Extreme Winter continues: photos from different parts of my country that I think epitomize winter. This morning's offering is from New Year's Day 2008, when I was visiting friends in rural Quebec after my mom died a couple of weeks earlier. I flew to Montreal, rented a car, did what had to be done, then went to hang out with people I'd known for many years. Decades.

The night before I left, it snowed. Heavily. Irenée had to work in the morning. Their driveway is a hundred yards long, and he made it passable. Then another ton of snow fell overnight, and we had to use shovels in the morning to dig ourselves out. The backroad drive to the nearest highway was an adventure in my rented Toyota Yaris, but I managed to stay out of the ditches.

At the time I was living on the west coast, where sometimes ice freezes in puddles and some winters there is snow. This was reminiscent of my childhood in Quebec, and I didn't mind it at all. When you live in a place like this, you just deal with it.

For this photo, I somehow focused through the falling snow and popped a flash. I was using one of the worst lenses Nikon ever made, the long forgotten 18-135mm for DX bodies. It is so totally forgotten that Photoshop doesn't even have it listed, so I can't make automated lens corrections during processing. Nice focal range; mediocre performance and image quality. Eventually I lost it when it rolled into a tide pool: I retrieved it but the salt water ensured it would never work again. What a relief!

Photographed near Danville, in the Eastern Townships of Quebec (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2008 James R. Page - all rights reserved.

Tags:   snowfall snowing night flash tractor blower plow winter rural driveway ouch too real mon pays my country dealing with it Danville Quebec Canada copyrighted James R. Page 2008

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This view stopped me cold, jumped out at me as I was setting off for a photography day elsewhere. Those clouds seemed to be balanced on the fir trees! I shot over the rooftops of neighbourhood houses, making it look more like wilderness and less like suburbia. On subsequent mornings I shot this same view again, many times, but this was by far the most interesting shot of the series...

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Tags:   landscape cloud sky panorama trees dawn wild nature Colwood Victoria Juan de Fuca Strait Vancouver Island BC British Columbia Canada

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This cormorant was drying its wings in a January breeze, and thus allowed me to approach within "capture range." At first I felt frustrated by the three-quarter backlighting, but then realized it allowed me to emphasize design over content. As soon as I understood that, I moved out of snapshot mode and into photographic mode. Seeing the shapes and textures, rather than naming everything. Every time I go out shooting, I must find a way to cut an invisible umbilical binding me to what I think the world is, or what I think I'm expected to do with the camera. Getting past that is like removing blinders: the entire world opens up.

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Tags:   Double-crested Cormorant Phalacrocorax auritus wildlife bird seabird black wings wet drying coast coastal ocean wild nature Juan de Fuca Strait East Sooke Regional Park Vancouver Island BC British Columbia Canada

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Meanwhile, back at the lagoon... I photographed this Eurasian Wigeon in some beautiful light. I am always cautious about labels when it comes to wigeons, as the Eurasian can interbreed with the native American wigeon, and apparently the offspring are fertile. But this adult male shows all characteristics of the Eurasian clearly.

On the south coast of Vancouver Island, winter is the best season for ducks, shorebirds, and many others. In early spring, the northern breeders start heading up the coast.

A few more to come from this location, then on to another of my favourite west coast haunts...

Photographed at Esquimalt Lagoon, Colwood, Vancouver Island, BC (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2008 James R. Page - all rights reserved.

Tags:   Eurasian Wigeon Mareca penelope wildlife bird waterfowl duck drake male swimming water reflections tranquil beauty coast coastal wild nature Esquimalt Lagoon Colwood Vancouver Island BC British Columbia Canada copyrighted James R. Page 2008

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Tags:   Eurasian Wigeon American Wigeon widgeon wigeon bird wildlife waterfowl duck two quack wetland pond lake coast coastal wild nature Esquimalt Lagoon Colwood Victoria Vancouver Island BC British Columbia Canada

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