I enjoyed reading Photographs not Taken, A Collection of Photographers’ Essays, edited by Will Steacy. This book was a gift which I really appreciated and could relate to. The collection of short essays capture thoughts on situations from a variety of photographers who describe their photographs not taken.

For me it has been various reasons: no camera at hand (although much less likely now with the cell phone), no time to get the shot, driving and couldn’t stop, decided to appreciate the scene without taking a picture . . . you get the idea . . .

Today’s challenge was the moon and an eagle. In my mind I could see the perfect shot, the eagle posing elegantly on a branch with the moon in the background. This opportunity presented itself while I was taking a walk down by the creek.

Here’s how it played out.

While on the walk, I saw the moon in the sky framed by some branches so pulled out the cell phone and captured this snapshot.

The Moon in the Branches

I kept walking and eventually turned around. On the way back I spotted a bald eagle hiding in the branches. I snapped a photo with the iPhone. Get the picture quickly was the thought at this point.

Eagle with iPhone

Shortly thereafter I came back to the same area with the camera and long zoom lens and was able to catch sight of the eagle, still well hidden behind the branches.

Eagle in the Tree

To get a clear view of the eagle, I decided that I needed to move around, watching traffic on the road, the slope of the ditches, the shrubs, the poison ivy, the mud at the creek, the direction of the sunlight in the scene . . .

Try from another angle I kept thinking while continually on the move looking for a good clear line of sight. The branches all around seem to block a good view of the bald eagle. This bird sure put itself in a secure spot.

About 180 degrees around the tree, I found another view with less obstruction and took another shot. Not perfect lighting but ok.

Eagle from the other side

Then it hit me, go for the moon in the background.

After a while I was able to figure out where I needed to be . . . right in the middle of a small grove of trees and shrubs with the correct line of sight right through a myriad of leaves and layer upon layer of obstructive branches. No possible shot.

That was my photograph not taken.

Eagle without the Moon in the Background

Although I didn’t get my ideal shot, I hope you enjoyed the short post and the pictures.

Until next time,

Andy

While made years ago, many split-rail fences have stood the test of time and remain basically unchanged decades later. I guess this kind of fence was pretty easy to construct with the wood at hand and little else. Sometimes the oldest ones disappear into shrubs and trees that have grown around them. There don’t seem to be many new ones, having been superseded by posts and wire long ago. Those that remain seem to do their job well, separating farms from roads, or forests from grazing land.

The classic zig-zag form somehow holds back the forest from spreading onto the field. The zig-zag structure is highly adaptable to the shape of the land, provides resistance to toppling in the wind, and caters well to expansion and contraction of the wood between summer and winter. Since they are built on top of the land, they would have been easy to construct without the need for posts dug into the ground. Sometimes they sit right on the Alvar rock that is ever present in the island. One often wonders how you could farm here at all.

Here are a few photos to shine some light on their appearance.

Zig-Zag

Shadows

Jumbled

On the Rocks?

Self-Portrait From Above

Another Perspective

So that’s it. A few fence pictures and perhaps my fascination, or even obsession, with these fences will now be satisfied, at least temporarily.

If you are interested in my other Manitoulin Island posts you can find them from my substack home page, see below.

Until next time,

Andy

Andy’s Substack

My personal Substack

By Andy Moeck

I did manage to catch a few shots, so here we go:

Bald Eagle Soaring By

And then an hour later, another eagle flew by the same way. Either two separate eagles an hour apart, or the same eagle looped around and flew by again.

Vulture in Overwatch

Another Vulture - as creepy as the first one

Honey Bee Collecting Pollen on Russian Sage

Monarch Butterfly and a Bee make an exit together

(probably not the same bee, but you never know)

Humans can do this flight thing too!

Having the camera in hand, saw the plane and decided to take a shot.

And a while later another plane flew by.

A few geese . . . going the other way

Monarch and the Moon

I hope you enjoyed the pictures from today. I once again reflect that there are so many interesting things around us, if we just take the time to appreciate them.

Until next time,

Andy

Spent a lovely day outside surrounded by mosquitoes . . . as was suspected for hanging out near swampy, marshy areas. So that’s what bug repellent is for . . . except that mosquitoes seem to able to detect, nearly instantaneously, which body parts weren’t completely covered with bug spray. Once the sun arrived they tended to disappear and it was a lot easier to concentrate on the photography.

Here we go with a few pictures of things that can fly:

Bald Eagle Keeping Watch

Bald Eagle Soaring

A Few Double Crested Cormorants

Blue Dasher

Meadowhawk

Widow Skimmer

Collecting on a Thistle

Checking out the Nectar

That all for now. I hope you enjoyed this collection of a few photographs from my day spent near some nearby marshes.

Until next time,

Andy

Oops

Silky Striped Sweat Bee on Stone Crop

Western Honey Bee on (in?) Russian Sage

Green on Green

Japanese Beetle on Milkweed

White Cabbage Butterfly - AKA Cruciferous Vegetable Killer

Great Black Wasp on Oregano

Great Golden Sand Digger on Oregano

(with one wing a bit worse for wear)

Five Banded Thynnid Wasp on Goldenrod

(Myzinum quinquecinctum if you wish)

A Little Leafhopper

Who’s in Charge Here?

