Weekly Photo Challenge: Weathered

My contribution to the Wits End Weekly Photo Challenge: Weathered.

After thinking of some of my weathered photos it occurred to me that I photographed some weathered wood piles sticking out of Colpoy’s Bay in various conditions last year.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Wild

This is my contribution to the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge: Wild.

As someone who has been photographing wildlife for years I had difficulty finding a starting point.

So I decided to go with a selection of photos taken when I wasn’t necessarily expecting a wildlife encounter. When I was out for a sunrise or photographing landscapes for example.

A Striped Skunk that appeared while I was looking for spring migrants around Little Quill Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Sitting on a bench at Dominion Lookout on the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton, Ontario imagine my surprise when this Red Fox came trotting along the shoreline. I later found out that it was a regular and well known by the locals.

Coming home from photographing a sunrise I spotted these two Sandhill Cranes in a field on our side road.

A Racoon that wandered into the yard one afternoon. I was sitting on the deck having been shooting portraits earlier so had a portrait lens on the camera.

A Sanderling on autumn migration. I had gone down to the Lake Huron shoreline in Southampton, Ontario, Canada for the sunrise and found a small flock of half a dozen Sanderling on the shoreline.

Wheels

The new Wits End Weekly Photo Challenge is Wheels.

I had a couple of ideas for the challenge before thinking of the photos of some of the vehicles I have used to carry camera gear around and even used as portable hides (blinds).

A pickup truck I used in Saskatchewan and later in Ontario, Canada. I put a fibreglass tonneau cover on the box so I could store tripods and hides (blinds) in the box. Frequently used as a hide in Saskatchewan.

A van I used in the U.K. It had a mount for a tripod head attached to the drivers door.

A quad bike I used in Saskatchewan, Canada. The tripod was strapped to the front rack.

A car I used in Saskatchewan, Canada. There should have been a road closed sign at the end of the back road.

A motorcycle I used around the U.K. and Europe. There was often a waterproof Pelican case strapped to the pillion seat.

Sharpening Wheel

The new Tuesday Photo Challenge is Wheel.

A bit of an easy challenge for someone who spent the best part of a decade shooting a variety of motorsports in the 1970s and 1980s. So I decided to go in a completely different direction and go with a nature photo of a bird.

You may wonder what a photo of a Western Jackdaw (Coloeus monedula) has to do with the challenge. It’s what the bird is standing on, a grindstone also known as a grinding wheel or sharpening wheel.

This particular grinding wheel was used by my maternal grandfather who used it to sharpen his scythe and sickle. He was lenghtsman, employed by the local council to maintain a length of road. Part of the job was keeping grass and weeds down along the verge amongst other things.

When he retired the wheel fell out of use and became a garden ornament which explains the condition and colour of the wheel.

Unexpected Beauty

The new Wits End Weekly Photo Challenge is Unexpected Beauty.

I had a few ideas for the challenge, at one point I was considering a portrait of a Horsefly that I had used for a different photo challenge earlier in the week.

In the end I went with a winter weather photo taken in early spring. A couple of weeks earlier there had been a covering of snow on the ice. After some thawing the snow had melted and the ice had started breaking up before it all froze over again.

Ice on Colpoy’s Bay at sunrise with the Niagara Escarpment on the horizon.

Horsefly Eyes

The new Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge is Eyes.

I had a few ideas for the challenge before thinking of this portrait of a Horsefly with colourful eyes photographed in Cheshire, England.

People at a Groundhog’s Funeral

The new Wits End Weekly Photo Challenge is People.

I had a couple of ideas for the challenge before remembering photographing Wiarton Willie’s funeral 18 months ago.

Wiarton Willie is a white Groundhog used to forecast the end of winter as a tourist attraction for the South Bruce Peninsula area in the winter. The funeral was for the third or fourth white Groundhog to have the job although some locals claim that there has been more than that with some quietly disposed of.

I thought the idea of a funeral for a Groundhog slightly ridiculous so went along with a camera to take photos for my other photoblog.

The funeral procession being led by bagpipes and drums.

The crowd watching the funeral procession. Notice how many smartphones are recording the event.

The only TV cameraman to attend the funeral filming one of the crowd who was taking photos.

The guy in the blue shirt may have been covering the funeral for one of the local newspapers.

Someone in the crowd filming one of the endless speeches by a string of local politicians. The dog was more interested in me.