Misty Morning on the Lake

One of the nice things about being an early riser is that you either get a) the fish or b) the photograph of the fisherman. In this case, there was a lovely mist out on the lake, the surface was a mirror and my neighbour was heading out in his canoe for some fishing.

Moon Shot

Earlier in the year (July), I was able to capture a shot of a nearly full moon. As usual, I was travelling north to Haliburton and found a nice field with interesting patterns of light and colour. The moon was well up in the sky, but it makes a nice, simple composition nevertheless.

In Search of the Harvest Moon

Last Saturday, I went in search of the harvest moon.

I knew that the moon was set to rise at 6:50, but there were three questions to answer: what would be the subject of my image (in addition to the moon), where could I get a vista with a good subject and a low horizon and would the moon be visible or covered in clouds?

I started driving east about 5:00 pm. I drove through the farming country north of Toronto looking for subject matter with a view to the east. I found a few nice scenes:

Some lovely cows illuminated by the setting sun

Some nice barns

An interesting mailbox to add to my collection

Reflections of a blue hut on a still pond

Rolling hills and a couple of old buildings

But nothing really grabbed my attention as a suitable view to combine with the harvest moon. I kept driving.

As 7:00 neared, I found myself driving faster and faster. The further east I went, the more the land tilted upwards. The car seemed to be perpetually going uphill. Finally, I reached the town of Port Perry on Lake Scugog. Surely I would find a suitable vista for a harvest moon rise against the lake and harbour in the foreground. 

Alas, it was not to be. The sky was a mixture of blue patches and white clouds. In the south east, directly where the moon was rising, there was a large patch of cloud that obscured the sky. I took my picture sans moon.

Port Perry in the setting sun without moon

I like the photo very much, but it needs a harvest moon.

As I was driving home in the dark, the sky momentarily cleared and there was the full moon gazing down at me from up high, taunting me with its presence.

A Loon Feeding

It was a fine Haliburton morning. There was a slight mist on the lake, but the sun was up in the east and was shining its golden light intensely on our shore. It was very early and I was the only one on the beach. A family of loons was feeding inside the sand bar. The mother would duck under the water and swim around looking for a minnow. Her two babies would duck their heads under the water to watch her hunt. When the mother spotted a fish, she would put on a sudden burst of speed and I could see the wake travelling at an incredible rate until she caught the fish. Once caught, the fish would be presented to the two babies for a snack.

In this sequence of three pictures, the mother has caught a fat minnow and presents it to the nearest baby. Before the minnow can be consumed, the other chick swims like crazy not to be left out of the proceedings and, in the final picture, the two chicks share the minnow.