Harlequin Lady Beetle

That’s it for now. It’s amazing the diversity of insects that live around us if we take the time to look around closely, preserve their habitats and appreciate them.

Hope you enjoyed the photos and I welcome any feedback.

Until next time,

Andy

The Moon

I love the simplicity of this shot, with a focus on the crescent moon and the lake.

The non-crescent portion of the moon is lit up by earthshine. Photo taken with Nikon Z8, Nikkor 24-120 mm zoom lens at 120 mm, f/4, ISO 1600, with exposure of a bit under one second (1/1.3s).

If you explore the photo you will see that several stars are also visible: Nunki and Ascella in the Sagittarius constellation to the right side of moon, above and below the moon respectively.

The moon is right on top of a third star, Tau Sagettarii. These three stars and Phi Sagettarii, visible further above and to the right of Nunki in the picture below, form the handle of the teapot in Sagittarius.

The Moon Again - with telescope and night sky

This was a 3-second handheld shot with the iPhone to capture the stars. I took the photo in the morning at the end of the astrophotography session with the telescope. What the telescope saw is next . . .

Horsehead and Flame Nebula in Orion

I had a lot of trouble with this picture . . . Although I set the equipment up to take the usual stack of 5 minute duration images, I had to discard a lot of them due to satellites crossing the frame. More than half the images picked up at least one satellite. Fortunately, there were enough good frames left to capture the detail of the nebulosity in the Flame Nebula and clearly show the horse’s head in the aptly named Horsehead Nebula.

Pinwheel Galaxy near the Big Dipper

This went a lot better - sky was dark and clear and only a few frames had to be discarded. I love the spiral shape and what the universe has to offer us out there.

Very far away too - about 21 million light-years. How far away is that? Hmm . . . I will leave the math to you. For reference, a light-year is about 9.5 trillion kilometres.

The Moon Again - Eclipsed by the Earth and the Clouds

About a week and a half earlier, the moon was scheduled for a lunar eclipse. The weather was iffy but I thought I would get out to take some pictures if possible. I was all ready to take pictures of the red moon as it was setting but in the end decided to send up the drone to take this picture as the clouds rolled in. There it is - the moon - dead centre of the sky portion of the photo. Unfortunately, just a reddish smudge as the eclipse of moon started to take hold behind the clouds.

To see what we missed regarding the lunar eclipse, let’s head back to the 2025 files. Here is a composite of a previous lunar eclipse.

Total Eclipse of the Moon - March 2025

You can read more about that lunar eclipse below:

That’s it for this post and the short collection of pictures. Let me know what you think. Hopefully the weather will grace us with more clear nights ahead.

Until next time,

Andy

Pedestrian Bridge

City Skyscraper

Duck in the Icy Water

Drifting Snow

Cold Mist

Trees in the Pale Sun

Shadows on the Snow

The shapes, shadows and forms jump out in B+W without the distraction of colour. And yet, too much of this can sometimes make you feel dull and gloomy. Not wanting to impart a dull gloominess on you all, I will take our mental health into consideration and will leave you with a splash of colour to brighten the mood.

Delicate Sky

Ok - so I broke the B+W theme with the last picture . . . some scenes just lend themselves to colour, and even though this is a wintery scene and it’s still cold and icy out, I think it works better in colour. I guess that might be the lesson for me from this exercise: looking at each scene in both colour and B+W and then deciding if the colour is adding something to the picture or not.

Let me know what you think of this recent collection of photos.

Until next time,

Andy

Wait . . . this sounds like the start of a long-winded introduction.

Full Stop. Just the Pictures. Here we go:

A Collection of Winter Scenes

That’s it. Low on context - not even titles - just pictures.

Let me know what you think.

Until next time,

Andy

Without further ado, here is what I came up with for my submission, in no particular order.

Lunar Eclipse Composite

Bubbles

Just the Snow

Pompeii

Pop Art Staircase

Flow

Saint Tropez

North America Nebula from Kagawong

Daisy on the Shore at Providence Bay

I Love Astronomy

You might have seen some of these images in previous posts, so if you are interested in the background, or other similar pictures, you could find them somewhere in my SubStack - imagine this activity as hunting through a stack of books to find what you’re looking for.

As always, your comments and feedback are appreciated.

Happy New Year!

Andy

Andy’s Substack

My personal Substack

By Andy Moeck

When I look at what shows up on my feed on Substack, I see stunning photos and vistas with beautiful lighting and colour. Many with hundreds or thousands of likes. As is often the case with social media, seeing the best that’s out there can overwhelm you. I hate comparing, but it is a natural thing for the mind to do, so while these images often inspire, they sometimes have the opposite effect and cause feelings of inferiority. I think this is one of the evil consequences of social media that can cause depression and worse in many people. I try to see the opportunity and gain inspiration from the work of others and encourage myself not to compare myself too harshly against the fantastic work out there. Feeling good about what each of us is able to accomplish is what’s important.

