Back to the Freezer
It doesn’t take very long in Hanoi to learn to tune out the hubbub, to find peace in your own square metre. Even though I was away for only three weeks, the return to Winnipeg was a bit jarring. Wide awake with jet-lag at 3am, it’s a marvel how quiet it is. Needless to say, I quickly reacclimated, and then, of course, sought out even quieter spaces.
Since it’s been a while and a lot has happened, I’ll break this down into sections:
Snowstorm
Late one afternoon the big flakes began to fall, so I quickly drove to the Forks and began to wander downtown. My aim was to do a little street photography, but I’m not very good at it, and didn’t take any “keepers”. However, I found a better groove near the river. As I was fiddling with my camera, two geese waddled up to within a couple metres, sat down with a soft “whump”, and began to root around.
One kept guard, the other rooted, occasionally coming up with something tasty. The rooter eventually moved even closer, for a nice profile:
If the goose was on Wall Street that beak would be covered in cocaine, but in Winnipeg it’s just snow…I think…
Small technical note: that’s pretty much uncropped with a 25mm (50mm full frame) lens, so it was practically at my feet. These geese can be aggressive, hence their nickname “cobra chickens”, and we’ll get a taste of that later. But these two were as mellow as can be.
A couple other shots from the Forks, where I stayed until dark:
The next day the snow continued, so I headed north towards Lac du Bonnet. There is a crumbling farm house I’ve been meaning to get to for a while, and a snowstorm seemed to be the perfect environment. Unfortunately it wasn’t snowing when I got there, but still:
Next visit might be a sunny morning with lots of green, just for contrast.
After this I headed towards Grand Beach, and the snow began to pick up. I fortuitously took a wrong turn, and was treated to a Great Grey Owl sitting on a telephone pole. It wasn’t bothered by me at all, so I was able to get right under it and snap away. Granted it’s more a “trophy” shot for me than anything else, but it was still a very nice experience:
After that I made the right turn and headed for the beach. The buildings and facilities were still in “abandoned for the winter” mode, and it was fun to explore the geometries and contrasts between linear human creations and curved organics:
Thanks to the park for putting up these snow fences. As you can see from the above shots, it doesn’t do much to stop the buildup, but it does give me something to work with photographically. This looks out on the lake, but it’s snowing enough that the horizon disappears, and makes for a nice minimalist environment:
Finally on the way back, the lagoon behind the lake needed a panorama:
There are two geese on the ice middle right, getting out the long lens really emphasizes the weather:
After this things began to melt. This meant large puddles and lots of reflections. A local wander through Assiniboine Park gave me these scenes:
Macro
Before the snow melted I was able to do some macro photography. First up is a chickadee feather stuck in moss:
There were two main challenges here. First, the slightest breath of wind, including my own, would set it all a-tremble, and it would take a while to settle down. Second, the ends of the feather curve towards the camera, but increasing depth of field to include it in focus makes the background more distinct. I haven’t done much macro work in a while, so I have to re-learn some things and figure out how to handle that better.
The next two are more about the geometries, I like how the melting snow reveals these patterns:
Cobra Chickens and other Wildlife
Geese are a handy subject for testing technique and equipment: they’re loud, big, and frequent. I was able to test the difference between using my long lens with an extender and without, and trying to build up muscle memory for panning along with the bird. I came away with a few “fun” shots.
First was Assiniboine Park, I was on a bridge just past sunrise. It wasn’t my birding setup, so my shutter speed was low, but I think this adds to the feel of the shot because it provides a sense of movement:
Next at Grand Beach two geese came in low, right towards me, and the camera did a great job of keeping focus:
Then on my way out, several pairs of geese had decided to claim the parking lot (which was still snowed in) and their true cobra chicken nature was revealed:
I hissed right back. This was apparently the correct password, so they let me through.
In Bird’s Hill Park, I frequently come across deer. These shots are a few weeks apart, as you can tell from the snow levels. I was using a very high ISO, so was worried about “noise” in the image, but these cleaned up nicely:
I’ll end this with my favourite shot, from a few days ago. Lake Winnipeg is still iced over, and I spent most of a gloomy day just waiting for something to happen. I could hear plenty of things happening elsewhere…geese and ducks and gulls and whatnot…but they weren’t happening near me. At times it was absolutely quiet. Then on my way out, the drizzly clouds decide to break up a bit, and I got this treat:
Sometimes, you just have wait it out…
The next few weeks will be busy as all the birds return and begin nesting, and I try to get to my usual haunts and discover new ones.
Take care!
