Middlesex College at the University of Western Ontario.

Couldn’t this be a postcard? I know, a million other people have the same shot (or a close equivalent of it). This year, when my family visited from Norway, I took them on the trip “behind the falls” rather than on the Maid of the Mist. Perhaps a bit of a tourist trap, but I contend that it was still a nifty experience (the second time for me). What else is one to do as a tourist but touristy things? Plus, I really don’t mind having another excuse to take pictures (and try out my new, hand-me-down Nikon D80). The falls really do look quite impressive from underneath, on the viewing platform. As for seeing the falls from behind? Well, the tunnel itself was the interesting bit; the falls themselves just became a white veil of water, without much contrast. At least it was refreshing

Sunrise over Lake Vermillion, with Mount Rundle in the background. Scarcely four hours after being down by the water to gaze at the universe, a few of us from the workshop went back to observe the sunrise. It was crystal clear and hardly a cloud in the sky, leading to less colour and beauty in a more subtle dimension.

Stargazing in the Rockies…see the Milky Way in all its splendour. This picture was taken at 2am on a jetty on Lake Vermillion, close to Banff.

I have only brightened this picture and done some noise removal — the colours are all original, reflecting the wavelenghts that were present but too subtle to be seen with the naked eye. The orange light that floods Mount Rundle is light pollution from Banff; in this instance, it created an otherworldly effect. The stars appears as streaks because of the movement of the Earth. The bright dot reflected in the water is Venus. I didn’t have a tripod, so I rested the camera on the edge of the jetty. As people moved around, the jetty started rocking slightly, hence the stars didn’t move in a straight line.

Technical details: f/3.5 at 18mm, 146 seconds, ISO 25o

Here’s Echo Creek, a tributary that joins the Bow River in Banff. You can hire canoes and kayaks here (for a price), or if you’re lucky, other people will do the hiring and then line up for you on the river while a train is passing in front of them, with rugged mountains in the background, all beautifully framed by trees.

View of Paris from the steps of the Sacre Coeur basilica, when Jenna and I were in Paris last September. It looked like we had a rainy and dismal day ahead of us, but soon after it started clearing up and we had a pretty nice day (although we didn’t escape some showers later on).

If you’ve been following my posts from the last few days, you may have discerned that I’ve been posting panorama pictures I took long ago. I’ve just recently stitched these together.

Here’s idyllic South Haven, on the shores of Lake Michigan. It’s nice to go there and lounge on the beach for a day, even if the water temperature doesn’t quite reach the same levels as in the Mexican Gulf.

A view of the Ottawa River from behind Parliament, with Gatineau (Quebec) on the far side of the river. In the left part of the picture, on the bluff over the river, sits the Supreme Court of Canada (white building).

Here’s a panorama of Missoula, the second largest city in Montana and home of the University of Montana. I was there for a three day workshop on the ethics of geoengineering in October, 2010. Though there was not much time for getting around and seeing the wonderful nature of Montana and the hues of autumn, I did manage to climb the hill of the valley to get this panorama of the city. I’d like to go back to Montana, to walk under majestic Ponderosa pines and take in their vanilla fragrance. And, of course, I want to see Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks. Next time.

To get the ‘panorama experience’, click the Quicktime link below — try the zoom!

I took this picture an afternoon last year. Dark and cloudy conditions in the evening made it very difficult to get a sharp picture, considering I relied on three magnification filters to get this close, significantly reducing the amount of light that reached the lens. Some post-capture sharpening makes the quality acceptable.

The rosebush outside our door is a conveniently located subject.

If you were making a shortlist of idyllic places, you could do worse than including the small village of Holmsbu, sitting in a rural and forested location almost at the tip of the Hurum peninsula. On our way to visit my sister Cecilie and her boyfriend during our trip to Norway last year, I took Jenna on a detour around the Hurum peninsula. We stopped at this exquisitely preserved example of a Norwegian sea-side village, replete with white-painted wooden houses. Today, of course, modernity and money has imported at marina for pleasure craft in the foreground, and monied classes from the larger cities not far away occupy many of houses during the summer season, where once lived fishermen and their families. It’s a lovely place to stop for a bit, have a walk and enjoy the sights.