So as an alternative to capturing the scenes, I find a lot of pleasure in capturing pictures that don’t fit the normal sights around us.

Abstraction . . .

This can take a variety of different approaches - go big and capture faint objects in space, go small and see tiny things from a different perspective, find an interesting viewpoint, or play with the raw images and do a bit of processing to change the look. And anything in between. Here are a few samples of these abstract images that I have created recently.

Christmas at Tiffany & Co.

Michelle and I were strolling through the mall to get a few steps in after a nice dinner at a sushi restaurant on a blustery day .

As we rounded a corner, I saw the opportunity . . . the glass cubes on the Tiffany & Co. storefront were perfect to bring a sweeping, reflection-filled view of the tree inside.

Flow

Maybe using a blue feather in a dark wind tunnel with some side lighting and adding a stream of water droplets could be the stage for this image. Going for something a lot less complicated and much less expensive, the photo was of a seagull feather on the beach. Being morning, there were dew drops all over the sand and the feather. The morning sunlight hit the feather from a low angle, highlighting the water droplets and the feather edges.

The raw image was a fairly close up picture with good detail but rather boring - a white feather on brown sand. While making some adjustments to the picture in Nikon NX Studio, I saw that changing the contrast and the brightness allowed a bit of a blue tone to come through. As soon as I noticed that, I went to the extremes and ended up with an image that looked like an upright feather bending backwards in a stream of droplets.

GPU Core

I like the repeating pattern and colours in this image. This picture is the result of some indoor work on a blustery day (we seem to get a lot of those in Ontario). This was a macro setup with the centre of attraction being the core processor of a graphics card that had stopped working. I guess this isn’t a typical project for everyone - disassemble a fairly expensive, but non-functional piece of electronics to get at the processor and then take the processor apart to expose the inner layers.

Here are a couple of photos of the setup. I used the Nikon Z8 camera with my general purpose Nikkor 24 - 120 mm zoom lens, set at 120 mm. I also used two Kenko DG extensions in the camera/lens setup. The extensions added 26 mm between the camera body and the lens, while allowing all the signals to pass through to the lens for control of focus and aperture settings. This effectively converts the lens to a macro lens by allowing it to focus at a point closer to the end of the lens allowing for close up imaging.

Camera Setup for GPU Core

The next step in the evolution of the GPU image was to move away from the normal looking colours in the first image and pull out something more exotic looking. Here’s the result:

Silver Creature Invades GPU City

You can interpret the picture how you like and if you apply lots of imagination you can see a variety of things. I see a creature on the left in the silver and orange tones. Perhaps the smaller black oval near the blue nose-horn is an eye. The orange and silver jaws have some grey squares of teeth. You might also see a figure, in the upper right part of the image, with yellow tones with the head and black eyes with arms and maybe legs below.

Maybe you see these things, maybe not. For me, ensuring the picture includes just enough of a springboard for some imagination and discussion to launch from can create the abstraction opportunity.

Hope you have enjoyed the commentary on a few of my recent abstract images.

Until next time,

Andy

Meteorite

A polished cut from a meteorite with a flat surface bringing out the crystaline structure of the metal. Looks almost three-dimensional . . . perhaps the cross section of an alien computer?

Trees

From above, some of the trees look like coral skeletons now that they have lost their leaves.

Copper

Waves of raw copper metal or desert terrain from above

Simple Geometry

Simple shapes. I’ll leave it at that.

Crystal

Part of the 900-carat Light of the Desert - the largest faceted cerussite crystal in the world, on exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum.

Through the Window at Night

The title gave it away. Moonlight and mist silhouette the trees.

Flourite

Layers of colour.

Simple post - simple photos, let me know what you think.

Until next time,

Andy

Working backwards, here is Revision 6 of the project, with the risk that if you aren’t interested in it, then you’ll stop reading the post. Unless of course you feel like reading a bit of humour of why it would take all day, and six tries to get things right.

«Update - based on further revisions, the final product is now at the end of the post»

And that was even without distractions, like when the trick-or-treaters began arriving or when the baseball game started.

I Love Astronomy - Composite

The open book is my astronomy notebook, and as you can see from the notes, my plan back at that point in time was to start working outside with the telescope at 1 AM on a Saturday night. Perhaps this is not your ideal vision of how to spend a Saturday night, which leads me to emphasize how important it is to have a supportive partner for astrophotography: thank you Michelle!

The images of the astronomical objects, including the nebulae, galaxies, stars, aurora, and the moon are all from my inventory of photos I have taken over the past couple of years.

I like the book below the notebook titled “The Universe A Travel Guide” with its hint of a theme for the work. All of the books have been well used to help guide my astrophotography adventures.

A good way to take a picture of books like this would be to use a light box. Having none on hand, I decided to go with the kitchen counter. After a few tries with black foam and other materials, I landed on a black pair of pants under the books and a black shirt as the dark backdrop. Lighting was provided by under-counter lights, a work-light and a flat panel light. There is nothing notable about these particular lights except that they were readily available.

