Water Above and Below
Hi and welcome back!
We had a lot more rain this month, for which our forests were grateful, as were the smoke-breathers in the city.
I spent a couple days with some friends west of the city building a gazebo on some new land. First morning was a little hazy and damp, presaging the evening:
Purple Prairie Clover, one of my favourite wildflowers…
That night, after a well earned dinner, we returned to camp to a sudden downpour and howling winds that sent our tents, full of gear, spinning into a gully. We got drenched fishing them out, then huddled under a tarp until the squall passed. Thankfully there wasn’t much water in the tents, only like someone had taken a cup of water and splashed it around inside. We re-pitched our tents, and then the storm reversed and kind of hovered over us for a couple hours, dumping rain accompanied with very close lightning. But thankfully no further wind squalls.
The only photo record I have are some more abstract shots:
Quaking Aspen leaves, quaked right outta the tree…
Big bluestem seed heads, stuck in the stalk…
Back in Sioux Narrows I was treated to a gorgeous dawn. Initially the sky was mostly cloudless, so I focused on the colours in the water:
Eventually some thin clouds rolled in:
A quaint bunkie…
Eventually the sun rose, highlighting the dew, and casting oily reflections in the water:
Towards the end of the month some friends and I did a 6 day canoe trip in Quetico park (northern Ontario, just north of Minnesota’s Boundary Waters). It was a really beautiful trip, with just a bit of time for some photography:
Lunch break after an easy portage…
A minimalist hint of what’s coming…
That evening we watched a storm build in the distance. Initially it was headed away from us, and we just enjoyed the show…until it turned around and aimed right for us. The next shots are a bit “orange”: the sun had already set, but the clouds were so tall they were casting sunset-light all over the scene below. Also, it was so big, I couldn’t really capture the grandeur. The final shot came after the storm had overwhelmed the light: it was dark enough the exposure time is 6 seconds, so all motion is blurred:
About 10 minutes later we were running for our tents!
After a cloudy following day, we were treated to a dawn suitable to the storm:
There’s a bit of banding from “lens flare”, but personally I don’t mind it, in fact I like it. I did take a “cleaner” shot, but I don’t like the clouds and composition as much.
That’s it for this month. Photographically I don’t think it’s my strongest work, but after all these years I’ve figured out that high summer and late winter always seem to be the leanest times for me. So as the end-of-year yellow begins to creep into the foliage, I’m hopeful for the next few months.
Take care, and stay dry!