I’m sure most people would think this photo was taken in the country somewhere…but what is on the other side of the red roof buildings is Lakeshore Drive, a busy road in North Bay…there are many areas along Lake Nipissing that look like this…this was taken from Sunset Park looking east…while the bay is open there is a very thing layer of ice on the water…
I know this is a rather simple photo of pussy willows, but I have to say this was a huge surprise to me…the tree had to be 8 or 9 feet tall…very scraggly with only the buds you see in this photo…I didn’t know they grew that tall…
anyone who visited in the winter time saw my post regarding the snowmobile “drag races”, well this is what is left of the drag race track…you can still see the banks on either side, showing the location of the track…
experimenting…
I visit a number of photography blogs and every now and then I’m inspired to try something different with the processing of the photos. I’m limited to some extent with the programs I have, Photoscape, and Picasa…I also have gimp but I’ve not taken the time to get into it. recently I”ve seen a few blogs who are using some form of HDR effect, which I rather like so I checked Picasa and it has a setting called HDR-ish…so I gave it a try with a couple of my photos…if you’ve been visiting for awhile you will know I’ve a thing for gnarly, naked trees…the waterfront on Lake Nipissing offers a few great ones due to the very high winds blowing regularly in the area…below is the original photo.
below I’ve used the HDR-ish setting…
of course this one is a simple black and white…more dramatic…
this one is black & white with HDR-ish used…
reflection, Mallard, floating
I went back to Sunset Park yesterday…I wanted to see if there were any changes since Sunday…not much really, with the exception of more snow piled up on the small islands off the shores of Sunset Park. I rather liked this piece of ice floating along…
on my way home I stopped at the Eva Wardlaw Conservation area…the creek flows into Lake Nipissing…it was like glass yesterday…allowing for interesting reflections…
saw this Mallard Duck come out of the culvert and swim along towards Lake Nipissing…he didn’t appear to care that I was there, although he did make sure to stay close to the opposite bank…I saw a number of Mallards at Sunset Park but they didn’t like me around and quickly flew away…
spring is working on it!
here are a couple more of the ice breaking up…all were taken on Sunday. this is facing the area/bay where I grew up, if you look closely you will see a water tower above the tree line on the left just past the clump of trees in the foreground. my home as a child is to the left of that…I know you can’t see anything but this may help visitors understand why I love the water so much!
I like the dark and light of the pieces of ice…some pieces are more saturated with water than others…I heard on the news last evening there is a possibility of flooding on Lake Nipissing…they feel it could reach flood levels by the weekend…
some of you may remember I shot a photo from a similiar angle in the winter…looks different…I’ll take another when the grass is green…
Sunset Park…
Sunday afternoon I ventured over to Sunset Park…the last photos I showed from here were during the snowmobile drag races…well this day was all about the ice beginning to break up…this is facing the sw shore…I’ve more ice shots and will post them once I’ve had a chance to look through them all…I should make an effort to go back in the next day or so as the temperature has been around 58F yesterday and today which will to soften the ice.
more winter photos…
this was taken yesterday…the wind was bitterly cold, but when I first went out it was somewhat sunny..I’ve been meaning to take a photo of this tree since last fall and just got around to it yesterday…I took the shot at the wrong angle because it is difficult to tell that it is leaning right over the beach area…I should have taken it from the side…another day. this is looking west out over Lake Nipissing…still frozen solid, but it is starting to open up at the shore line and it is a good sign when we see dark areas in the ice…
below is some of the ice as it begins to move at the Waterfront, Lake Nipissing…I’ve got some really interesting shots from Sunset Park this afternoon of the ice movement…haven’t had time to process them yet, hopefully tomorrow
this is the nw side of Sunset Park…the water is down right now but not nearly as low as it usually is…the sand that is visible is usually covered with water in the summer time.
moon, spider & kitty
I was looking through some of my older photos for something specific…I didn’t find what I was looking for but found these three…the moon I took in 2010, looks to me as though it was one of my “from the vehicle” shots…not sure where though?
this next one is of a spider I saw on my back deck…I’m not afraid of spiders, but this one was huge, at least in my mind it was…2012
2012… the last one is of “Kitty”…she loves to lay on her back on the deck sunning herself
grayscale…
a blogging friend did a bit of black & white recently and I rather liked the look so decided to do something other than what is usual for me…I found three shots I and did them in grayscale…as is expected it changes the look considerably…it is good to step outside the norm on occasion…
bud n mary’s…cocoa beach
today was dreary, it drizzled, rained and darn well poured…hard…all day long, so that means today is another beach/water day on the blog…always makes me happy. the photo directly below was taken on the way back from Key West…in the Keys, but not sure which one…I don’t know Bud n Mary, but I liked that they named their Marina that way…this was taken from my moving vehicle so not the greatest shot…I played around with this one a bit…was interesting to see what I could achieve with the colour…
the two photos below are in Cocoa Beach…the sky was very strange this day, ranging from white fluffy clouds to wispy nothings and the colour of the sky was unusual as well…pretty but different… this is a long shot of the beach facing the Pier…it is a great place…people fish of it near the end but the main attraction are the 4 restaurants there, ranging bars type establishments to a classy type place…
the photo below was the day before the one above…confusing I know…I was surprised at the number of people who tried their hand as surfing on this shore line…I watched them on and off most of the day…looked like fun!