The Setup

Photography was via cellphone. Over the course of taking the pictures and in the downstream editing, I kept going back to the setup, fiddling with the book orientation and the position of the lights. If I paid more attention to the details and results when taking the pictures, I wouldn’t have kept finding little issues much later in the editing process - things like a few letters on the book spines not being evenly illuminated, the notebook flap folded over, and the “e” at the end of “A Travel Guide” being cut off due to too high a camera position.

The processing was done without any expensive software. I used my usual Nikon NX Studio (free) and a very old version of Photoshop (free from the club swap table), which I have to run on an islanded computer running an old version of Windows. Completing the software setup is a Photoshop novice (me) at the program controls.

After several tries with the astrophotography images, I was able to figure out how to use the Photoshop magic extractor to strip out some of the background so that they could easily be added and moved around on separate layers in the composite image. This helped with the rework because it was easy to change a picture on a layer without affecting all the invested work put into the other layers.

I guess one of the insights from my earlier attempts with the composite images, was that on close inspection while finalizing the pictures, I would find little issues with the layout: straight edges that didn’t blend well into the adjacent pictures, mismatched edges for the pictures and the background. I think the version at the start of the post - Revision 6 - is a lot better than Revisions 1 though 5. None of them are perfect, but each one a bit better than the last. And it continued into the next day as I made Revision 7 by adding a bit more background space so that there’s more of a transition from the books to the full width of images above. Here is today’s version:

I Love Astronomy - Composite Revision 7

I’ll keep the post short and end it here - I hope you enjoyed the little backstory on building the composite image and I welcome any feedback on the newest final (for now) product.

Until next time,

Andy

A challenge for me, from the photographer perspective, was the decision on whether or not to bring the camera gear.

So what exactly is the “camera gear”. From one angle it is the camera and a lens . . . or maybe a couple of lenses. Do I think a tripod might come in handy? Then that too. How about spare batteries and a battery charger? Ok makes sense - add in that too. I think you can get the picture that just a camera and a lens can quickly morph into many kilos (pounds for those down south) of gear.

So my final decision, after some back and forth, was no camera gear, just a cell phone. The goal of the trip was a vacation to enjoy our time together exploring new places, taking a break from all the things going on and relaxing; I saw the camera gear as a potential source of additional worry. Worth a fair bit, screams tourist, concern of theft . . . All likely manageable as we have travelled with gear like that before, but all in all would detract from the main goal of the trip. We did agree that taking pictures with the cell phones was quite ok as this would give us some pictures to remind us of what we did and where we went. I am going to share a few pictures - not the selfies and the like, of which we did take a few, but rather some of the sights and scenes that caught my eye. Some, of course, you will recognize as famous landmarks. Others you might look at and question why spend all that time, effort and money to travel partway around the world to take that picture when you could find a similar scene near home.

With that, and without any more fanfare and rambling on, here are some pictures from our trip. I have not altered any of the colours - they are basically the same as they came from the phone. They are in no particular order and as you ponder them I am really interested in any comments and feedback.

Pompeii

The Acropolis in Athens

Santorini

Old Vines in Sorrento

Saint Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican

Lunch at the Savoy Hotel in Florence

Ponte Vecchio in Florence

Monte Carlo at Night

Alley in Saint Tropez

Pop-Art Stairwell in Barcelona

In the Park in Barcelona

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

I hope you enjoyed the pictures. I am sure that with the full camera gear including the Nikon Z8 with the 180 - 600 mm zoom lens and the tripod, I could have taken some better pictures in some of the settings above. All in all, with the cell phone as the tool for photography and all the conveniences of the quick easy framing and photos, minus the load of gear I probably would have brought, I think the vacation turned out perfectly!

Until next time,

Andy

With all that happening - truly a whirlwind of activity - we managed another trip to Manitoulin. I will jump right into some photos.

It all starts with safety. This is from the subdivision in Kagawong where we stayed.

Safety Signs

I get the top sign - see this kind of thing all over - keep it slow where people are walking, kids playing and pets roaming. The lower sign starts out well - don’t hunt in the subdivision - good advice. The last bit has me baffled a bit . . .

Fortunately no arrow related injuries in the subdivision during our stay. Close calls driving with the deer around though. They would leap out on the road when you drive and yet they were always shy and lurking cautiously in the woods whenever I had the camera handy.

Fawn in the Woods 1

Photographing the deer in the woods was a challenge. I like the look of the spiderweb of small branches covering the fawn’s eye.

Fawn in the Woods 2

When the kids are out the mother deer is not usually too far away.

Mom Giving the Look

I think the out of focus branches and leaves give an almost mystical look to the picture. If you don’t get a chance to see deer on a visit to Manitoulin, there’s always the creative forest art near Bridal Veil Falls.

Deer Art at Bridal Veil Falls, Kagawong

Now that I have mentioned Bridal Veil Falls, a few photos. This was a popular spot.

Bridal Veil Falls, Kagawong

People having fun at the falls as it was a nice cool spot for the summer day. Here’s a close up of the gnarly roots at the top of the falls.

