Tag: Saskatchewan
Black and White Birds
When I read the prompt for Cee’s Black and White Photo Challenge: Birds I considered giving this challenge a miss.
Having had bird photos published everywhere from field guides to calendars over the years there has been a few times when I was embarrassed having my name on the photo credit. Each time was when an editor/publisher converted a colour original into monochrome.
Then I thought about going with a small selection of black and/or white birds. Meaning mostly black and/or white plumage.
Snow Geese on autumn migration in Saskatchewan, Canada.
A Turkey Vulture making sure that the photographer is alive as it glides along the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton, Ontario, Canada.
A section of a winter Gull roost takes flight over Hurleston Reservoir near Nantwich, Cheshire, England.
Tuesday Photo Challenge – Connect
I had a couple of ideas for the Tuesday Photo Challenge – Connect.
I went with the following idea because there’s two types of connection involved.
The first is a channel connecting a marsh to a section of the Last Mountain Lake National Wildlife Area in Saskatchewan, Canada.
The second is the connection between the birds and the photographer. It was a hot summer afternoon and my options were to lie in the hot sun on the edge of the channel or sit in the water with the birds. After I had been sitting in the water for a while the birds got used to me being there and pretty much ignored me. That’s the sort of connection you want, the birds behaving naturally as if you weren’t there.
The reason for me sitting in the water, a flock of American White Pelicans fishing in a channel where a marsh drains into a section of the lake.
I noticed that I was also sharing the channel with a Red-necked Grebe.
After a while the Pelicans would swim out of the current in the channel and paddle past me back to the start.
The Grebe also got used to my presence in the water and would surface anywhere around me after a dive.
Friendly Friday: Funny Furry Friends
When I read the prompt for the Friendly Friday Photo Challenge: Funny Furry Friends I had a few options.
There’s no shortage of furry friends within yards of where I sit writing this with Squirrels, Chipmunks and even Raccoons visiting the yard in Ontario, Canada on a regular basis.
However, I haven’t spent months digitising my slide archives not to make use of the digital versions. So here’s a small selection of furry friends from Shropshire, England and Saskatchewan, Canada.
A European Rabbit photographed on the Brown Moss Nature Reserve near Whitchurch, Shropshire, England.
A Richardson’s Ground Squirrel looking for something to eat in the spring having just emerged from hibernation. Photographed near Punnichy, Saskatchewan, Canada.
This Striped Skunk was photographed at Middle Quill Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada in the spring. I was looking for migrant birds when it wandered out of the vegetation along the shoreline.
This is a Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel. Photographed in the spring near Punnichy, Saskatchewan, Canada. I have never worked out which lines on the ground squirrels body you are supposed to count to get 13.
A Photo a Week Challenge: Up In The Air
This is my contribution to Nancy’s A Photo a Week Challenge: Up In The Air.
The prompt got me thinking about the times I have pointed the camera upwards to photograph clouds. Sometimes I leave a small strip of the landscape in to give the photo a sense of scale.
A section of Last Mountain Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada at sunset in the autumn.
A frozen and partially snow covered Lake Huron at sunset with Chantry Island and its lighthouse on the horizon. Southampton, Ontario, Canada.
Canada Day fireworks in the town of Wiarton from across Colpoy’s Bay on the South Bruce Peninsula, Ontario, Canada.
Snow Geese on autumn migration flying to roost at sunset over Middle Quill Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada.
CFFC: Panoramic Views
This is my contribution to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Pick a Topic from this Photo where Cee posts a photo and participants pick something from the photo to make a post about.
As the photo Cee posted was a mural of a landscape in a panoramic format I decided to go with a small selection of panoramic landscapes.
Trees in the snow. Hatherton, Cheshire, England.
Trees and their shadows. Bickerton Hill, Cheshire, England.
Clouds over the lake at sunset. A section of Last Mountain Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Ice on Lake Huron at sunset in the spring. Saugeen Shores, Ontario, Canada.
Fan Of… Uni-Loc tripods
This is a contribution to Jez Braithwaite’s Fan Of… #58 photo challenge.
Firstly I should say that I don’t know if Uni-Loc are still in business. I emailed them a couple of years ago and after an initial response never heard from them again. Their Facebook page hasn’t been updated since 2012. I have been using the tripods since the early 1990s and used to know Ken Brett, the man behind the design.
Uni-Loc tripods are very different from most tripods. The system tripods can be disassembled and reassembled in a different configuration with an Allen key (wrench). The legs can be locked at almost any angle and all three lock with a single locking lever. The bottom leg sections are sealed meaning that they can be submerged up to the locking knob without taking on water. If you submerge the legs above the first section they can quickly be removed and drained with an Allen key (wrench).
They aren’t a tripod I would recommend to most photographers, they’re heavy and bulky when folded but in deep water, snow or mud they’re my first choice.
In 1995 I spent the summer in Saskatchewan, Canada. I took my medium sized Uni-Loc tripod with me in case I needed to use a tripod in water or mud.
A Willet photographed on a shallow slough near Punnichy, Saskatchewan with the tripod. Some of the sloughs in the area can be quite alkaline so the sealed legs were useful. I could rinse any mud off the legs when I got a chance to.
To get into position for this photo I waded through knee high snow and then pushed the tripod legs down into the snow for maximum stability.
The tripod in use on the Colpoy’s Bay shoreline at sunrise. I was photographing the waves forming icicles. By the time I was ready to pack the tripod away two of the legs were frozen to the pebbles.
What I was photographing while the tripod was freezing to the pebbles.
