Another journey in experimenting with astrophotography takes my friend Nigel and me through Grey county up to the shores of Georgian Bay.
Abandoned Home
Of course, we can’t ignore the goodies we find along the way. Like this abandoned home crushed by a neighbouring tree with a beautiful sunset behind it. What more could a girl ask for?
Well, stars for one. The jewels of the sky. That’s what I’m looking for tonight.
Jewels in the Sky
We planted ourselves on shores Georgian Bay inside Craigleith Provincial Park in hopes of finding some great shots of the Milky Way. Alas, the clouds rolled in early and although they cleared a little we knew it wasn’t going to be a good night for practicing our astrophotography.
As we drove home we kept our eyes peeled for any inspiration before we got back to the lights of big city. We were very lucky to spot this barn.
Barn and Milky Way
Although we still had to deal with the clouds I did come away with this photo that I like quite a bit. And now, we have a spot to come back to on another, preferably cloudless, night.
I was on my way to the Toronto Islands for an event at work when I noticed the following scene in front of me.
Clearing Skies
Stormy looking days are alway epic in Toronto. I was lucky enough to catch this because soon after the clouds moved out and blue skies were the only thing to see for the rest of the day.
I was sitting out on the patio this evening with my camera in hopes of catching something interesting.
One-Legged Robin
I got lucky when a robin decided to visit. She look a little rough land in this photo seem to be a one-legged robin. Okay, she wasn’t really one-legged but she kept sitting there staring at me with her foot up. It looked so odd. Eventually she had enough and flew away. After her brief visit I decided to explore the garden and work on some close-up photography.
Cherry Bark
This closeup is of a cherry tree that is over 40 years old and unfortunately will not be around much longer. The trunk has been split open for years and the main branches have broken in the past due to the weight of the cherries. Nowadays there are very little cherries to eat in the hot summer sun so its time for this tree to go and a new one to take its place.
I did another walk around the neighbourhood to get some fresh air. While on my walk I noticed that the purple loosestrife flowers were just starting to bloom.
Purple Loosestrife
Purple and pink seemed to be the theme of the day as I finished my walk in the garden and found this pretty succulent called Ice Flower.
Ice Flower
And so today’s neighbourhood and garden walk is over. What will I discover next time?
One of the things about astrophotography is that it is weather dependant. You need clear skies and you definitely need to be away from all the light pollution in the city. Luckily last night was the perfect night to get out to shoot some photos of the Milky Way. But where to go? Well, not too far away is a dark sky preserve called Torrance Barrens. It is one of the closer spots to the city for some really dark skies. My friend Nigel came along with me and after arriving we scouted out a few locations. Once we selected our preferred spot we set up our gear and waited for night to fall.
View to the sky
When night finally fell and we started seeing the stars out in full force it was time to start shooting. I tried a little light painting in the photo above to get some light on the foreground. I had some technical difficulties with the light I brought so I ditched it and continued the rest of the night without it.
Enormity
At one point I decided to take multiple shots of the Milky Way to create the panoramic image above. It ended up being 32 photos that had to be stitched together and straightened out. Whew!
Checking out the views
Before packing up and heading home we decided to have a little fun and add ourselves to the photos with our headlamps. We found it a little difficult to stay as still as possible but for our first attempt we did pretty good.
On our last full day at the park we decided to get out in the kayaks and paddle over to Mazinaw Rock. Last year I brought my GoPro with me but this year I decided to bring along my Nikon D800 with me. I just prayed I wouldn’t tip the kayak over and lose the camera. (Spoiler: I didn’t flip. Whew!)
Feeling Small
Paddling out the rock its hard not to feel small as Mazinaw towers over you. One of these days I”m going take the ferry over and hike the top of the rock.
Getting up close with Mazinaw Rock
It’s an unforgettable experience to be out in the water and up close and personal with Mazinaw.
