Canoes and things
It's been a busy month, complicated by equipment failure. My new 16-50 zoom lens turns out to have a known problem with the focussing system, and lately it's been acting like a lazy teenager, I can almost hear it asking me "Do I have to?" when I ask it to focus. Hopefully the repair will be swift, but in the meantime I've been focussing manually quite a bit.
I mentioned I was going on a canoe trip early August. That happened, and was quite a bit of fun. My friends were tolerant of me disappearing to take pictures, but like any social outing with non-photographers, you have to rein in your enthusiasm, and be back in time to gather firewood, make the dinner you brought, and do your share of the dishes. You know: normal social stuff.
Still, I was able to get away and paddle solo for a bit, which makes me want to buy a solo canoe and do a solo trip: just me, my load of photography gear, and time:
The trip was in the "Experimental Lakes Area", or ELA, a group of lakes in northern Ontario about an hour from Kenora. This is rugged Canadian Shield territory. The lakes were clear and still cool despite the unusual heat this summer, and we were treated to some nice sunrises and sunsets.
Loons are required by contract with the Canadian government to appear in any photo you need them in. This one's name was "Bob", he was friendly and well-behaved on set. I'd definitely use him again. :)
Later that day we were treated to a torrential downpour, but the sky cleared as the sun set. The fire in the distance is another group of campers. One "feature" of camping on a long weekend is the number of people. We've camped here and seen no one all weekend, but this time it was pretty busy. Still, it's a large lake and in this case it added to the scene:
This is a case where a long exposure is very helpful, and even longer might have been more interesting. The lake itself was already like glass, but the 10 second exposure time blurs the clouds slightly (which were moving swiftly) and expands the smoke trail from the campfire. If I'd used my ND filters I could have extended this duration to a few minutes. In retrospect I wish I'd tried it...a goal for next time.
I took a few other pictures on the canoe trip, a bit more experimental. This is a full-sized tree growing from a gap in the rock. I was struck by the similarity in texture between the bark and the rock behind, best brought out with B&W. However, I can't decide whether it needs more contrast:
I had fun trying to catch water striders in action, and in this case using my 420mm telephoto at practically minimal focal range of only a couple metres. I really like the double wave created by its hind legs as it pushes off:
Finally, I just find this image of the lake surface looking into the sun kind of soothing and meditative:
When I'm out on a canoe trip I don't want it to end. However, most of my time was still spent back on the prairies. In Bird's Hill Park I've found trails I hadn't hiked before, such as the Cedar Bog trail. It's hard to believe this semi-arid landscape has a "bog". This year, with the heat and lack of rain, it's not much of a bog, but in other years it's pretty wet. Still, it's wetter and gloomier among the canopy of cedars, and there are hidden treasures:
Not just white berries, but "blue" berries. While I love the colour of these berries, I'm not that happy with the composition. In-camera, I thought the diagonal line of the grass behind was useful, but now I find it distracting:
I really should learn more about these plants. I'm pretty sure these are not edible. There were plenty of real blueberries around, but weirdly, and maybe because they're so common, I never thought to take a picture. They were delicious though!
It was a day for flowers of all kinds. One thing I'm learning about my macro lens, is that it can reveal things I can never see with the naked eye. I was concentrating on the centre of this sunflower, and never noticed the tiny pale spider resting on the upper petal:
Even grass seed heads take on a new interest under a macro lens:
These little florets are connected by the thinnest of strands. And speaking of thin strands: just in front of this large bug is a sine wave of thread, barely visible, suggesting a mystery: what made it, and why does it undulate like a graph in calculus? Physics and math in the natural world...
And finally on the small-scale front, these blue bells were surprisingly tough to capture. The slightest gust of wind sent them trembling:
From the smallest flowers, on to the biggest. I've mentioned before one of the challenges of the prairies is finding a "vista", because mostly it's you, a thin and fast fading horizon, and the sky. So the sky has to be interesting if you want to include it at all.
The sky this day was almost overbearing in its harshness, but I came across a field of sunflowers and somehow they still managed to dominate the scene. I'm not sure I really captured the full effect of the light, but here's my attempt:
Looking the other direction was a little easier on the eyes, almost soothing. This was more of a waiting game, timing it so the field is lit, but the band of trees in the background is not:
On a cloudier day I tried more "vista" shots, but I don't think they work as well. Though the sky is "interesting", this tree needs a little light on it:
And further into the field, these flowers could also use a bit of illumination:
And then there's too much illumination. This was my first try at a panoramic made of seven separate shots, stitched together in software after I got home. Everything is lit, making the whole scene a bit dull. As far as composition goes I think it's okay, but I should have waited a couple hours for a lower sun, or perhaps a segment of the scene darkened by cloud-shadow. In any case, now that I know the technique for panoramas, I'll have to revisit:
A final "vista", this was taken down by our local Assiniboine river, which is very low:
Lastly, I got a kick out of how the reflections of the clouds mirrored the rocks in the pools:
Thanks for reading. No canoe trips planned, but I am looking forward to the end of summer, cooler weather, and perhaps some fall colours.
Cheers!
