Last year I was invited on a trip to Canada, and it went so well I was invited back this year. That trip is in the blog archives in May and June and was shot using a Canon 5D MkII and the Fuji X100s. This year I replaced the Canon in my travel kit with the Fuji X-E2. I took the same kit as in my previous posts from New York City.

The trip to Canada, specifically Huckleberry Island, which is located in the Parry Sound is a long weekend guys trip. A family friend has two cottages on this island, one of which is in disrepair and there are always a few projects that need done while we are there. The other is pictured in the first image and is the main cottage, has solar powered lights for evenings and propane appliances for cooking and refrigeration.

After the work is done there are all sorts of activities that one can partake in. Kayaking, fishing, hiking, and relaxing are always available and I bring cameras so photography is an option too. Some choose to build large fires to burn the scraps from our construction projects. Regardless of your preferred activity everyone has a great time.

As this was my second year I had a better idea of what types of images I wanted to capture. The focus this year was long exposures and some documentary shots too. Typically I have no problem picking whether an image will work better in Black & White or Color. I had two images from the trip that I felt work either way extremely well. They are below along with the other favorites from the trip.

I love my new travel kit and on a trip like this it was near perfect.  My only addition would be possibly a wider lens or possibly even a fish-eye lens to capture more of the landscape.

Way back when, I think in the 1950s, you could purchase land on the islands in Parry Sound.  Several years ago, I am not sure when, the Canadian government declared much of this area "Queen's Land."  This would be the equivalent to a National Park in the states, I think.  Anyone that owned property during this declaration was able to keep their property, which is great for the current and future generations.  However, this gave permission for the general public to begin camping and hiking throughout this area.

When we were hiking back from the totem pole to the cottage you see in the distance, we came upon this sign.  If there were actually grass anywhere on this island, I would have named this post "Stay Off My Lawn!"

As you can imaging there is little to no indoor plumbing and most cottages utilize the outhouse to take care of business.

Like the previous post I set up my camera each night taking many exposures so I could build the start trails.  On Saturday I pointed the camera south so that I could get a different look and also include a portion of the cottage.  While the camera was taking photos we were inside playing poker and drinking beers.

I have been wanting to photograph star trails for some time now.  However, living around Pittsburgh and the amount of light pollution we have is not conducive for this type of photograph.  When I was in Canada I took the opportunity to take hundreds of photographs so that I could build a few images.  The first evening there was some light cloud cover so that evening was a waste.  Saturday and Sunday were perfect and one of the resulting images is below.  This was taken from the deck of the cottage facing north.  Not so bad for my first try.  I probably needed to let the camera run for another 30 minutes but I was getting tired and called it a night.

I have seen my share of sunsets and some are prettier than others.  I would have to say the sunsets that I experienced while in Canada were amazing.  The image below was made on our second evening on the island.  This is one of my favorite photographs from the trip.

If you missed Day 2, check the previous two posts.  I did not title them Day 2, but rather focused on the particular topics of the day.

Day 3 consisted of a hike, finishing the porch, Kyle's recovery, and a fire.  Kyle and Brett made a new friend on Day 2 named John.  Not me, the other John in the group.  Well, Kyle spent most of the day in bed and was back to normal around later in the afternoon.  That is why Kyle is not in the group photo.

In the morning the group hiked about a mile over the rocks and through the trees around the coast to locate a totem pole.  I was hiking with camera gear and a tripod to a group shot was no problem.  Once we returned it was lunch time.  The afternoon activity was finishing the removal of the porch floor and reattaching the stairs to the cottage.  Below you see the after and if you would like to see the before and during check out my previous post titled "The Cabin."

Kyle started feeling better and he decided to go on the same hike that we completed in the morning.  I can't recall if this photo at the table was taken before or after his hike.  Either way I like it.  It tells the story of how our weekend went.  Some guys drinking and carrying on.

Last but not least....THE FIRE.

Remember that front porch?  Well, it was just a giant pile of lumber.  The group made several trips taking scraps of lumber out to the rocks along the coast.  We started a large fire and burned about half of the porch.  The wind was gusting quite a bit and we were lucky that is was consistently blowing out to the water.  I had to take a couple photos of the fire.  The first is just of the fire to try and show the size.  The last is to show how extremely hot this blaze was and how close we were attempting to sit.  I love that Greg is taking shelter behind the cooler.

So these were my day by day recaps.  Stay tuned though because I took many landscapes that I will be posting one at a time over the next several weeks.

I have been to Canada plenty of times.  Usually it was to Toronto for work and there are all sorts of Canadian and ex-pats from other countries there.  So I have had plenty of exposure to my fair share of Canadians and they are some of the nicest people you will ever meet.

Well, when you travel a few hundred kilometers north of Toronto you get to experience the "Real Canadians" that are no nonsense and downright hilarious.  There are a few cottages relatively close to the cottage we were staying in and one of the families was there this weekend.  They stopped over with their three kids to hang out before dinner on Saturday night.

I was able to take a couple shots of two of their kids, the youngest was a little shy.  A shot of the group as a whole hanging out listening to probably the funniest man (Jamie) I have ever met.  I could listen to his stories for hours on end.  Oh, did I mention that they swear like sailors, not the kids, the parents, and they do not care who is listening.  The last photo is of Jamie describing how he and his wife crashed a corporate holiday party in Florida and told the CEO he was quitting the company.

When I was invited to go to Canada there was an understanding that there would be some tasks that might be undertaken.  On the property there are 2 cottages.  There are a number of projects planned for the cottage below, which it is currently used as a storage facility.  The long term vision is that it will be moved off of the wet ground it is currently sitting on.  Then it will be spruced up on the inside and used as sleeping quarters so that more people can enjoy this slice of heaven at one time.

This past weekend I traveled to Parry Sound, Ontario Canada to spend a guys weekend with some friends.  Drinking, poker, and taking photographs were all on the menu.  Friends of mine have a cottage on an island located in Parry Sound.  The journey from Pittsburgh is about 7 hours long in a car, then you load your gear into a boat and take about a 5 minute boat ride to their place.  It is very rustic and over the years more modern conveniences have been added.  There is no real electricity.  A couple solar panels and batteries, that allowed us to play poker deep into the night.  Additionally, a large hose, water pump, and gravity provide running lake water so dishes can be done.  There is a stove and refrigerator that run on propane.  If you removed the solar electricity this cute cottage and all its contents are straight out of the 1950s.

There was a total of 7 men on the trip and we were all arriving at different times.  Our group was the first to arrive.  Once we arrived at the island we unloaded all our gear and started to unlock the place and get some air moving.  After this was completed Greg and Kyle went back to the mainland to get the next group, which left me alone to enjoy the solitude.  This is the first time I have really experienced this feeling and after a few minutes, I soon realized that this place was special.  I was able to relax on the dock, yet to be in the water.  It was just me, a beer, a camera, and my thoughts.

Everyone else started to arrive and once everyone was situated dinner was made and we drank and played poker late into the night.  Around midnight I went down to the beach in the little cove next to the cottage and took a series of images to stack into a star trails image.  Unfortunately, some clouds rolled in so this would have to wait until day 2 or 3.  I was able to use a single image from that late night session to give you an idea of the where I was.

Here are several of my favorite photographs from the days activities.  I will post more from day 2, day 3, and day 4 a little later.