Gone fishing

Today is Christmas Day.  We listened to a nice Christmas sermon and enjoyed the singing of the ladies choir.  It was really beautiful.  Ralph and I decided that we would spend most of our next two weeks staying "close to home".  Today was a quiet with the afternoon spent watching the antics of many pelicans in the ocean.  They were fishing in large groups.  In many cases they were surrounded by lots of gulls and terns. It was challenging to get some good shots as they were quite far out in the ocean.  With the sun on the water, it reflected many beautiful colours.  I am pretty happy with how some of them turned out.

And we're off

Ralph and I are planning on spending the winter in Myrtle Beach.  We left on Thursday, December 23 and arrived on the 24th.  We stopped over in Asheboro,  North Carolina for the evening on the way down and left today around 8:00.  We arrived in Myrtle Beach by 11:30.  The ride down went very well. The roads were quiet and the weather was beautiful and sunny all the way.

Our day was spent checking in and settling into the room.  We did a few groceries (to last the weekend) and then went for a nice walk along the beach.  It's a little busier at the beach because it's the Christmas weekend but we expect things to quiet down again on Monday.  We're in a temporary room right now and will move into our condo on Monday.  

There are plenty of gulls/terns on the beach again this year.  I had some fun photographing them.  We were also blessed with an amazing sunset.  I never get tired of the beautiful colours.  

Mushroom Foraging

 It's been a long time since I updated my blog.  It's not that I haven't had things going on, but somehow got bogged down in everything going on.  It's time to start updating again.

Today Ralph and I went mushroom hunting.  I had seen a few video's on photographing mushrooms and it looked so interesting.  I decided to go looking this morning at the Arboretum and took a few pictures but really wanted to look into some deep forests to see more.

These mushroom's were so tiny, growing on a rotting log.

Fungus makes an interesting picture.

This afternoon we drove to Palgrave and found a nice forested area to explore.  A few things to keep in mind when shooting.... bring a small brush (wipe away debris), bring a flashlight (brighten up the mushroom), shoot wide open (F2.8 or smaller and then F16.0 as the final shot).  This will help when developing and stacking.

To get a really good shot, you have to get low to the ground.  I will say that my back started to ache and it's really difficult/challenging to focus without bringing yourself really low. Ideally it would be best to lay on your stomach.  Auto focus doesn't always work and you find yourself manually focusing to get everything sharp.  Perservence ensures that you are happy with the end result.

Overall I am happy with the end results.  I still have a long way to go and practice makes perfect as they say. Ralph and I really enjoyed ourselves and look forward to doing this again soon.

The stars were brightly shining

I have been dreaming of doing some Milky Way photography for months. Since we live in an area where you really can’t enjoy the dark skies it is with great anticipation and excitement that I look forward to heading up North. We are currently in the Sauble Beach area and the skies are nice and dark. We set our alarm for 1:30 this morning and headed to a predetermined area not that far away from the cottage. Boy was it dark. Scary dark lol but the sky was indescribable!  The heavens were declaring the glory of the Lord. It took our breath away.  This photo is a panorama shot created vertically from 5 different photographs .  It’s my first attempt at trying this technique and I’m pretty happy with it.  We didn’t stay out long but it sure was worth the wait!!

Gone fishin

Last week Teresa shared with me that the Rainbow trout were running upstream to lay their eggs. That sounded like a good photo opportunity, so on Sunday between services Ralph and I headed to the Old Mill to check it out. The pathway was super busy with plenty of people out taking a walk. We bumped into Liz and Ed (Lawrence's sister).  What a small world...

We didn’t see any fish jumping so we just enjoyed a nice walk along the Humber River. Teresa and I tried again on Monday and saw a few jump but weren’t able to capture any on film. They were too fast and very few were jumping.  Instead we enjoyed watching the ducks and geese in the water. It was a nice relaxing couple of hours away from the news of Covid and constant reminders to stay masked and stay home.

On Wednesday and Thursday Ralph and I went back with coffees in hand to watch and just relax. On Wednesday the trout were very active giving us a nice display of how high and far they could jump.  It was amazing to watch.  We brought our cameras along with us and enjoyed photographing them.  We did the same on Thursday.  What a nice break and so relaxing.  We really enjoyed ourselves.  We had thought about driving to Thornbury to photograph the fish ladder but the temperatures are changing again and it's getting colder out.  Driving to the Old Mill has been just as much fun and it's nice and close by.

I found it interesting to observe the different colours in the trout.  I read that the longer they are in the river the more colour they get on their heads.  The one above obviously has been around for quite some time as it displayed some beautiful red cheeks.