Roots at the Edge

Since I didn’t bring the tripod along, I took that shot as a hand held photo with a fairly long exposure, just under one second, and a lot of reliance on the lens vibration reduction. I was fascinated by the roots at the edge of the fall - a tough life on the edge with just rock to hang on to and water rushing by. Seems like the roots are hugging each other to stay back from the falls.

We strolled along the trail near the falls and I was intrigued by the hydro generation history. At the nearby museum we took in the General Electric generator and stator core that was used from 1932 to 1961 to provide the first source of electric power to the whole island.

Hydro Generator and Stator Core

The water was piped from upstream of the falls in a 4000 foot long and 4 foot diameter wooden pipe to the mill building at the shore which housed the hydro generator.

Wood.

A wooden pipe.

A 4000 foot long wooden pipe . . . I guess you work with what you’ve got.

After a nice walk we headed over to Gore Bay for more sights and some food.

Gore Bay

The octagon building was our ultimate destination, Purvis Fish and Chips, for some delicious whitefish tacos. A lot of the bays on Manitoulin were home to a bustling fishing industry in the past. Many less bustling now, yet the fishing and great fish and chips continue on.

Anchored in a Sea of Sparkles

This sailboat (not our boat - we don’t have anything like that) caught my eye with the glimmer of the lake where it was moored at Gore Bay. No doubt so the owners could zip into town for some fish and chips too.

Flying Together

Overhead a pair of Ardeidae (herons) or Gruidae (cranes) passed by. These birds have those same pointed toes and great flying form as the other herons I have seen in the past. My guess is that they are Sandhill Cranes, which along with Blue Herons, are frequent visitors to the island.

Let’s continue this post with a trip back to Misery Bay. For a picnic in the rain it turned out. No mist this time. Fun nonetheless.

Misery Bay with Clouds

The iPhone did a pretty good job of catching the sky. In spite of the rain, the beach at Misery Bay was pretty dry.

Cracked Earth with Snails

Ok - so the snails are pretty small. Look for the orange, blue and grey shells. After the storm passed by the clouds and blue sky were a welcome sight.

Misery Bay without the Mist

So that wraps up another post about Manitoulin Island. A wonderfully relaxing spot and a nice break from all the scurrying around. I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Until next time,

Andy

Here’s what the swing bridge opening looks like when compressed into an 18-second clip made from photos taken at 5-second intervals:

On the weekend, Michelle and I decided we would like to see the lighthouse on the western end of the island and maybe take along a picnic lunch. Fortunately we did a bit of on-line research ahead of time, and learned that the access road to the lighthouse has been closed for several years. No luck with that idea.

On to the next best thing to explore the west end of the island . . . a visit to Meldrum Bay.

There appeared to be a restaurant available, so I convinced Michelle to drop the picnic idea, instead suggesting a sit down meal at the Meldrum Bay Inn and Restaurant. We decided my car was charged enough to make it there and back, so off we went. After a long trip of about 100 km from Kagawong, much of the route over semi-paved roads and the final stretch over gravel, Michelle agreed to pay for lunch.

It was turning out to be a reasonably nice day, maybe a bit on the warm side. Looking forward to some food, we arrived at the inn overlooking the bay.

The Menu

Not a good sign.

Reflecting back with better hindsight, had we done more on-line research ahead of time, we would have found this one important sentence, hidden away in the internet, regarding the Meldrum Bay Inn and Restaurant:

“We request you pre-order your meals as we privately prepare meals only for Hotel guests.”

Seeing that that particular dining option was not in the cards, we looked around and ambled into a little store adjacent to the inn and asked if there were any places to eat in Meldrum Bay. No.

That’s it? No?

By now, it was nearing two in the afternoon and we were both hungry, and apparently well away from any other possible dining options. A couple of ice cream sandwiches from the local shop would have to tide us over. We strolled through the marina while enjoying the sweet lunch substitute.

The Marina at Meldrum Bay

Rather tranquil and unexciting for a marina? I guess that’s what you get for a town, no a village, no even that is an exaggeration for a place with a population of about 20-30 people. Small as it was, it did have a customs facility . . . allegedly. The sign, partly covered with weeds and shrubs, half invisible from the water, and the flag pole, leaning towards land at an awkward angle, tell the tale. This is not a bustling port by any stretch of the imagination.

Canada Customs at Meldrum Bay

What to do now? Well, there’s the Net Shed Museum . . .

This turned out to be an interesting glimpse back in time.

Net Shed Museum at Meldrum Bay

Greeted by one of the local residents, we had a chance to see some artifacts from the village and area, and learn about the fishing and shipping industry that had once thrived here.

A couple of old machines and tools caught my attention:

Accident Waiting to Happen?

As with many machines from the 1800’s, using this one would likely have been an injury prone activity. From the open belt pulley on the right, to the spikes on the rotating assembly with the open chute. Definitely not for the faint of heart.

More my style were the handheld tools. This tap and die set for example:

Tap and Die Set

I learned the art of making threaded parts from my father, who learned from his father, a tool and die maker. Although the set in the picture is from a long way back, the modern versions, like the set I have, are basically the same - maybe minus some rust and the wooden storage box.

