December 31, 2012

Seafaring Vessels

Welcome Back!

This week I'm including some photos of boats, ferries, etc. from our trip to Grand Manan Island, NB.

1st Photo- The newest Ferry. We had the pleasure of riding on this one. It leaves from Blacks Harbour and is about a 90min ride to the Island.

2nd-5th Photos-These were all taken at the Grand Manan Harbour. You might notice some fog in a few of the photos. Usually every morning was foggy, but it soon burned off and ended up being hot and sunny.

6th & 7th Photos-These were taken at the Seal Cove Harbour, the place where last week's photos originated. However, it was a bit foggy when we were there this time.

Well, here it is New Year's Eve! We are not doing too much..ordered in some pizza and are just hanging out..might play some games later if I can stay awake! :-) Our trip to Ottawa was pretty tiring, staying up past midnight both nights and I'm fighting a cold, so am just wanting to go and lay down..maybe I will! Hopefully your New Year's Eve is more exciting!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Wishing you all the best for 2013 and thanking you for visiting my little blog! 








December 23, 2012

Seal Cove

Welcome Back!

This week I'm including some architectural type shots. These are buildings at a fishing village, called Seal Cove. It was about a 15 minute drive from our cottage and we did stay very near here the last time we stayed on Grand Manan. This shows the village buildings when the tide is out. Its a very beautiful and scenic area to behold.

We drove up to this area on that day looking for smoked salmon. They didn't disappoint! In the second to the last photo you will see the building where they process and sell fish and where we bought some smoked salmon!

I have been off since Wednesday at 3pm...just been getting shopping and wrapping done and am in total holiday mode (lazy)!! Oh well, that's what holidays are for right? The girls and I are off to Ottawa over the holidays and maybe Syracuse for some retail therapy for ourselves too!

Anyway, I would like to wish each and every one of my readers a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year too!
 






December 16, 2012

Grand Manan Sunset

Welcome Back!

This week I'm including some sunset shots from Grand Manan, NB. These were taken during the 2nd day of our holiday.

We went to the Long Eddy Point Lightstation at sunset to get these. This is one of the two best places to get sunset shots. A lot of people agree, because it was quite crowded by the time the sun was setting. Luckily we got there early so I could set up my tripod and the girlies could pick some wild raspberries before it got too dark!

The first two shots are of the Lightstation and are before and after the sunset. The first photo shows up darker as I was shooting into the sun and the second photo is still quite light although it was after the sun had set!

The remaining shots are of the sun gradually setting. After this we headed into town to watch some fireworks...so maybe I'll include some of those shots next week!

Anyway, I'm off to Oneida today for my last course! Yeah! I have to work 1/2 day on Wednesday, then I'm off til January 7th! I can't wait as I really need some downtime.










December 9, 2012

The Whale's Tails!

This week I'm including more whale shots...well, their tails anyway. Seems like I got a bunch of them!

When photographing whales, the top 3 shots (at least for me) are: the whale breaching, the whale's tail and then the whale spouting water. I was lucky I guess--getting this many tail shots.

I do have more whale shots, but next week, I will highlight something else for a change!

This week I'm heading to Rama again for a couple of nights to finish a course I'm teaching and then home for a few days and back to Oneida next Sunday for my last course of 2012! After that some much needed downtime! I can't wait!  I'm planning on heading to the zoo before Christmas to see what I can find to shoot this time of year!

Have a GREAT week!











December 2, 2012

More Bay of Fundy Whales!

Welcome Back!

This week, I have more whale shots to share. I probably have another week's worth too! Sorry! They may be kind of boring to the average person, but to me---the photographer, they bring back wonderful memories and the excitement of that day, shooting these magnificent creatures!

In the fourth picture below, this whale was headed right towards the boat! That was a little too much excitement for me as I'm pretty sure he outweighed the boat! :-)

The 6th photo is the only photo I got of the 3 whales together. It was so hard to decide which one to focus on, so I shot away and hoped I'd get at least 1 with all three of them!

 My favourites are the ones with the whale tails sticking out of the water! When we saw those, it was with mixed feelings as we did get a great photo, but we also knew that they were diving and going down in the deep water for awhile. Sometimes we had to wait 5-10 minutes to see them come back up-not good for impatient photographers!

Anyway, I am at home for this whole week..it seems odd to not be packing on a Sunday! :-)

Have a great week!








November 25, 2012

Bay of Fundy Whales

Welcome Back!

This week I've included various views of humpback whales. These were taken when Brooke and I went on a whale watching cruise in Grand Manan. Keturah didn't want to go, so Kevin stayed on land with her!

It was a long cruise, but totally worth it! We left Seal Cove at 1pm and returned at 6pm. It did take us about 1.75 hrs just to ride out to where the whales are usually found, but we saw and followed 3 whales. One a mother and 1 year old calf and the other, probably the father. The First Mate and some of the kids on the cruise did see a Sperm Whale, but we were on the opposite side of the boat and I wasn't going to give up my good spot to anyone, so we stayed where we were!

We also saw an Ocean Sunfish and some birds, but the Humpback Whales were the highlight of the day. 

A quick post today as I'm off to Oneida for a couple of days!

I will probably include more whales next week too as I did get quite a few shots that I'm happy with this time!

Have a great week!








November 17, 2012

Squid!

Welcome back!

This week for your viewing pleasure I am sharing some photos of Squid.

When we were fishing in Grand Manan, some locals asked us if we had been down to the pier to see the squid. We hadn't, so they said to come down around 10pm..Ha..after being up so early each day, due to the sun streaming in our room, I didn't think I could stay awake that long! :-)

Anyway, we headed down one night right at 10. We talked to a young fisherman who showed us his special lure that you needed to be able to catch them and answered a ton of questions for us! 

We waited a few minutes and then the fisherman started catching them. He laid them on the yellow boat tie thingy (not sure of the exact name)! Anyway he told us to pick them up, take pictures, etc. He also told us to hit them or drop them on the ground...the ink comes out of them when you do that and I think we all went home wearing some, but they also change colour when you hit them. So you will see in the pictures below that some are different colours than others and it was just because we had dropped them or touched them.

Down on a lower dock we saw a lot of families catching them as well. If you ever had calamari, this is what they look like before you eat them. I wouldn't eat them myself! 

I'm enjoying a rare day at home trying to learn some new software..the down side of upgrading your computer so it is faster! I apologize if the photos are not the usual size as I'm having problems with the sizing feature of Photoshop Elements 11. I like the new layout of this version though..I just have to learn where they moved everything! 

I'm off again.... to Rama this time..on Mon-Wed. So I hope you have  a great week!