Once again the American Falls, this time in rainbow fashion. The lights illuminating the falls were constantly shifting into different colours and patterns. It was quite spectactular – but also a little annoying, as I missed some pretty constallations while fiddling with the camera. Since I was experimenting with different settings (exposure, ISO, framing), I didn’t necessarily get to do the same shot twice. This one I took with 1.3 sec exposure and 200 ISO. Seeing that they came out a little dark I intended to do it again with a longer exposure, but I didn’t get the opportunity before the lights changed. I had to brighten this picture with about 1.5 stops. More still to follow.

After the polar vortex that covered much of North America for a couple of weeks, the American Falls on the US side were nearly frozen solid. Here with a 3 sec exposure at 44mm. More pictures to follow showing the falls in rainbow colours.

After an Arctic blast with temperatures dipping to -20°C, Niagara Falls became the Niagara Icicle. I seen a lot of ice there in the past, but this was probably the most. I’ve seen it dozens of times, but never this spectactular. This is the Horseshoe Falls, from a fairly long distance (48mm) with a 2.5 sec exposure. I brightened the photo a bit in Lightroom. I was there on the last night of the cold period (the day after it rained). More pictures to follow.

Only black and white can make a colour photo look this gloomy. Horseshoe Falls in the background, Niagara Falls, Ontario.

Old Man Elm overlooking the American Falls in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The American elm is one of the largest tree species of southern Ontario. At least I think this is an elm.

Sunset in Port Dalhousie. I took a couple of pictures with the camera tilted, they turned out to have the best framing of the lot.

Fierce thunderstorms rolled in from Lake Ontario yesterday. Sebastian and I were bathing in Port Dalhousie earlier in the evening when we were surprised by a huge thunderstorm and pretty much had to run for it. As we walked to the car we were hit by a wall of wind and just as we sat in the car, the rain came. Later, after the first storm had rolled away I went down to the beach to take pictures of another approaching storm. The light and the sky were really magical. The wind was strong, but balmy. Frequent lightning struck across the water. But I underestimated how fast it was coming! Only minutes after I took this picture, another wall of wind hit me in the face and had to run to the car for the second time in just a few hours. But it was well worth it.

I still like photographing flowers. No fuss with flowers, though it’s not easy as you might think. Composition and depth of field and focal point all have to be exactly right, and the scourge of dead petals and pests is ever-present. I’m not going to claim I hit near the mark with this one.

Sometimes you just have to step across the street to get a nice shot, like this picture of a Michigan morning in July.

It’s almost as if it was posing, hanging in the air until I had taken the picture.

Looking thoughtfully across the Martindale Pond at a group of rowers. “Boat”, he says in Norwegian, “boat, boat, boat”, and points excitedly at a double sculler as it glides smoothly through the water right in front of us.

Tulips. Taken in the north-end of St Catharines a couple of weeks ago.