Newfoundland Journey 2018 — Phase 9

I'm on a two-month journey in Newfoundland. My goal here is to post some highlights, both in words and pictures, and to try to include some tips if you're planning to make the trek to the Rock.

 You can click on any picture in the blog to blow it up. Most of the pictures are available as large format prints at very reasonable cost. Contact me.

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This is the last in the series of blog posts documenting my summer-long trip to Newfoundland. That doesn't mean you won't see any more Newfie pictures, indeed you will! But maybe not in a semi-chronologically organized fashion.

This post starts mid-August. Amin is back and we're based out of Torbay, north of St. Johns. From there we drove back to the West coast, visited Gros Morne, then spent a day around Stephenville and the Port au Port peninsula, then drove via Codroy to pick up the ferry in Channel-Port aux Basques. After getting on the ferry, I never even took the camera out. So the post ends when we left the Rock.

Here are some stats for the trip.

BTW for those who don't know, Amin is a friend from the Haliburton Highlands Camera Club. He drove out with me, spent a couple of weeks, flew home and then back for the last two weeks of the trip. He loved it and would do it again, but was admittedly disappointed in the number of icebergs, whales and close-up puffins he saw. And moose. See below!

• Total time away: 70 days
• In Newfoundland:    65 days
• Total Mileage: 12,525 km
• In Newfoundland:     8,350 km approx.
• Number of car problems:     1 (nail in tire)
• Number of Shutter Clicks: 13,416
• D800:   10,333
• D5500:   3,083     
• Approx. number of "keepers": 8,812
       Not out of focus or poor exposure or composition. Includes images stacked
       for merging as panos, HDR's, but not startrails (I discarded those after stacking).
• Number of camera problems: 2 (dropped camera/wide angle lens, 400mm doesn't want to autofocus sometimes)
• Number of times I went out in a boat: 6 not counting the ferry
• Number of times I ate fish: approx. 15
       Note: this is a significant number since at home I NEVER eat fish
       Note: in Newfoundland, "Fish" means "Cod".
• Number of icebergs I saw that weren't 15 miles away: 1. And it was just a little bergy bit. It just wasn't the year for them.
• Number of whales I saw: about 12. 2 or 3 from boats, a few pictures, some tails, no breaches.
• Number of moose I saw in all that driving: 0. That's zero. None.
• Number of caribou: also 0. They don't exist. They're just a story they tell people from away.
• Number of birds: Lots. Puffins, Gannets, gulls, sea birds, shore birds, check out my pictures!
• Number of disagreements, testy moments: 1. In a Royal Bank who didn't want to serve me because I didn't reveal that I had an RBC client card. I don't count the time I got stopped for speeding because the nice RCM Policeman let me off with a warning!
• Oh yeah, I forgot: 
• Number of iPhones I stepped on and broke: 1
• Number of times I dropped my camera: 1
• Number of oil paintings I did. One. Not happy about that...
• Number of charcoal/pencil sketches I did: 4. Really just three because I did the same scene twice. Again, not happy, I should have done more.
• Number of waterproof rain jackets I bought: 2. Can't help myself!
• Number of T-shirts I bought: 2. At Cape St. Mary's and a long sleeved one in Rocky Harbour.
• Number of stuffed animals I bought: 2. I bought a Puffin as a decoy for Elliston and a Moose to remind me that they actually might exist. They're going to my granddaughters in New York. (don't tell them!)
• Number of times I took out the two folding chairs I brought all that way: Zero. Ditto my light tent and light kit
• Number of times I got up to shoot at dawn: 1.

It was a fantastic 2 months. I met some amazing people, saw some unparalleled scenery and wildlife, hiked much more than I thought I could, stayed in some great places, enjoyed a variety of weather ("you have to love the wind"!).

Am I coming back? You betcha, b'y.

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If you are an outdoor type person, there's no excuse for not visiting the Rock. 

  

 Newfoundland is serious about their hiking trails. They are unbelievably scenic and extraordinarily well maintained, right down to putting chicken wire on boards crossing wet spots and carving "X's" in the steps so that hikers don't slip in the wet.