Having wandered around and done everything we could think of to do at Meldrum Bay, and while getting a bit hungry for some more nutritious food, we started our journey back.

Along the road, we spotted numerous water lilies in bloom.

Water Lilies in the Marsh

The tree stumps in the marsh appeared to be angled in every direction in a state of confusion. The haphazard jumble contrasted with the uniform round lily pads with stunning white flowers spread throughout. I thought B+W was the way to go for this image.

And at the same spot, a monarch.

Monarch Butterfly

Definitely one for a colour photo.

Rather than continuing to stretch this out, I will leave the remaining travels to the opposite side of the island for a future post.

Before I go, here’s one more picture from Kagawong, where we were staying. This time from a telescope, taking advantage of the dark skies on Manitoulin Island. The island is home to Canada's first Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) designated commercial Dark Sky Preserve. Packing the telescope and astrophotography equipment along and setting it up on the cottage porch turned out to be a good call. Here’s the stacked result from a series of images taken through the night.

The North America Nebula, imaged from Kagawong

I like the delicate and wispy nature of the nebula, especially around the Gulf of Mexico.

That’s it for now. Hope you enjoyed the continued exploration and pictures from Manitoulin Island.

Until next time,

Andy

Providence Bay (photo courtesy of Michelle)

I love the composition of this picture. The handrail from the boardwalk leads you down to the sand and the plants along the shoreline, which curves towards the point. First to the right, then the left, yet keeps you in the frame at the point, allowing your gaze to shift up towards the sunset and the beautiful sky, using the bright colours to keep you from slipping out of the top of the frame.

The boardwalk snakes along the back of the shore and offers a great vantage point for the beach and bay, while protecting the vegetation from constant trampling.

The Boardwalk at Providence Bay

The boardwalk was built years ago, so nature has decided to make its mark. Collaborating with the sand, the wild roses are taking over.

Wild Roses and Sand (photo courtesy of Michelle)

Another great photo by Michelle. This one has the play of the wild roses and their shadows on the boardwalk, bracketed by the streams of sand. The low perspective highlights the action of nature overtaking the boardwalk yet keeps a little of the glistening water and the lovely blue sky in the frame.

You can follow Michelle on her Substack here:

Michelle in Canada

Musings on life from the perspective of a child of the 60's who became a respectable physician and has since retired. Fuelled by a love of reading, the environment, and hopes for a more just world. Vive le Canada libre!

By Michelle Snarr

This sandy and forgiving shore may also be the source of the name for Providence Bay. It may have originated following a shipwreck where survivors landed on the shore and attributed their survival to divine providence.

In the morning, we tried to outrun an impending storm and check out the east side of the bay. Along the rocky shore of the bay, the situation looked a lot starker and every now and then we heard some distant thunder, so we ambled along fairly quickly. Pausing of course, as photographers tend to do, even when maybe they shouldn’t, to catch some pictures here and there. Here’s what I mean:

Pausing to get a Different Perspective (photo courtesy of Michelle)

The barren rocks make it tough for plant life.

Barren? Yes, and yet some flowers and plants call this home.

Daisy at Providence Bay

Daisies on the Shore

Behind the daisies, closer to the water . . . is that an alien structure on the shore? Big slabs of flat topped grey rocks. Maybe a long lost road that has fallen into disrepair? I suppose not, although, at times the rocks are so smooth and flat they almost don’t seem natural, nor made by humans.

This is all part of the same geological formation as the Niagara Escarpment, filled with glacially sculpted sedimentary rocks. Big slabs of flat topped grey rocks . . .

I keep getting stuck on the alien road idea . . .

Is this an Alien Road too?

Moving on to more colourful things:

Bursts of Colour on the Barren Shore

Sometimes the plants just seem to grow straight out of the rocks. Here’s another one that I like - an iris standing tall against the rocky backdrop of the shoreline.

Iris on the Shore

Continuing on our walk, we passed many interesting features in the rocks.

Fossils at Providence Bay

I have no idea what these things used to be, but they caught our attention while we walked along the shore. The rock surfaces are often pockmarked from pebbles creating pockets, like the one below:

Pebbles and the Holes they Make

Fascinating how a simple pebble can make a round pockmark in the rock given the right conditions of water and waves on the shore. And enough time too . . .

Moving along we found interesting insects living near the rocks. You might have noticed the ant in one of the wild roses in an earlier picture. Here’s another insect, this time a calligrapha beetle, munching away on a leaf:

Calligrapha

And of course there are the rocks themselves:

Rocks along the Shore

Amazingly, we got back before the rain. The storm being a good time to stay indoors to review pictures and make puzzles, like the one below:

Chi-Cheemaun Ferry

You can read more about the Chi-Cheemaun Ferry and Manitoulin Island in my previous post:

So far, Manitoulin Island has been quite the experience and I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Until next time,

Andy

Enough preamble . . . on to the trip . . . on we go to Misery Bay on Manitoulin Island.

Manitoulin Island is a large island in Lake Huron. It’s actually the largest freshwater island in the world. To get there, I drove up the Bruce peninsula and took the MS Chi-Cheemaun Ferry from Tobermory to South Baymouth.

