Archie’s Pastels
An iridescent dragonfly alights on a small branch in the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge.
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.
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 […]
Directions
A two-hour stacked exposure turns the late-March Toronto skyline into a fine web of aircraft trails. The Island airport can be seen at the left of the image, glowing with its myriad of takeoffs and landings. Porter Airlines can be seen following their usual east-wind takeoff pattern, from the airport directly to the top-right side […]
Spring Light
The spring equinox bonfire ushers in the season in fine style — thanks Alice! Shifty winds kept the flames low from most of the trees, only a few came close to equaling the height of some previous years. Still, you can’t beat curling your toes in warm sand after a long cold winter.
Reach
Shifty winds grab the equinox bonfire, making this a more difficult-than-usual evening for the fire performers.
Future Perfect
Capping a perfect mission and tracking southward, space shuttle Discovery (left) and the International Space Station (right) disappear into orbital sunset over the Centre Island pier, 16 hours before Discovery’s final landing at Kennedy Space Centre.
Cormorant Revealed
The pristine skull of a cormorant gives up its secrets on Ward’s beach. The top half of the bill is hinged just in front of the eyes, and the lower half of the jaw is jointed in almost the same place to help swallow larger prey.
Redtail Leftovers
An unidentified bird skull no larger than a quarter is all that remains of a red-tailed hawk’s dinner on Snake Island.
Branch
Space shuttle Discovery reaches for the sky on her final mission, consuming over 20,000lbs of propellant every second. Coincidentally, the Ongiara’s maximum vehicle load just happens to be 20,000lbs, which the shuttle consumes every second.
Approaching Storm
A wounded mute swan sits on the ice pack of the outer harbour, waiting as a winter storm approaches.
The Village
Like an arctic Smurf village, Ward’s beach assumes improbable shapes amidst a February cold snap.
Peeking Through
A remote camera catches a blackbird chick waiting for feeding, seen through its mother’s legs.
Icefields
A dormant geyser leaves behind a cave large enough to crawl into, here framing early clouds ushering in a low pressure system that should see temperatures rise by almost 15°C.
Red White and Blue
Amidst a fresh and still undisturbed snowfall, the Gibraltar Point lighthouse stands tall against a cloudless -18°C sky.
Mink Details
The carnivorous details of a perfectly preserved mink skull, found in the Sans Souci region of Georgian Bay.
Sing Your Heart Out
A blackbird, back on the Island for another season, sings its heart out in the Ward’s wet meadow.
Shipsands
Islanders line up to catch the 7:45am boat, temporarily replaced with the valiant Shipsands and crew during the Toronto civic strike of 2009.
Miss Kim Simpson
The lovely panoramic glass windows of the Miss Kim Simpson, our temporary transportation during the Strike of ’09.
Smirnoff Snowman II
A close view of the boardwalk’s Smirnoff Snowman, and his novel way of staying warm on cold winter days.
