The ice is melting

As most Canadians do when the sun comes out and the snow starts to melt, we went out to enjoy some of the warmer temps over the weekend. Spent some time out on the ice of Lake Superior at Sliver Harbor.


While the ice was still over 2' thick in most places, there were spots that looked a bit more sketchy and probably a touch dangerous. Not a place to let your kids wander around unsupervised I would imagine. I guess not every parent is responsible. The 2 kids in the above shot just wandered over to us while their parents sat over 100 yards away seemingly without a care in the world.

These pressure ridges can be highly unstable; 2 feet thick in one spot and near nothing just feet away. Meg performs an unsafety check while we debate the pros and cons of trying to cross to the other side. We opted to stay put.

That doesn't mean common sense applies to everyone. We had a good time watching these guys attempting to find safe passage across this ridge. They got a little wet but didn't go through.


Supposedly someone fell in near here earlier this month. She was pulled out.

It has to be said though that late winter ice is unpredictable at best. Lake Superior is no joke and it will kill you if you end up in the water. A local man found that out the hard way this week while venturing out onto the ice not far from here.

I think I'm done with venturing out on to the ice for another season. I'm not a big fan of cold water and I would rather not die for some photos. Cheers to spring, cheers to good times with good friends and cheers to free ice fishing desktop backgrounds that you can click on and download full size.

Peas.

Shipping season begins

Where I come from you know that summer is just around the corner when the icebreakers make way for the large ships on Lake Superior. This week I had heard that the first ocean going vessel of the year (The Federal Saguenay) had arrived in port to officially kick off the international shipping season here in Thunder Bay.

I decided it might be a worthwhile trip to head down in the early morning and check it out for some shots...











As usual lately, the above 5 shots were all taken from the same 10 foot patch of shoreline using my ultra capable Tamron AF18-270mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC LD Aspherical (IF) MACRO. It's a fantastic lens and has made my others obsolete.

Since I was out and had some time to play around, I figured the scene was a good candidate to practice a technique that I rarely employ and to be honest, have never really been good at. I figured I'd attempt some HDR. The next two shots are both HDR versions and I have to say I was pleasently surprised by my results...