Category Archives: photography

An Autumn meander in the Whiteshell

autumn, Nature, photography

 

 

 

 

After a lovely picnic at Whitemouth Falls we continued on our autumn jaunt. Our second stop was Old Pinawa dam. This is a historic old dam that was  was built to provide electricity for modern Manitobans. You can see the old dam in the distance.

Autumn is my favourite time of year. I love the changing of the colours. In Manitoba the colours are not as spectacular as they are on the east coast, but ‘You gotta dance with the girl you brung.’

Our walking club had visited this site earlier in the summer.

 

A branch of the Winnipeg river flowed by with impressive enthusiasm. I was surprised there was so much water here as we had a very dry summer.

I was a little disappointed that the autumn leaves had not yet reached the peak of colours, but I tried to make the best of it.  You gotta dance with the girl you brung.

I knew I would not be able to return to this place this autumn since next week. after Chris’ surgery I would be seconded to perform manservant  duties.  Of course in my opinion I performed those services with sterling diligence.

 

After we completed our too brief visit at the dam, we continued  our meander through Whiteshell Provincial Park–one of the jewels of Manitoba.  Meandering is good.

 

 

 

A Nature Jaunt

autumn, Nature, photography

 

 

 

This has been a very strange year. Chris was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm in January. The surgeon told us it was a big one and he clearly recommended surgery. In fact he said, he wanted to do it as soon a possible, because he hated seeing his patients die before the hit the operating table. We agreed with this entirely. In fact, we didn’t like the idea of Chris dying on the operating table either. Her surgery had been postponed twice already because Covid-19 was overwhelming the Manitoba health care system.  Both of us were very worried it would be postponed again. So one week before surgery was scheduled we went out for a nature jaunt to get our minds over surgery.

We went to Whitemouth Falls near Seven Sister Falls power station. It was a magnificent early autumn day. I am a sucker for autumn. I love the colours and try to capture the feeling of them, sometimes going beyond the real.

We have been to the modest falls a number of times but this was the first time we were able to get onto the island.  In fact, because the weather was so dry this year it was no longer an island. We had a lovely picnic in the warm fall sun.

 

Life does not get much better than that. And I got to photograph autumn leaves. We don’t have the colours they have down east, but is you look you can see.

Chris had surgery at the end of September and after that we had to stay home while Chris recuperated.

Thankfully Chris survived the delays and we enjoyed a little bit of autumn.  We only enjoyed a couple of days in the autumn. But we tried to make the most of them.

Like leaves, our lives are brief and then we flame out. Not always in a blaze of glory but we do the best we can.

As Shakespeare said,

 

Out, out brief candle!

LIfe’s but a walking shadow, a poor player

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

 

Life was good and we wanted to keep it. And savour it. This day we did exactly that.

 

 

 

Sometimes reality does not provide the best view

Nature, Orchids of Manitoba, photography

 

 

I love to photograph this orchid and then play with the image to make it appear to be glowing in the dark of the bog. This image is actually a combination of two identical images. One of those images was brightened while the second one was then blurred. In Photoshop I then combined the two images to create this result. It is like magic when they are combined. If you click on the image and make it larger you can see the effect a little better. Sometimes the effect  is more pronounced than this image. Most important it is fun to make reality bend a little.

More Hoar Frost

photography, Winter

 

As Chris and I drove around  country near Steinbach the hoar frost “held” for about an hour or two after we headed out. To me the most important part of hoar frost is their ephemeral beauty.

 

As soon as the temperature of the air reaches a high enough temperature the hoar frost will melt and disappear. Or if it gets windy the wind can blow the hoar frost off the branches. If you want to photograph it, you must move quickly.

 

Beauty is always temporary.  What a pity. But beauty always returns. And I never get enough.  We took a number of photographs and celebrated the beauty we captured so briefly. We had no need to travel to Arizona to find beauty.

