I received a text from a photographer friend of mine who had recently done a photo shoot up in Meaford. He told me that a rare phenomenon was happening in the harbour – Blue Ice. So you know I had to get my butt up there stat.
Grounded
I found this shipwreck in the parking lot of the lunch place. Okay, it’s not really a shipwreck – just a boat someone put there cause it looked cool. Anyhoo, after some grub, I headed to the waterfront.
Blue Ice Phenomenon
So here is what happens according to science: Blue ice is formed when there is a lack of bubbles inside the ice and the ice is dense and thick. It also absorbs blue wavelengths which means when the light is reflected from the ice it appears to be blue. Regular white ice has bubbles inside and absorbs all the colour wavelengths which give it an appearance of white or clear. Intersting, no?
Okay here’s an interesting side note: When scuba diving the last colour wavelength to disappear before total darkness descends upon you is blue. Red is the first to go.
Moving on:
The light was a little harsh for photos and every time the sun hid behind some clouds all the blue went away and things looked dreary. I did meet some nice people out on the beach photographing the ice but eventually the cold and lack of ideas on how to shoot this called me back to the car. I mean really? All this great ice and nothing was inspiring for me? I really wanted this to work but I got nada.
Ye Ole Door
So instead I give you Ye Ole Door instead. Talk about inspiration dying a slow death. Argh – some days just suck.
After two solid days of driving we are finally in Nova Scotia but the driving is not done just yet. This is a road trip after all and that means we are driving to different destinations on most of the days of this 15 day trip. Today’s journey takes us from Truro down to Peggy’s Cove. With it being a more leisurely drive it was much easier to do some photography.
Lobster Trap
We stoped at small fishing villages along the way. To me these towns are what the east coast is about in my books.
Morning Meeting
The birds on the fishing shack looked like they were in conversation with each other and I’m convinced they were. They certainly visited for awhile before moving on. Speaking of moving on, It was time to head to Peggy’s Cove to catch some late day light.
When we arrived it was busy so we wandered the town before coming up to the lighthouse. Since this is a popular place I decided to leave people in my photographs to give some perspective to the lighthouse and the shoreline.
Sunset Photos at Peggys Cove
The late day sun and cloud were great but soon disappeared. Sunset ended up with very little cloud making it not as dramatic as we had hoped. I was still able to get some great shots but the one above is my favourite from the day.
Roy Ramsay of Outdoor Photography Canada and I planned a late evening of astrophotography tonight but we were to be thwarted by the weather. It was clear skies at my place but as I headed into Brampton to pick up Roy a light fog seemed to have settled in. In the car we discussed whether this fog would roll out or if we could find a spot that wasn’t affected by it. We were headed towards the Niagara region and it looked as though the fog was not going to let go. Rather it just got thicker and thicker as we headed south. Deciding that this would be a bust for star photography we decided that we would work with the fog instead.
Off the highway down by Jordan, Ontario there is a ship that is scuttled very close to shore so we thought that would be a fun place to stop and get some shots. Here is the full view of ship surrounded by thick fog in the background. The orange/brown glow is from the city lights and the breaker wall.
Jordan Harbour Ship 2
We tried out many different angles, along with playing with some light painting techniques. Below is a close up and processed in black and white.
Jordan Harbour Ship
We had a great time playing with the challenges of the fog. Hopefully next time we’ll get out and see the stars.
Dave Hook, Paul Berkloo and myself decided to try out some night shoots at the old beached ship at Jordan Station. This ship has been beached close to the marina for as long as I can remember. I thought i would be neat to try to get some night shots of the ship this time around and the guys were pretty excited about the idea too. We got there early enough to do some test shots and explore the area for some interesting compositions.
Breakwall
As soon as the stars started showing up I turned my attention to the ship. Using my 15mm lens to get the full ship in the shot I was pretty happy with the results and it was hard to choose my favourite one.
Lost Ship
After exhausting every angle of the ship we decided to head home but not before one quick stop – 50 point pier.
The Pier at Night
It’s always tough to get night shots when large cities are around. The piers are no exception. With Hamilton in one direction…
Pier Dreams
…and Toronto in the other you will always have a glow. Although not always a bad thing it is always good to know that these will appear in your shots.