The males can often grow large teeth (keep your toes out of the water).  Typically the Rainbow trout run in the fall but are known to run (at a less rate) in the spring time as well, starting as early as February depending on when the rivers start to thaw.  

I find it so amazing that God has instilled in these fish the desire and need to swim so far upstream  to spawn and breed.  It's absolutely incredible.  

And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens."  So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird  according to its kind.  And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth." And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.  Genesis 1: 20-23

Bubbles part 2 and Milky Way

This past weekend we were once again blessed with some cold mornings. The key thing I am discovering is to ensure that there is no wind.  Early morning (between 6:00-8:00) it is often quiet with just a little breeze blowing. I am able to block the breeze with some poster board which helps to keep the bubble stable.  On Saturday morning I could see the sun rising through the tree's in our backyard which gave the perfect background for the bubbles. It was cold again, to the point where every 15 minutes or so I had to come inside and warm up (and I had my coat and gloves on).  With the sun in the background it gave a nice glow through the bubble displaying the freezing process.  If we get another cold day I will take a video to show the freezing as it's pretty amazing to watch.  The green that you see below the bubble is an accumulation of the soap mixture as the bubble burst.  It then freezes into the snow and with the sun shining through gives this beautiful green colour. As you probably can tell, there were many bubbles blown to achieve a few successful photos.

I just finished a course that was discussing the art of developing MilkyWay shots.  It was a 3 day course (6 hours total) that covered at a highlevel the various steps needed to pull out colour, depth and interest in the MilkyWay. It was a "teaser" type training to encourage the listener to signup for the full session.  If we lived in the country (for example where John and Grace live) where the MilkyWay is visible, I would sign up right away and make the investment in the actual training ($500).  Since we only get to see it once or twice a year, I didn't think the investment was worth it and with Covid, who knows when we'll be able to get away and actually spend time up north to try to capture these shots. So armed with some new found information and "youtube" to fill in some of the gaps, I went back into my files and tried some of the new techniques. In the image below, there is someone standing in the schoolhouse which was turned on for about 3-4 seconds while the camera lens was left open for 30 seconds.  I'm amazed at how much light was still reflected in the image. This photo was taken in Utah a couple of years ago when Ralph and I signed up for a night photography session.  The stars were amazing.

This 2nd shot was taken near Lora Bay approximagely 2 years ago.  I almost deleted it when cleaning up pictures but now I'm glad I kept it.  It still needs some work but it gives an appreciation of the amount of "light polution" that is in the area. In this particular shot, the added colour adds some interest to the sky.  I'm using a very "wide" angle lens that Joel Sjaarda helped me purchase, which does cause some distortion in the tree's but it's ability to capture the stars is incredible.

There is another course coming up in March that I plan to attend that gets into the art of Composition for MilkyWay shots.  I'm really intrigued and plan to attend that one.  It's another precursor to the full course, but I find I can still pick up things to apply.  It gives me something to look forward to.  The MilkyWay season starts in April and I'm hoping that one evening Ralph and I can take a night drive up north and take a few photo's. Hopefully we will have an early spring.

Frozen Bubbles

I've been waiting all month for the weather to get colder.  Don't get me wrong, I love the milder temperatures that we have been having.  I actually hope that the milder weather continues for the month of February as it makes the weeks go by quicker. I'm not saying I want time to pass by, but I do look forward to enjoying the back deck again.  

The temperatures finally reached -14c.  This was the magic number that I needed to get the bubbles to start to freeze. It still took a while and we had to battle the breeze but eventually I was able to successfully capture some pictures that I was happy with. The big challenge was focusing. Since a  bubble is clear, I was required to manually focus. Looking through the viewfinder, I found myself mistakenly focusing on the back of the bubble rather than the front.  It was a challenge to figure this piece out. Added to that, was that I couldn't wear mitts or gloves when doing this and it was pretty cold. My fingers were quick to stiffen in this weather.

As I was working on taking the pictures, my bubble solution actually started to freeze and became very gummy which meant I couldn't blow any bubbles. Hah hah, a good time to go inside and warm up with a coffee.

The mixture was hand made using a solution of 1 cup water, 4 tablespoons of dish soap, 1 tablespoon of glycerin and 1 tablespoon of sugar. It worked well.

