Two Kayaks and a Canoe

A couple of weeks ago, we got together with our good friend, Russ, who we've known since 1998, when he and I worked together, teaching English at Jeonju University, in South Korea. We learned, from day one, that we both lived in the Ottawa area, though he was about 45 minutes west of the city.

Close enough.

Russ is an avid outdoorsman who loves to hop in a canoe and solo-paddle all over Eastern Ontario and up into Algonquin Provincial Park. He has paddled The Meanest Link, a 420-kilometre paddle that connects all four Algonquin Outfitters depots with lakes and rivers in the park. It is a challenging journey that Russ has done, solo, twice.

To say that DW and I are a bit intimidated when Russ first offered to paddle with us was an understatement. But we did a leisurely paddle at Morris Island Conservation Area and crossed over to the Québec side, where we explored the small islands that lined the northern shores of the Ottawa River, to the west of Baie Black.

A couple of weeks ago, we were able to meet up again with Russ: this time, we went to a lake that wasn't very far from Carleton Place, where our buddy now calls home. He's wanted to explore this lake in Lanark County for a while, and we were the perfect excuse for him to check it out.

And, of course, I equipped my kayak with my video camera.

This week, I released a video of Clayton Lake on my YouTube channel. Have a look.

We're getting toward the end of the kayaking season but Russ says he wants to try to get out at the end of October. Weather permitting, we'll join him and his girlfriend, though I'm not expecting to bring my video camera.

As always, if you like my video, let me know by giving it a Thumbs Up and by subscribing to my channel.

Happy Thursday!

Colour in the Sky

Zooming In

So I did it.

I bought a new lens. And the first thing that DW said to me when I brought it home was, "How do you expect to carry that in your kayak?"

It's a big lens.

"I don't," was my answer. "At least not often. And I'll need a new dry bag."

A couple of weeks ago, I said that I needed a better telephoto lens, that, while my 70–300mm is fine for many photos, it lacks the sharpness at maximum magnification and I would really like to zoom in closer to some subjects. I wanted a fixed focal length, at least 500mm.

But I'm not rich and would rather spend that kind of money travelling.

I settled for a zoom telephoto lens and saw a few on Kijiji that covered 200–500mm. When I was able to negotiate with someone from out of town to get a price within my budget, we arranged to meet.

We met in the parking lot of a Tim Horton's that isn't far from the airport. I brought both my Nikon D7200 and D750 to try out the lens. After playing with the lens, downloading some of my images onto my phone and zooming in, I saw that the images were sharp.

There were no marks on the camera, the lenses were clear, filter threads in good condition, it zoomed smoothly, and apart from some of the numbers and painted markings being slightly worn from use, it was in great nick.

I went out to Mud Lake a few days later but there weren't many signs of wildlife except for various regular ducks and geese. I took a couple of quick snaps but in my haste, didn't really set up the camera to shoot fast enough at 500mm. Some images weren't sharp but that was my fault.

So on this past long weekend, DW and I set out to try and capture a rare celestial sighting. Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas is visible with the naked eye, assuming you have a clear sky.

DW and I headed to Britannia Beach and walked to the far north-east end of the bay, where there was a clear line of sight west. The comet was supposed to be visible about a half an hour to 45 minutes after sunset, so I made sure I was set up in time.

It was cool, with a strong wind coming off the Ottawa River. We had to bundle up to stay warm as we stood still.

While the sky overhead was crystal-clear, the western horizon showed very low cloud moving southward. Holding out my arm all the way and extending a finger that was horizontal with the horizon, the cloud just peeked above my finger.

"Hopefully, the comet will appear above the cloud line," I told DW.

She took a picture of me as I set up my camera with my new lens on the tripod. And then, we waited.

My camera was pointed toward Kanata North. For the most part, all we could see were trees on the horizon and one building rising above. With the naked eye, we could barely make out the building.

I focused on the building and took a shot, and zoomed in on the image in the camera's display.

"It's the Brook Street Hotel," I said, "I can read the lit-up sign on the top of the building."

DW looked at my display. "Wow, that's pretty impressive," she said.

Using my smartphone, I took a photo at the magnification that we could see with the naked eye.

Take a look at the group of trees in the foremost left of the image. There's a gap and then a lone tree. And then there's another gap and a second lone tree: With my new lens, I zoomed in on it.

Next, I zoomed in, once again, at Brook Street Hotel.

For this shot, I set my exposure for the fiery sky above Kanata. It was looking pretty spectacular.

