Churchill Manitoba Photo Tour, July 2009
2009/11/25
Last July I had the pleasure of leading a small group of avid photographers from Winnipeg to Churchill MB, on the western shore of Hudson Bay. This year, spring was very late arriving in Manitoba, especially in Churchill where everything from ice break-up, birds nesting and flowers blooming, was 3 to 4 weeks behind. We were fortunate enough however to have picked a week of great weather in what was otherwise a dismal spring/summer. When we arrived on July 2nd, the Bay was still frozen over, there were no fledgling birds anywhere and a flower in bloom was hard to find. By the end of our week stay, there were carpets of purple flowers everywhere and the Bay was breaking up rapidly before our eyes. Still, the nesting season for birds appeared to be a bust with only a few nests spotted.
Construction on the Port of Churchill started in 1930 and by 1931 it received it's first shipments of grain. Since being purchased by OmniTrax in 1997, the Port has experienced a revival and now regularly gets in excess of 12 freighters a season. The shipping season is short in Churchill, going from about mid July to the end of October. This image of the Port of Churchill was taken shortly after sunset.
The Precambrian rock outcrop formations along the coast east of Churchill are believed to be around 2.5 billions years old. These rocks are sometimes referred to as Churchill greywacke. Over billions of years, these rocks have been worn smooth by the elements and glaciation. This particular location, about five minutes east of Churchill along the coastal road, was a favourite sunset destination. In this photo, the golden evening light illuminates the rocks and ice flows on the Bay.
Churchill MB is located at approximately 58N latitude; at this latitude in July, the days are very long and so are the sunsets, they seem to go on forever. Well, not really, but the period of great light (before and after sunset) does last for an hour or more. This image was taken about 40 minutes after sunset.
Michigan, October 2009
2009/11/20
This year I went on a Lake Superior Circle Photo Tour in search of fall colors and anything else that caught my eye.
This image was taken about 8km south of Copper Harbor on the Keweenaw Peninsula MI; on the way to get a sunset shot of the Copper Harbor Lighthouse. The road had recently been resurfaced and too good to pass up! It turned out to be a good choice as the sunset at Copper Harbor ended up a bust.
Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore near Munising MI features many small picturesque waterfalls; this image was taken downstream of Munising Falls. It was the colorful leafs on the fallen log across the creek that caught my attention. I used a 30mm equivalent focal length to emphasize and create greater dynamic impact in the foreground. A shutter speed of 1.3 seconds at f16, ISO 200 was used to create the motion blur in the water.
November, 2009 Update
2009/11/8
Well it's been a year now since my last update but since no one has emailed me to point it out, I'm assuming it's not an issue, ha, ha. However, for all my loyal friends and visitors, I promise to update more often...which shouldn't be a hard target to meet.
Two of the recent images were taken last week, Friday, November 6th on a trip to Whiteshell Park. The weather was way to nice to stay home and I was anxious to get out and enjoy the day and do some shooting.
This downstream view of Rainbow Falls was taken with a 20-35mm zoom at 20mm, f16, 1 second, ISO 200. I was able to achieve a pleasing motion effect in the water by stacking a three stop ND and polarizer filters on the lens to get the shutter speed down to one second. I almost always shoot in RAW format which requires processing. Initial processing is done in LightRoom and later in PhotoShop if required.
This image was taken looking away from the setting sun and seeing a wonderful light developing in the eastern sky. Initially it was the quality of the light and the reflections in the water that caught my eye. This image attempts to capture this and the overall serenity of the scene.
The image titled "A Storm Sweeps over Lake Superior" was taken September, 2007. I was driving to Grand Marais, MN with a friend when we noticed a storm sweeping in toward the lake and the sun sneaking in under the clouds to light the tops of the trees. We only had a few minutes to get the images before the wonderful light vanished. I felt very lucky to have witnessed the scene and get one shot that I was pleased with!
Construction on the Port of Churchill started in 1930 and by 1931 it received it's first shipments of grain. Since being purchased by OmniTrax in 1997, the Port has experienced a revival and now regularly gets in excess of 12 freighters a season. The shipping season is short in Churchill, going from about mid July to the end of October. This image of the Port of Churchill was taken shortly after sunset.
The Precambrian rock outcrop formations along the coast east of Churchill are believed to be around 2.5 billions years old. These rocks are sometimes referred to as Churchill greywacke. Over billions of years, these rocks have been worn smooth by the elements and glaciation. This particular location, about five minutes east of Churchill along the coastal road, was a favourite sunset destination. In this photo, the golden evening light illuminates the rocks and ice flows on the Bay.
Churchill MB is located at approximately 58N latitude; at this latitude in July, the days are very long and so are the sunsets, they seem to go on forever. Well, not really, but the period of great light (before and after sunset) does last for an hour or more. This image was taken about 40 minutes after sunset.
