Perseid Metoer Shower

With all the hype this week of the great Perseid Meteor shower that 2015 was to deliver I didn't want to miss out.  I headed out to the beach near Lake Erie after dark (about 10:30 pm), pointed my camera south then north.

First shot is over Lake Erie with the Port Bruce beacon flashing.  I was using an app for my camera to record a time lapse of the movement of stars.  The process took about 20 minutes taking about 100 separate images.  I didn't like the outcome so I grabbed a single image merge and worked with it.

The second shot was a little simpler; point the camera in the general direction of the milky way, focus (not easy in pitch black) and expose for 25 seconds.

Port Bruce

Last weekend the weather was extremely dramatic so I took a drive down to Pt Bruce expecting a nice sunset. On the way hay bales coaxed me out of the car early.  Later while I was shooting along the shore two young women asked I could take some shots of one of them with her own camera.   After doing so, I asked if I could take a few shots of her with my camera.  Walaa said sure.  Then the light did what I had hoped for and lit up the sky amazingly.  The wind was pushing water up onto the pier and the reflections were an unexpected bonus.

Port Bruce, in June

Many of you will recall that I somehow don't get to the beach in summer (very often).  This is one of those rare exceptions.  The fact that I had to wear a warm hoodie on this very cool evening made it somehow feel a little more normal (at least for me).

The bright orange light is probably Erie, Pa and/or Cleveland, OH.

Pt Bruce, yet again.

I couldn't blame you if you are getting tired of my fascination with Pt Bruce, in winter.  I won't promise that this will be the last post of snow and ice from there.  To me, it's such a great place to go.  Only a few minutes from home but once there it's like another world.  Today's shots were sunrise, not sunset.  Thank goodness for the colour of the sun as it was a very grey morning otherwise.

Back to the Beach

It's been about two weeks since I had my little adventure on/in the ice at Pt Bruce.  Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day and the forecast for today was cloudy and snowy.   What better time to plan a return visit to the beach, right?

Pt Bruce Beach

OK, so it's been very grey out lately.  But not last Thursday.  Bright blue sky.  Cold and windy though.  That's OK.  I've gone out in worse conditions, so I checked out of work on time.  A quick change into warm clothes and off to the beach. 

I got there and the sun was starting to set.  Its colours were warming nicely.  This image of the pier and lighthouse was made about 5 minutes after leaving the truck.  

Then, the reality of the weather set in.  The wind was causing my forehead and nose to burn.  My heavy gloves were no match for the cold.  While I could have operated my camera's controls with the gloves on, my fingers were so numb I couldn't feel the buttons.  

I was on the beach alone.  Just me, my camera and other people's footprints in the snow.  As I shuffled up one icy snow/ice dune my left leg fell out from under me. I was suddenly down to my crotch in a chasm.  My other knee was folded tight, like it hasn't been bent in over 10 years.  While I squatted there, I realized that I did have my cell phone in my pants pocket.  If needed, I could get it out.  I know there is a signal there (usually).  But, big but, my fingers were so cold I doubt whether my phone's screen would have reacted to their touch.  I hauled myself out of my hole.  Took this shot and shuffled back to my truck.  Total time out of the truck; about 20 minutes.  Total time of comfort out of the truck; none.  It's funny how some days we can handle the cold and say "Bring it on.  I'm ready for more".  Thursday, I guess, I was just tired.  But at least I went out and got two shots.  It's now more than two days later and my "bent" knee is still letting me know that it didn't like our little adventure.

Blue Hour Turns Golden

Today will have been the the latest Sunday sunrise this autumn.  We got to the beach well before sunrise.  Lot's of shots of the lighthouse during "blue hour".  A while later the sun cracked the clouds along the horizon giving us "golden hour".

PORT BRUCE AGAIN

What can I say?  It's a quick drive from home and the view is stunning - well at least to me it is.  No I don't live minutes from the Arctic.  This is Lake Erie.  The lake froze over this winter.  It hadn't done that since 1998 (I think).  I was surprised this day when a couple decided to walk out on the ice.  The wind was bitingly cold.  The air temperature was probably no higher than -15 Celsius.  Wind chill = well nobody lasted more than 15 minutes before they went back to their vehicle to warm up.  The couple lasted... yep you guessed it, only 15 minutes and they made a beeline for their car.

I was enamoured of the day.  The bright blue sky.  The white snow.   The black and brown you see was created when we had a brief thaw.

I met a woman with about 3,000 kids.  Well it seemed like that to me.  You try waiting in the cold wind for all kids to get out your scene... Well it really was fun to watch one boy try to pick up huge chunks of ice that looked clearer than an ice cube from your home's freezer.  That ice was something special...and yes I do realize it came from Lake Erie.  That's what mad it so surprising.

I gave up and went to the car to warm up.  So after up the kids were gone, I went out shooting again.  I didn't see the woman (looking out over the water, in the image below) get out past me but I liked the effect.

The first image's vantage point I found unique because in the summer I would have been underwater by a few body lengths.  That day I walked out farther than I have ever been onto Lake Erie at Port Bruce.

I went back this week.  I took a two hour lunch and had the entire area all to myself.  However, a lot of the snow was dirtier and there were far more footprints everywhere.  Now, over the last couple of days, temperatures have risen.  We've seen zero degrees now twice.  While the ice is probably safe still, its pure colour would be gone.

Maybe spring will arrive before next winter.

Port Bruce, Winter 2014

Yesterday, after a night and morning of snowing, the roads weresurprisingly clear and the sky started to clear up. I'd been wanting to get to Port Bruce for a few weeks now.  These conditions were perfect, except for the temperature of minus 10 degrees Celsius with a wind chill probably below minus 20!!

I stayed out there long enough to go from blue sky to having some colour with the setting sun.

I really liked the shadows in the snow of this picnic table.