It's a good thing that the sky put on such an incredible display for us because an hour after sunset, we still couldn't see anything else in the sky.

The Tsuchinshan-Atlas comet is supposed to be visible for a few more days. We couldn't go out on Sunday because we were hosting a Thanksgiving dinner but I hope to get out before it's gone.

Happy Tuesday!

Out Before Dawn

(By the way, this is the 3,000th post for The Brown Knowser. Thought you might like to know.)

A week ago, I did something that I haven't done in a very long time: I woke up, before sunrise, for the sole purpose of taking photographs.

I'm not a morning person but I'll get up early if I'm motivated. Like, when I used to work at the office and wanted to arrive between 6:30 and 7, before most of my colleagues arrived. I'd get a lot of work done before any distractions got my attention, and I'd be able to leave work earlier in the afternoon, giving myself the rest of the day to enjoy.

I'll get up early to go kayaking, if our destination is far. It's good to beat the rush and I find the lighting better.

I'll get up early to catch a flight. Not that I sleep well leading up to that flight. I get anxious toward departure time and I don't calm down until I'm at the gate, ready to board.

I'd like to think that I can get up early just to take a photo, but more times than not, I'll sacrifice a good shot for another hour of sleep.

But last Friday, I made an exception. Last week, I was on a staycation, where I got some writing done (including this post), got some chores done and some errands run, worked on videos, and relaxed. I wanted to use one of those mornings to get up early and capture some photos, and when I learned that we would have fog patches that would burn off in the morning, I thought that this would be a good time to rise early.

My destination was set the night before: Hog's Back. It's one of my favourite places to take photos and I knew that if there was going to be fog patches, they'd be there.

When I pulled into the parking lot, there were only a couple of cars already there. No doubt, there'd be other photographers with the same idea, but when I got to the falls, there was no one there. I had the lookout to myself.

But as I started setting up my tripod, I saw a young, pretty woman in a hijab come along the path towards where I was setting up.

"Good morning," I said as she passed by.

"Good morning," she echoed. "Do you think you'll get the sun over the falls?"

"Not over the falls," I said, "but I'm hoping for a bit of colourful light."

"Good luck," she said, and kept walking.

"Have a great day," was my response.

She didn't stop at the lookout but continued along the path as it ran downstream, toward Vincent Massey Park.

And I thought something that I immediately checked myself and wondered if I should even be thinking such a thing. Here was a young woman, on her own, in a relatively empty park, before the sun was up. Was she safe?

I also thought that because she was wearing a hijab, would she be susceptible to criticism or even an attack?

And then I thought, am I being somehow racist and sexist for thinking these thoughts? What makes me think that she can't take care of herself?

I'm a dad of two young women and I worry about them all the time, particularly Kid 2, who lives in Toronto and works late hours. I don't have the luxury of seeing that she gets home safely.

And that's what I wanted for this young woman in Hog's Back Park. I just wanted her to be safe and get to wherever she was going, just as I want for my own kids.

And while I captured photos of the falls, I kept my ears alert to any sounds that would break the peace of the morning.

Of course, when I finished taking photos at this lookout, I moved to other spots where all I could hear were the cars passing over the dam and the crashing water. I saw more people and was surprised that they were all on their own, much like me.

Ottawa's a safe place, I told myself. Sure, it's not perfect and you do have to be aware of your surroundings, but you can almost always expect to get from point A to point B without anything bad happening.

As I made my way back to my car, I encountered another woman, a bit younger than me, who was walking her dog. "Did you get your shots?" she asked.

"I hope so," I replied.

She scooted across the road that leads into the park and into a field that was wet with dew, where the sun was casting its warm rays through the trees. In an instant, I took one last shot.

It reminds me that we can all come out before dawn.

Happy Friday!

My Viking Roots

I only recently learned about my Scandinavian roots, with almost 10 percent of my genetic makeup representing Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. I learned this fact after a genetic test.

There's Viking blood in me.

Which makes it kind of funny that I came across a photo of me from 1989. It looks like I took it at a party (other photos corroborate my guess) and it was probably shot with my old Nikon One Touch point-and-shoot camera.

It's not a great photo, being somewhat out of focus.

DW and I were recently dating at the time but I can't remember which party we were at. We went to a lot of house parties back then. I don't recognize the ceiling or wall but it appears to be in someone's basement.

I don't remember where the helmet came from. Also, at the time, I wouldn't have known that true Viking helmets didn't have horns.

It's funny, looking at the photo now, knowing my genealogical roots. And, ugh, that hair!

Happy Thursday!