The mill, and several other historical buildings, along Altona Road, were demolished a few years ago, as they sat decaying and neglected. The mill pont silted over to become a weedy meadow, indistinguishable for the surrounding fields. However, Duffins creek, the source of the former pond, continues to flow through and beneath the remnants of the pond and eventually, spills out over a small waterfall at the the end of the man-made pond. It’s quite interesting to find a waterfall in the middle of nowhere.
These ‘small falls’ have offered me many photo opportunities over the years. I happened to visit them in the winter a few years back and they had frozen almost solid, over a few particularly cold days. The resulting ice sculptures were beautiful and the cool winter light made for some interesting effects and colours.
Above is a view of a small section of the falls which had frozen into a multi-layered formation of icicles. The day I made the photo was particularly cold and the photo captures this feeling quite well.
It’s sad that all that is left of Altona is a few shells of buildings and hints of things that once were, but there is still some beauty left in this mostly abandoned space and I can see why early settlers were drawn to the area.
Nikon D300
Nikor 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 185 mm
1/60 sec, f/5.0, ISO 200
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I could not think of a better title for this photo. To me, it speaks conflict in so many forms. This day in late December was the transition from an extended mild fall to a bitter, biting winter. The crepuscular rays (yes, that’s what they are actually called), offer a sense of peace in contrast to the tumult of the icy waters below. Crepuscular rays are colloquially known as a Jacob’s Ladder, Gateways to Heaven, Buddha’s Fingers, Jesus Beams, God’s Rays, sunbeams, cloud breaks and many other names. It is not surprising that many of the names have religious connotations as crepuscular rays seem to be a message from the gods. What message is being expressed here? “Winter is coming?”
The very waters are churning in conflict, rising in sharp peaks and churning over each other, urgent for the shore.
The temperatures had dropped from a wondrous 13 degrees celsius mere days ago to a blustery minus 6 with a 60km/h wind that literally sucked the breath from my lungs and froze my fingers numb in minutes. While I love being outdoors whenever possible, this instance may be an exception, as it was truly unpleasant, except for the scene unfolding in front to me. From the comfort of a warm car or house, this may have been a vista I could have revelled at for hours.
Nikon D300
Nikor 70-300 mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 82mm
1/200 sec, f/7.1, ISO 250
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On a cold, dull November afternoon in 2014, I stopped for a few minutes at Burliegh Falls, a set of fairly intense rapids just off Highway#28 in the Kawartha Lakes region of Central Ontario, between Lower Buckhorn Lake, above and Stoney Lake, below.
It’s a very scenic location, easily accessible from the road, and therefore, very busy in the summer and early autumn. The rapids, adjacent shoreline, and calm pools below, are a destination for tourists, photographers, painters, swimmers, and fishermen.
The intensity of the rapids is dependant on the flow of water through a dam above them, designed to regulate water levels on the Trent-Severn canal system, parallel to the rapids. That November the flow was quite intense. This particular day was cold, windy, and overcast. Not ideal sightseeing conditions but, with the exception of the cold and wind, very nice for photography. The dull skies allowed me to make several long exposure images of the falls/rapids, including the one above, which I manipulated in Photoshop to look like a painting to get the effect I wanted to show. Again, for me it’s about how I see and experience things, rather than being simply an image in time. Don’t get me wrong, the original image is very nice as a photo, but did not communicate ‘how’ this scene unfolded for me at the time.
I’ve mentioned several times in the past that I can’t paint, but would love too. I like to look of the long brush strokes, the intense whites with hints of green and purple, and how it imparts so well the power of the water as it rushes by the far shore. The ‘painterly’ style, also intensifies the texture of the granite in the background. In my mind, this image captures the raw beauty of the province I live in and have the opportunity to enjoy and share.
Nikon D300
Nikor 70-300 mm, f/4.5-5.6 @ 75 mm
1/4 sec, f/32.0, ISO 200
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High Falls, pictured above, is the result of a dam built at the terminus of Baptiste Lake to control the flow of the York River, which begins at this point. The river, while very useful for logging, used to cause catastrophic flooding in the town of Bancroft a few miles below. The dam sits atop a large mass of rugged rock above a valley with steep banks. I would love to have seen this area before the dam was built. It must have been quite a sight to see all that water rushing through this valley. While I imagine the lake was lower too, it would still have seen a significant flow, especially in spring.
