There are so many reasons to love fall. Clear skies seems so much bluer in the cooler air. Of course, all the vibrant shades of the rainbow are painted on the hillsides take your breath away. But one of my favourite autumn things is a calm misty morning at the lake.
It has been a challenging month for me. My computer and I were separated for all but a few days of August! Thankfully, family visits and work kept me sane. Taking photos in the meantime held no appeal for me since I was not able to do my post processing. My new computer and I are becoming acquainted as I reconnected with my digital stuff. It will be a while before I have retrieved all my files and folders from the external hard drive and online backups. I’m so glad I had several levels of digital storage. Where is your stuff backed up….?
Better late than never I offer a calendar for this month. For different screen resolutions, select Free Calendar from the drop down menu above.
There are a number of locations around me that never disappoint when it comes to offering beautiful scenes. Irene Lake, just 15 miles by air south of us, is one of those treasures. The water is crystal clear and there are many beautiful sand beaches. Conveniently, we operate a couple of outpost cabins on this lake which require the occasional visit for upkeep and maintenance. 😉
Irene is on a chain of lakes that has been a popular canoe route for centuries. In fact, the beach where the Gamble River runs into Irene Lake has offered up to the diligent observer pieces of pottery or primitive weapons. We affectionately call the spot Artifact Beach. During our last visit, I spent a little time not looking through the lense of my camera and stumbled across the treasure below.
Of course, I also took a few scenery pictures and selected a view from the water towards the entrance of the Gamble River for my August desktop. If you would like to use the calendar for yours, click here and select the appropriate screen resolution. Enjoy.
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…
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.
Do you see the moon? Here’s a closer look.
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!
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.
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.
The rumble of thunder at dusk drew me away from Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals. I grabbed my camera and tripod and set up with a finger on the shutter button to try to catch a lightning strike before the pending rain.
Got it!
The mosquitos were abundant and hungry in the calm air. Thankfully, I was reasonably well covered and held out for a few more shots before the wind and rain. Here are two more:
Oh, and the game went into overtime! Bonus.
Karen Greaves Photography & Fibre Art 