It is sometime in November
The Tamarack are gold and orange
I was wandering around a boggy area
The home of Tamarack
A splash of light caught my attention
A glow in an otherwise dark forest
Tag Archives: Westbranch
Rock And Water
Along the West Branch Road North of Webbwood Northern Ontario.
This is a panoramic.
Running water,
Far from the maddening crowd.
In this time of a panoramic. It would be nice to stretch out on the rocks on the left.
Close your eyes. The sound of running water music to the ears.
Great memories
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Georgia Lake
I loaded up my gear Sunday morning and hit the road. Heading west on hwy 17 towards Webbwood. I then turned onto the Agnew Lake road heading north. I soon reached the turnoff onto the Westbranch road. This is a well used logging road. I had to now watch out for logging trucks. With a plume of dust behind me, I was cruising. I truly enjoy travelling these logging roads with the forest on either side of me. Very little traffic.
My next turn was onto the Charcoal Lake Road. I am now seeing more cut over areas. These are areas that the loggers have clear cut for many acres. Before long I was at the Georgia Lake campsite, being welcomed by an ole prospector named Terry. This gentleman spends his summer here every year. A knowledgeable gentleman that knows the area like the back of his hand.
The tent was soon set up and all the camp gear in place. It was time to unfold the camp chair and join Terry by the lake shore. It was 28 C in the sun. We were sitting in the shade of the trees with a cool breeze off the lake. Very comfortable, plus the bugs were not bothersome. We both chattered away the afternoon. It is with great joy to sit there in the peace and solitude around you. A loon drifted by. The small head of a painted turtle would emerge now and again in front of us. We watched as a beaver made its way by us. There was a Robin making quite a fuss nearby. There was a squirrel nearby disturbing the Robin. The sound of small waves upon the shoreline. Good way for a pair of old-timers to pass an afternoon.
As evening approached the wind was still blowing. By morning the wind was calm. The lake surface still This allowed me to capture the above scene on the far shoreline. Georgia Lake is a small lake in size. The boulders seen here are only located on one side of the lake. This is very common in this part of the country.
While that is it for now. As I will be repacking to head back up to Georgia Lake for more photos. So until next time happy trails.
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Streamside
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I had crossed over from the Tote Road north of Massey to the Westbranch north of Webwood on my journey home. I had spent the day exploring logging roads looking for future photo opportunities. As I traveled south, the evening was wearing on. The lighting getting warmer losing that harshness that is common most of the day. As I crossed a bridge my eyes caught the lighting on this particular scene. The wind was calming allowing for reflections.
The sunlight was coming from the right of me as I set up my tripod on the bridge. The location of the sun was creating sun flares on the lens. I retrieved my Tilly hat to act as a blocker. Thus holding the hat with one hand and the other to press the shutter button I was able to accomplish the above composition. What is interesting here is how the sunlight highlights certain parts of the scene. There is a lot of softness here with the earth tone colors. There is a quietness to be found here that gives one peacefulness that is very relaxing.
The La Cloche Art show opens next Friday evening July 3 and runs through to July 12. I myself will be there Friday, Saturday, Wednesday and Sunday. If you are in the area stop in and enjoy an excellent art show. Until next time happy trails.
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Creating Depth
This composition is about combining rocks with with water to create depth. By using rocks in the foreground, middle ground and a waterfalls in the background I was able to achieve the effect I was looking for. The rocks have a variety of color along with the ever present lichen found on the rocks. Using a slow shutter speed creates patterns in the water for the eye to follow. There is some greenery to add a little more contrast. Another important factor is the time of year and the volume of water flowing has a big impact on what type of composition you will get.
Sitting by flowing water is about listening to the flow of water around you and the sense of peacefulness. That is what I attempted to capture when I shot this photo.
That is it for now. Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful Mothers out there. May your day be great. So Until next time happy trails.
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Gordon Chutes
The photo above is the end of a series of waterfalls called Gordon Chutes. It is a fairly long series of fast water cascading down between rock formations. The Wakonasin River runs between steep hills as it makes its way South. The rock structure here is Granite for the most part. In low light it is a beautiful reddish color.
This composition was taken very late one evening. Thus the low shutter speed. I used a f-stop of f22 to maintain my depth of field. I put green vegetation in the foreground for depth. I was a bit elevated on the shoreline here.
Well that is it for this week. Thank you for stopping by. It is now 5 weeks to Spring here. Until next time happy trails
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Bog Island
I discovered this little bog island at the far end of a small shallow lake a few years ago. It is located up the Westbranch behind Webbwood Ontario. I fell in love with the potential of a composition that could be had here. This little island had character. From the shape of the vegetation; some deadheads and a clump of small evergreens. The main problem here was to be able to separate the island from the background. The lake is nestled amongst Spruce trees so everything would blend in. You would then get a bland photo.
With that in mind I needed good lighting. Luckily, were I was able to set up my tripod and Canon EOS 7d the shoreline sloped upwards. This allowed me to get some separation from the far shoreline. This shot worked best in November. The sun is low to the horizon. The vegetation on the island turns a orange, red color. That helps relieve a lot of green. Now the trick is to get the right lighting. You have to have that island stand out from the background. That is very important. I made many trips to this location until I got it right. Early morning did not create the required lighting.