After a six hour journey to get to Tobermory, I was looking forward to my first time driving onto a ferry. Here are a few pictures to paint the picture.

MS Chi-Cheemaun Ferry

I love the indigenous artwork on the ferry - linked to the culture on the island and the significant history of the indigenous peoples there.

Vibrant Indigenous Artwork on the Ferry

Compared to the signs leading up to the terminal, the real ferry was a lot bigger than I expected.

Does it Only Hold One Car?

And it held a lot! The numerous vehicles of all sorts formed a convoy as they unloaded.

The Race to Unload

I took the ferry on the way back as well. As you might have guessed, some of the pictures are from the return trip. Both times I was positioned in a narrow upper level on the ferry, a tricky drive up a steep ramp to a narrow corridor, barely wide enough for the car. The goal of the workers on the ferry appeared to be to pack all the vehicles into the tightest space possible.

A learning point for me on the first trip was that I probably should have paid more attention to where the car was parked. There were four access stairways from the ferry parking area to the passenger area, and each stairway connected to two parking levels. At least I remembered that I was on the upper level, which meant I found the car on the fourth try of the four possible stairways. On the way back I was able to find my car on the first try, having remembered the stairway number.

Also on the way back, I was parked on a moving ramp which lowered to the main level for unloading. Being inside the ferry and being lowered on the ramp was an interesting ride. Check out the 12-second video clip below:

The Moving Interior Ramp

I can see that this post is getting a bit longer than I thought it would be - probably because for me the first time taking the ferry in the car was an exciting part of my journey.

Now on to the island itself . . .

When the vehicles unloaded at South Baymouth, it seemed like a bustling community. After about half an hour, when everyone coming off the ferry had dispersed onto the island, South Baymouth was transformed into a ghost town. Michelle and I stayed until after the commotion had died down and then had a delicious lunch of fish and chips, a classic all over the island. We then headed out along the network of semi-paved roads to Providence Bay.

Providence Bay is a wonderful small community on the south shore of island, with a beautiful beach and boardwalk. I think rather than post about that part of the trip here, I will write that up separately.

Is this story morphing into the Cask of Amontillado? Or the Cheese Shop? Where’s the mist? Is there actually any mist?

We’re getting there . . .

Manitoulin Island itself has an interesting geology as it is an extension of the Niagara escarpment and the Bruce peninsula. One morning, exploring the island, we travelled along semi-paved and gravel roads to Misery Bay Provincial Park.

Hiking along the trails in the park, we saw several large flat expanses of smooth topped sedimentary rock that had been exposed at the surface over the years. Paleozoic sedimentary rock, sculpted by glacial action. My thoughts were that these features were not natural, nor made by humans.

Alien Ball Court?

Finally . . . a picture with mist in it!

The mist was incredible - and was a bit tricky to photograph. Many of my past attempts to photograph mist just look like hazy pictures.

We started walking along a trail that was supposed to curve along the bay to the other side and yet, with the water flowing over the bay shore area and in the mist, finding a route across the bay became quite a challenge.

Alleged Trail Route around Misery Bay

At times we encountered others searching to find a path across the bay, often just appearing from the mist and then disappearing again.

Hikers and Photographers in the Mist

What fascination we had wandering around in the mist. In the end, we were unable to find a path to the other side that didn’t require wading through a river.

Misery Bay? Allegedly named years ago when a pair of surveyors came to the bay and encountered a farmer collecting marsh grass in the heat. The surveyors asked what the bay was called and got an answer along the lines of “I'm in misery.”

I think this might just have been their cover story. Maybe there was no farmer and the surveyors were simply miserable, tromping through the wet sand in the mist and the heat and named it Misery Bay themselves. We might never know the true story . . .

We continued wandering and taking pictures. Here are a final few to share:

Misery Bay in the Mist

I found that both the Nikon Z8 camera and the iPhone were great at capturing the mist. And wandering around in the mist wasn’t miserable at all. I found it fascinating and had fun taking photographs of the scenes we encountered as the day unfolded.

As a hint to the next post - due to appear when I can make the time - here is a picture from Providence Bay:

Iris on the Shore at Providence Bay

Every day on the island was relaxing and enjoyable - in line with the island culture.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Until next time,

Andy

This evening I went for a quick walk to get some exercise and it turned into another photography opportunity. By the nearby creek I noticed a kingfisher, so decided to stay and take pictures in lieu of walking further. What fun that turned into!

A Belted Kingfisher gets my Attention

That was the start of it all. Looking past the kingfisher, I saw that there was quite a party starting on the beach.

Beach Party Getting Started

That’s when a great egret caught my eye.

Great Egret Hanging out with Canada Goose

And then there were two Great Egrets

A while later, a black-crowned night heron joined the party.

Black-crowned Night Heron Joins the Crowd

Amazing that all these diverse birds can get along together peacefully! Model citizens for all of us. Things were pretty active for a while and then it must have been getting late as the bigger birds made their exit.