The nature of the rock below the dam creates some pretty unique flow patterns, especially on long exposure, and it changes with the flow of the water. In spring, when there is a higher flow of water most of the central rocks are obscured. As summer progresses, the flow is reduced and small rivulets of water create intricate patterns between the rocks.
I spent an afternoon shooting a series of photos that cover many aspects of this cascade that I will share from time to time, each offering a different vantage point and conveying the varied nature of this wonderful place.
Nikon D300
Tamron 70-200 mm, f/2.8 @ 165 mm
1/8 sec, f/32.0, ISO 250
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Winter can be such a thing of wonderment. The photo above was made in December of 2014 while on a trip to A Place for The Arts, an artist cooperative in Bancroft, which I am a member of. The drive was generally uneventful, with the occasional blowing snow and a few drifts over the road. There had been a slight warming the day before and a quick cooling down which created a marvelous, almost magical, frosting on the tree branches along the road. It was beautiful to see the frost shining and twinkling in the trees along the road but it was not till we got into open areas with higher elevation that this effect really revealed itself. Along the far shores of Paudash Lake there are several high ridges and all the trees on these ridges were completely encrusted in a thick, pure white, layer of frost. I have rarely seen a scene of such intense purity as it dazzled in the mid-morning sunlight.
This is like a scene from Narnia where the White Queen has made her presence known in ice and snow. The frosted pines along the shore just accent the effect. A photo can hardly convey this type of scene, but this one come as close as I could have wished for. By early afternoon the frost had melted, or been disturbed by the wind, and the drive home was nowhere near as beautiful.
Now, when I drive along this lakeshore, even in summertime, and look at this shoreline, I will always be reminded of this particular moment in time, when winter came visiting the Paudash shores.
Nikon D300
Nikor 70-300 mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 78mm
1/200 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200
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While winter has been slow to arrive in southern Ontario this year (we’re in fog and rain right now), that was not the case last year. The image above was made last winter on Ahmik Lake, near Parry Sound, Ontario. It had snowed gently most of the night, partially obscuring the tracks of others and was quite cold, but the day quickly brightened up. At the top left of this image is an island which I set out to explore in the morning. The snow on the lake was too deep to just walk on, so I donned my snowshoes and headed out.
As I got back to the cabin, I looked back and saw the scene I’m sharing today. It’s an interesting introspection on the ‘why’s’ of our journeys. When I set out, I headed straight toward the end of the island, but there are rises, drifts, and other structures in the way of a straight walk, so I recalibrated a few times. It’s interesting that these ‘objects’ to not appear on the photo very well, but they were there and very real. Then I adjusted my path a few more times. I can’t think right now why, but it was probably to get a different view of something interesting on the shoreline of the island.
The analogy here is: when looking at my path, you would have no idea why I did not just make my way directly to my destination. Even I, having made the journey, can’t explain the whole thing, only that I made it and enjoyed the experience.
Nikon D300
Nikor 70-300 mm f/4.5-5.6, @ 75mm
1/400 sec, f/10.0, ISO 200
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A switch today from my mono posts of late and a look back to a winter past, in abstract. The above is a view through the edge of the forest at Fraser lake Camp, near Bancroft. There was a bit of fog in the air and frost on the branches. The whole scene had a dreamy feel to it. Since the vertical elements were present, I decided to try a vertical pan to add more of a surreal feel to the image. When looked at the final product, I had the sense that the trees were dancing, as they seemed suspended above the ground, as the branches wove and blended together. The thin horizon helps to anchor the whole scene.
Nikon D300
Nikor 28-70 mm f/3.5-4.5 @35 mm
1/2 sec, f/25.0, ISO 200
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Early one morning in late summer 2014, I went down to the lakefront with my daughter. It was one of those typical cool mornings on the lake where the mist from the warm water rises up and just hangs there for a few minutes before rising higher in the sky to become a cloud.
We spent some time on the dock, both making photos of the ethereal beauty of the mist as it moved in an intricate dance above the water’s surface. I was just about finished when I looked back and saw her standing on the dock and gazing across the lake. Only she can say what she might have been thinking at that moment, but she seemed transfixed by the mist, contemplating the scene in from of her. Given the slight halo around her head, she was probably reviewing her photos. It’s very serene and a moment I’m happy to have been able to capture and carry with me.
