I couldn’t allow the year to slip past without wishing you all a Happy New Year and great health to you all!
Romeo perching upon his throne
and on a sunset flight
Maggie warning another eagle to stay away from her domain!
The Daredevil’s close up.
Romeo’s moon
Romeo admiring his Juliette!
Romeo posing
and The Daredevil’s sunset.
and remember that every time a eagle crosses your path,an angel gets its wings!
Happy New Year from the west coast of Canada!
I went all the way down Tofino Inlet to Deer Bay.About 1 1/2 hours away.The ice sheet was gone but the Trumpeters were there.There are seven staying in Deer bay right now.
Tried to go up Tofino creek but the water was too shallow & the tide was already dropping.I wanted to go to the old prospectors cabin up river.I can only get there during high tides.
So I shut the engine off & drifted back out.Thats when I heard the distinct sound of a generator coming from further upstream.Someone must be staying at the cabin? I bet it’s Hunters?
Left that mystery alone & headed back to Tofino.Visited with my eagle friends & got some good shots! Was a tad chilly for me today,but I managed to stay fairly warm.
I didn’t shoot this today. I shot it on Sept 15th/2014. Because our weather is BAD! I know I’m not going to be getting out any time soon,so I thought I’d start posting some shots I’ve taken recently.
I was looking northward when I shot this. Tofino is situated on the north end of the Eoswista peninsula. It’s at the end of the Trans Canada Highway.
The clouds and light were very poor today! So I never got out or even tried. I only go when Mother Nature phones me. I just always have to be listening, as it were!
This shot took many years to happen! I’ve been going up to this spot for 15 years or so.I’ve probably been up here over 100 times. Just waiting & hunting for that moment of surreal magic to show it’s self!
A photographer can never have too much of that stuff! It very seldom ever shows it’s face,but when it does………it almost always is because of the light!
I shot this back in January of 07. I remember waking up very early that morning.(3:30am) I went to check outside just to see what the weather was doing? I was shocked to see that a good dumping of snow had happened while I slept! It snowed maybe 4 inches or so and the best part was that the sky was perfectly clear!
I realized that meant there was going to be no clouds to block the first rays of light at sunrise! My personal fav & the longest wavelength are the violets.
They only last a minute or so. Very fleeting & delicate!
I started to get my gear together and made sure to have a good warm breakfast. Having a good breakfast before going out on a winter shoot cannot be overly stated! It’s just a prerequisite………..”IF” you want to stay warm.
I headed out on my bike and rode through a very quiet,dark, snowy town. I forgot to tell you that the power was off as well. If you look at this shot you will notice that there are no lights on anywhere! There was a million stars out!
My tire tracks were on virgin snow as I rode through town to the water tower. The tower is the best spot to view the harbour. (Unfortunately this shot single highhandedly has made this spot too popular and I no longer can go there)
I pulled all my gear up on a rope, set up & began to wait for the magic! I knew (or hoped) something was going to happen at sunrise but didn’t know exactly what?
It was like watching Nature do a very slow dance just for me! Nobody else was watching……….just little old me!A second storm was moving in from the Pacific. It arrived in the centre of the harbour (from my perspective of course) right at sunrise! Perfect timing!
In hindsight I now wish I had a video camera recording the whole shebang ! Ah hindsight eh!
The light half a hour later was completely different!
This pano is composed of 6 film shots. I was shooting only film back in those days.
I remember being spent after this sunrise shoot and going back to bed when I got home!
It was a remarkable moment for me to witness!
I shot this as we were coming in and it shows Tofino with the fog being held at bay by the heat from the land!
If you look closely ,you can see another plane (Tofino Air) coming in for a landing in front of us!(right of centre)
This is Tofino in all it’s glory!
The last (visible) wavelength to be seen at sunset is Violet. It’s the most delicate colour as well. The contrast is always weak with it,because the sun has almost completely set. Not much intensity. But the softness is incredible!
This is one of the reasons why I waited so long to go on this aerial shoot. I wanted to shoot Tofino with the full moon rising over it. I wanted to use my big lens to compress the scene and as a result get the moon huge over top of Tofino!
Unfortunately, the best laid plans often times go a skew !
The moon was rising too far north! Because Tofino looks to the North,the only angle you can shoot it with the moon behind it ,is from the NW looking to the SE. The moon was way too far north and after realizing this, I was very disappointed.
I will have to go up again in the summer. The moon will be at it’s most southerly point on or around the summer solstice of June 21 st. As it stands right now the only two dates I can get the shot of the full moon over Tofino is May25th/10 and June 24th/10! (the best times to do something like this ,seems to be acouple of days before the Full Moon date)
I can’t have any clouds on either the eastern or western horizon’s on those two dates.
I also will have to be about 10-15 miles away from Tofino to the NW looking back to the SE. I don’t even know if I can line the two up? A horizontal shot with the full moon on the far left and Tofino to the right would be what I would settle for.
We’ll see.
Stay tuned!
