Swan Love

It is spring at last, and this pair of swans was courting and preening at the Brighton Marina. Ansel Adams, renowned photographer, said it best: "Sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready to have somebody click the shutter."

Supermoon - Closest in Years

When the moon is as close to Earth as it will be for another 18 years, you just have to go out and take some photos. This is the result.

Oldsquaw Duck (clangula hyemalis)

This pretty little fellow and his friend were paddling in the harbour in the sunshine the other morning. I looked him up to find his name was Oldsquaw, and then was told this has been changed to Long Tail Duck - a sadly prosaic name for such a charming specimen.

Forest Stream

While we wait for summer and warmth to return, here is something to remind us. We were in a stand of aspens in the Northumberland Forest. The trail passed the edge of a south facing cliff, and the sun poured in through the trees. You can see a bit of blue sky reflected in the water. The green tint is natural - no retouching was done. A trick of the light, I suppose, taken with my pocket camera.

Tree Shadow

Today, I was looking for interesting shadows and found this. Do trees grow on pavement? Only under the brightest sunshine.

Harbour Sunrise

One aspect of this blog is to provide a record of my growth as a photographer. Here's one to benchmark myself by. Next year, when I shoot a scene like this, I want to be able to look back and see improvement. For now, even though I think I can do so much better technically, this beauty still makes me catch my breath.

Winter Grasses

Cobourg recently installed an all-season garden at the beach. I'm not sure that was their intent, but I am happy with the result. The summer flowers gave way to fall foliage, and then winter set in. Now that spring is near, these lovely seed tassels, in the muted winter colour palette of straw and blue, are all that's left.

Ice Shelf Under The Trees

Out for a hike today, we spotted this huge ice shelf supported by the trees when the snow melted away from underneath.

First Sunny Day

On this, the first sunny day in what seems like weeks, I found our shadows on the beach walk to be worth commemorating.

Bulrushes

Out with our hiking club on Sunday, I wanted to capture the misty weather in this monochromatic scene, and plunged thigh-deep into the snow filled ditch at the roadside while trying to get the right frame. Cold and wet, but happy with the result - and the rest of the hike got me warm and dry again.

Harbour Lights

This is the result of the first date with my new love - a Nikon D3100. I was hoping to catch the sunset, but delays gave me this instead. The cold was brutal, but the spectacular blue and gold colours in the ice made the frozen fingers a small price to pay. I also really like the vertical lines of the light reflections being crossed by the lines of snow on the ice - a subtle texturing that draws me to look more closely.

Red Sails in the Sunset





This scene reminds me of a painting my father did.The sunsets at the Cobourg Yacht Club can be stunningly beautiful, but the red-sailed yacht in the harbour was the perfect accent this evening.

Wicklow Beach

In this photo of the mouth of the boat launch area at Wicklow Beach, I was entranced by the curved shapes of the rocks and the ice on the water, and the sunlight dancing off the waves. What a perfect day!

Ice Sheets on the shore

Zoom in on the lower right area of this photo to see the delicate sheets of ice pushed up on shore by the wave action. This was taken at Wicklow Beach on Lake Ontario.

Cobourg beach in January

I took this photo low to the ground to capture the sun sparkling on the fresh snow, and used software to enhance the colours slightly to bring out the hints of a storm coming under those distant clouds.