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OK, now let's do some pictures to wrap up the trip. 

This was at the foot of the cliff where the house I rented was located.

I hiked out on the Cobbler's Path, East Coast Trail at Torbay Point twice: the first time I didn't make it all the way (before I decided that yes, I can actually walk!). This was from the second trip, and I got Amin to shoot a picture of me on the rocks at the end of the trail.  Photo credit: Amin Shivji 

If you look back from there, you get this view of the peninsula. On the right is Outer Cove, on the left, Europe! Here's a Google Map of the spot. 

Looking the other way, here's Amin at the very end. In the distance, can you see Greenland? No?

By the way, there are some very beautiful estates and estate lots on the road to this point. Awesome view of the ocean or the bay or both. We saw a sign offering a one-acre lot for $595,000. The former premier of Newfoundland (Danny Williams) lives there, along with other big names.

Just around the corner is the Ocean Science Centre, part of Memorial University. Very interesting architecture! 

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North of Torbay is the northern part of the Avalon Peninsula. Since I like to drive my Subaru as far as I can until I run out of road (I call those rough dirt roads, "Suba-roads") we managed to get to the very end of the peninsula, at Cape St. Francis beyond Pouch Cove.

There used to be a manned lighthouse at this point, we were told by a local, but they tore it down and replaced it with an automated one and a helipad. They fly from here to the oil rigs in the North Sea and for Search and Rescue. The road goes up and down some challenging hills!

Just before you get there, you find this wonderful vista. I did a multi-shot pano here, you can see exquisite detail in a print or a blow-up.  We were told that there are literally dozens of shipwrecks on the rocks in this bay dating back centuries. 

In Pouch Cove itself, there are some slip ramps where small fishing boats are launched. They go up probably 100' on the cliff faces. This old boat is sitting at the top of one of them.

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Bird Pictures

We went down to Cape St. Mary's together with Ray Mackey on a fog-less day (for a change!).  I took a lot of images including this one of a hen caring for her chick. 

Amin and Ray on the hike out to the rock where the Gannets nest. It's just to the right of Ray, near the end of the peninsula in the distance. The walk out is about a mile. 

The rock itself. It's late in the season so there are fewer gannets than there are mid-summer. You can blow up any image by clicking on it.

A young Northern Gannet in flight. They don't get that white colouring until they're a few years old 

Typical Gannet pose 

I shot this from on board the Molly Baun II, a tourboat out of Mobile, Newfoundland.

Common Murres, with some Thick-billed murres and some puffins thrown in for good measure. Can you imagine the smell? Shot from the Molly Baun at Gull Island in Witless Bay 

A puffin doing his best to take off after gorging himself on capelin. Also from the boat. 

Harlequin Ducks 

immature Spotted Sandpiper (no spots!) 

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Parting Shots

We spent the last couple of days on the West coast, in Gros Morne and Stephenville/Port au Port before heading to Port aux Basques and the ferry home. Here are some closing images...

 

 

 

"One of these things doesn't belong here. One of these things isn't the same"!
 

 

I'll probably add another blog post in a while to summarize experiences, add some images and make some more recommendations for your upcoming trip to Newfoundland (you are coming, right?). 

In the meantime, "Long may your big jib draw"!

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Newfoundland Journey 2018 — Phase 8

I'm on a two-month journey in Newfoundland. My goal here is to post some highlights, both in words and pictures, and to try to include some tips if you're planning to make the trek to the Rock.

 You can click on any picture in the blog to blow it up. Most of the pictures are available as large format prints at very reasonable cost. Contact me.

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This blog post is a little late. I just didn't feel like sitting down and writing, especially after Amin came back and days were filled with hiking and driving and making pictures.We'd get home and upload our photos to computer, then I'd find myself falling asleep in front of the screen, go to bed and do it all over again the next day. It might also be partly due to working on a 15" screen instead of my 27" at home. I don't really have an excuse for the two weeks I was in Torbay before he got back... except days were also filled with exploring and doing things, I didn't want to waste my days.

