Serenity
Welcome back!
This will be a short one. Between work, a basement renovation coming to completion, and a spur-of-the-moment new (used) car purchase … among other things … it’s been a chaotic few weeks.
I paid a visit to Grand Beach a couple of weekends in a row, and both weeks was treated to fabulously calm and clear conditions. I didn’t know I was looking for serenity, but when I got it I was so grateful. I expect we could all use a little serenity these days, so maybe a few of these pictures will help you sit back, relax, and ponder infinity 😁
Across the lake to Gimli is about 30kms, and some giant building there, the only blip on the horizon, was pumping out steam like an old and tiny locomotive trying in vain to move the world. A panorama of extreme telephoto shots may give a sense of scale and isolation:
Then again, the wider view with some foreground interest and a moody sky makes the lake feel impossibly vast:
If you look closely you might spot the building and its tiny smoke puff around the left third of the picture.
Okay, this last panorama is a bit of a joke, taking the concept to a ridiculous extreme. It’s 5:1 ratio, so it could only be viewed properly if it was 5’ long, but it’s a telephoto of the horizon clouds above:
Silliness aside, it was the only way to really show the subtle graduation of colour in the scene, from a pale cool pink, to a “we aren’t messing around” cold blue.
Leaving the shoreline behind, I went for a long hike. Along the way I had to stop for a “call of nature”—no need for any more details about that 😄 —but the amusing part was as I was creating a steaming hole in the snow, a small delicate bug emerged, clambering away as fast as his freezing -2C legs could take him. No doubt he had been peacefully hibernating, only to be awakened by a flood of unwelcome warmth. Well of course I needed a shot of that bug, but I had to finish my business…and so began a comedy of errors as zippers snagged on fabric and lenses had to be changed. I managed to keep track of him until the very last step, and then he was gone. Disappeared, from one blink to the next. Dammit! But then the sun briefly broke through the clouds, and lit up this little leaf, maybe as compensation…or a bribe, to leave the poor bug alone. I took the bribe:
Continuing on the hike, I ended up on a frozen pond above a beaver dam. The clouds, moving in with a weather change from the south, offered some great textures and mood:
The moon was also rising. I feel like I missed the best moment for the moon and wish I’d settled on these compositions earlier, when it was much lower. It’s always surprising to me how fast it moves, even a minute can make a big difference. But still, it was good practice (and a lesson) for another time:
I’ll end this brief blog with a couple of random shots that I enjoyed taking, even if they don’t quite live up to the result I was after. The first are these rose hips, lit with the first light of dawn. I was drawn to them by the grid pattern of the ice crystals. I didn’t quite nail the focus, but this shot had the best light:
Finally, on a different day, a little downy woodpecker came by while I was hiking, fearlessly flitting from bush to bush, drilling holes in the crook of the small branches.
It looks destructive, but it provides a place for insects to lay their eggs, which the woodpecker can eat later. Insect farming at its best. Unfortunately there was little light on the scene, and just when I was getting into the groove, four people came by with their dogs and off he flew. I hadn’t seen a bird (even a crow) or other people all morning, and now there was a traffic jam. The serene infinite surely has a sense of humour…
And with that I’ll wish you all a warm and happy holiday season. Until next year…
Cheers!
