Tag Archives: Evergreens

Photography

Grundy Provincial Park

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This past week I had the opportunity to do some exploring in Grundy Provincial Park. The park is closed for the season now. We parked our vehicle outside the main entrance. Gerard Leduc was my partner for the trip. It was a very nice afternoon. A fresh coolness on the air as we walked among the pines and maples. Quiet and peaceful at this time of year without the seasonal campers. We attempted to take the Gut Lake trail but encountered an overflowing creek that prevented us from continuing on. We then picked up a route that ran between Gut Lake and Gurd Lake. As we walked we spotted a couple of Ruffed Grouse along the way. This trail ended at the Gurd Lake dam. We backtracked and followed the road until we came opposite Picnic Island on Gurd Lake. We noticed a small point with a pine tree growing basically on top of the rock. Cloud cover was moving in now. I saw a cluster of boulders that would make for a good foreground. The rock point was sloping towards the water. The reddish pine needles in the rock crevices added texture to the scene. You can see the roots of the tree running over the rock. I added just a touch of green in the foreground to balance the color. The moon is just visible at the top of the photo. I also added the second pine tree on the right. I just showed enough of the larger tree to balance out the composition. The sunset was poor, but you can see some color on the horizon in the background. Surprisingly the wind did calm down enough to allow some reflections. But on the whole I kept the water to a minimum. This shot was taken at 2.5 sec at f22. The result was the above composition.

Well that is it for now. I am just waiting for a break in the weather here. Thank you for stopping by. Until next time happy trails.

Photography

Photo Op Sudbury.

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As I was driving to Val Caron the other morning on a business trip, I spotted this lovely scene with Tamarack trees. I thought to myself that this would be a worthwhile opportunity come evening. Thus I made an early supper, loaded my gear and headed out. I drove to the Notre Dame, Lasalle Blvd  corner and headed North onto Regional Road 80. A few kilometers on I parked by a small body of water.

The Tamarack were a nice yellow, orange color in the low light. The sky had a touch of pink in it. I needed some foreground for a better affect. There was a huge transmission tower at the back of the scene. I sure did not want that. It was even reflecting on the water. I then spotted a Tamarack to the South. I headed over there and set up my tripod. I mounted my 28 to 135 zoom lens to my Canon 7D. I was all set to go. The traffic was fairly heavy here, but the shoulders of the road were wide. The lighting was retreating fast. So now I composed with a small portion of a point that contained the Tamarack for my foreground. The reflection of the Tamarack filled the bottom right corner of the photo for a lead-in. A beautiful collection of colorful Tamarack in the middle ground. The darker evergreens allow the Tamarack to stand out better. There is one little white cloud on the horizon. Being late in the evening there is a pink glow in the sky and water. All of this within the City of Sudbury.

Thank you for stopping by. Tonight I am off to the Sudbury Arts Council for Arts After Five at the Art Gallery of Sudbury Wednesday at 5 pm. It is a networking for artists and art patrons. There will be music by Sweet Jive, refreshments, and door prizes!

Until next time happy trails

 

Photography

Island In The Sun

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A little island on a lake in the Wawa area. It is located just outside the Lake Superior Park Boundry. I had seen this scene a number of times in my travels up here. I have a soft spot for these little islands. This little island is almost like a dot on the lake’s surface. So the morning before Maureen and I headed out for Treeby Lake I headed out from our motel to see if I could capture a nice composition. This lake is right along Hwy 17 so accessibility was easy. There was a small open on the shoreline where I was able to set up. The forest pretty much comes down to the shoreline here.

So I had an island. I needed the right lighting to make this work. There was also a lot of yellow here too. As I waited I watched as the morning light engulfed that little island. You could not ask for anything better. The island is now separated from the lower background which consisted of dark evergreens, having not been touched by the light. By positioning my tripod I was able to enhance this separation to gain more of the darker background. I did a partial framing on the right with the colorful sunlit trees on the right. The upper edge of the background is now being touched with the morning light.  A very attractive composition.

I will be set up at the Beaver Lake Fall Fair this Friday and Sat. It will also be a time to chat with old friends. So until next week happy trails.

Photography

Watch Your Lighting

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Maureen and I awoke Tuesday morning to a beautiful sunny day. A quick breakfast at the restaurant of the Best Northern. We were soon off to Fenton Lake. Then portaging over to Treeby Lake. These lakes were within Lake Superior Provincial Park. From the parking lot it is a 150 meter carry down to the lake. We soon had our gear loaded into the Quebecor 17 canoe. Edging out from shore, we paddled along the East side of the lake. The wind had picked up by now. The good thing was we were going with it. We soon reached our first portage and unloaded. This is a 50 meter portage. With all the gear hauled over. Maureen and I relaxed for a few minutes. Maureen was still suffering from her cold. We now had to make our way along a strip of water towards the Treeby Lake portage.

The Treeby portage is 150 meters in length. The ground and rocks were still wet from the previous rains. There were fallen leaves on the trail. With care we hauled our gear over the portage into Treeby Lake. We encountered a couple of downed trees on the trail. Pushing off from shore it was time to find a campsite to spend the next couple days. The wind had by now become stronger.

