WATERFRONT, NORTH BAY

A very wintry view of the North Bay waterfront last Saturday. The boats are all in storage and the holiday visitors have left. But soon the lake will be frozen and then different activities will bring the people to the lake.

FIRST WINTER SNOWSTORM

Yesterday we had our first Winter snow storm. It snowed all day and night , this morning a beautiful blanket of snow changed the whole landscape.

BEACH LAKE NIPISSING

I enjoyed the peace and quiet of the beach. I thought my feelings about this scene could only be shown in black and white.

FALL FOG

Yesterday was unusual warm for the time of year. Fog, sometimes dense, was the result. Of course this is an excellent condition to photograph images with very soft muted tones.

SHORELINE LAKE NIPISSING

The rock formations along the shores of Lake Nipissing are visually quite interesting. They always change depending on the weather and light conditions.

WATERFRONT TRAIL

Another view of the trail along the shore of Lake Nipissing. Its a romantic view in a very traditional style popular earlier in the twentieth century.

ALONG THE LAKESHORE

Last Friday was the first sunny day in many weeks. It felt more like Spring than close to Winter. Walking along one of my favourite trails along Lake Nipissing I photographed this sandbank. Enjoy!

WINDOW, RYE, ONTARIO

I liked the light striking the split and broken plywood covering of the window at the abandoned school.

GHOST TOWN, RYE, ONTARIO

Last Thursday I drove out to the remnant of the small settlement of Rye near South River. It had been a few years since I visited this place and much has changed. Actually the only place I could find was this old schoolhouse. I like photographing old abandoned buildings. It makes me wonder about the people who lived and worked in these places. I made a few pictures of the inside which I will post in the next few days. I'll leave photographing the outside when the snow arrives.

ALONG THE MATTAWA RIVER

The first faint sign of Winter. I photographed this ice on some tree roots along the Mattawa river here in Northern Ontario. Just check out the postings for November last year and you will noticed a big difference. Today the thermometer showed twelve degrees Celsius. That must be close to a record for this area.

CHAMPLAIN PARK, NORTH BAY

It has been awhile since I posted a new image. The last week has been very busy and also the weather was simply well lets say lousy. It was and still is very gray and dark. Even rain would have been fine. I took this picture in Champlain park here in North Bay and then used a soft focus filter to make this rather romantic image.

MORE RAIN

The rain does not let up but I enjoy walking in the rain. The landscape is painted in red and gold. The bare trees and shrubs create stark contrasts. I try to simplify the composition by concentrating on one or two subjects. The branches are like heavy brushmarks in the landscape.

VERY WET BUT COLOURFUL

According to Environment Canada's senior climatologist Dave Phillips this Fall has been the wettest and gloomiest autumn since 1970. He is right but for a photographer this type of weather is excellent if you want rich colours. Give it a try go out in the rain and you will come home with very good atmospheric images.

WAITING FOR WINTER

e are in the last days of autumn. The rainy dark days before the snow arrives. It is a good time to work in black and white or with muted colours.

WETLAND ABSTRACT

Walking along a swamp I took a series of pictures of reeds outlined in stark black because of the strong back light. I had to increase contrast to eliminate the light gray of the water. The final result became an abstract pen and ink drawing.

BEACH, NORTH BAY

What a beautiful day. It was very warm for November. Actually it felt like Spring. I took this picture in the afternoon and liked the pattern of lines made by a strong back light.

NOVEMBER

Today was a typical gray, dark and very wet November day. Just a day to sit inside reading by a nice wood fire. I went for a short walk for some fresh air and, even though we had some wet snow, I noticed that there still was quite a bit of colour. This picture actually worked better in colour than black and white.

BLUE SHOPPING CART

This image is closely related to a picture I made in Ottawa a few months ago. The composition is very reminiscent of the paintings by Mondriaan and the artists from the Style group but ultimately the image depicts an overall feeling of uneasy emptiness.

FALL TRAIL

The rain which fell the last few weeks have made walking in the bush rather difficult. Some trails have become impassable. However I did manage to take a few interesting images .

LAKE NIPISSING SKY

The sky over lake Nipissing reminded me of the drawings and prints by the nineteenth century book illustrator Gustave Doré. I remember his very popular bible illustrations full of dramatic skies. The ky was not as dark and dramatic as in the photograph but I first underexposed the picture by about one stop. I further enhanced the image in the digital darkroom till I got the atmosphere I was looking for.