So I'm going to cover most of the Torbay portion of the trip in this post, then do one more about the closing days there and before we left our "Island in the Sun" to wend our way home.

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...just before we get started, here's some exciting news for my photography friends.

Topaz Labs has REALLY done it this time.

Want to print an image but you've cropped it too much and it's too small to print well? Need to upsize an image?

Topaz A.I. Gigapixel is a standalone application only (it does not work as a plugin or Topaz Studio adjustment) made for batch resizing your images. It uses the power of Topaz's proprietary Artistic Intelligence engine to make sharper and clearer upscaled images than traditional upscaling tools.

They gave me a beta version to try. I did. It works. This is a gamechanger, folks. There's a 30-day free trial, try it for yourself.

Upsized 200% to 3000x2000 Mp

Note: check if your computer can handle it before you buy it. And watch your colour space if you're upscaling a RAW file.

I could tell you more but Topaz can tell you better. Here's the link:

https://topazlabs.com/ai-gigapixel/ref/32/

Update: There were indeed some colour space issues and a few others that were corrected between the Beta and the next release (v. 1.0.2, I think). Also this program requires some heavy duty hardware. There's a list of minimum requirements on their website, but I read a comment from Heath (from Topaz) who basically said, "try it". The 30-day trial is free. If it works, it works. Well.

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Sharing some 'random musings'...

I'm not perfect (imagine that!). Sometimes I get a little curmudgeonly, like the other day when I went into a Royal Bank because I had some $100 bills that I wanted to change into $20s because stores don't always have change. They gave me a hard time: a Canadian Chartered Bank didn't want to accept legal Canadian tender, negotiable currency unless I logged in with my RBC client card. I refused on principle (I do have one...) and ended up in a fight with the manager before they would simply exchange my Canadian currency for other Canadian currency. A bank. By the way, the teller made a mistake and almost gave me $100 too much. I shouldn't have said anything.

But that's not what I'm writing about here. As I age, with increasing arthritis and so on, I've been having some issues walking, especially on uneven surfaces and downhill. Stepping down is really hard for me and I've grudgingly started using a cane in some circumstances. Somehow that makes me operate at half-speed.

Keep reading, I'm getting there.

The other day, I went to Cape Spear before dawn, to capture the first sunrise in North America (Cape Spear is the easternmost point on the Continent). I'm driving there at 5 am and already seeing lightening skies and the beginnings of a beautiful red glow. I'm late, and to get to where I want to shoot, I have to climb a million steps (another issue. You try it carrying as much extra weight as I do!). Then I have to walk out a meandering path between the rocks, up, and down.

This was about half an hour before the actual dawn 

"Screw it. I'm doing this". And without any difficulty whatsoever, I did.

Do I really have trouble stepping down? Or is it in my head? Thing is, if I can't be sure of a secure foot placement, I'm afraid that I won't be able to quickly take the extra steps to keep my balance and not fall. I've rolled over on my ankle too often.

Not only did I venture up there at speed, but I wandered the rocks for a better shooting spot, carrying, by the way, two cameras, a bag and a tripod. Then afterwards, I walked DOWN the thousand steps back to the parking lot without hesitation.  Maybe it was all in my head. Maybe I'm not as old as I feel sometimes.

Was it worth getting there for dawn? You tell me.

Here's an abstract I did in Topaz Impression from the same sunrise. 

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I'm in Torbay.

I told you that I found this great house. And as advertised, Linsey and Peter have not omitted anything in making this place a 5-star accommodation. I did a little iPhone video the day I got here: Click here to watch. Opens in Quicktime player.

This is the amazing house I rented for the month. 

My only suggestion was to go outside and chop down the power, phone and fibre optic lines interfering with the view! LOL

This is the view from the house (minus the power lines, of course!) 

I'm here until August 25th. Amin arrives on the 17th, he has his choice of 3 bedrooms. I've appropriated the loft!

From this location, we can access everything as far away as Cape St. Mary's in a day trip. We might even go back to Bonavista to visit the puffins again. I'm 10 minutes from St. John's airport and only about 15 - 20 minutes from downtown St. John's, depending on traffic.

