It’s June again. “So, what’s so special about June?” you ask. Well…the orchids are back! Every year I make the trek to Tobermory, Ontario to take photographs of a few types of orchids that are usually out in droves. This year with high water levels we were not sure what to expect.
Traverston Mill
My friend Nigel has joined me for the journey and as always we decided to take the “long” way. This usually means finding new places to drive through on our way up and not necessarily places that are on the way.
Our first stop is the Traverston Mill, located west of Markdale in the small town of Traverston. The mill was built in 1870 and operated as a gristmill till 1955, it is currently a private residence.
Chantry Island Lighthouse
After messing around with some infrared photos of the mill we headed north west to the town of Southampton to photograph the Chantry Island Lighthouse. There was a haziness in the air so we didn’t stay long here. When processing the photo I went with a more vintage look to give it a little more character.
River in InfraRed
Going off the beaten track we found some little goodies to photograph by the side of the road. One of them was this picturesque scene of a river. I can’t remember where the heck this is but that’s the fun in exploring side roads.
Today I headed with my friend Nigel up to Lion’s Head for a weekend adventure on the trails. This three and a half hour drive can be tedious but there are some goodies to photograph along the way.
Abandoned House
An old abandoned house, on the west side of the highway, has caught my eye a few times but with the fall colours it was hard not to pull over and get some shots. And then I had to try it out in infrared.
Abandoned House IR
Back on the road after getting some shots of the house we decided to stop at Jones Falls in Owen Sound and make our way along the trail to the bottom of the waterfall. Someone had decided to build a little waterfall guardian at its base.
Guardian
I couldn’t leave you without a photo of the falls so here is a view just off to the side.
Jones Falls
From here we got back onto the trail and headed back to the car for the final leg of the trip.
Infrared photography is one of those things that fascinates me and I can’t wait for spring and summer to come so I can play around with it. I’ve tried to do infrared in winter but I find the best results are in the spring when all the leaves are brand spanking new.
Today I decided to take the infrared camera with my on my neighbourhood walk to have a little fun.
My friend Nigel had this great idea for a road trip – drive around Lake Simcoe and photograph the unqiue churches that were built there. I figured I had some time so why not. It wasn’t at all like I expected. Architecture photography is a little harder for me as I don’t always know how to treat them photographically. I do like to challenge myself to go outside my comfort zone so I went along for the ride.
Our first stop was at one of the more unique churches on the trip – Sharon Temple.
Sharon Temple
Sharon Temple was constructed between 1825 and 1832 by Quaker David WIlson. There are other restored buildings on the property which include David Willson’s Study, a unique little building.
As we drove along the shoreline of the lake we stopped to get some photographs of a boat house and some docks. After I few shots I decided to try some infrared photographs. Below is the infrared version.
Boat shed and docks in infrared
Continuing on we stopped at St. George’s church, it was a more traditional looking church but what really struck me here was the beautiful grounds and the view of the lake.
St. George’s Church
One of our final stops was at St. Andrews church. Its towering structure is located up a short staircase allowing it to loom over you as you pass by.
St. Andrews Church
These were just a selection of the churches we stopped to photograph. I believe the final count was six in total and it took the full day to make our way around the lake. A great road trip if you are a fan of church architecture. My only suggestion is doing this road trip in more comfortable weather as the wind off the lake is bitterly cold in winter.
It’s been a week since the heat wave and the camping trip to Tobermory, Ontario and this time I’m camping with my friend Nigel in Killbear Provincial Park. The weather this time around is not as friendly as last week. Temps are back to the regular cool temps of late September here in the middle of Ontario.
White Tailed Deer
When we arrived it was raining so we timed getting our tent up in-between spurts of rain. Once the tent was up we decided to drive around the park and see which trails we would do the next day. On our way through the campground we found some deer grazing in the grasses.
Since the light rain wasn’t looking like it would let up we decided that instead of making dinner in the rain we would head to town and get warmed up at a local place.
It was a chilly night’s sleep and I was glad to be up and around the next day. The rain had cleared and we had beautiful blue skies great us for our morning hike and some infrared shooting.
Lone Pine Killbear PP
And of course you can’t miss photographing the small things:
From Darkness
Our last evening was going to be another cold one but we had some plans to hang by the fire before heading out to the photograph the windswept tree at night.
Killbear Tree at Night
As we photographed different angles of the tree we started to notice something happening on the water. A beautiful mist started rising up and moving along the top of the water. Added to that the moon’s glow made it seem eerie as you watched this mist move this way and that.
Enveloping Mist
I could have watched it all night but we had to get some sleep as we were heading home the next day. How quickly the weekends end when there is so much to photograph.
Nigel and I decided to get out for a bike ride today. After quite a few times of talking about going to Ken Whilans Resource Management Area we finally decided that today was the day. The park is situated right on Highway 10 in the Caledon area alongside the Caledon Trailway. We decided to first go around the small lake in the park before heading out on the main trail.
Bare Tree
It’s a quick trail around the lake when on a bike and there were a few muddy spots but we got through without incident. Some of the views were pretty good so I stopped to take a few photos. Once we got back to the parking lot we headed southwest on the Caledon Trailway. As usual we stopped here and there to take some photos but it wasn’t until we passed the entrance to the golf course that I noticed the ruins of wood shed.
Abandoned Shed
We immediately stopped and went over to explore. What really drew me was the colours of the wood peaking through the old stain/paint juxtaposed with the plant life growing around it.
Old Shed Wall
After photographing this shed to death we hopped back on the bikes and rode a little further. It didn’t take long before I got hungry and we headed back to the parking lot and to my favourite local diner, Caledon Family Restaurant. I highly recommend going there if you’re in the area – you’ll love it.