Treeby is a lake with approximately 23 islands. That was one of the reasons for coming here. Maureen and I set up camp on a point of land on the West side of the lake. The winds blew and gusted day and night until Thursday morning.  I awoke Thursday morning at daybreak. Peeking my head out the tent I saw the leaves were not moving. Looked out upon  the lake to behold the calm water surface. All was not perfect as there was a slight breeze skipping and dancing here and there on the lake. From past experience you learn to be patient and wait. In the mean time you set up your gear. The sky was getting brighter by now.

The above photo was captured as the sun splashed the hillside to illuminate the Fall colors. That is an island in front. I needed sunlight on this little island to make it stand out. Again you wait. This is what makes wilderness landscapes challenging. The long waits, the right conditions. When all the pieces fall into place, you have achieved your goal. The most important thing is you are standing on the shorelines of a lake taking in all the beauty, color and grandeur that can be found in our North country.

Well that is it for this post. Until next time happy trails

Photography

Killbear Provincial Park

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Gerard Leduc arrived at my apartment  around 2 pm. Loading up we stopped at Tim Hortons to pick up some coffee to enjoy well we headed South. We were on our way to check out Killbear Provincial Park just North of Parry Sound. Upon arrival I was immediately impressed with the Park. Beautiful scenery, wonderful sand beaches. There are thoughts of bringing my grand kids here next summer. The beach had nice fine sand. There is one very long beach and a short one. There are some interesting evergreens among the smooth rock structures.

With a bit of time to spare, Gerard and I parked at an empty campsite by the beach. We enjoyed a nice bite to eat before heading off to photograph. Now I had been watching the sky. There was some very unique cloud cover that I wanted to utilize in a photo. I had and island in the distance. Sandstone colored smooth rock in front of me and some interesting tree shapes. I set my tripod up as low as I could get it. This way I eliminated a lot of water in the foreground. The emphases here was the sky. The rest of the material such as island, trees and rocks were used to create the final composition. I gotta tell you my ole joints get a little stiff after crouching down that low. The added bonus was the bit of sunlight appearing on the left.

I plan on coming back here in a couple of weeks. There were a lot of trees here still not in color. Maureen and I are heading back up to Superior for a week of photographing. We are planning a canoe trip into a series of small lakes for a few days near Wawa. Then hopefully I will be able to work the Superior coastline.

So until I get back, Happy trails

Photography

As The Wind Recedes

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Yesterday morning I got busy and made a nice pot of soup, then finished off a poem I was working on. I then made a stew in the oven for supper. With all that out of the way I headed up to Bassfin Lake on the Matagamasi Lake Road for an evening of photographing. Upon arrival things did not look too good. There was some wind blowing across the lake. Some heavy cloud cover was coming in from the West. This is one of these lakes that has a lot of structure in the form of rocky shoreline. The water level here is low. Exposing the shoreline. There is tremendous color to be had here. So I waited. The wind slowly died down and I was able to get into some photographing. This lasted about half an hour before the wind came again.

I had set up my tripod very low in order to eliminate some water in the middle ground. Using the point of land as my foreground and the gorgeous detail and color to boot. I just used enough Pine trees on the left for a frame. There is a rocky island in the middle. In the background there is a quartz like rock on the far shoreline to draw your eye back there. There is just a hint of Fall color to be seen in the surrounding forest. The clouds had moved in by now. I was able to get some nice yellow in the sky plus some yellow reflections on the water.

So that is it for this week folks. Thank you for stopping by. Until next time happy trails.

Photography

Keep it Simple

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It was late Sunday afternoon when I turned off Hwy 144 North of Onaping onto the Chicago Mine Road. It was a beautiful sunny day with cloud cover. The wind was minimal. I drove past Windy Lake Provincial Park. It seemed to be closed for the season. There are a number of small  lakes along this stretch of road. I was heading to the Ladder on John’s Creek. It is located off of Fox Lake Road.

As I drove along I spotted the above scene on the far shore of a small lake by the road. The lighting was beautiful and it was fairly calm water with the slight ripple. I set up my tripod. Mounted my Canon 7D. I switched to the Canon 70 to 200 L Series lens. My objective here was for a tight vertical shot without overloading the composition. Keep it simple. We have a lot of vertical lines here in the form of tree trunks. They add a grey cast to offset the greens and yellows.

On the shoreline there is a nice clump of shrubs growing to give depth. The sun is to the right and as it is getting later in the year it is much lower to the horizon, allowing for some very good lighting. The sun is casting light on various parts of the scene. I used only a small portion of the reflections for a better effect. What you have here is basically 1/3 water and 2/3 forest. This is like taken a pair of scissors and cutting out the part of the scene you want.

I have added a new print available for sale. It can be found in the Fine Art Prints section on my blog.

I received an honorable mention at the My Art 2013 juried Landscape Completion

http://myartcontest.com/winners-feb.html

I will be set up at the Anderson Farm Fall Fair in Lively Ontario this coming Saturday.

Well that is it for now. Until next time happy trails.

