Last week, Frank, Benny and I spent a few days up at his family cottage. The weather was decent. There wasn't a whole lot of sunshine, but neither was there too much rain. I had two cameras in tow. Frank gave me a lovely Canon DSLR - (EOS 50D) recently (thank you, Frank!) and I'm trying to get the hang of it. I'm having minor success.
The low point of the holiday was when I realized that I had forgotten its battery charger at home. Luckily we were able to find a replacement at a camera shop along the way, before leaving city life fully behind. The high point was getting a good look (several, in fact) of a most majestic bird. Unfortunately it was from a fair distance, with poor lighting, so photos didn't turn out as clearly as I would have liked but I suspect we'll have further occasions to see and photograph this beauty.
We fished, explored, took in the sights, relaxed and of course, took photos. Some of those (from both cameras) are below. Please remember to click to enlarge.
Early one morning, Benny waited patiently for Frank to set up his fishing gear so that he could bark at each cast, and then pace in anticipation of what might come back out of the water at the end of the line. (please click to enlarge)
You might think that lures were designed to attract fish but Benny never took his eyes off of the end of that rod. (please click to enlarge)
Unless he was biting his own reflection in the water. (please click to enlarge)
Nothing to get all that excited about unless you're a JRT, a fish or Frank. (please click to enlarge)
Dull, overcast days made trying to capture a hummingbird's image quite difficult. I settled for its silhouette. (please click to enlarge)
On day two we awoke to a thick fog which blanketed the lake. I took this photo from the deck. The hummingbird took me by surprise, showing up in the viewfinder just as I clicked. (please click to enlarge)
Eventually, we had a semi-sunny day. I looked up at some point to see this distinctive halo surrounding the sun. A bit of Google research tells me that it's called a 22º Halo and it's formed by the refraction of sunlight through ice crystals. (please click to enlarge)
I decided to play with it. A lone dragonfly wandered through just in time to become part of the picture. There's one in the previous image as well. (please click to enlarge)
This was one of the best treats. Its nest was visible after a three minute boat ride along the shore, and we ventured out at least three times to catch a glimpse of parents and/or young. That large blob below and to its right is the nest. We couldn't get in too close, and since the sky was mostly overcast, it was impossible for me to get a sharp image. (please click to enlarge)
But I managed a fairly decent shot of the Bald Eagle (sharpened up some in Photoshop), and hopefully we'll have more opportunities during the summer to try again. (please click to enlarge)
The sun came out a couple of evenings just in time for a lovely sunset. So ended another perfect day. (please click to enlarge)More photos in the next post.
