We have had snowfalls and sunshine the last few days.  Here are some examples of what we were seeing:

Upstream of the Secord Rapids of the Wanapitei River on our way back from Sudbury:

Every winter day seems to present new sights to enjoy!

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On the day/night of the full moon we  had brilliant clear skies giving lots of light to the train crews clearing the derailment of 4 northbound CNR railcars at the Hwy 529 crossing near the Magnetawan FN Reserve.  The highway was closed in the early morning of Jan 22 and reopened in the evening.  Here is the last (empty tank) car being hooked to a loco for removal southwards on Jan 23.

During the day I made a few photos illustrating the sun reflecting off of the flat snow crystals.

and up close:

You  can see the facets and fine structure by clicking on the above images.

That evening I experimented with taking images of snow sparkles under a full moon.  All hand held, usually a second, exposures from the comfort of my car:

If you click on any of the four above images you’ll see the jiggle in the sparkles, the noise in the dark areas, the lens flare and the orange cast made by the car’s clearance lights.  It was quite a chilly night (-20ºC) so I didn’t get the tripod out.  If we get fresh snow and a clear night near Feb 22, I’ll try again using a tripod, to get exposures around 8 seconds or so.  That will fix up the jiggle and improve the signal/noise in those shadow areas.   In fact I just realized that a night or two ahead or after full moon, will probably be the best time to try.  If you are interesting in the camera set-up, there is a technical discussion on DPR.   An interesting challenge!

Examples of some interesting clouds giving unusual photo opportunities:

Here is a Bald Eagle that eyed me from behind a screen of Aspen branches:

I don’t usually see Bald Eagles in mid-winter.  Maybe we’ll continue to get mild weather.

We had some interesting sunlight illuminating snowy scenes lately.  Some examples:

Midday light:

As the afternoon progressed the light had an orange tint …

Probably because of the reflection off of the orange coloured clouds:

… giving  an interesting glow to the quartering backlit landscape.

… with even more dramatic colouration when directly backlit:

(Yes, the above is worth clicking on a couple times to see the sparkling nature of the ice on those branches.  Use your brower “back” button to return to this blog.)

… ending up with a gentle reflection off of the snow:

…. or screened by this oft-photographed clump of tamaracks on Shebeshekong Road on the Shawanaga FN Reserve.

… and in the evening the scattering of moonlight by the ice particles in thin clouds provided this glimpse of a lunar corona:

It is always amazing, eh?

Out and about taking pix of the winter wonderland.   A few examples:

Snowflurries on the Old Highway, Hwy 529….

Snowy tamaracks:

A patch of lightness during a lake-effect snowflurry. ..

Some roadside ditches are still open…

“Crystalline eminence” produces light without heat making a nice show …

Hmmm….??

Yes, looking up at the barn roof.

Nice backlighting on Hwy 522…

Oft-photographed pagewired fence post on the rock …

After the Jan 10-11 Cold Snap we enjoyed a couple of days of snow, resulting from an invasion of wet air from the Gulf and some wet air from evaporation off of Lake Huron/Georgian Bay.

Starting to insulate the upper surface of Byng Inlet ice,  making future snowmobilers unhappy:

The spruce trees, including this one at Reynold’s Rock are loading up:

The distant shores of Big Lake are obscured:

The tamarack/(dead) black spruce swamps are filling with snow.

This photograph is worth clicking on … to see the snowflakes against the sky, against the leafless trees and against the foreground snowbank:

Still River Road:

Still River Road, again, looking across the CPR tracks to see the wind-driven snow.

Across the road from my place.   Delicate, even when snowing hard.

A hundred feet further on:

Returning, following my tracks back out:

The next day, an opportunity to enjoy the snow sculptures in the neighbourhood:

Winter scenes are always changing, providing great opportunities for photographers.

Following the January thaw we had a cold snap which thickened the ice and stirred up some lake effect snow …

Big (Gereaux) Lake froze over:

The edges of the ditches ice moved out into the streamflow …

Byng Inlet froze over, locking St Amant’s dock poles into the ice, as “lake effect streamers” indicated what was to come:

The busy beaver featured in two previous posts severed the birch tree but it  hung up in the adjacent ash tree and a pole wire.

The lake effect snow was serious at times….

Blowing snow on the Old Still River Road:

Some cold clear hours  freezing over the mouth of the Still  River:

And ice floes floating down the Naiscoot at Twin Rivers:

Clear evening skies, indicating another night to tighten up the streams and ditches.

It almost seemed as though Mother Earth was getting prepped for the major snowfall on Jan 12-13.

We had some warm weather which brought out wildlife and gave us some interesting sights.   Here is evidence of an hour of work of the beaver featured in the previous (20160105) post, beside Riverside Drive, next to the town dock.

Winter nourishment for the lichen:

More ditch photography:

St Amants dock anchor posts:

Another evening photo of that birch tree:

On Saturday morning January 9th my good friend John phoned to say that the Still River had some interesting surface patterns.  So I went over to his place as he and his wife Ann were preparing for a trip to Sudbury.

Here is the Still in front of their place, where their sailboat, Windshadow, is docked in the summer, when not out on The Bay:

We chatted for a bit about the ragged shapes of the holes in the thin ice , above photo,  and concluded that it must be the result of water erosion.

I spent part of the day taking some more “wet” photos:

Imagine!  January 9th:

In the evening of January 9th I got a phone call telling of John’s death due to a sudden massive heart attack.  He was 65 and had lived a full life.

http://www.logansfuneralhome.com/death-notice/john-palamar/

Here are two of the many photos I have taken of John and his beloved wife Ann:

The upper one was taken a couple of years ago when I caught John walking Wizard, his son’s doggie, in the rain.   The lower image was taken at St Amant’s Restaurant, several years ago.  Unfortunately I cannot find the original.  If anyone has a copy, please let me know.  brtthome@gmail.com.   Many thanks.

On Saturday,  January 16, we celebrated John’s life at the Magnetawan First Nation Community Centre.

Elder Roger is lighting a smudge.

After John’s passing, winter returned to Britt with plunging temperatures and lots of snow.  I took a few photographs and will post some shortly.

Miigwech

tom

We celebrated the New Year by wishing Captain Keith a Happy 79th Birthday.  The Planet cooperated by giving us glimpses of our Star:

The next day a big beaver came out on the shore ice eating freshly harvested water lily roots.  It popped up and down several time, checking me out occasionally.  Yum Yum.

On the third day of the New Year the sun was again visible for a bit … so we could see some snow textures and sparkles…

Mandelbrot set??         Julia set??         Rohrschach blots??

And, yesterday it got really cold (-23ºC), so the Inlet (finally) froze over, with lots of frost flowers (which you’ll probably have to enlarge (by clicking) so see properly).

With some frost flowers in the ditches along the roadsides too!

This morning I enjoyed Mary Holland’s write-up and photographs of Porcupine Artistry.  You might also.