I continue to be amazed at the weather this winter. It has made staying home more tolerable. I'm able to get out walking 3 times a day and feel very refreshed. I sleep like a baby at night and I think that is the result of all the fresh air I'm getting. I'm turning into a putterer...A little bit of this and little bit of that.  Things get done, but much more slowly these days. I'm not as fussed about a messy table or dirty dishes on the counter.  Oh well... I guess that is what they are referring to when they talk about COVID fatigue.

The other day, Ellen Lott (from our church) posted a picture of an owl that she seen while her and Kevin were out taking a walk.  Oh how lucky she was!!  Sunday after church, it looked like it was going to be a nice time for a walk so Ralph and I thought we might try to see if we could find it as well.  I called and spoke to Kevin who relayed the path that they had taken. I could feel the adrenaline flowing. Wouldn't it be awesome if we saw it!! Truthfully I didn't expect that we would be that lucky, but sure enough,  near the beginning of the walk I spied this fellow sitting and watching as we were approaching.  Ralph was ahead of me and I didn't want to yell out to him and startle the bird.  Eventually he noticed that I had stopped and was taking some shots and came back to have a look. Oh wow. I was soooo excited. It made my day. I got a few shots that I am really happy with. I said a prayer of thanks as this was and is the highlight of my first month of the year.

Earlier this week, I thought it might finally become cold enough for me to photograph some frozen bubbles.  I'm all ready with my solution sitting by the door, but it's just too mild.  We did have snow one morning so I went out and practiced photographing snowflakes. I have added some "macro" extension tubes and a new "ring flash" to my camera gear.  Both are invaluable for capturing the beauty of a snowflake or a closeup of a flower or insect. The extension tubes allow me to get in closer (requiring less cropping) and the ring flash (which is circular) goes around the end of the lense and produces light all around the area being shot. I still have a lot to learn with both but it was fun trying.  This is a single shot of a snowflake (not stacked - ie. multiple shots stacked together to remove noise and improve clarity). Overall I am pretty happy with it. It's funny, here we are blessed with such an amazing winter and I am wishing for snow and cold...although I am not complaining.

Today we received the good news that my Mom received her Covid shot.  We are so thankful that this  has taken place.  With the virus so bad in the LTC building next to her, this is an added safety measure for ther building  We trust that God will take care of her.  

Another year has come and gone

Well that's the end of 2020 and what a year it has been.  We started off the year with a lovely couple of months in Myrtle Beach which allowed us to golf, walk the beach and even visit with our friends (Chuck and Claudia) in Florida. During the 2nd month, Lawrence, Teresa, John, Grace, Harry and Marian all came to Myrtle Beach, to escape the winter cold and enjoy some relaxing time away. We were sheltered from all the news about a "new virus" called Corona Virus (sounded a little like the beer) which eventually came to be known as COVID-19. We actually didn't find out how serious it was until we came home which was at the end of the first week of March.  

Imagine our surprise finding that the store shelves contained no toilet paper, hand sanitizers and essential food items were hard to find. Within two weeks we were told to stay near our home and eventually even our church was shut down.

The year has seen lots of changes as a result of COVID-19 and we've been forced to slow down and rethink what is important. I've spent the year focusing on improving my photography skills by watching Youtube videos and reading lots of material. I focused on cleaning up old files and and also found time to work on multiple photobooks. Our Pastor has been writing daily Reflections which I find are very comforting and I decided to put them into books and give them to the Pastor as a way to say thank you and also keep a record of the COVID-19 Reflections shared with our church family. I have just finished Book 3 and am ready to start on the 4th book.

Reflections Book 1

Reflections Book 2

Reflections Book 3

I also completed a few other projects throughout the year.  I enjoy making the books and using them to look back on as a memory of what we have experienced.

Birds of a feather 2020

Rejoice and be glad

With the in-ability to get out and go shopping  I decided to make my own gifts this year. Again I chose to make some photobooks which I gave to close and dear friends.

God's promises through the storm

This last month of the year was spent connecting with family and sharing "social distance" get togethers as we celebrated Christmas. With Laura and Jay and the kids we enjoyed a backyard visit and fire.  It was really nice and while the hugs and kisses were missed, we still could feel the love from our family.

Family Christmas

We also enjoyed some fun with my family with a gingerbread sharing on Christmas day.  Comments and pictures were posted on our family WhatsApp.  It was such a nice way to stay connected during a somewhat quiet day.

Family Gingerbread Christmas

While the year wasn't what we were expecting it to be, I still feel blessed beyond my imagination.  God has been so good to us this year. He has kept us all healthy, watched over my Mom and given our church the ability to continue with services even though we have to stay home.  We’ll be back together soon and once again be able to socialize together  He is in control.  To God be the Glory.