I was going for high depth of field to show some of the details in the swirling fog and a faster shutter to compensate for the brightness of the fog. It had a nice effect on the overall lighting.
Nikon D300
Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ 24mm
1/640 sec, f/13.0, ISO 200
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It would seem I am on a black and white theme lately?
The photo above was made at a local pioneer village, which is made up of many historic buildings from the area which have been moved to a central location. Inside this village sits Roblin’s Mill which was originally built in 1842 in Ameliasburg, Ontario in Prince Edward County. It is a fully functioning mill, and as such, is the only operating stone mill in Toronto.
I have been to this building may times and made photos of windows, timberland gears. On this particular day, the dim sunlight was shining on one of the mill wheels that was exposed to show how it worked. Someone had left a hammer sitting on the wheel and it made a nice composition.
It was a low light situation and I did not use a flash and was pleased at just how well the VR on my sense worked at 1/10th of a second handheld. I really should have used a tripod!
Nikon D300
Nikor 70-300 mm f/4.5-5.6, @ 70 mm
1/10 sec, f/4.5, ISO 800
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While on a walking tour of Old Quebec a few years ago, I came across this man sitting in Parc Montmorency. When I first saw him, I had a front view and he was talking to a lady in a nurse’s uniform and she walked away laughing. I imagine she knew him and they had just shared a joke.
As the tour progressed I came around behind him, at a distance. He was now sitting alone and was writing in a note book. The angle I shot from was ideal and incorporated all sorts of elements which make this, in my option, a wonderful photograph. There is the light reflecting off the bench, the diagonal lines of a staircase in the background, wonderful shadows and textures, and the pigeon (which I did not notice when I made the photo).
This solitary gentleman sitting alone in a park, writing in a book, or journal, pulls me in and has me wanting to know more about him and his situation, like: who is he, why is he sitting on a bench writing, what is he writing. The title came from my imagination as I pictured him sitting there, watching the world around him and keeping score as it unfolded.
Nikon D300
Nikor 70-300 mm f/4.4-5.6, @ 300 mm
1/60 sec, f/5.6, ISO 450
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There’s something strangely calming about these little birds, so common in Southern Ontario. Which strikes me odd, since they are constantly flitting about and are rarely still.
In fact, they seem a bit nervous most of the time. Perhaps it’s moments like the one, captured above, where the chickadee is resting briefly on a branch that gives that sense of peace? A bit like many of our days, where we move rapidly from task to task and take a brief moment to pause.
Do we appear calm to our peers who also long for rest, or does our outward appearance betray the fact that, as we pause, we are only considering our next task?
Nikon D300
Tamron 70-200 mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm
1/160 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200
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In November 2014, I was walking along a ridge on the Fraser Lake Camp property, near Bancroft, Ontario and became fascinated with this line of leafless trees on the top of an adjacent ridge. They stood silloetted against the slate-gray November skies, as a narrow beam of bright sunlight lit up the yellow hay stubble just in front of them. The result was a layering of cold blues in stark contrast to the warm yellows with small patches of brown-green grass and a thin dusting of snow.
As a photo, it did not appeal much to me. But, when I manipulated it with Photoshop, to look like a painting, I was very pleased with the results and the ‘feel’ it had. I think the slight sense of obscurity in this image makes it more powerful than the photo, with it’s clean lines and sharp edges. The Photoshopped version seems to allow for better separation of colours and what was fine details now show through in the splashes of red among the tree branches, which was not the case in the photo.
As I’ve said a few times before, I wish I could paint, but since I can’t, I can paint with light within my photos and editing software and I can turn what is an average photo into something I can really enjoy looking at.
Nikon D200
Nikor 70-300 mm f/4.5-5.6 @ 127 mm
1/320 sec, f/9.0, ISO 200
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One of my sacred places is Yosemite National Park, in California. I fell in love with this sanctuary on my first visit in 1990, when my wife and I were just starting to date and I have returned several times since.
The sheer vastness and majesty of this place is difficult to describe. There are literally millions of photos taken here, as other visitors try to capture a fragment in time but few images can do this place justice.
