Ice and Sky

I went to Elk Island Nat. Park this past Saturday morning to check on how the ponds were coming along as far as thawing. I knew it would be busy as temperatures were expected to soar to around room temperature, and they did, and it was as busy as I could remember ever seeing the park. Tons of people, and lots of large groups with very few people wearing masks...arghh!!!

 

But enough of that. It was a very clear and sunny day, and I believe that humidity was very low, so the sky was quite blue. Of course in my normal style of processing I have taken advantage of a blue sky and have pushed it to what I consider a still tasteful limit. No polarizer, just exposure and processing.

 

In the sky were what I believe were a few contrails that were being shaped by winds and they made for some great skies, but I did find them tough to compose with.

 

On the subject of composition, I was hesitant to post this one, especially as an introductory image to this series, but I still really like it. I liked the ice and I liked the sky and of course I liked how the sun is between the contrails, but overall I find the image very very busy.

 

Now to get to the point of the series, the thawing ice. For the most part the large ponds and lakes at the park are still frozen with exception of the very edges. Very small and very shallow ponds are open, but as far as waterfowl go it is still practically zilch at the park. It seems that one finds more in small ponds or even ditches on the way to the park, but that will change quite quickly. Although I saw only Geese walking on ice, I did spot a couple of Muskrats swimming in open water along the edge of two ponds.

 

So there you have it. I am not sure how many images the series will contain, but I do know that future posts will have a much shorter description. Thanks for bearing with me.

 

Done