Quidi Vidi is a quaint little area (read: 'touristy'!) of St. John's nestled in the hills just northeast of the downtown. Old buildings, fishing stages, and the Quidi Vidi brewery where they make Iceberg Beer among others.

Signal Hill is an exceptional place to photograph from. And you meet neat people there!

 

There are a variety of places to shoot from. Another one is behind those buildings on the right, halfway up the hill. There are trails everywhere to take you out to great spots. 

At the foot of the hill in the above photo is an area called "The Battery". It sits just at the entrance to the Harbour and the streets are narrow and cluttered with cars and people. But the view from across the harbour is breathtaking.

I shot this last year too and I'm not sure which image I like better. Timing is critical — the light in the sky and the light from the buildings have to balance and they only do that for a short time! 

If you turn to the right, you see the exit from the harbour. This large boat was exiting at the time I shot it. 

St. John's is known for its "jellybean houses", each one painted a different vibrant colour.

 

I'd like to render them differently so that they stand out more. Here's one attempt...

I did this quickly for the blog. Be warned... I ain't done yet! LOL 

As I said, from Torbay I was able to explore other places. Here are a few shots

On the beach at St. Phillips. By the way, there's a highly regarded fish-and-chips shop there, "By the Beach", and yes, it's great!  

Same spot. Some people do other things with rocks! 

Portugal Cove is where you get the ferry to Bell Island. It was too busy, so I didn't go, but I did get this shot from the ferry dock
 

One night I did get out to shoot some star trails. I went up to Pouch Cove (pronounced "Pooch Cove") because it looked like the perfect dark skies spot. Not bad, but the night was a little hazy. I added some "Georgia O'Keeffe" to make it a bit different. 

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As I said, Amin came back on the 17th. We went out to "By the Beach" for dinner, then went to a spot Ray Mackey told us about:

On the way to St. Phillips, we saw these dragon boat racers practicing. I split it into a tryptich
 

This is the spot Ray told us about. Shooting down on Conception Bay South from the Topsail Bluff.  

To be continued!

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Newfoundland Journey 2018 — Phase 7

I'm on a two-month journey in Newfoundland. My goal here is to post some highlights, both in words and pictures, and to try to include some tips if you're planning to make the trek to the Rock.

 You can click on any picture in the blog to blow it up. Most of the pictures are available as large format prints at very reasonable cost. Contact me.

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Bonavista is a great little town

As I mentioned last week, virtually everything in Trinity is dedicated to the tourist trade. While the centre of Bonavista is also comprised of 'heritage' homes and sites, there's actually a townful of people who work for a living in other fields. While the Bonavistonians share the same outgoing friendliness of the rest of Newfoundland, you have a sense that they have lives in the present, not just rooted in the past. It's bigger of course, and it actually has gas stations and grocery stores.

That said, when I arrived on Sunday, I was disappointed to learn that the grocery store was closed. Stores are open on Sundays everywhere, right? Aha. Turns out it was "Bonavista Days", a local holiday. No sweat, restaurants are open! And BONUS: fireworks scheduled for tonight.

We had rented a "saltbox house" in downtown Bonavista for the week: Trudy and Jeff joined me for 4 days before heading to Twillingate (we were going in opposite directions, ships passing in the night!).

Here's the house we rented, "Dorman's Manor". Only a couple of hundred yards from the harbour. It's a "Saltbox House", architecture that dates back to the 18th century. The house was very well decorated and kept. Strange layout, with a pullman car kitchen along the left side and characteristic low ceilings (apparently people were shorter in those days!).

Fireworks that night. Quite an impressive show. 

Something a little different from me: almost a street photo. It's about what you think is happening in the picture. I watched this girl tottering along the unsure footing of rhe stallykins that made up this flake (If you don't know those words, you didn't read my last blog post. Scroll down for it). 

Regrettably, I didn't shoot a lot of pictures of Bonavista itself, there were too many other things happening. Bonavista is about landscapes, lighthouses, whales and puffins.

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We of course visited the Bonavista Lighthouse and the Dungeon Provincial Park. Everyone posts pictures of these sites, so I won't. Except this one:

Shot from the dungeons. That's the lighthouse in the distance. 