The appearance of the valley, high in the Sierra Nevada, is constantly changing. Between seasons, time of day, and location. The light is almost fluid and, in my limited experience here, the same view rarely repeats itself. We are offered mere ‘moments’ to carry in our images and memories as we journey here.
A case in point is the image above, which was made in May 2013, my most recent visit to Yosemite. It was a cool and misty day, with of and on rain showers and brief intervals of sunshine. The cliffs pictures are just above Currie Village and just right of Upper Yosemite Falls, which were obscured by clouds when this image was made.
The movement of the clouds among the rocks and trees high above the valley was magical as the jagged granite cliffs would reveal themselves and then vanish like revenants behind the next billow. Each wave of mist would reveal, then obscure some new layer, then, like an ethereal set change, it would be gone again, replaced by something completely different and marvellous. I could have spent the whole day transfixed by this phenomenon and never seen the same combination twice.
I was fortunate to capture this image that reveal several layers as well as the raw beauty of the tree topped cliffs. I’m going to return to my beloved park sometime soon to see what further magic it has to offer me.
Nikon D300
Tamron 70-300 mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm
1/200 sec, f/5.0, ISO 200
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A New Year is upon us and already I am a few days behind my goal of daily blogging. I have numerous excuses but have decided to step into this year excuse free and just look forward rather than dwelling on why I did not do something, by simply doing what is required, to the best of my ability, going forward.
The purpose of blogging, for me, has multiple levels: Firstly, it is to provide myself a space and time that allows me to focus, without distraction, on my photography and my world. Secondly, (and this has been transformative to me) it is forcing me to look at my images and discern what, exactly, it is about the composition that makes the image appealing. People have told me I have an ‘eye’ for this, but since it seems to be a natural thing for me, I’d like to understand what drew this ‘eye’ to the composition in the first place.
Many images from the past year have had an appeal to me which I don’t fully comprehend and I mean to seek out what this is. This introspection seems to be working. In the past I would go out and make about two hundred photos and have two or three good ones. By being intentional about my compositions, my ratio is now around ten to one. The final reason is that I am often being asked about the story behind my photos. I was asked details such as where was this, what camera did you use, and how were you able to see this the way you did?
Last year, I started to blog as often as possible to create individual pages for a book of my year and thoughts. This came to fruition last year ,as I published my first book of some 130 images and thoughts. I’m also making note of camera settings (which I share) and learn what is working for me and why. I have recently stared locking my ISO in at 250 to force me to be more deliberate in shutter and aperture settings as well as my selection of lens.
One final thing I am hoping for this year is a more interactive blogging experience, whereby I get feedback, both positive and negative on my images, so that I can continue to improve and be able to document and share more effectively my journey through this world.
So, please take a few minutes and offer your feedback. I’d love to hear from you.
Nikon D200
Nikor 70-300 mm, f/4.5-5.6 @ 165 mm
1/100 sec, f/5.0, ISO 720
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“The fire crackles and dances in the darkness of the night. The reflections on Fee Lake of the spruce and white pines are faintly seen with the light of the slivered moon. Across the glassy plane in the forest the whippoorwill calls, taking watch of the wilderness from the white-throated sparrow who keeps eye on this beauty during the day. In the evening, near sunset, the sparrow sings its musical departure, letting all the woods know that it shall take post with the rising of the sun.
Somewhere in the water I can hear the beaver moving, working to complete his next task, to accrue enough wood for the lodge or cut enough leafy timber to eat for the winter. Every once in a while he will catch wind of my presence and with all his power throw his tail against the water to break the silence and let…
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This year’s final post is a reflection on a winter past. As I noted throughout the fall, it has been a particularly mild year and we had no significant snow or cold weather till a few days ago, and even that was fairly insignificant.
Two years ago, we got hammered with an ice storm that buried us in a combination of wet snow and ice. This mixture quickly froze into solid ice and remained frozen for weeks. Power for hundreds of thousands was knocked out, mature trees toppled under the weight of the snow and ice, and our world was locked into the land of winter. Due to the extreme cold temperatures we experienced such things as ‘frost-quakes’ where the rapid cooling of ice caused the ground to boom as it contracted and the ice accumulations on the rooftops echoed with similar thuds which sounded like the roof was collapsing.