Photography

Isle Of Light

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During an evening shoot at Bassfin Lake, I had an opportunity to capture the above scene. This consisted of a rocky island with stunted trees on it. The problem here was that the island bound trees under normal lighting would blend into the tree covered shoreline behind it. As the evening sun lowered to the horizon, the trees on the island lit up beautifully. There was now the separation that I was looking for. The sky became an orange color that also highlighted the trees. There is quite a bit of detail on the rocks themselves. There is a very nice touch of lighting highlighting trees in the middle ground. The angle of the sun in relationship to the island made this composition possible. It is all about the lighting.

The  36th Annual La Cloche  Art Show is upcoming. For entry forms and dates check here.

http://laclocheartshow.wordpress.com/

At the moment the “Art Impact” Juried Art Show is now on.

I have two pieces of my work selected at the show.

More info is available here.

http://www.artistsonelgin.ca/index.php/events/juried-art-show

. Until next time happy trails

Photography

North of Capreol

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Picking up Jan Winthers, I headed towards Capreol. It was mid morning with a lovely blue sky and warm temperatures. This was a day to go adventuring and find some new photographic opportunities. Arriving in Capreol I headed to the nearest gas station to top off the gas tank. When you head up into wilderness locations always make sure you have a full gas tank. When you get near a half tank it is time to turn around and head back. We spotted a couple older gentlemen chatting by the road. I exited the Ford Explorer and approached them. They soon set me in the right direction and off we went.

We left town on a paved road, passed the turn off to the Wanapitei 11 Indian Reserve and were soon on a gravel sand road with lots of dust. Before I continue I will explain a little about this area. The North River runs in a southerly direction and empties into Wanapitaei Lake at the North End. This being Victoria Day weekend there is lots of folks up here camping and fishing. This is Walleye country. As is typical in Northern Ontario, there is intensive logging occurring here.  It did not seem that long before we came to the North River. Crossing over the bridge I decided to head North.

The North River was still running high from Spring run off. The scenery was great to look at with a lot of high hills. But not much in the way of photographing. Heading North we followed the river. Upon reaching the 45 km the road got rough and washed out. By now it was lunch time. Hauling out the camp chairs, Jan and I enjoyed a leisure bite to eat with the sound of running water beside us. Making our way back down the road with windows open Jan and I heard the sound of running water in the bush. We looked and sure enough you could she a small waterfalls tumbling down through the trees.

Parking the vehicle, we made our way towards the running water and found a series of small waterfalls. This stream came from a lake up above and flowed into the North River. The above composition was one of the scenes I created. The rock to the left was rounded and curved. The water flow followed the rock curvature.  I   used that as my eye in. There is not a lot of open space along this stream bed. The evergreens and cedar have a mixture of old and new growth to give you the yellow and green colors. I placed some cedar boughs on the right for added depth. The water flow at a slow shutter speed created a pattern. There is some orange on the rock above the falls. A touch of green reflecting into the water. All in all a nice place to sit on a rock and dangle your feet in the water. Enjoy the sound of running water and the peacefulness that can be found in a spot like this.

Jan Winther has a blog at this address

http://imagesbyjw.com/2013/03/25/bridal-veil-falls-summer/

Well that is it for now. I will continue the journey on my next post. Thank you for stopping by. Until next time happy trails.

Photography

A Morning At The Beach

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Wednesday morning I crawled out of bed at 4:45 A M. Loaded my cooler with food and water for the day. Grabbed my camera bag and tripod. My goal was to arrive at Killarney Provincial Park at daybreak. I stopped at Tim Horton’s for my coffee and was soon on my way. I arrived at the park a little after daybreak . The first thing I noticed was that a slight breeze was dancing here  and there on the lake surface. Hmm not so good.

I unloaded my camera gear and set up my equipment behind Turner Point on George Lake. This is a very unique rock point with its own character. Many times what I have seen with this type of conditions is to just create your composition in your viewfinder and wait. It was not too long before the water became smooth again. I was then able to get my shot. One of the problems I had here was that Turner Point was getting a lot of sun. The rock could easily have blown highlights. On the other end of the scale the right side of the photo was in shadow as was part of the mountain side. On the plus side you can see the sunlight highlighting some of the trees on the mountains.

By 8:00 A M the photographing was finished. I packed up and headed for the Chikanishing River. I left the Escape at the parking lot. I picked up the hiking trail that would take me down to the mouth of the Chikanishing River. This river empties into Georgian Bay on Lake Huron. There are beautiful time worn rock structures along the shore line plus some islands dotted here and there. By now it was getting hot. I found a nice spot to rest out of the sun under an evergreen tree with a flat rock to rest my back. I had brought my e reader with me to pass the time. As I was reading I sensed something in front of me. It was a fairly large Garter Snake eyeing me. It stayed there for short time before moving off to my left and going under a rock.

Evening soon came, but no respite from the light breeze. I finally gave up around 8:00 P M. I wanted to be back at my Escape before dark. I was soon on my way home. While traveling on the Killarney highway I came upon a Moose cow with her  twin calves from last year. They are quite scruffy at this time of year.

Well that is it for this week. It was great to finally get out in the outdoors and do some shooting. I will be at the Rubber Boot Festival in Noelville tomorrow.

So until next time happy trails.