close your eyes and hope for the best

Cedar Rail Fence. Winter near Huntsville Ontario Canada. (click image to enlarge)

There is not a better feeling on a cold February day than the slow seepage of 3º Celsius water making its way into your hiking boots.

Out of the corner of my eye I spot this cedar rail fence trailing off into the blurry distance in a white field of snow. Of course this is all happening in seconds as I am cruising down a country road, doing about 60km an hour. Pull over quickly, look in the rear view mirror and back up the few hundred meters travelled since seeing the scene. I jump out of the car, grab the camera and tripod and plunge into a slush filled ditch, camouflaged quite nicely by fluffy clean white snow. There is not a better feeling on a cold February day than the slow seepage of 3º Celsius water making its way into your hiking boots. Funny, you think you would learn from your mistakes but last year I did the same thing except it was a field of flowers in the Kawartha’s and yes there was a ditch, a very deep ditch. And that time it wasn’t snow but long grasses that camouflaged it. Well this time I completely disappeared much to the shock of my partner, emerged on the other side of this mini abyss and calmly set up my tripod as if nothing had happened.
Generally I am pretty good about checking out the terrain before I make my way over to get the shot but today the canvas was set and I just didn’t do my usual due diligence. Oh well. Cold wet feet. C’est la vie! The lengths to which we go to get an image.

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Deception Island South Shetland Islands Antarctica. (click image to enlarge)

For Sale: Country cabin with excellent views, great wildlife viewing, and hot springs nearby – needs some TLC. Ideal for someone who wants seclusion. All offers entertained.

I’ve been to Deception often and never tire of it, yet many see this as a dreary landscape with no image potential. I beg to differ – this place oozes visual art and if black and white is your medium, boy have you come to right place.

There are places on this planet that defy description and the only way one can truly appreciate them is by going there. One of those places is Antarctica – a surreal landscape situated at the bottom of the planet. The Ancient Greeks knew it existed but it took 3000 years for us to find and explore it.

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Graveyard Rapids, Spanish River, northern Ontario. (click image to enlarge)

To say this scene captivated me is an under statement. I was on a week-long canoe trip along the Spanish River in Northern Ontario. It always takes me a few days to clear the brain of “noise-dust-cobwebs”. It took about 3 days to get to here.

… on this particular fall day in early September the light at “The Graveyard” was soft and velvety.

Perfect. After setting up camp I found myself a comfortable spot for my camera and tripod and then spent a few minutes just observing. This stretch of the river is known as Graveyard Rapids and as you can imagine, the rapids here are quite daunting. Spanish River has many special areas but on this particular fall day in early September the light at “The Graveyard” was soft and velvety. The many details of the powerful rushing water required close scrutiny to see if they would fit into a composition(s). How much information is too much? How would this story unfold?

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