Embracing the “in-between” season

Posted On October 26, 2021

Winter arrived early this year – very early – but then backed off for a couple of weeks, and I got out a few times to photograph the “in-between” season, with ice and open water, frost and green plants. And there were some interesting aircraft as well 🙂

My first outing, on October 16th, was the result of a phone call from a friend, inviting me to join her at McIntyre Creek to photograph the ice. I was actually already in Whitehorse to photograph some building changes, so was only about 4 miles away. This location right at the edge of the Yukon University grounds offers lots of trail and great variety for photography.

Yes, there was some wonderful ice.

I had left my tripod in the car because I wasn’t really thinking about what I might be shooting and how, so many of the long-exposure photos didn’t turn out the way I’d planned. But, some did 🙂 I could have gone back to the car and got my tripod, but wasn’t feeling all that well (brain injury crap) so didn’t.

About 40 minutes after arriving, we had reached this bridge, and this was as far as we went. This particular trail is part of the Trans Canada Trail.

I knew that I needed to return with my tripod.

“Can I help, dad?” Thanks for shooting the next 3 photos, Karla 🙂

“I helped get dad started. Now I stand guard to keep him safe from bears.”

“Enough camera stuff – now I take dad home for a nap.” As always, Tucker was right – it had been wonderful to get out but I needed to get home and go to bed…

That afternoon, Cathy and I took the e-bikes out for a spin. We only did 8 km, though, as we soon ran into snow and ice. Two friends have been injured in bike crashes the past few days, and ours are now inn the basement, put away for the winter 🙁

The next day, October 17th, began well with a bit of aurora shooting. Just in the yard, as it wasn’t good enough to drive to a better location.

With my tripod and long lens in my backpack, I headed back into town at about 09:30. I spent a few minutes at the airport, where a couple of RCAF aircraft were parked – #150004 on the left is a CC-150 Polaris aerial refuelling tanker. Interestingly, it was bought new in 1987 by Wardair. The number on the CC-130H Hercules was obscured by glare from the sun.

De-icing an Air North Being 737 before it departed for Vancouver.

I hadn’t brought Tucker with me, so with the camera on a tripod and no dog to supervise, my time at McIntyre Creek was much simpler.

I walked the entire loop around the beaver-enhanced pond/marsh. It’s only 2.4 km, but by the time I got back to the car I wished I hadn’t. Oh well…

I had one more job that really needed to be done – get the summer’s accumulation of toys, tools, and “stuff” out of the garage so the cars can both go in. I got that completed on the 18th. Now we’re ready for whatever.