It was, a winter wonderland, and beautiful, for those who were not contending with power outages or downed trees. This image above was made looking down my street as a neighbour walks her dogs under a canopy of snow and ice.
Nikon D300
Nikor 70-300 mm f/4.5-5.6, @155 mm
1/160 sec, f/6.3, ISO 200
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As my fingers froze inside my gloves, I still took the time to look at the wind driven waves in awe. With 50 km/h winds pushing the waters toward the beach, long ribbons of water rolled over themselves, pulling sand from the shallow waters below them.
Such is the case here. A long wave, about a meter high, rolls in and carries strange forms within it, as the darker sand is lifted from the lakebed and mixed inside the wave as they are driven ashore.
I was trying to capture the variations inside these waves but only have a few images to share, as it was too cold to remain on the exposed beech more for more than a few minutes. If I let my imagination wander, this one remains me of some of the prehistoric cave paintings of bison, which I can almost see moving inside the wave.
Nikon D300
Tamron 70-200 mm f/2.8 @200 mm
1/4 sec, f/32.0, ISO 250
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In stark contrast to the past few weeks, the final remaining days of December are reminding us that, despite the delay, the inevitable cycle of autumn to winter has continued.
The past weekend I had an opportunity to visit the shores of Lake Huron once more. I was there in January of this year and there is a significant difference. In January, the lakeshore was a wonderland of bizarre and outlandish shapes and structures, ranging for ice-volcanoes to vast sheets of clear blue ice strewn with soccer-ball sized spheres of ice, as far as the eye could see.
Due to our extremely mild fall, the lake remains ice-free, yet starkly cold looking. Yesterday, the winds came in from the North around 50 km/h with an air temperature around minus three degrees Celsius. In the time it took to set up my tripod, the combination of damp wind from the lake and cold temperatures, had removed the feeling from my fingers. The wind howled and raged around me as I made a few photos of the Point Clarke lighthouse and the adjacent shoreline, before packing up and heading inland and out of the biting wind.
The photo above is one of several I made of this scene. I believe it captures the violent movement of the wind-whipped waves, the sale blue December sky and the brilliance of the pale white lighthouse nicely. It looks like I’m moving into winter photography mode now.
Nikon D300
Tamron 70-200 mm f/2.8, @ 70 mm
1/4 sec, f/32.0, ISO 250
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Close to the last post of the year. Another fall photograph. Why, I simply have so many good images from the fall. This photo was made looking south on Sideline 30 south of Altona, a hamlet of Pickering.
It’s hard to believe this was once a thriving community, with a hotel, several churches and a school. The hamlet lost it’s life to the “Pickering Airport project”, a topic of a previous post. Al that remains of the hamlet are a few building and a pre 20th century Mennonite meeting house. The only reason the meetin house has survived is because of the efforts of volunteers who wanted to preserve this important heritage site. Almost all the remaining building, including the school/community centre were demolished last year, to make way for an airport that will likely never be built in my lifetime. In the meanwhile,an important part of Durham region’s history has, effectively, been erased.
The hamlet of Altona will only live on in the memories of those who were once a part of its life and rhythms. I did i bit of research and could not believe the stark contrast between present day Altona and what it once was. A brief history, by Joseph Nighswander, is included here, for your further reading. What has become of this hamlet, is a sad testament to our values and the price we pay for ‘progress’.
Nikon D300
Tamron 70-200 mm f/2.8 @ 70mm
1/160 sec, F/6.3, ISO 250
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A final (possibly) view to the autumn of 2015, though there are so many more memories to share. The image above was made on one of the many wide trails that criss-cross through the Durham Forest. I like the feel of this scene. The wide trail meanders through the forest, following the general contours of the land. There is something about a meandering trail that I like. Perhaps it’s that there is a destination, but the straight line may deprive you of some deeper experience. I enjoy ‘wandering’ through the forest and taking in all it has to offer. It’s a deliberate wandering though. I always have a destination in mind and am generally in no hurry, other than when sunset nears. As J.R.R.Tolkien said, “Not all who wander are lost.”
