Flower Season

The usual suspect here on the tundra.

Rain brings out the colour in your florets! Arctic Thrift; my first shot of it in full bloom, usually I get to it when the little pods are emptying out their petals.

Swans

Never far apart.



Stretch!

It happened unexpectedly, driving around we spotted a pair of Tundra Swans in a shallow lake near Iqaluit! We haven't spotted any cygnets but this pair do their thing without much notice of the admirers stopping for a gander (bad joke).


Me, mosquitoes and the swans hung out for nearly two hours!

Another bird happened by, singing his song. The Lapland Larkspur briefly stopped on a nearby rock long enough for a portrait then departed singing his cheery song; the only sound on the tundra.


The fishing is off to a later start around here this summer, Heavy ice lines the rocky shores and unlike last year, doesn't look safe at all, cracks along the edges and of course it's slippery too.

It's tundra garden season too, and as usual, have been trying to do something new with the local flora pics, those at a later date!

oopsy it's been too long

Been busy, really busy at work and lets face it, not much to photograph in the grand outdoors when darkness prevails for so many hours in the day. My weekends in December and January typically go like this; should get busy and get outside for some sun.....oops missed it, try again next weekend!
All of a sudden it's MARCH! We gain daylight at an astounding rate and the camera gets dusted off a little more often.
The bay one frosty morn.

With a fancy new camera, I've been experimenting with the settings and purchased a sexy macro lens for summer photography!

Up close and personal

I've learned some new techniques to improve the night shots of the aurora, but we've been sadly quiet in the night sky. Forecasts for 2012 aurora are optimistic. During the recent solar flares, I was in Ottawa and missed out viewing our inky skies.

My efforts were further complicated when one evening in the late autumn, while using the tripod on a 30 sec exposure; I had to exhale and in doing so turned away from the camera to avoid tainting the image...when all of a sudden a gust of wind took my camera and tripod flying!

To my dismay the lens mount had busted, hurling the lens a metre away, and was un-usable. After a lengthy wait for the part, followed by a failed attempt at repairing it myself and in so doing damaged it further; I ordered a new lens.
Lesson learned; do it yourself in camera repair is not for me and is best left to the experts.

Yaay longer days!

Bye Bye 2010!

Safe and Happy New Year.

So Long 2010!

the arctic is melting

Politicking is not my thing, but one cannot ignore the weird and warm winter we're having this year. So much rain, freezing rain and melting will definitely affect the northern wild life. Furthermore the night sky has been obliterated by clouds.

falling stars

The night of the meteor storm was unusually cold and clear night for us (this winter). My friends and family in Ontario were under cloudy skies. So with a sense of duty, obligation we went out "representin'" to view the meteors! It was a chilly -27C but well worth the effort. We bundled up, trundled out the tripod and faced the wind to watch the universe unfold.

meteor storm with added bonus; aurora borealis extraordinaire




Not much to photograph if it's mud and cloudy skies so here's to hoping for the return to cold!

time passages

I made a difficult decision to remove the blog list which was to the right of ma blog. Reason, I can't keep up with the transient nature of northerners. Of the originals in my list, I think only Matt in Cape Dorset and I are still in Nunavut. Many others migrate to "greener" pastures of the Yukon, NWT or locales south. Sorry folks. Miss you all and Jen of the north I miss you the most.


Shelley