Archive For The “Photoblog” Category
Mars (top center) and Venus set over the mountains of Kitimat #BC with the snow illuminated by the light of 93 per cent gibbous moon. Taken on a cold clear -23C windchill night ISO 8000 1/60 f4.5, January 11, 2017 (Robin Rowland)
The first two weeks of January in Kitimat were cold and clear as an arctic outflow stalled over the Pacific Coast. A friend back east posted a shot of Venus, and I looked out the window and there the planet was clear in the night sky.
For the next few days (except a couple of times it was too cloudy) I got out in the frigid night air
Venus and the waxing crescent moon (9.1 per cent) over Kitimat on New Year’s Day, January 1, 2017. (Robin Rowland)
Venus and the waxing moon over the light of Kitimat, January 1. 2017.
Venus and the waxing moon now at 15.9 per cent over Douglas Channel, January 2, 2017 (Robin Rowland)’
The view a few minutes later as the sky darkened. (Robin Rowland)
The waxing moon and Venus over Kitimat, January 3, 2017 (Robin Rowland)
Venus by herself sometime later. (Robin Rowland)
The waxing crescent at 31 per cent on January 4, 2017. (Robin Rowland)
The first quarter waxing moon on January 8. Taken through my bedroom window as the skies cleared with an old Lumix FZ50 standby camera I keep there. Shot at IS0 800 and is a bit noisy (camera vintage is 2005) so converted the image to black and white. (Robin Rowland)
The 93 per cent gibbous moon that illuminated the mountains to the west on January 11, 2017. (Robin Rowland)
Some more views of the Kitimat River estuary that I took during the Christmas bird count.
An old stump covered in snow. (Robin Rowland)
Old root stumps in the fog of the Kitimat River estuary (Robin Rowland)
Pylons emerge from the fog (Robin Rowland)
The moon is setting over Twin Falls, a provincial park, northwest of Smithers, British Columbia on the morning of August 25, 2016. Sony Alpha 7II, with Sony G 70-300. (Robin Rowland)
Converted with Silver FX Pro.
The early morning sun shines down on Coste Rocks, a small provincial park in Douglas Channel near Kitimat, August 7, 2016. (Robin Rowland)
On the morning of August 7, North West Photo Fest took out our out-of-town special guests, Andy Clark, Paul Colangelo and Ali Ledgerwood on a tour of upper Douglas Channel, including the Kitimat Arm, Coste Rocks, Jesse Falls and the Kildala Arm, including the Dala and Kildala estuaries.
Our host was Rick Thompson, proprietor of the floating Tookus Inn.
A seal crawls on to one of the smaller Coste Rocks with the mountains and Douglas Channel in the background. (Robin Rowland)
A bald eagle skims over the tangled roots of driftwood in the Kildala River estuary. (Robin Rowland)
Photographer Andy Clark on board Rick Thompson’s Hourston 26 foot sportsfisher, The Only Way, during the North West Photo Fest Douglas Channel tour. (Robin Rowland)
Andy Clark watches as Paul Colangelo shoots as we approach Jesse Falls. (Robin Rowland)
Ali Ledgerwood enjoys the view from The Only Way as we leave Coste Rocks for Jesse Falls. (Robin Rowland)
Paul Colangelo on board The Only Way. (Robin Rowland)
Andy Clark, Paul Colangelo, Robin Rowland and Ali Ledgerwood at Jesse Falls. (Rick Thompson)
A black bear mother and her cub on the shores of the Kildala estuary, (Robin Rowland)
A loon in the waters of the Kildala Arm (Robin Rowland)
A great blue heron lands on a tree near the Kildala estuary. (Robin Rowland)
Pigeon Guillemots line the top of Coste Rocks. (Robin Rowland)
Harbour seals regard a passing boat from the edge of Coste Rocks. (Robin Rowland)
Young horsetails (Equiseteum arvense) emerging in the late spring evoke a primeval world during my morning walk in Kitimat. (Robin Rowland)
As the tide goes out, the ice covering a briny tidal creek collapses, leaving patterned cracks. Minette Bay, Kitimat January 1. 2016. (Robin Rowland)
I spent New Year’s Day on the mudflats of Minette Bay, near Kitimat, with other local photographers. At low tide, of course. Ruth and Howard Mills who run the luxury B&B the Minette Bay Lodge invited us for the photo walk on the ice and mud followed by hot soup and great New Year’s snacks.
Most of my images look best in black and white. There are few in colour at the end of the blog.
Looking across Minette Bay with Kitimat’s iconic Mt. Elizabeth in the background. Just after noon the water was just a couple of centimetres deep, covered in thin layers of ice. The cold made the mud solid enough so that it wouldn’t be boot grabbing ooze you experience in the summer. January 1, 2016 (Robin Rowland)
The beach, covered in seaweed, snow and old logs looking west from the trail, January 1, 2016. (Robin Rowland)
Looking west toward Douglas Channel, and the Rio Tinto aluminum plant with the winter sun low over the hills to the south. January 1, 2016. (Robin Rowland)
The twisted roots of a dead tree lying on the beach in some ways reminded me of the Iron Throne. Game of Stumps, anyone? (Robin Rowland)
Walking back to the lodge along the creek trail. January 1, 2016. (Robin Rowland)
Another angle on the creek from a bridge a little further along the trail. (Robin Rowland)
Ice on a chunk of rotten log on the mudflats. January 1, 2016. (Robin Rowland)
An ice crystal floats on the thin layer of water on top of the frozen mud. (Robin Rowland)
The winter sun shines through the rain forest. January 1, 2016. (Robin Rowland)
Happy New Year! Kitimat’s photographers celebrate in the middle of a day on the ice. (Robin Rowland)
A juvenile bald eagle surveys the Kitimat River from a log on a sandbar. (Robin Rowland)
Once again this year I joined the Kitimat Christmas Bird Count, helping out the Kitimat Valley Naturalists. Here are some of the best shots from that day, Wednesday December 16. 2015.
Gulls huddle together on the shore of MK Bay at low tide. (Robin Rowland)
A great blue heron watches from an old stump in the Kitimat River estuary. (Robin Rowland)
A female mallard duck in flight over MK Bay at low tide. (Robin Rowland)
A scaup (duck) in intermediate plumage on a mound of reeds in the Kitimat River estuary. (Robin Rowland) (Corrected caption, duck was identified in the field as a ringed-neck but on further review of the photograph, the consensus of the naturalists was scaup)
A red-tailed hawk surveys Haisla Boulevard at the LNG Canada turnoff just as the light fades in the late afternoon. (Robin Rowland)
The next day, on my morning walk, the neighborhood’s resident ravens followed me through the bush. Ravens are intelligent and I almost think they are posing for the camera, for this is the third time that they’ve gone to the same trees, in the same sequence, when I was there with my camera.
One of the ravens directly overhead. (Robin Rowland)
And flying from branch to branch of bare alders. (Robin Rowland)
And perched on a conifer (Robin Rowland)