There was a herd of beautiful horses on the Community Pasture at the Dungeons. I couldn't get this mare to run towards me, mane and tail streaming in the wind. I leave it to your imagination.

The stallion that led this herd was less friendly. He actually bit Trudy to convince her to stay away from his brood. She was black and blue (and other spectacular colours!) from shoulder to elbow for a long time! 

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I have hundreds of Puffin shots. These little airborne clowns are addictive to shoot. And if you're there at the right time... which, it turns out, is just before sunset. Probably also in the morning but I didn't get there that early. There are several places to watch them but the best one is the Puffin Viewing area at Elliston.

Puffins don't fly very well. Their wings are apparently designed for swimming not flying. They have to work like crazy to stay aloft and their takeoffs and landings are amazingly clumsy. 

My first visit there (this year) was during the day and the birds stayed on their nesting island, so these were long distance shots, with the 400mm and cropped. Tough to shoot them in flight!

Those aren't dust spots: they're other birds in flight in the background.

Not the only birds there: these were juvenile seagulls.

I came back there twice, both late in the day. The first time, I used a stuffed puffin toy I had bought to entice them — turns out I didn't need it, they were going to come over to our side of the water anyway.

Seriously, they did fly over to check the toy out.

You could shoot them from 10 or 20 feet away. 

BUT. Trudy and Jeff went over the next night and got shots of the puffins actually doing things, not just standing there and posing for pictures. I couldn't let that pass, so I went over the next night and got these shots. They're full high-resolution images and will make dandy prints (especially for a kid's room... hint!)

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I also went out in search of whales. I really wanted to see a breach — when the whale comes head first out of the water. Didn't happen. It was an enjoyable morning on the water, though and we did get close to some whales. There's a new regulation that prevents boats from approaching whales too closely and harassing them. By the way, that's put those outfits like the one in Petty Harbour that fits people out with wetsuits and snorkels and lets them swim with the whales, out of business.

shot from the Bonavista Whale and Puffin Tours boat. 

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I've been on the go for a month. 

When you have other people with you, you're somehow driven to keep doing things, just hanging out and doing nothing isn't an option. I did have some 'alone' time but in Trinity there was lots to do and see... In Bonavista I got tired out and did little the last day or two.

While Trudy and Jeff were there, for instance, we went to the Bonavista Social Club for lunch (highly recommended!), we drove out to Spillar's Cove and went on a short hike. It was supposed to be a short hike, Trudy said there was a spot where you could get even closer to Puffins. They went ahead: I'm a little slower and was being careful, using my cane. I lost them and gave up after an hour of walking. I'm glad I went, though. While they were there, I averaged over 8000 steps/day. When they left, half that!

A short hike indeed! 

However some OUTSTANDING scenery.

An amazing view. This is a composited panorama because I only had the 70-200mm lens with me. 

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August 4th I travelled to Torbay, to this amazing house overlooking the ocean. I'm spending 3 weeks here, the last one with Amin when he comes back. I have lots of goals of things to see, places to go. 

It was a travel day but I made a point to stop in a couple of places along the way. One of them was Chance Cove: I had heard on the radio that the capelin were rolling on their beach. True, but not in huge numbers and there were no locals scooping them up.  

Capelin are dark green on top, so masses of them in the water appear black. But on the beach, you see their shiny silver sides. 

To paraphrase Michelangelo, "I saw the colours in the rocks and strove to let them out".

The other place I visited enroute was Cavendish, where there are some iconic huts, painted in primary colours. You really need to go there in the morning when the sun is on the pond side of the huts. 

To make the shot more interesting, I did some warping in Photoshop!

Just South of Cavendish is a town called Whiteway, home to a beautiful rock formation just outside the bay.

When I processed this image, I tried to remove the apparent 'noise' above the rocks. It was only then that I zoomed in and discovered it wasn't noise, it was thousands and thousands of seabirds in flight above the rocks. No idea what kind of birds or why they were there! I made this image the new header for the blog today.

Next week: Torbay. Wait for it!

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