Monday, August 15, 2016

The Times They Are A Changin'

I guess the biggest change since my last blog entry would be I resigned from my position at Kitikmeot Foods Ltd.   My last day was July 21st and I truly miss the staff that I had worked with these past 5 1/2 years but it was my time to leave.  Thankfully we live in a small town and it's easy to keep in contact with them.   So what have I been doing since then, well photography would be number one on the list.  

I have been practising my skills at HDR and really enjoying doing them.  Our sun is starting to set at about 10:00pm and rising around 3:00am so it's giving me some pretty skies to work with. 

Lying on the ground to get this shot

The clouds were so interesting on this day

An Inuksuk 

The stanchion along West Arm

This boulder is huge 

Gorgeous skies

There was a storm coming in but I thought it 
was a great sky 

Very foggy this morning

Did a different effect on the same picture

We normally see sundogs in the winter but today
it was a complete circle
Canadian Coast Guard and two sailboats in the pic

Tried something a little different 
A HDR in black and white

Exciting news as our little village is receiving their first
fire hydrants in town.  This one is located on the outskirts 

Been doing some work for Arctic Research Foundation again this year.
Here's the Martin Bergmann heading out on her first voyage of the season

My friend JS on the Bergmann

Making sure the boat is lined up 

CEO of ARF  Adrian, happy to be back 

The captain keeping a close eye on the boat

This lab is being used for some char research this year

The Martin Bergmann coming home

I have also been visiting the Arctic fox den to check on the family of five.  The pups are growing like crazy and are still very curious of me, which is good that they are keeping their distance. It's when they become too friendly or act abnormal that you need to worry.  Here's some pics from the last few weeks. 

Still have their summer colours

It was very warm this particular day but I like to 
think he was smiling at me

Rubbed his face in the sand then looked at me

Came out of the den and had a good sniff of me

Keeping his distance

Was about to scratch when I whistled at him

Look at the size of their paws

Well hello there!

Speaking of canines, the dogs are loving that I am home as we are getting in tons of walks, tundra romps and swims in.  It's good for all of us as we are getting some great exercises in and enjoying this wonderful summer weather. 

Laying in a field of arctic cotton

Beautiful fireweed

Blitz posing in the fireweed

Finally made it to Long Point with the dogs, it was a gorgeous 
evening at the beach

That's one tired 14 years old girl

Sleepy Princess Warrior

Can you see the difference between a Princess Warrior and a Goofball?  

We are in the midst of the busy boat season with the Canadian Coast Guard Sir Wilfred Laurier arrived along with 3 sailboats.  We are expecting a very busy cruise ship season ahead of us with the largest one, The Crystal Serenity arriving August 29th. 

CCG Sir Wilfred Laurier
You can see how big she is by the helicopter on board

One of the sailboats in front of the CCG

Huge news in the bay this past weekend when the team from Norway finally lifted the Maud.  It's very cool to see her lifted after 86 years in the cold Arctic waters of Cambridge Bay, NU.  I believe the Norwegians will be taking her home to Norway in the summer of 2017.  She will over winter on the barge this winter here in Cambridge Bay. 



I always wanted to do steel wool photography and in the winter we tried it but it was so cold that our lighter wouldn't work.  So under gorgeous Arctic skies I dragged Craig out to our beach at Long Point last night.  We left about 10pm and it took us a couple of tries before we got the hang of it.  The wind picked up and we had to change our positions but overall it was a lot of fun and I think the pictures turned out pretty cool. 

At the point on the beach
Lucky for us it was high tide and there was a small pool
of water to catch the reflections

Wind picked up 

Love the skies in this picture and 
of course the moon on the horizon

We moved so that the wind was coming from behind Craig
but still had the pool of water for the reflection

Love the effect of the lasso

Finally at midnight we called it quits after we did this shot
against the sunset.

Talk soon!