On the way back home from Little Limestone Lake we made a stop for the sunset and some night shooting at Steep Rock, Manitoba.

The was setting as we arrived and it wasn’t much of a sunset. I did manage to catch some nice color before it completely died.

Even thought the color in the image below was nice, I decide to go for a more dramatic look. This sparked a series of BW conversions.

Some really interesting rock formations and caves to explore at Steep Rock.

7 angle panorama covering over 180­º of view.

While taking night shots we captured what we thought was a hot air balloon. It was in a lower altitude and had an orange flame. So we naturally thought balloon. Except it didn’t act as one. It was moving rather fast and the flame never changed. There were also no lights and no silhouette of the balloon. This happen again about 20min or so after from a different direction. I managed to capture it as well but didn’t get a good exposure. Some people are saying it could be a Chinese lantern that you light and floats to the sky. That could work but the second sighting was moving pretty erratically. It would seem to stop then quickly move in a different direction. I guess it is possible that the wind currents higher up were quite different then below where we were. UFO’s or not I plan to return to Steep Rock.

Little Limestone Lake is a majestic turquoise body of water.  It is a marl lake that visibly changes color as the calcite in the water, dissolved from the limestone bedrock, chemically reacts to the heat of the sun.  On hot days the water turns a rich milky blue.  It is considered by experts to be the largest and most outstanding example of a marl lake in the world.

Unfortunately due to the massive amount of rain this summer the lake was much higher then normal. So much so that most of the shores and even some shallow islands were buried under water. It made navigating the shores difficult and limited. Next time we have to bring a boat to explore the whole lake. Since the landscape to shoot was limited in interest I decided to create my own. I found some pieces of drift wood and put them to good use.

I was able to find some interesting pieces of drift wood like these. (see above and below).

The color of Little Limestone Lake’s water is so beautiful. I felt like I was in the tropics.

After over a month of not being able to get out for a photo exploration I was in need of a fix. I email a fellow photographer if he wanted to go shooting and he asked where I wanted to go. I told him I wanted to shoot landscapes with rocks and water facing west. He suggested Victoria Beach, MB and off we went. We arrived late afternoon and shot until just after sunset. It ended up being a great shoot and the sunset really delivered some nice color.

Upon arrival at Victoria Beach the sky was overcast. This was actually a good thing as it made for some interesting lighting. The milky tan color of the water and the pastel colors of the sky made a nice combination. I also found Jabba The Hut. See below for Jabba!

At first it looked as the sunset was going to disappoint. The sun ducked behind the clouds but then reappeared to deliver the goods.

While setting up the above composition I spotted a person in a kayak coming my way. Since I was set up with filters for a long exposure I quickly removed the filters and adjusted my settings so I’d be ready for when he passed by. The timing couldn’t have been better.

With so many rocks and possible compositions the challenge was to find one that worked. Instead of just a bunch of rocks in the water I searched for interesting patterns in the rocks that Mother Nature left. I was lucky and found a couple interesting patterns. The above photos titled “The Great Divide” is a my fa

This group of rocks (see above left and below) I called “The Gathering”. The black and white version was taken about 1.5 hours before the color version. The light at that time was so harsh I decided to re-shoot it when the light was better. In the end I kept both versions.