End of the Summer

Some final photos to bid farewell to another Summer.








This garter snake on the dock slipped into the water and swam to shore.









This frog was almost invisible on the shore. I wonder if a snake could eat him. He was quite big. Hmmmm.













I'm always fascinated with the way genetics and evolution work to make a Phenotype. This fly looked an awful lot like a stinging insect. He was such a slow flier, that if it were not for his "costume", I'm sure he would be eaten.













This fox had a limp in it's hind legs. Poor fella.










This bear was like a ghost in the forest. He looked like a young one, maybe 150 pounds? He had trouble climbing trees.

I will miss you Summer!

I look forward to the gloriousness of fall. Fall colours are beautiful, and make for great location portraits. And no bugs to boot! Don't wait too long to book an appointment!

More Summer Photos

Random shots.

Dark Skies

I was able to spend some time far from city lights in August, and the weather cooperated long enough to get some night sky shots. These were taken over the course of two nights. In these shots, you can see the streak of the plane of our own galaxy, the milky-way.


In this next shot, you can see the apparent paths the stars take around the north pole of our planet as it spins around in space. The northern star (Polaris) is just off camera to the top right. If you could see it in this shot, you would see why it is such an important star. It barely "moves" over the course of the night, making it useful for navigation.

There is nothing like these kind of views to make you feel small. Each little light in the sky could light someone else's day. For some interesting reading, check this link out. Carl Sagan is one of my heroes, and I miss him. This is obviously an old video, but it is still quite thought provoking. Bear in mind that he is talking only about our galaxy. And consider that the Hubble telescope (which wasn't around when this video was made) is able to see hundreds of billions of galaxies in the night sky. How does considering all the galaxies in the observable universe make you feel? Put aside the notion of communication. It seems to me that it is inconceivable that intelligent life, other than our own, is not out there. We just may never have a conversation with each-other. Or perhaps we will! OR HAVE!!!???

But we are just barely making steps out into our own cosmic neighborhood. So if we have a conversation with anyone else in my lifetime, the other end of the line is surely far more advanced than we are now. Personally that assures me a little bit. If they have advanced that far, chances are they are not murderous galactic carnivores bent on eating my brain.

This photo is of one of our own planets. Jupiter in his distant glory.





UPDATE: An acquaintance of mine researches UFOs around the world, and just posted this entry in his blog. Right here in Winnipeg! I don't know what "it" was, and he doesn't yet either, but I thought it was a little bit of synchronicity. Maybe someone knows for sure what this thing was? Post a comment over at his blog if you have some sort of first hand knowledge that can help shed some light on this mysterious black triangle.

Northern Trip

August has been a busy month. I have been shooting like mad, and I have not posted much, so I'll try to make up for that a bit.

Our first stop was Steep Rock, which is not far from Winnipeg. It is close to a quarry, and the town has some static displays of mining equipment in a park just as you enter the town.


The cliffs themselves are quite nice. Very aesthetic. I can totally see doing a shoot there in the near future, perhaps some engagement photos, or family portraits.




There were quite a few dragon flies hanging around the cliffs. Not really flying about, just relaxing on the rocks. I don't know much about dragon flies, but maybe they were warming themselves? Their camouflage was amazing. You could not see them from a distance, only when you were right on top of them did they not look like just another crack in the face of the rock.




The woman behind the desk at the campground we stayed at was very helpful, with both finding the cliffs, and finding a "bed" as it were. We camped in her campsite over night.

We are fairly certain one of the garbage cans had a visit from one or two raccoons over night, because garbage was strewn all around a neighbor's campsite in the morning, but the can was un-disturbed.


The weather was not great over all, but we still made it out to Pisew falls to do some shooting. The mosquitoes were pretty bad, and the weather didn't cooperate for comfort, but sometimes a little cloud cover can add to photos, and I'm really pleased with these shots of the falls.



There is a bridge near the falls, that takes you across the Grass River to get a different perspective of the falls, and it also allows access to the hiking trail to the other falls in the area called Kwasitchewan, which are a day's hike away . We didn't make it that far, as the sun was quickly going down and we still had to find a place to camp. We did however see the other side of Pisew, and it was quite grand.



On the way back, we stopped at Baldy Mountain, Manitoba's highest point. Ok, so it's not that high, but this antenna was literally scraping the clouds when we were there. The views in the areas between there and Winnipeg were very picturesque. I will return for some more shots, I know it.