After I left the Orangemen’s parade yesterday I saw these very dark clouds approaching. I was right by the Curling Club, where I spend most of my time in the winter. I included the Club in the picture, but when I processed the shot I realized that I had been so close to it that the perspective had angled the Club. I straightened up the picture the picture but realized I liked the original better. The Curling Club is hunkering down to brace for the storm.
Carleton Place had its Orangemen’s parade today to commemorate William of Orange’s (Protestant) victory over James VI (Catholic) at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. Although there were a few young and middle aged people watching the parade, the vast majority of participants and audience were my vintage and older. There was no counter demonstration or violence, unlike Belfast today.
St James Church seems to me to be in the Gothic style. Perhaps it is neo Gothic or Gothic revival, or something else completely different. Whatever its architectural style is called, the lighting at night, shining up on the steeple through the shrubbery, creates shadows that give it a eerie feeling. One expects to see bats flying in and out of the belfry. There were no bats, but the mosquitoes last night were almost as big as bats. I didn’t hang around long.
The tiger lilies are in bloom. There can’t be more than 10 or 15 other ways I can shoot this bridge. Time will tell…
I had my Good Food fix tonight. Petra (the owner and operator) kindly allowed me to shoot her in action. This kind of photography is definitely outside my comfort zone as there were customers there and staff working. I liked this shot because I caught Petra smiling. She usually looks pretty serious when she’s working away in her kitchen.
If you’re ever in Carleton Place and hungry, check out The Good Food Company .
Wandering around the dam at dusk in Carleton Place, thinking of shooting the flowing water, I noticed the blue heron fishing. Fortunately he kept very still (watching me out of one eye) so I could shoot him in the low light.
Another bit of flora from my back yard – with some minor tweaking in Photoshop.
Its hay cutting time. This seems to be a year for a bumper crop around here.
In 2005 Chris (my grandson) and I were horsing around on our bikes in the water by the Glen Isle bridge. I noticed these patterns in the light reflected from the water when I stood under the bridge. I took some fascinating images that day. Recently I’ve gone back to take some new images that I could post here since I can’t, according to my rules, post old stuff. I’ve spent hours over several trips trying to recreate the feel of the images I captured that day. I haven’t done it (yet, anyway). It must be something about the water level, wind, or sunlight that day that is not present now. Obviously there is a huge random factor that affects these images, but still the overall look is different and the expanse of water where the images are visible is smaller. I’ve had to use a longer lens to focus on a smaller section of the water, to get close. That’s made it more difficult to get a sharp image.
This is the best I’ve got – so far…
My home is on the Mississippi River (in Ontario, not on the big one) and there is a natural riparian area at the back of my yard. The wildflowers are blooming like crazy this year because of all the rain, sun and heat we have had. It’s 31 degrees today.
