... after returning to the hotel at 2:30am from taking pictures of the milky way, john immediately crashing but me foolishly remaining awake until i was sure i had achieved my goal of improving my skills in photographing the stars, we slept in a bit this morning ... our first stop upon heading out was the forillon national park headquarters, where we explored the penouille peninsula ... the little children enjoying the beach allowed me an opportunity to begin to learn using my "new" 30+ year-old zuiko 200mm manual focus/aperture lens ...
... i came across another who journals ...
... and one who found her own little island upon which to become lost ...
... we encountered many who were enjoying the boardwalk on four-wheeled bicycles ...
... this young man seemed determined to get them to racing speed ...
... two most charming young girls smiled our day better ...
... i remember being this boy ...
... near the outhouse we heard a sharp chirping sound ... john responded with his own call, and soon we were treated to a close up view of a white-throated sparrow ... this was my first attempt at this sort of photography using my new fuji x-t1 with the zuiko 200mm telephoto ...
... what marvelous creatures ...
... john led us down to the lachute waterfall, a favorite childhood spot he wanted to revisit ...we encountered the very friendly sun family on the trail ... they are from montreal ... we first met them yesterday evening as we were hiking towards the headlands to set up to shoot the milky way and they were headed back to the parking lot ... it was a bit confusing at first, but, when we finally realized who they were we were quite pleased that they remembered us ...
... i'm a sucker for tree rings ...
... i removed my shoes and socks to wade into the pool so i could get the perspective i wanted ... apparently there is a glacier just out of sight over the top of the hill, because by the time i'd taken the picture i wanted my feet were actually hypothermic, and it took quite awhile for circulation to return to my toes ...
... we returned to the lighthouse to take pictures under the clear sky ...
... after a great lunch, including homemade bread pudding, we entered the park and began hiking down to the shore ...
... from the overlook we spent quite some time watching the antics of a the birds in this rather interesting nesting area on the side of the cliff ...
... john took a break, i think just to listen to the sound of the rocks in the surf ...
... i ended up smelling like seaweed and dead crustaceans, but i got the shot ...
... the end of the trail at cap bon ami ... how odd, in places like this i become filled with an almost overwhelming compulsion to wade around the point to see what is there ... and, yes, are stories i could tell of times i've done exactly that, but not this day ...
... each layer a page in earth's story, all of human history wouldn't fill even one of these strata, here the entire sequence is many hundreds of feet thick ...
... a northern gannet, not much of a picture but i was pleased to be able to manage this with a camera and lens i'm still learning to use ...
... cape rosier lighthouse ...
... john, thinking, "oh, my, unlike the olden days when photographers sent their films in to be developed and printed, i've still got to put into photoshop and process the zillions of pictures i've taken" ...
... we enjoyed the antics of the razorbill auks ...
... the lighthouse marks the treacherous waters for mariners ...
... me ...
... flat on my back on the beach stones, trying to capture one of the birds in flight, i noticed a jet plane at high altitude heading east, perhaps an international flight soon to arrive at montreal ... i wondered if anyone in the aircraft looked down and noticed me ...
"I think over again my small adventures
My fears, those small ones that seemed so big
For all the vital things I had to get and reach
And yet there is only one great thing
The only thing
To live to see the great day that dawns
And the light that fills the world."
INUIT POEM