I have been waiting for a while now for a chance to get out and shoot some winter starry skies. But two things kept me inside snug in my bed at night: cloudy skies and freezing temperatures. Oh, and waiting for a night with no moon. Finally, last night all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place, so instead of heading to bed I headed down to Sandbanks Provincial Park to see what I could see.
Although the park is away from the major centres, there was still a pretty significant glow from the surrounding towns on the horizon. But I actually kind of like the way it looks. I could lie and tell you it was from the sunset or moonrise, but I wouldn’t lie to you! Either way, I actually really like what it does to the scene.
I’ve spent my share of time at West Lake and Sandbanks this winter snowshoeing, hiking and just having fun and I thought I knew exactly where I was going to go last night. But the mild temperatures have left even the most used paths soft and difficult to walk (and I left my snowshoes at home!). I was hoping to get out further on the ice and shoot the dunes from a different angle, but given the conditions and I didn’t want to risk walking out in the dark for obvious reasons.
Once I had gotten a few good photos at West Lake, I hopped in the car and went for a little drive over to the Lake Ontario side to see what I could find. Somehow I keep forgetting how cold the winter has been, and I was actually expecting to see open water along the shoreline and was surprised (for some reason) to see my headlights reveal some amazing ice formations along the shoreline. It was dark of course, so I got out and had a look around with my flashlight. I knew right away I had to shoot here with the ice volcanoes which are even more impressive here than they are at Presqu’ile. It was hard to tell just how far the ice went on, but I could hear the water in the distance and I wasn’t about to walk out too far at night.
I’m always blown away by what the camera captures in the night sky that the naked eye just doesn’t see. All that time planning this shoot has left me with a ton of other ideas, so expect to see a lot more star photos from me in the coming months!
43.9072461-77.2604084
