Skidooing In Quebec

Here are a few shots from way back when there was still snow on the ground. Here is a busy reststop on a popular skidoo trail in Quebec.

Skidoo Rest Stop


Quebec Lake Landscape


Church at Reststop

Dog Walk

Here are the last couple of pictures from the "Dog Walking" trails (aka skidoo trails). The second image I found particularly neat since GuynS and I went off trail into the new snow and looking back all you could see that was disturbed was footprints, side by side, of GuynS and I.



Side By Side

Playing with the Puppy

We are not the only ones who enjoyed the cottage. Another great advantage of spending some time there was to play with GuynS until he couldn't move anymore! Here are a couple of images of the puppy! One of my favourite games with him was to toss the ball into the deep deep loose snow and take pictures of him fighting his way through. The second one was quite amusing!

Working through the Snow


Deep Snow Makes me Crazy

Cottage Icicles

Here are a few winter Icicle images from the cottage a couple of weeks back ...

Icicle Starburst


Dripping Icicle

Hoop Dreams and Ice Flows

Here are the next two images from Gatineau/Aylmer. The second one is from that same Island, mentioned two posts ago, between Gatineau and Ottawa. My attraction to this image was the patterns in the ice.

Bridges and Beaches

I know I know, the beach in the second picture isn't as nice as the one that I was posting earlier from Punta Cana, but hey, what can you do? I found these next two images quite interesting for the sole reason that they aren't at all what we are used to seeing them with. Obviously this comes from the seasons. The bridge seems to be lacking something, and in this case, running water. For the second image, it takes a couple of moments to realise what the chair is since we don't associate a lifeguard chair with a frozen river. -> I <- think this makes the images all that more interesting ... but maybe that is just me.

Canon 7D and Gatineau

So the bullet was finally bit and I bought a Canon 7D. These next few images are the first ones from me playing around with it! The first image below was from the little island off the Champlain bridge between Gatineau and Ottawa. I changed nothing on the scene and really enjoyed the story that plays out in your head. I'd like to think there was a couple enjoying a bottle of wine together while watching the sunrise over the capital. Who knows though. The second is of a path on the ice around Aylmer.

G

Nightly Sparkles on the Snow

Sparkling Lights on the Night Snow

The Stragglers

Here are the rest of the images from the Icy Waterfalls series.

Flowing Water


Starbursting Waterfall


Waterfalls, Winter, and the Sun Shining Through

Icy Portraits

Places like this are always unique, neat ways of getting a quick portrait. The image here is an exceptionally cool fluke of nature to get an icy photo frame to surround my "subjects" (my in-laws).

Into the Ice


Icy Photo Frame


Framed

The Ice Wall

These two images are an attempt to capture on of the really interesting parts of a strong waterfall in winter. The frozen result of the mist on the rocky walls.

Icy Wall


Icicles

Les Chutes Deux

Todays post was GOING to be just the first image. The point was going to be how much moving only slightly in on a landscape shot can change the dynamics. I couldn't bring myself to only post this one though since it was way too similar to yesterdays image. So ... instead you get a couple of more images at the same time! Instead, I decided to take the same concept and extend it even further. An interesting perspective to take on waterfalls is to get in close and isolate the moving parts of the waterfalls. Not all landscapes need to be was wide as you can get.

Chutes


Flowing Water


Icy Descent

Chutes a Patoche

You getting tired of waterfall pictures yet? What about icy waterfalls? Yes? Too bad ... the next few posts are of icy waterfalls again, this time up near the cottage. This was my first trip up to these falls during the winter (I had only been up there once before during the summer ...) Our intention was to take the trails up to the falls via Skidoo ... 5 minutes on to the trail dirt and rocks were showing such that we couldn't (didn't want to risk the tracks breaking) keep going. We then parked the Skidoos and Michel and I continued on foot. While we walked the rest of the ~1hr uphill walk, Sylvie took a Skidoo back to the cottage, got a 4 wheeler and met us up at the top (an equally challenging feat I must add ...). I think the effort was worth it though.
The thing that is interesting about a place like this is that you can never truly emulate the feeling of being there in a photograph. There is so much more to the place: getting there, the sound of the roaring falls, the chilly ice, the smell of the woods, etc. Having realised that there is no way you are going to completely capture the mood, there is a couple of approaches that you can take to photographing something like this (or try everything like I do ... AKA "spray and pray"). In this post I demonstrate the first method, go WIDE.

Les Chutes Gelé


Les Chutes à Patoche