My Hike to the Silver Islet Sea Lion in the Spring 2020

I've had the "Sea Lion in Winter" on my shot list for a while.  Having a free afternoon I took the opportunity to drive out to the Sleeping Giant Provincial Park and go for a short hike to one of the region's famous natural landmarks.

Music:
Inkling - SlenderBeats
III - Foster the People
All Will Be Okay - Tourist Bureau

Hiked to the top of The Sleeping Giant and it was Amazing! Landscape Photography Day Hike

I promised my cousin that next time she came to visit that we would hike the Sleeping Giant. As we got closer to the day I started looking into the trail maps as I haven't done this hike in a very very long time. I was shocked to see it was going to be 22 Kms!

We weren't biking in either. I was a wee bit apprehensive when the top of the trail was designated 'extreme'. What was I getting us into? We planned out which day to go based on the forecasts, packed some supplies and my camera gear and set off. This was an amazing experience and I would recommend this particular day hike to anyone who is in reasonable health. Most of the hike is pleasant and mostly even terrain.

The new trail the park has built to divert away from the boulder path is superb. The top part of the trail is a bit taxing as it's where you actually start trekking to the top. But don't worry - If I can do it - so can you! And it's so worth it!









Gear Used: Nikon D3100 Action Cam (gopro type camera) Samsung S8+ Cyberlink Power Director Video Editing Software Cyberlink Photo Director Picture Editing Software Special Thank You to Ontario Provincial Parks. We are lucky in Ontario to have stewards that maintain these special pieces of land. https://www.ontarioparks.com/park/sle...

Ice Fishing and Photography

I had the good fortune to get out of the city for the weekend and head out to a friend's camp.  I brought my photography gear with me as well as some insulated rubber boots.  We heard reports that there could be a lot of slush on the ice now that the temperatures were getting well past 0C during these sunny spring days.

I've only just started learning how to shoot the night time skies with long exposures. I was excited to apply what I learned last month when a group of us shot the 'Blood Moon'.  Being able to walk out on the frozen lake at 2AM and see the millions of stars was a great feeling.  There wasn't much light pollution 2 hours from the city and the conditions were as close to perfect as one could hope for.

For those interested in the tech stuff, here's some of the settings I used.  I don't claim to be an expert, this is just what worked for me that evening:

1. TRIPOD.   Without a good tripod the excercise is almost futile, unless you have MacGyver like skills.

2. Dark Skies (No Moon):
I started with Apperture Priority and set my apperture as open as possible.

Switched lens to Manual Focus (My shutter will not work if it thinks it's too dark) and focused on infinity.

ISO between 400 and 800.

Switched VR on lens to off (good practice i've been told when using a tripod as it is suggested the VR will look for movement and introduce it's own, causing motion blur)

Switched then to Manual mode and set shutter speed to 30 seconds

3. Moon Shots
Same as above, however ISO can be down to 200 or even 100 depending on your lens.  Apperture can be dialed in a bit. I think i was around F8.  Shutter now a fraction of second. I think i was getting some good shots around 1/3".  I was also using burst mode to crack off about 5 shots in succession.  I learned from the Blood Moon shoot that the moon is moving pretty fast and this can help get a frame or two of really clear focus.  It felt as though I was shooting the sun it was so bright.  I had to play a little with the shutter speed and ISO to get in the range of light I was happy with.

Hope this helps.  It worked for me and I was very pleased with the results.  As the weather gets warmer and warmer, I'll be looking forward to more late nights with no gloves!

Links:
Instagram: @thunderbaylandscapes and @at0mpub
Youtube:  Adam Sabaz
Camera Gear: Nikon D3100, 18-55 Kit lens, 55-200mm zoom, K&F Tripod and Filters, Fotga Cable Release

Music Used in Video:
Buddha by Kontekst https://soundcloud.com/kontekstmusic Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/b6jK2t3lcRs

Winter Sunrises Are Running Out

Time changes and spring are on the horizon. The snow is starting to melt and it's actually comfortable up on the mountains of Thunder Bay first thing in the morning. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Adam Sabaz on Instagram @thunderbaylandscapes/@at0mpub
Blair Wright on Instagram @bmwphotoca
Music Selection - Meadow (Cyberlink Background Music) Software - Cyberlink PowerDirector and Photodirector
Gear - Nikon! Of course!
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First Hike

I had every intention of going to Kakabeka Falls to hike the "Little Falls" trail.  But the weather wasn't co-operating and I was running out of time.

I opted to Urban Hike.  There's a bike path near my home that borders the river.  I took every opportunity to walk off the path and in the brush to make make it more hike like.

It was chilly but spring was definitely in the air.  The sounds of Robins - almost of dozen of them off to the side of the path were trying to stay warm.  In the same wooded area I spied some sparrows and a single Wood Pecker.

Later on two I spotted 2 Loons making their way up river.  I imagined the fowls second guessing their arrivals back to this area.  There was still some snow and some ice along the water way.

I spent roughly 2 hours plodding up the river than back down taking in the sights and sounds.  Traffic was minimal and didn't influence my state of mind terribly.  I took as many moments as I could to stop and really take in the nature around me.  Staring into the rushing river I hoped to see some Steelhead as rumor had it they were starting to run.   The sound of the water, and the brightness of the sun's reflection slowed time.