Greenspond

You can see from yesterday's and today's photos that it was an overcast day when I visited Greenspond back in July, 2006. Upon my arrival in the town I walked around the harbour making photographs along the way. I always find that I see a lot more while walking than driving.

The first photo was taken during my walk around the harbour. The fishing stages were in good shape but the layout of the town made it virtually impossible to photograph them. One would need to be in a boat to make good photos of the individual stages.

The second was taken from a lookout on a high hill and shows a view of the harbour. You can see that the road goes around the harbour, but I didn't feel comfortable walking onto private property to take photos, especially because the town was in mourning because a fisherman had died at sea the previous day.

The third shows the historic post office. There were a few more yellow buildings in the town, but most of them were white.

Greenspond

Back in the mid '70s I was contracted by the provincial government to photograph several projects they funded in Central Newfoundland. I had to travel to Greenspond to photograph a "smoke plant" where they produced smoked fish (salmon if I remember correctly). I remember that I had to take a ferry to the town. I photographed the plant and had to leave right away to make certain I got off the island on the ferry. I took only three or four photos near the wharf.

During my trip around the Loop (Road to the Shores) I saw a side road to Greenspond so I went there to capture a few photos of the town. I was certainly glad I did because it is a very picturesque little community.

As you can see from the three photos today, the island is rocky and barren, but beautiful just the same. If any of you happen to be driving in that area, I would recommend a walk around Greenspond.

Dover

Dover is a picturesque community located in Bonavista Bay. The photos I am sharing today were taken from the top of a lookout that provides an opportunity to view the community and ocean. The first two photos show wide views from two different directions.

The third shows a piece of wreckage from a plane crash that occurred there on January 2, 1942. An RCAF B-18 bomber had taken off from Gander and experienced engine problems, dropped their bombs in the ocean and crashed near the shore. The 6 crew members survived the crash but were freezing from the icy water when rescuers arrived from the town. I got this information from an informational sign at the site.

I have probably mentioned this before, but I'll reiterate it again today. When I am photographing an area, I photograph all informational signs so I will be able to read them again later. Sometimes I am in a hurry and do not have time to read all signs, so the photos give me an opportunity to review the information when I need it.

The fourth photo shows a large glacial boulder (also called an erratic) that was near the trail to the lookout. The fifth photo shows my brother walking the excellent walking trail.

Salmon Fisherman

Yesterdays photos were among the first I photographed on the Kittiwake Coast - Road to the Shore, also known as "the Loop" which goes from Gambo to Gander through many historic and scenic communities. I plan to share more photos from this trip over the next few days.

I saw a salmon fisherman standing in a river and stopped to make a few photographs. The three views of the fisherman will give you an idea why taking more than one photo of the same subject is a good idea. The three photos were taken seconds apart. I chose to include the rocky shore and shrubs on the opposite side of the river. I zoomed in to make an image of the fisherman in the water with no other details. When he stood on a rock, I decided to shoot a landscape (horizontal) photo. The last photo shows the river so you can get an idea of its width.

I made each of the photos from a bridge and the guy was not aware he was being photographed.

Wooden Sculptures

I photographed the Logger's Memorial Park in Gambo, Bonavista Bay in early July, 2006 and am sharing 3 images with you this morning.

The first photo shows a stylized representation of a sawmill and the location of the sculptures. The second and third photos are closer views that show loggers at work. I have uploaded two additional photos of the logger with an axe to my Blog - Photo of the Day Blog.- and you can see three different views of the same sculpture.

I found it interesting that the designers decided to use wooden sculptures to represent an occupation that involved cutting trees. Having grown up in Grand Falls, where there was a paper mill, I can relate to the logging industry.

As a young boy, I often played near the river with friends and we spent hours throwing logs that had drifted onto banks of the Exploits River back into the water. I never worked as a logger, but I have much respect for the hard work they did using the basic tools. No chain saws or big machinery to help them - just hard work!

More Green

As I stated yesterday, I observe numerous shades of green as I walk through the forest. I stop often to photograph the greenery in the woods and have many images in my collection. In each of today's images you can observe many different shades of green.

The plants in the first image looks like a variety of raspberry and the second two are bunchberries. Notice the dramatic changes when I changed the angle of the shot. The photos of the bunchberries were taken just seconds apart.

Green

As a photographer I see many shades of green in nature and several can be observed in today's photos. I have no idea of what type of plants are shown in the first three images, but since they were all taken in Florida, somebody on my list from there may be able to identify them. The last two images were taken in the woods behind my house here in Holyrood.

Green symbolizes life, growth, nature and the environment. It is also a restful colour with calming effects. In northern climates, green is a sign of Spring and is a welcome break from white and the more drab colours of winter.

Here in Newfoundland and Labrador we should start seeing some green signs of Spring soon. Even though there is snow and ice now, we have had 3 weeks of good weather in March and some of our tulips and daffodils had grown about 2 inches out of the ground. As soon as the snow melts, I plan to photograph their growth process.

Sunsets

I am not certain how many of you take the time to watch and photograph sunsets and sunrises, but I would recommend that you watch as many as possible, preferably outdoors and close to nature. It is a time of beauty, peace and quiet and the colours of the sky are always interesting.

The three photos this morning were taken on different evenings and the colours of the sky in each is different. The first photo shows the bright sun in an orange sky. I included the trees because I felt it made the image stronger. This photo was taken on a hazy summer evening and the sun was not as bright as normal so I could look directly at it.

The second image was taken just as the sun started to disappear below the horizon. The sun is much higher in the sky in the third image so I waited until it peeked through a break in the clouds. When the sun is high in the sky it is still very bright so you shouldn't look directly at it. Clouds make interesting shapes, textures and colours as the sun sets.

Ice Storm

For the past 3 weeks I have been raking and digging in my yard but on Saturday we had a snowstorm immediately followed by an ice storm and we now have 6-8 inches of snow covered by a layer of ice.

However, if my biggest complaint is that I had to shovel my driveway twice in 24 hours then I have it very good. :) I am happy to be able to do it and it is excellent exercise. (In case you are wondering, my driveway is 270 feet long.)

I made over 200 photos of ice on the trees late yesterday afternoon. liked the shapes and textures especially with backlighting.

Hawke Hills 5

The Hawke Hills Ecological Reserve is a great place to find glacial boulders left behind after the last Ice Age around 10 000 years ago.

The valleys are filled with these boulders which look like ancient river beds full of rocks. I imagine that as the ice melted large rivers formed and the boulders dropped out of the ice along the river channels. It is very interesting to observe the direct evidence of something that happened 10 000 years ago.

This is the last day in the Hawke Hills series and I thank you for your interesting comments about my photos of this area. I uploaded a Hawke Hills Gallery with 24 images. Feel free to visit at: http://lanephotography.com/holyrood/hawke_hills/hawke_hills_1.htm

Hawke Hills 4

Today I am sharing more flowers that I photographed in the Hawke Hills Ecological Reserve in June 2006.

The small white flowers in the first photo were tiny and damp making them difficult to identify.

The pink flowers are sheep laurel which is also known as lambkill because if young lambs eat it, they may get sick and/or die. These plants were about 6 inches high, whereas the ones that grow close to my home are 2 - 3 feet high. I assume they are dwarfed because of the harsh climate.

The last photo shows Wild Lily of the Valley, also known as Canada Mayflower. The photos were taken in mid-June.