 

Inspecting Sunsets

photography, Sunsets, Winter

 

 

When the sunset begins I call it a whisper sunset. You just see a pale blush of sun if you look to the east or at least away from the sun.

 

At Buffalo Point for the New Year’s weekend I found employment of a sort. Henry David Thoreau, one of my heroes, claimed to be an inspector of snow storms when he lived at Walden Pond. That never appealed to me much but being an inspector of sunsets that was more like it.

 

 

 

So, I took up a self-appointed position as the inspector of sunsets. The sunset today was pretty good too.  I particularly like sunsets in winter when trees are reduced to their essential elements.

 

 

One thing I learned many years ago I think it was from Jim Peters or Dennis Fast at a photography workshop was that the best sunset photos don’t have the sun in them. The sun usually turns into a yellow blob in photos.  Best, usually, to keep it out of sight but look at its magnificent handywork.

I love sunsets.

Winter at Buffalo Point

photography, Winter

 

 

 

Winter in Canada is filled with awesome beauty. You pay a high price to see it, but it is awesome beauty. Too often those of us who live in northern climes are so focused on the coldness of the winter that we miss its beauty. That is serious negligence.

 

Since I was stuck here for the winter I did resolve to enjoy it this year as best I could. I wanted to draw in to me the beauty of winter and silence.

The American writer, Jack Kerouac said, “I got all my boyhood in vanilla winter waves around the kitchen stove.”  A vanilla winter. How fitting. My favorite flavor joined to winter. That is a good way to think of winter. Even when sitting indoors.

The Great Northwoods Forest

2018 Trip to Ottawa, autumn, photography

 

This was the last day of our glorious fall trip. We had enjoyed 2 weeks of astounding autumn beauty and it was drawing to a close.

In northern Minnesota we started seeing boreal forest. Less maples, more birch and aspen.

One might have thought that after 2 weeks of the eastern forests this would seem dull. One would have been wrong. This too was magnificent.

The beauty of these forests dusted lightly with snow were gorgeous. The colour were more pale, but still shone

Who would ever have thought snow would be so beautiful? Snow is beautiful. It is just a shame that it is so cold. Whose idea was that?

It was a great way to end a great trip.

The Forest of many Colors

2018 Trip to Ottawa, art, photography

 

 

This trip was a celebration of colors—particularly the unique colors of autumn in the Eastern deciduous forest.  A time of magic and splendor, unmatched anywhere in the world. Europe, Asia, Africa, and even South America have nothing quite to compare.

An Impressionistic version of a maple leaf

Paul Cezanne the French artists was an acknowledged master of color. He knew color better than anyone. Cezanne said, “Color is the place where our brain and the universe meet. I think this trip proved that was true.

The English writer George Eliot also knew a little about color. Eliot was actually a woman. She used a male nom de plume to be taken more seriously. It was a pity that she thought that was necessary. Her most famous novel was probably Middlemarch. 2 pretty good modern novelists, Martin Amis and Julian Barnes said this was the greatest novel in the English language. She said this about color” It is strange how deeply colours seem to penetrate one like a scent.”  That was certainly true of the colors of autumn.

Winston Churchill no sentimentalist said, “I cannot pretend to be impartial about the colours. I rejoice with the brilliant ones and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns.  Churchill would no doubt have celebrated had he ever seen an eastern forest in its autumn splendour.

One of my favorite photographers, Freeman Paterson, who lives in New Brunswick part of the eastern forest, oddly prefers the browns even though he lives in an area famous for its autumn coat of many colors,

 

Artist Paul Klee, who also knew something about colors, explained that “Color possesses me.  It will always possess me. That is the meaning of this happy hour, colour and I are one.”

Finally, John Rushkin, another English writer, summed it all up, when he said, “Of all God’s gifts to the sight of man, colour is the holiest, the most divine, the most solemn.” I am just not sure it is solemn. I would say colours are joyous and celebratory. Not solemn at all. Otherwise well said.