Great Egret in Flight - Heading Home after the Party

It looked like the seagulls, geese and ducks might be staying there all night, so I decided to follow the lead of the egrets and headed home as well.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Until next time,

Andy

It started yesterday with a Black-crowned Night Heron reflecting in the water near the creek in late morning. A little irony with the name and time of day sighted. I shared the picture with my dad as it was Father’s Day, and we chatted a bit about it.

Black-crowned Night Heron - Reflecting at the Creek

Addendum - late this afternoon, I snapped another photo of a Black-crowned Night Heron near the shore. This one was in flight so I thought I should add it into the mix.

Black-crowned Night Heron in Flight

Given the good luck with the picture yesterday, this morning I went back to the same creek. I thought it would be best to head out a few hours earlier than the previous day to see if I could catch more of the morning action.

When I got there, my Merlin app told me that there were all sorts of interesting small birds singing and calling out in the trees by the creek.

Bird Songs and Calls picked up by Merlin

All I could see was one robin. Indeed it was on the list, but I was looking for the other, more interesting sounding ones, maybe an oriole or a warbler . . .

I continued to search the trees and tried to catch sight of the elusive little birds. This went on for quite some time, slowly pacing around, looking up from under the trees, sometimes off to more distant spots with the telephoto lens zoomed to the maximum, scouting out branch after branch in the trees . . . nothing to see and yet the birds were there somewhere . . . happily singing away . . .

I thought about heading back home and decided to give it just a few more minutes . . . I am glad I stayed!

A Great Egret flew by and I started taking pictures . . .

Great Egret in Flight - Perfect Flying Form

Great Egret in Flight - Wings on Display

I love how this Great Egret was so graceful in its flight, gliding back and forth around the shore for a few minutes, before flying off.

This is going pretty well I thought, how about I stick around a little longer . . .

Then another bird flew by, and I managed to quickly track, zoom in and snap a couple of shots before it disappeared.

Green Heron in Flight

Another graceful heron, with lovely form and streamlined shape.

After a little while, I decided to head east, sticking near the lakeshore. Next I was greeted by a Great Blue Heron, also in flight . . .

Great Blue Heron in Flight

These birds must all go to the same flight school, I thought. To be trained in proper flying form. The Great Blue Heron demonstrating the perfect technique, with extended legs and pointed toes.

Four different kinds of herons in 24 hours . . . Heron Day? Or more properly, Ardeidae Family Day, I guess, as Ardeidae is the family of birds that includes Herons, Egrets and Bitterns.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Until next time,

Andy

The moment we opened the car doors, the mosquitos were there to greet us. No surprise since we were going to visit a marsh, so on with the bugspray and off we went along the path. Not far along we got our first glimpse of a swan and some young cygnets.

Swan and Cygnets

The path runs around the southern edge of the marsh and the swans seemed undeterred by our presence - not that we had any plans to tromp through the green water to get any closer. Today was a good day for the telephoto lens.

Next we saw a muskrat swimming on the far side - moving along at quite a good pace.

Muskrat in Motion

Ok - so not really a picture of a muskrat - just the top part of its head.

Ken pointed out a green heron near some reeds. First time I have seen a green heron so I will share two pictures.

Green Heron 1

Green Heron 2

Same bird - different neck. Amazing how they can stretch out like that. Big feet too - well set for walking around on the squishy surface of the wetlands.

Shortly after seeing the green heron, our focus shifted to a woodland duck family with mom and some rather cute ducklings.

Woodland Ducks

The path ran in a small strip of land between Lake Ontario and the marsh, so periodically we would look out over the lake at all the seagulls.

Seagull in Flight

There were redwing blackbirds all around too.

Are You Really Going to Drink That?

Then I spotted another bird - back over to Ken and our outings director Norm for help with identifying it.

Another Bird

A redwing blackbird was the answer. A female. Really? I guess I have a lot to learn about some of the more common birds, let alone the rare ones.

We carried on. At the west end of the marsh is an inviting picnic shelter, an observation platform and a lovely little trail with planted trees. All fenced in and not accessible. The park is in the final stage of cleaning up a chemical waste pond from Chemetron. This company produced pigments for inks destined primarily for printing presses in Chicago. The waste was sitting for years in the Chemetron Lagoon before the cleanup started. The lagoon contained contaminants from the facility's industrial practices, including heavy metals, PCBs, and other dangerous waste. As part of the Port Hope Area Initiative, the lagoon was remediated, with contaminated sludge and soil excavated and transported to a licensed storage facility. The site is now being restored into a park.

I guess the testing and confirmation that the land is not contaminated will be the key to opening it up to the public. Looks like it will be a great spot to visit once it opens up.

Humans, hmmm.

The Human Touch

We really can impact the world of nature - for good or for bad. Cleaning up the past mess and creating a great space to admire and learn about nature is good. Avoiding the mess in the first place would have been even better. That said, I like to think that we have to have the strength to move forward from where we are and continue to strive towards making the world a better place.

After reaching the end of the marsh, we started back. Another family of woodland ducks was on the water - more ducklings in this family.

Another Family of Woodland Ducks

The marsh and the area around it was full of life.

A Myriad of Plant Life

I hope you enjoyed the series of pictures from our outing today.

Until next time,

Andy