my view…
on the way back from Key West, we stopped so I could take photos of the old rail bridge on Bahia Honda Key,
I post them another day…but when I looked behind me I thought that view deserved a couple of photos as well…but then that is just me and my love of the water…both views are looking back towards Key West…
the shore line wasn’t great here, but then it isn’t in some places in the Keys…not a big deal for me…
if I wanted a beach I would be going to the Caribbean… not Key West.
more of Lake Nipissing
I took these yesterday, the first two are looking in the opposite direction of yesterdays photos…it will most likely be another two weeks before the ice is completely off the lake. Of course that all depends on how much wind and rain we have as both of these contribute to the ice break up.
What I was trying to show in the photo below is there are buds on this tree…on a few trees I noticed…I couldn’t zoom in as the trees are very mature and much taller than I at 5ft 4in…but…if you squint, you can see the buds…:) Spring is officially here!
beautiful day…
today is gorgeous…a blue, blue sky, which I absolutely love, sunny, a bit windy, but 49F which is none to shabby at this point! I managed to snap a few shots on my walk at one of the public access for Lake Nipissing. The whole lake is still completely frozen, but it is beginning to open at the shore, at least it is a start…there is already a small amount of debris on the shoreline, always is in the spring. It is from the people who ice fish out on the lake in the winter, they are supposed to cart their garbage/debris home with them and most do…if you look closely at the second and third photo you will see the debris…it will eventually get washed up on shore and be cleaned up.
FYI…these photos were taken with my iPhone 5…
Green Parrot…
it isn’t what you think…the Green Parrot is a bar in Key West, on the corner of Whitehead and Southard Streets, where everyone and anyone stops in to enjoy great music and a beverage…it is so busy it is almost impossible to get a seat on Friday or Saturday evening…serving locals and tourists alike since 1890…
as you can see the bicycle is a popular mode of transportation in Key West…
the hand…
I love old gnarly naked trees, they have such amazing texture and detail…if you look closely there is so much to see. Key West has some of the most wonderful trees, old, very gnarly, bent in unusual shapes for who knows why, not to forget the lush colours…this one is one of my favourites,I call it the “hand”…the second photo gives you a better idea of why…
a vision…
today we are having what amounts to a mini snow storm…I know it won’t last long and the snow won’t stay, but it is one of those beach photo days folks…here is a long shot of Cocoa Beach…stopped there on the way back from Key West before going to my Mother’s place in Leesburge…I liked it, there, it reminded me of a mini Daytona Beach when it was thriving…I didn’t realize that Cocoa Beach was a surfing destination, in fact there was some kind of tournament happening during my stay…didn’t venture there but managed to get a few photos from the beach…
US Navy…
at the end of Southard St., Key West, is a docking area, used by both the US Coast Guard and the US Navy…
the building below has been in disrepair for the last three years I’ve been in that area…
I have no idea of what it was used for or why it was abandoned like this…but it is a very large piece of
property that could be put to good use on on the waters edge like this…below shows the front of the build,
along with what looks like some kind of old artillery, past its prime? The only protection is the blue/grey
tarps and the yellow caution tape…both of which have seen better days…
beauty & gnarly…
here is one of my favourite bushes…Bougainvillea……so vibrantly colourful
before, during & after…
on any given night you will see many boats off the coast of Key West waiting for the sunset…it is definitly a favourite pastime for anyone visiting…the first two boats are heading out to wait for the sun to set, the third photo is as the sun is setting, I thought the gray scale added an interesting touch to the sunset and the final one is sometime after the sunset..
sap is running…Mr. Woodpecker has visited!
last week on my walk I spotted a couple of things that I’d not see before…keep in mind this is a residential street I’m walking on and generally I walk down the street in one direction, no special reason other than I’m a creature of habit…this particular day I decided to be “wild & crazy” and walk from the opposite direction…pays to change directions…below is a photo of maple trees with pails hanging from them collecting sap…something I’ve never seen before in this location…but coming from the opposite direction I wouldn’t…in this photo you can only see two pails, look closely…but there had to be at least 8…
something else I spotted was this tree above, where Mr. Woodpecker has been very busy for sometime now…
because it snowed!
When I looked out the window this morning it was snowing…I wasn’t happy as most of our snow was gone…I know it won’t last long, in fact a great deal of it is gone already…to counter act the snow affect, I thought I’d post things that make me happy…pretty flowers and part of the side garden path to condos in Truman Annex, Key West…
Heather Cote... 