Finally it all came together. It was a beautiful sunny November afternoon. It was 3:30 Pm. The sunlight lit the island up like a torch. The light was coming from the left which was good. I was now getting sun flares in my lens. I used my hat to block the sun flares and shot the above photo. What also helps this composition is the lighting in the background. You can see individual branches being lit up. This is what turns an ordinary photo into a dramatic composition. Lighting.
The above photo was accepted at the 119th Toronto International Salon of Photography.
Well I will close for now. So until next time happy trails.
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Sunlit Grass
Jan Winther and I were walking the shoreline of a small lake up the Westbranch.It was mid-morning.The wind was calm with mist rolling off the shores of this lake.Now this is a lake that is pretty much down in a hollow.The Tamarack trees are now bare.The lakes this far North are surrounded mostly by evergreens.
We are now into November,the days are shorter and cooler.The sun travels at a lower elevation now.This means the sunlight takes longer to penetrate through the trees on the hillsides during early morning.With that in mind,just close your eyes and envision a scene of a small lake in the Boreal Forest.The evergreens hug the shoreline.The sunlight is penetrating through the trees on the East side were the trees cascade down the hillside to the lake.There is mist covering the lake’s surface.There is no wind.The surrounding landscape is reflecting on the surface.This is a scene that I come across many times in my travels.To be there is a joy and to be able to photograph these scenes is a blessing.
With all that said Jan and I both turned and saw the sunlight highlighting the clump of grass protruding from the lake edge.There was mist moving slowly from the shore.The background was in shadow as the sun has not penetrated that area yet.I waded slowly out into the water.I wanted to make as little disturbance as possible for the scene was only ten feet from me.The tripod and Canon 7d was set up.I composed my shot,then waited for the water to calm down again and took my shot. I intentionally kept the background dark to keep the focus on the sunlit grass and mist.
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A Beam of Light
Jan Winther and I had arrived at our destination lake shortly after dawn. This jewel of a little lake is 80 km up on a gravel logging road.As you travel North you steady climb to a higher elevation.Which means at this time of year it is colder here than at home.We had been observing frost on the trees,but no ice on the lakes and swamps we passed.
After a five minute hike into where we were going to photograph,Jan and I set up our photographic equipment.There is a small island at one end of this little lake that we wanted to work with.I will talk about this island in another post.The lake surface was mirror calm,there was some mist and the air was crisp.The sun was just coming through the trees.
I am always watching around me at all times.The lighting is constantly changing dramatically or very supple.So be aware and you may rewarded with that award winning composition. Many times it is never the shot you came to get.The above scene is an example of that.I relocated to capture the beam of light coming over the water.I put the point on the left side as my lead in.There was just enough mist to create some mood.The real highlight of this photo is the sunlight filtering through the trees on the far shore.This is when it feels good to be a photographer capturing that moment of lighting.I had already made four trips here in the past two weeks to get the exposures I want.The only hang up I have with this photo is the blue tinge on the evergreen trunks.But that is the way it is so I leave it be.At this time of year the shoreline vegetation is a reddish brown in colour.This helps to offset the vast amounts of green due to the evergreens.
Well that is it for now.Thank you everyone for coming and visiting.So until next time happy trails.
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The Extremist
The Extremist.
I re-posted this article by friend Jan Winther with his permission.I must say that I am quite honoured to be wrote about.So thank you Jan.
My good friend Ken Bennison asked me to come with him on a trip up the West Branch this past weekend. But before I get to that, I should explain the title on this blog post. It came up as we were waiting for the light to be in the perfect spot, and for the wind to die down a bit.
Extremist is (what I learned on this trip) more or less what his own family affectionately calls him, and it refers to the way he approaches his photography. There is a very good reason why Ken is an incredible artist/landscape photographer. He does what a lot of other people wont do. He gets up at an ungodly hour, drive,hike or canoe for hours, (obviously not at the same time, but most of the time he will have to do all three to get to his location of choice.) And when he gets there he will explore the area, figure out what he want to shot, and wait for the perfect conditions to happen. Ken is not afraid to wait for hours for his shot. He knows exactly what he wants in a picture, and if the conditions aren’t there, he wont even take the camera out of the bag, because he wont be able to use the shot anyway, so if he doesn’t get the shot, he will simply return to the same spot again and again until he gets the shot he has in his mind. And the results speaks for themselves. Check out his website. I should mention that Ken’s is shooting with a Canon 7D, one lens (28-135mm) and his trusty SLIK tripod. Yes, Ken only use one lens.
Anyway, so this past weekend we were up at the West branch north of Webbwood, Ontario. A place I haven’t been to in 2 years, so it was nice to go there again, and revisit some of the places I have shot before. Examples of previous posts can be found here, here and here. We are about 80 km (~50 Miles) in the bush, driving on a gravel logging road. The weather was perfect. No wind, sunshine and frost in the air. After have shot at a couple of locations, we wound up at the little lake where I had taken the Moonshine shot a couple of years ago. All of a sudden the sunshine starts to come through the trees, and lights up some grasses in the lake. Being the extremist that Ken is, gets up and wades out into the shallow waters. Ankle deep in loon and beaver crap he sets up his tripod and starts to compose a shot. I thought this would be a good time to get a shot of him in action, so I took a few shots of him shooting this sunlit grass, with some mist in the background.
Ken Bennison's Photography 