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Algonquin Park

Barron Canyon Trail, geography and imagination

by janice on October 4, 2010

Inspired by the report that the autumn foliage was a it’s ‘peak’ in Algonquin Park, my husband and I set off for the Barron Canyon at the east end of the park. Unfortunately the ‘peak’ area for reds and oranges was along the highway 60 corridor, and we had to instead settle for the spectacular views along the edge of the cliff overlooking the canyon 300 ft below.

I wasn’t the least bit interested in geography in high school and much like my son who is now in grade 9, I thought that colouring maps was the most boring activity imaginable. Now, older and wiser, I can honestly appreciate the beauty of ‘geography’ whether local or distant.

According to Wikipedia:

Geography is the study of the Earth and its lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena. …modern geography is an all-encompassing discipline that foremost seeks to understand the Earth and all of its human and natural complexities—not merely where objects are, but how they have changed and come to be. Geography has been called ‘the world discipline’. As “the bridge between the human and physical sciences,” geography is divided into two main branches—human geography and physical geography.

Geography shaped 10,000 years ago and more, the natural beauty of our parks in Canada is both humbling and awe inspiring. It is an experience worth passing on to our children.

Returning home we decided to take a detour through a small ‘ghost town’, an example of human geography. Balaclava is a small town with a number of abandoned buildings from it’s former heyday as a lumber town. Short on time, we didn’t stop to take any photos, instead opting for the gravel road leading through the fields and surrounding forest. Different trees mean different colours and we did finally get some shots of those beautiful fall colours.

Autumn leaves, canyons, country roads, ghost towns, dark clouds above…the atmosphere was just right to fuel my imagination…a big old barn and an abandoned car nearby…very creepy!

With Halloween just around the corner, we approached this ‘feral car’ with caution. Had we stumbled upon a possible crime scene aka the ‘twilight zone’? What was in that barn? Who lived in this seemingly empty farmhouse?

Awe! Location, location, location! The first rule of real estate and great movies! Making a hasty retreat to the highway, we narrowly escaped the fate of the doomed ‘feral car’.

Maybe geography isn’t so boring after all.

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Magic tricks with a slow sync flash

by janice on July 28, 2010

Campfires aren’t just a good place for telling ghost stories, sometimes a little magic occurs there as well. What? Are my children disappearing before my eyes? As the old saying goes… the camera never lies. Or does it?

The slow sync flash is a good way to photo people at night or in dim environments. The flash illuminates the foreground subject for a fraction of a second, then the shutter stays open for as long as necessary to capture the darker more distant background. The subject must stay still until the flash has gone off, otherwise they create a blurred image of themselves. My D5000 has a Night Portrait mode for this technique.

My kids had some fun with this by moving their arms as fast as possible to ‘appear to disappear’! Parlour tricks with your camera.

This next photo was taken without any flash. It’s dark and lacking in detail.

The photo below was taken with the Night Portrait Mode on, or using the slow sync flash. My husband moved his hands so there is some blurred movement but his face is in focus and shows a lot more detail.

It was also a fun way to capture the sparks from the campfire. Maybe there really was a little magic in the air!

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Desaturated Colours

by janice on July 28, 2010

I decided to desaturate the colours on a few of the shots of my kids doing typical campsite stuff…whittling sticks they had found and building fires. I reduced the colour saturation to –80 to give the photos an old fashioned timeless appearance. Of course the modern camping equipment and clothing are a give-away, but the almost monochromatic colours create a soft, quiet feel to the photos which I think fits in with each child’s focused concentration on the task at hand. It was going to be a late dinner as the sun was setting over the lake and the shadows were soft.

I cropped the photos quite close in on the kids to create a feeling of intimacy…yet no one is looking into the camera. There is a sense that the photographer is an outsider to all the action around the campfire.

The soft faded colours and lack of eye contact with the photographer create distance between the viewer and subject.

Desaturating the colours also allows the viewer to concentrate on the big shapes and large areas of light and dark, much like how an artist will squint to see the dominant forms and patterns of light and dark.

Sometimes colour is just a distraction.

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Algonquin Park, High Falls waterslides

by janice on July 8, 2010

Before Calypso… a new water park outside of Ottawa… there was a natural water playground, formed by the retreat of the glaciers during the last ice age…High Falls. High Falls sits between Stratton Lake and High Falls Lake and can be reached by canoe or along the Eastern Pines backpacking trail. It is an outstandingly beautiful area of small waterfalls, rock waterslides and smooth rock pools. It is a great spot to cool off on a hot summer day.

We were backpacking for the weekend, so we just hiked up for the day, an easy 1 1/2 hours from our campsite at Stratton Lake. Not surprisingly it was already crowded. The water was cool and refreshing, not cold, and my kids had a great time on the ‘waterslide’! No lines, no traffic jams and no entrance fee, except provincial park fees of course.

Lots of fun in an absolutely stunning natural environment. It definitely was a hit with all of us!

High Falls is accessed from Achray Campground through the Sand Lake Gate outside of Pembroke. Water levels are much higher in spring making it unsafe for swimming.

For more information,

you can check out this link, http://www.mcelroy.ca/bushlog/20060427.shtml, on Bob and Diana McElroy’s Bush log.

Or the Park website, http://www.algonquinpark.on.ca/mustrails/achraytr.html

Or watch the fun on Youtube,