Three more lake views today but for today I have jumped a continent and instead of a small lake in Switzerland here are three views of Lake Superior taken from the top of the Sleeping Giant.
The first two are looking across towards Thunder Bay. Having hiked up to the top my legs were a little shaky and standing on the edge of the rocky fissure but it was such a great view I got up close to the edge.
The third shot is of Tee Harbour, can you see why it has that name? On the horizon you can just make out Isle Royale National Park just across the border in the USA.
On our roadtrip travelling from Annecy to our final destination in Alsace we slipped across the border into Switzerland and we made our way through some small villages and along very pretty valleys.
Today's shot is one of the few that I got while in Switzerland because we were just passing through but I would definitely like to go back for a longer visit.
This is Lac de Joux near L'Abbaye in Vaud region. I think the driftwood adds a nice focal point drawing you into the shot.
The second image just has a few minor adjustments to contrast and exposure in Lightroom and is as close to the real view as shot in camera. The first image though has been adjusted using a de-saturated contrast preset and I think it looks really nice.
OK, so you cannot actually see the lake in these shots but they are all taken around the streets of Annecy which lies at the end of Lake Annecy in the French Alps. It is a wonderful little town with so much character. I had wanted to visit for many years and so when the opportunity presented itself on our roadtrip it was quite an easy choice to fit in a two night stay on the lake shore.
We arrived, having driven through the mountains from a very sunny Italy and through the Mont Blanc tunnel into cold and wet conditions. Shortly after our arrival we were treated to a fantastic summer thunderstorm with an awesome display of lightning.
As I say the town is really beautiful with amazing buildings and a small network of canals that flow into the lake. I hope that one day I will get to travel back here but next time I hope to either enjoy good summer weather or maybe in wither when there is lots of snow.
These five views were taken from Piazzale Michaelangelo on our last evening in the beautiful city of Florence.
The first shot shows a section of the old city wall (Mura di Firenze)that climbs the ridge of the hill and along what is now Via di Belvedere and a view of the Giardino Bardini to the north of the wall.
The next three shots show the calm river Arno with the sun setting behind the mountains and the famous Ponte Vecchio.
Finally you can see the magnificent cathedral with its marble walls illuminated by the lights in the square and with its beautiful golden topped dome.
The Florence Cathedral; one of the iconic buildings that must feature on anybody's grand tour of Europe.
It has the unmistakable Duomo with its russet tiles and beautiful marble facade.
I hadn't intended to share this picture I just took it as a record of one of the fabulous sights in Florence the ceiling of the Baptistry of San Giovanni. I had thought it was a painted fresco but in fact it is a most amazing mosaic and that is why I thought it was worth sharing.
The octagonal vault is 80 feet across and the burnished gold mosaics depict scenes from the bible. It took several decades between the 13th and 14th centuries to create this work of religious art and you just can't help but stand looking up in awe at the immense skill of the artists who most likely dedicated a significant portion of their career to this work,
Today I have chosen two street scenes from the colourful island of Burano.
It was still early in the morning when we arrived so many of the cafes were only just getting ready for business. A short while after the first shot was taken these tables were full of hungry locals enjoying a tasty lunch. Although it is such a colourful place I think this scene looks really good in black and white.
For the other pictures I have chosen the same scene but from slightly different angles and I have posted one in colour to richness of the gloriously painted shops and houses and one in black and white by way of contrast.
If you have followed my posts before you will know that I love black and white photography and I think from this selection you can see why although I think the warmth of the colour photo really adds something.
These three views show the rooftops of the old city of Prague. This is a beautiful city with lots of old buildings and the rooftops give a sense of the character of the place.
In the second shot you can see the modern business district on the horizon.
Today's blog finds me a little closer to home than my recent posts. After a grey and miserable start to the day the skies cleared and we were treated to a brilliant blue cloudless sky and so after lunch I headed down to the beach at Caldy looking across the Dee Estuary towards Flintshire (North Wales).
Normally from here you can see North Wales just a few miles across the bay and often you can see the mountains of Snowdonia but today the light meant things were a bit different. You may just about make out the Flintshire hills on the horizon but only just and even then only as a faint smudge or shadow.
Because I was shooting into the strong sunshine I have used a Cokin P series graduated ND filter to ensure these shots are not washed out and as such I have not had to do any real changes in Lightroom. There is a slight vignetting on the third shot but all in all I think it adds to the image.
I had experimented with shooting these scenes in black and white and I think they looked really good but as much as I like black and white photography I think the colours in these shots are spot on as they emphasise the moodiness and sense of isolation in each view.
As the day was drawing to an end after a long hike to the top of the Sleeping Giant the light was fading, legs and feet were aching and there was a threat of rain or possibly snow. But every step through the forest was as magical as the first step at the start of the day and the atmosphere in the forest was truly wonderful.
