Business End
Water temperatures in the lagoons have hit around 6°C, and the northern pike are again cruising the spawning grounds.
Pikeflections
A mature northern pike swims in the shallows, reflected in the surface of water less than 6″ deep.
A Day in the Life
A day in the life of an underwater camera as a young northern pike, muskrat, and painted turtle cruise past in the lagoon’s murky depths.
Carp of Happiness
A common carp stares at the camera through the underwater gloom, looking like something out of Asian legends.
Island Iridescence
Glowing like a pet store tropical fish, a sunfish swims past an underwater remote near Pike Cut. Clarity of the lagoons is already dropping as the water temperature rises. This b-roll image looks mottled due to air bubble contamination on the lens port, a common problem in summertime.
Painterly Cruising
A signature photograph for the FishEYE II: a northern pike cruises its spawning grounds, waiting for the water to warm up to about 9°C to start the main event. The lagoons are still frigid, hovering around the 5-6°C mark.
Back in School
A school of yellow perch float motionless in front of a remote camera, their numbers seeming to stretch to the underwater horizon. A B-Roll shot by all accounts, but I didn’t know that we have schools of perch this large in our lagoons.
Pike Poise
The rule of beginner’s luck seems to be a photographic constant: deploy new gear to the field, and invariably something interesting will happen. At least the first time, after that you might get nothing for weeks. This marks the first deployment of the FishEYE II, a.k.a. ‘Mr. Floaty’, an update to the original FishEYE I […]
Between the Darkness and the Light
A beautiful northern pike undulates towards the camera, sandwiched between the dark lagoon floor and bright overhead sky. Unfortunately, after heavy rains and high wind, the water is also full of flotsam and jetsam: bits of plastic, rubber, and aluminum punctuating an otherwise beautiful natural image. This image was photographed with the FishEYE I underwater […]
Underwater Buffleheads
A bufflehead duck, white feathers glowing in the gloomy lagoon light, dives in search of food beneath the surface. They’re extremely shy birds, so they’re difficult to photograph normally without extremely long focal length lenses. Underwater remote cameras come into their element in a situation like this, as they unobtrusively monitor the daily life under […]
Business End
A mute swan, seen from an unusual angle, forages on the bottom of the still-desolate lagoon near the edge of what remains of the late spring icepack. Warmer temperatures should complete iceout over the next few days.
Northern Beauty
During the winter months, the lagoons become almost sterile as all the larger fish head to deeper waters. Crayfish, mink, beavers, and a few smaller fish can occasionally be seen going about their business under the ice, but nothing else. As the ice finally begins to clear out, the larger fish return and get ready […]
Wet Sky
Easily mistaken for alien tendrils attacking planet earth, lily pads float on the surface of the trout pond as seen from a remote camera on the bottom of the lagoon.
Proof of Concept
Hot on the heels of their newfound popularity from the front-page Toronto Star article, a curious Toronto Island mink checks out the experimental IceCam, underwater and under the ice near Snug Harbour. A terrible photograph by any stretch of the imagination, there isn’t much light down there, but an interesting portrait of our furry little […]
Underworld
An underwater camera captures a carp swimming through the algae-laden waters of high summer.