Sunset Country Sky Calendar

The area in which I live has been designated by our provincial tourism body as “Sunset Country”.  We regularly get spectacular vistas throughout the year. Of course, those over the water are most beautiful because of the duplication created in the reflection. Part of my daily routine includes checking the west sky for colour as the sun dips below the horizon. Last June we were treated to one of the most colourful skies I have seen. The processors in my camera had difficulty dealing with the vibrant hues.

So, here is a desktop calendar for you to download and enjoy. For different screen resolutions, drop down the Free Calendar menu for June 2014.

free desktop calendar june 2014_1440x900

Sweet solstice

Although the worst of winter may be ahead, I delight in the knowledge that from this point on the calendar forward the sun will rise sooner and set later. 🙂winter stream

island at raleigh

This scene may look familiar to you. It was the foreground of moon shots I took in May.  You might even have the image as your July calendar desktop! 😉  I loved the graphic look of the trees and sky when the colour was removed from the image. I added a Radlab preset filter in Lightroom to bring out more contrast. Maybe I’ll send it out for printing…
desaturated sunset island

Critters captured

Here’s a collage of just some of the wildlife caught with my camera last month.
critters201306-2

Oh, yeah, did I mention I like to digital scrapbook, too?

Edit: Thanks to those of you who brought to my attention the errors in the initially posted graphic. Corrections have been made.

night light

There are so many beautiful sights in nature during our summer months. It’s difficult to pick favourites but reflections of the moonlight in a lake surface is definitely one of my top ten. Whether glass calm water mirrors the light or a light chop causes the light to dance, it provokes wonder in me.

In my constant hunt for an exceptional moon rise shot and with my trusty The Photographer’s Ephemeris application (which I discussed in this post), I headed out to Raleigh Lake just west of Ignace to scout a location in advance of the May full moon. I was delighted to find a little island between shorelines. The moon was scheduled to rise 40 minutes before  sunset so I knew the moon wouldn’t be very bright in the still lit sky. Sure enough, it rose where I expected and was quite faint. I was still pleased with the angle and foreground/water. Here’s a resulting shot.

moon rise at Raleigh-20130523-6916.jpg

Do you see the moon? Here’s a closer look.

moon rise at Raleigh-20130523-6918.jpg

The schedule for the following day, Friday, May 25 was full moon at 23:24; moonrise at 20:35; sunset at 20:55. The conditions would be better for a brighter moon on the horizon. I brought along a friend and a couple of flashlights so we could help each other find our way back in the pending darkness. Thankfully, the sky was clear (again), the bugs tolerable and the water calm. It was worth the wait!
Here it comes!
moon rise over Raleigh-20130524-6961.jpg

moon rise over raleigh-20130524-6968.jpg

What a night! Could it get better? In a way it did. Take a close look at the moon reflection in the image I selected and brightened for my July desktop calendar.

free desktop calendar July 2013 1440x900
The ripples were a result of a fish surfacing for a snack.

For specific screen resolutions of the calendar, drop down the Free Calendar tab at the top of the page or click here.

PS It was only a few days ago that an observant follower of my blog discovered that I had 31 days on my June desktop calendar! Oops. Sorry about that.

Moose crossing

yearling moose in spring

The back roads are finally dry enough to travel by vehicle. We picked a sunny afternoon for a drive and enjoyed watching this yearling moose poke his nose out of the brush on the side of the road, trot along ahead of us then duck back into cover.