For a change of pace, I went out with my friend Nigel for another night shoot. It’s been a little while since I enjoyed some night photography. We decided to head over to Luther Marsh – somewhere close by, but still a little ways out of the city.
Luther Lake
There was a haze along the horizon. It looks like these hazy skies we were seeing could possibly be from the fires out west. As time went by the haze became worse and much more prominent in our photos.
Stars over Luther Lake
It got to the point where it was getting harder to see the stars.
Trail at Luther Lake
We decided it was time to pack up and head home. Hopefully, we will find another night to head out again soon. One preferably less hazy.
After spending a couple of hours at the monastery (see the previous post) I had to move on as they were closing for the day. My next stop was to Belém Tower to catch the sunset. On my way over I noticed this little lighthouse that perfectly aligned with the sun.
The Lighthouse
Not much further from the lighthouse was the Tower (you can see it in the distance in the photo above). A couple of nights before they had quite the celebration here and the scaffolding was still up so I didn’t have a lot of great angles to play with as I took my photos of Belém Tower.
Belém Tower
I was lucky enough to catch the sun off the side tower as it was setting. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a vantage point that worked for what I had in my mind. After checking out all the angles I decided to move on and make my way over to the MAAT. The MAAT is the Museum of Art, Architecture, and Technology located on the other side of Belém close to the train station. Since the sun was going down I wanted to get some fun night shots of the museum and the Ponte 25 de Abril bridge before heading back to the apartment.
Ponte 25 de Abril
As I walked the long road toward the MAAT I was greeted by this modern art piece lit up on dock just in front of the bridge. I”m not sure who the creator is or why it’s there but it’s definitely a conversation piece for those walking along the river.
Maat and Ponte 25 Abril
I waited patiently to get the photo above as there were quite a number of the people on the steps in front of me when I arrived. Surprisingly they all left quickly once the sun disappeared. I think they missed the most beautiful part of the day but it was a bonus for me. The MAAT is a uniquely shaped building, as you can see from the photo above, and what I loved most was the fact that you could walk a ramp up its roof to get some great views.
MAAT Roof and View
I had a great evening out here in Belém. I’m also a little sad as there is only one day left before I leave this beautiful city behind for home. But there are a couple more places I have to visit in central Lisbon not too far away from the apartment before that happens.
Tonight there is no moon so my friend Nigel and I decided to jump in the car and head north to look for some stars. As we headed north towards Luther Marsh things got a little on the cloudy side but not enough to deter us.
Above the Clouds
The layer of clouds seemed to hover along the horizon so when we found ourselves a spot to view the milky way part of it was covered. Ah well. You take your chances with weather when you’re out shooting.
City Glow
That orange glow in the sky looks like a sunset but its actually the lights from the city of Orangeville located not too far away.
Look Way Up
A beautiful night out and a good start to a summer season of night photography.
The Perseid Meteor shower is happening right now. It happens every year around this time and this year I headed out with a friend to photograph it and the Milky Way from a dark sky preserve.
Milky Way
The dark sky preserve we visited was Torrance Barrens, which is located northwest of Gravenhurst. About a 2.5 hour drive from home.
Otherwordly
It was wonderful to be able to see so many stars. I love coming north to the darker skies.
Persids Meteor Shower
Meteor showers are always so spectacular to watch. How can you not get excited by streaks of light across the sky?
Milky Way Rising
My favourite part about stargazing or astrophotography is the Milky Way. It’s amazing to me that we are a part of this bunch of stars and that it is only a fraction of it that we can see.
Our second day in Algonquin Provincial Park we decided to do the Mizzy Lake Trail. This trail is over 15km so we decided to spend our day on this trail which meant packing a lunch, water and some snacks to get us through the day.
Mizzy Lake Trail
We stopped at the Visitor’s Centre before starting our trek and noticed that there had been a couple moose sighting on Mizzy Lake trail. I was excited to see that and hoped we would be lucky enough to see at least one of these beautiful creatures.
As we hit the trail things were pretty good but soon we were inundated by bugs. Black flies and mosquitos has discovered us and although we had some sprays it wasn’t enough to get them to stop buzzing around us.
DragonFly Iris
I think I needed a swarm of dragonflies to hang out with me. I have never put as much repellent on as I did today. At the halfway point of the hike we stopped for a lunch break overlooking a forested valley below us.
The views are breathtaking (sorry no photo for this one as I was busy eating my sandwich and enjoying the view). I could have stayed there all day but it was time to move on. And I’m so glad we did because as we turned the corner there he was. A magnificent moose was half submerged chomping on some lily pads. I mean, come on, how lucky were we? He was not that far away from us and just come coming closer.
Hungry Moose
It was hard to move on after seeing the moose but we still had half the trail to hike so off we went leaving the moose to his lunch. When we got back to the hostel we planned out our evening and one of the things we decided to do was a night shoot. Although we had a bright moon we hoped we could get some good photos of the stars.
Smoke Lake
The spot we choose had a little shack hidden in the distant shoreline and I tried my best to get a shot of it but with the moon so close to it and the trees keeping it in shadow it was difficult to get a great shot of it.
Moonlit Shack
Maybe next time we visit we can plan for a moonless night and try this out again.