There certainly was no hurry on this particular day. The trails were uncrowded, at least not where I was, and it was absolutely beautiful and mild, the late day sun glowing between the branches and warming the ground. This past fall will be well remembered as one of the nicest I have experienced.
Nikon D300
Tamron 70-200 mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm
1/100 sec, f/5.0 -0.33, ISO 250
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Two years ago, southern Ontario, Quebec, and much of the north-eastern United States was hit hard with an exceptional ice storm. In its wake, the storm left hundreds of thousands without power and a literal wonderland of ice and sub-zero temperatures that lasted for days.
This storm was an exception in many ways. One of these was that the ice, which normally melts off shortly after the storm remained intact and stayed for many days. The wonderland I mentioned earlier was everywhere. I thick coat of beautiful, clear ice clung to everything. Large branches broke off under the weight, as well as power lines. People could not get into their cars and walking was treacherous because the ice would not break, it simply sat atop the snow and made everything into an ice rink. In fact, we witnessed people skating down our street. Not in their shoes, but wearing skates!
It was so beautiful, in fact, that it was hard to find any one thing that stood out from others. Since the ice remained for several days, it gave me time to pick my subjects for the bounty the ice offered.
The cardinal above was photographed at Lynde Shores, a local conservation area, known for it multitude of birds. The female cardinal pictured is not as bright as her male counterpart but she looked wonderful surrounded by the ice and red berries. You can get a sense of how thick the ice was by looking at the small branches. It’s a far cry from this year with fog, showers and temperatures more suited to light sweaters and running shoes than winter coats and boots.
Nikon D300
Tamron 70-200 mm f/2.8 @ 200 mm
1/160 sec, f/5.0, ISO 200
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Merry Christmas, to all who follow and interact with me. It’s been a year of learning and progress. I have successfully written a book based on my photos and blog posts and I have many of you to thank for your insights and words of encouragement.
The photo above was made at a small building in Whitevale, Ontario after a very productive hike along the Seaton Trail.
May this season find you happy, healthy and filled with joy!
Ed
Nikon D300
Tamron 70-200 mm f/2.8 @ 135 mm
1/2-sec, f/2.8, ISO 250
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Back in October, I spent quite a bit of my free time on the local trails, enjoying the mild fall, spectacular colours, and some quiet time to just appreciate the stillness of the forest.
At one point on the Secord Forest trail, the path runs through a large group (or stand) of poplars. I’ve tried on a few occasions to photograph them in a way that shows the interesting texture of the tree trunks and a sense of uncertainty, as the narrow path weaves into the distance between the many trees. You can’t see very far ahead at this point in the trail because of how the poplars block your view.
When viewed in colour, there are a lot of distractions caused by the bright leaves and grasses. So, I thought I’d try this as a black and white. I’m very pleased at how the textures really stand out, the ‘layering’ of the seemingly endless rows of trees fading into the background, as well as how the path between them is not obvious, which was my intent. The image is surprisingly stark, but I like the effect.
Nikon D300
Tamron 70-200 mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm
1/100 sec, f/5.0 -0.33, ISO 250
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As noted in a recent post, there is an area along Highway 7, in Eastern Ontario, with a very unique topography, made up of long bands of granite and close packed, narrow, and parallel valleys and ponds. Unlike regions like the Adirondacks, with its beautiful rolling mountains, this is like a miniature, compressed version. From the highway, the ridges don’t seem to be for than a few meters high and are populated with thin trees.
I imagine the reason for the thin trees is that they seem to be growing on a very shallow layer of soil. I don’t see very many large, mature trees, and I wonder if they were harvested aggressively at some recent point in history, or if this is a natural phenomenon.
The long, narrow valleys are also perfect for beavers to build their dams and make long chains of connected ponds, that follow the highway along, sometimes fading to a grassy meadow, before transforming into a pond again. The challenge to photographing this area from the road is that the highway winds along these ponds quite closely and there are very few places where you can pull over safely to make a photo.
The photo above was made at one of these few pull-outs but represents the scenery fairly well. I’d like to come back here some time and spend a few days hiking the ridges or canoeing the ponds to get a better sense of this strange place that is so unlike anything I have experienced before.
Nikon D300
Tamron 70-200 mm f/2.8 @ 70 mm
1/80 sec, f/4.5, ISO 250
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Ed Lehming Photography 
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