Tillsonburg PhotoWalk

Last weekend the forecast was for heavy rain over Friday night and 70% probability of precipitation for Saturday morning.  Saturday afternoon and most of Sunday were forecast to rain as well.  So much for a weekend camping trip.  So, I had the chance to participate in the Kelby World PhotoWalk of Tillsonburg.  Here are a few of my favourites from the morning.

The "walk" lasted until noon.  On the way home, I stopped at a barn that I've eyed for years.  It provided some great views.

 A great cloudy day that never did rain.

Hitchhiker

One day while I was at the cottage, I decided it was perfect light to shoot some insects. I went out to the dock and lakefront areas. Nothing. I walked over to a little fern meadow. Nothing. I did find a nice bright red maple leaf. As I leaned over to frame the leaf I felt this slight twitch on my left arm. After giving up on the leaf I noticed my new friend. He (she?) was really quite content to stay there. I continued on my mission but only found some mushrooms to shoot. After more than 15 minutes, Nancy came out to see what I was up to. My friendship quickly ended when Nancy became the new host to this hitchhiker. She wasn't quite so patient and shook it off in all of about 30 seconds. Moral of the story, don't be in such a hurry to find things. Sometimes its better to let them find you.



My friend was less than 1 cm tall, maybe 2 - 3 cm in length (not including those long stringy things).  Unless you zoom in on his head, what you see as his eyes are really fake eyes.  This compound eyes are very plain looking.  However check out the legs - red rings.

August at Six Mile Lake

Two evenings at a beaver pond gave me a lot of opportunity.  The golden rays of sunset played nicely off the water.  The video clip was a surprise in that the camera brightened the video so much that the result looked like daylight.

Night Sky over Six Mile Lake

The Northern Lights

I've always felt cheated in that I've never seen a really good show of the Northern Lights in all my years of star gazing at the cottage.  Well I learned something early this month.  Not only does the Aurora Borealis extend down to southern Ontario but there are websites that forecast its level of activity.  So last week since we were at the cottage and the mosquitoes were only horrible, I decided to shoot the stars.  Did I mention how much I love digital sensors - they are so sensitive.  Yes, the coloured bands above the horizon is the Aurora Borealis.  No its not the shooting flames of green, orange or blue.  But I'm happy with the results.  The Milky Way was so bright.  You wouldn't know that our neighbour's cottage (building on the left side of image) is actually white.  The amber tone is due to a campfire casting its light across the lake.

The Southern Lights

The southern sky was bright too.  However, this is the light pollution of the nearest major city - Barrie, Ontario.  The red streak across the water is a boat travelling at night.

The North Star

Obviously, I'm not much of an astronomer.  I found the big dipper and followed the imaginary line to the brightest star in the sky.   This 30 minute exposure shows the earth's orbit rotating around this star.

June Evening in Port Burwell

I had the chance to have a tour on the decommission submarine-Ojibwa. Although photos were not allowed inside, my phone helped capture some shots outside. Afterwards I walked around with my camera shooting some sights. As I approached the oldest wooden lighthouse in Canada, I heard some fiddle music. At first I thought it might be one of the local businesses playing some Celtic tunes. But no, I found a local musician and her friend just relaxing. They said I could shoot them (little did they know the ugliness of on camera flash). After that I stopped for a final attempt at capturing the sunset.

Obviously this is the sub.

Now the sights of the evening.

Dusk over Waterton Lake

Hard to believe that what you see is the moon and not the sun.

Calgary Head, Outside and In

I returned to this sculpture throughout the day last week.  By far, I liked these night shots best.

Signs of Spring - new growth - trees, flowers and birds

Aylmer's Town Hall

Former Post Office and now home to our municipal administration.

Aylmer's Old Town Hall

Downstairs is our town's library.  Upstairs is the nicest theatre with great natural acoustics with a Union Jack painted on the ceiling.  It is said that Sir John A MacDonald once gave a speech from the stage.

Raptor Conservancy

I got the chance to spend an afternoon at the Canadian Raptor Conservancy earlier this month. I set a personal record; 1138 shots in 3 hours.

European Eagle Owl

Red Tailed Hawk

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Snowy Owl

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Bald Eagle

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Bald Eagle

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Barn Owl

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Great Horned Owl

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Great Horned Owl

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Great Horned Owl

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Ferruginous Hawk

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Swainson's Hawk

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Swainson's Hawk

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Vatican Museum

In a rush to catch up with our group I looked down only to realize that this was one shot I had hoped to get on this trip to Rome. I stopped about half way down to capture the motion of the people.

Naples Harbour

Dramatic sky over Naples harbour. Note the fire brigade's boats in the foreground and the cruise ship off to the left. It looks like the mountains in the distance are pushing up the cloud cover.

Black Bears

A cold but very sunny afternoon woke this den of bears from their hibernation. Momma bear went for a walk leaving her two cubs to stay in the den.

Naples, Italy

Watching the world go by

Naples, Italy

Forecast: 50mm rain today

Arctic Fox

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A new day on an old house

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McFarlane Farm

Henry's Exposure Show

Old tobacco greenhouse

 Lakeshore Road near Port Rowan, ON

Grand farmhouse now offers rooms to critters, not people.

Beautiful frame house with the added benefits of floorboards that are as translucent as the windows.