Today's video features one of my best days of forest photography ever.

Vancouver Island has a lot of beautiful forests but the chances of getting fog like this are very rare indeed.

Well finally, after waiting many years, it finally happened.

Tune in to watch the creation of this image.

youtu.be/myKX5Ju36Q0

Thanks for reading
Gavin

Tags:   vancouver island forest woodland Photography trees fog foggy mist creepy fototripper

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This frozen cave in the Kootenays has a small forest of ice stalagmites that catch the light in a magical way.

If you'd like to watch a video of how this image was made, please visit my channel www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxHtR4bZO-I

Thanks for looking
Gavin Hardcastle

Tags:   fototripper east kootenays canadian rockies British Columbia ice winter cave frozen cold freezing stalagmites

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If you don't already know, I bought a 100 yr old church to convert into a home.

Sadly, this isn't it.

No, my church doesn't have such a lovely belfry as this beautiful church in Canning, Nova Scotia.

The belfry in my church (or more accurately, the attic right next to the belfry) had a good 6 inches of solid bat poo which yours truly had the pleasure of scraping and shoveling into approximately 70 garbage bags.

This event is logged in my memory as one of the dirtiest jobs I've ever done. A whole week of shoveling and scraping.

At least I've got one more week of scrubbing with an enzyme cleaner to look forward to.

Ah bats, don't you just love them.

Luckily, the bats in my belfry are long gone, and I'd bet money that this open and well-lit belfry in the church at Canning has no such piles of guano.

Perhaps a few bird plops and squirrel skids but none of the dreaded filth-encrusted insulation I had the pleasure of dealing with.

I wonder if it's for sale?

Thanks for looking
Gavin

Tags:   church fototripper blue hour snow winter cold freezing sunset

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Tags:   Waterfall summer watkins glen new york green calming

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Watch my latest episode at youtu.be/7avVULzkliw

No, those aren't frost-covered trees. Those are sun-bleached skeletons that suffered 'death by beaver'.

Just driving around Nova Scotia you'll see many such ponds created by beaver dams. They make for lovely reflections, but I do feel sorry for those once vibrant trees, now drowned.

This was a surprisingly calm morning and I'd spied this composition from the highway as I was driving by the previous day.

We got up before dawn and drove back to this beaver pond hoping for some moody reflections.

What I was hoping to avoid turned out to be the secret ingredient that made this shot work. I knew that as soon as the sun got high enough to light the tops of these dead trees there'd be no chance of a good shot.

What I didn't reckon for was that gorgeous warm light reflected in the pond. What you're seeing is the sun kissed mountain above the trees reflected in the pond while the trees themselves sit in the cold shade.

What was meant to be a dark and moody image turned out to be greatly enhanced by contrasting colours.

All too quickly, the sun reached into the valley and this moment of beautiful contrast was over as the trees were fully lit and the scene vanished before my eyes.

I hope to revisit this spot when the ice begins to form and the trees are smothered in frost.

Thanks for reading
Gavin

Tags:   reflections trees beaver dam cold warm contrast pond nova scotia

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