Swan On The Bay

I had the chance to get to Bayfront Park in Hamilton, On., yesterday for a few hours. This gave me the opportunity to learn what it's like to shoot moving subjects at a distance. It is a very different type of photography compared to what I am used to! The big lesson was patience. The number of times that a flock of geese or a couple of swans would come in for a landing right where I had been 30 seconds ago was somewhat frustrating, in a slightly humorous way. Yesterday's lessons learned will pay off in the future.

Bayfront Park is a recently developed area on the Hamilton side of Burlington Bay. This is all on the western tip of Lake Ontario approximately 40 miles southwest of Toronto. I am not used to spending time in a huge natural water environment like this. Every second was enjoyed to the max! The lake in it's own right is worth seeing, but this area has the added bonus of the Niagara Escarpment which runs from the Niagara Falls area right up to the tip off the Bruce Peninsula at Tobermory on Georgian Bay. Then it continues underwater to surface on the north side of Georgian Bay. I'm not certain if Manitoulin Island is part of the escarpment, but I think it is.

The clarity of the water and the incredible underwater formations are two of the reasons that Tobermory is such a preferred scuba diving area. There are other reasons as well. This area also is home to Fathom Five Underwater National Park which protects these unique submerged geologic formations. Suffice to say that in the late 80's for two years I was a scuba diver in this area and got to witness the Niagara Escarpment at 80 feet underwater!

It was a great morning to spend a few hours on the lake. I took well over a hundred photos but due to my lack of outdoor/wildlife photography experience there were very few keepers. With practice, experience has shown, those odds will improve. In light of it being a weekday morning there were very few people enjoying this natural area while I was there. Clearly, I do myself a big favour taking the camera and tripod with me whenever and wherever I can!

It was a great day. Remember to click on the image to see the larger version.

I hope you are having a good day. 안뇽히겨세요.