I love these pictures as they really capture something of that atmosphere. They could be anywhere but these shots remind me that we conquered the Giant.
I can't begin to say how excited I was to get up close to this beautiful fox. It was sat on the side of the road and when I got out of the car to try and take a few pictures it trotted across the road and sat no more than two metres away.
The light was poor as it was the end of the day and it had started to rain so these are a little grainy but I could have sat for ages admiring the beauty before me. It was as if it was posing for me and I have several wonderful shots. I was itching to share these pictures with you but I have only picked a few for today and will save some more for another day.
It appears to be smiling and I love the regal profile in the third image.
I am pleased to be able share a few more shots of fungi, here are three that I hadn't seen before and I particularly like the second one with its grey and cream cap.
The fourth shot is of moss rather than fungi and I liked the way the different varieties of moss had colonised the rotting log and formed a miniature garden.
I just love being outdoors and the autumn woodland is a perfect place to be. As winter fast approaches I am enjoying looking back over these pictures as reminders of great days out.
Just a couple of shots from the trail looking into the canopy of golden green leaves and the leaf litter on the ground.
I took several shots of the leaves because they were so striking. I like these because of the paths that lead the eye into the image.
One of the highlights of my Canada trip this year was the 25km hike to the top of the Sleeping Giant and back. It was something I had been looking forward to doing since my first visit when the opportunity hadn't really arisen. It was definitely hard work in places but well worth the effort and there will be more shots from along the route and from the top in future posts.
However I also used the hike as another opportunity to photograph more of the many varieties of fungi along the way. Here are a few of them. I was amazed by how may different fungi there were and I really like the first of today's specimens that resembles a natural sponge.
Some of you might notice that one of these plants is not actually a fungi and I almost saved it for a post of its own because it is a really interesting plant. It is of course the plant in the fourth image, it is Monotropa uniflora which is known as Indian Pipe or ghost plant. It is a herbaceous plant that grows very quickly when conditions are right. It is unusual because it is white and that is because it does not contain chlorophyll and so it is unable to produce energy from sunlight in the way that green plants do. Instead it is a parasitic plant that draws its energy from micorrhizal fungi which means ultimately it gets energy from the trees. It will often be found near beech trees and because it does not rely on sunlight it can actually grow in very dark environments.
It has a use in herbal medicine as a "nervine" for act on or affect the nerves; quieting nervous excitement. Which is ironic because I was quite excited to find this along the way.
So obviously the first image isn't a road or a river for that matter. It is actually a view of Wolf Lake.
This was shot from a quiet spot on the lake shore, a perfect little spot for wild camping where we spent a little while skimming stones and watching a magnificent Bald Eagle surveying the lake from a perch high in a tree.
Off the main highways the roads through the forest are more dirt and gravel and they weave their way through the trees. The forest at this time of year (September) was really beautiful as the leaves change colour and here you can see that process beginning.
I wasn't sure where to start talking about today's pictures. Obviously they are different views of a stone stack on the Wolf River just below the falls. I really like the way they look, particularly the ones with the falls in the background. Slightly out of focus the falls makes a really dramatic backdrop.
I love messing about near water and creating something artistic in the landscape. These stacks use ancient materials but they are very transient structures. I wondered why there is something so satisfying about this, and I know I am not alone as I have seen lots of websites or instagram accounts of people who are far more skilled than me. I think it stems from early childhood when among the earliest toys we play with are building blocks and we are taught, encouraged to build towers and balance blocks to see how high they will go and then have fun knocking them down and starting over.
The realisation hit me... yes I do this now because I can see some artistic merit in the resulting photos but really I am just a big kid.
There is something quite primal about throwing stones and making the biggest splash possible and I will often do this whenever I am by a river or lake. These are at Wolf River just below the falls.
I love the random patterns as the water sprays out, and there is so much going on in the shots above. If you look at the "wall" of water in the first image for example you will see tiny ripples as the droplets fall from above.
In the second image where the splash looks very much like a crown you can also make out a smiley face if you look closely...
So these are a couple of shots of the Wolf River Falls. It was an amazing spot and the falls are so impressive.
I have included a person in the first image to give a sense of perspective and . I also wanted to get a shot from behind the falls and I think this is pretty cool although with all of the spray it was impossible to get a really sharp image. I thought an umbrella might have helped but the spray was coming from all angles as the wind was blowing towards me and the force of the water hitting the rock at the bottom was throwing lots of spray upwards.
Getting to the falls was a real adventure having to scramble down a steep path through the forest and then with the help of a rope carefully walk backwards down a muddy slope to the bottom. It was so worth it though!
