I apologize for the lack of updates over the past few weeks. February/March is typically my busiest time of the year where I am usually swamped with a lot of other business responsibilities including travel, video work etc. For the past week, I’ve been playing catch up and am excited to get back writing for the blog. Today I decided to look back at one of my personal favourite images from the shores of Georgian Bay.
Georgian Bay is a special place, arguably home to the most beautiful and diverse scenery in the province of Ontario. The area is rich in history with a lot of the small northern settlements first being established in service of the fur trade. From the rough and rugged shores of Tobermory with its crystal clear waters to the northern shores of Killarney with its exposed quartzite and granite, the bay truly is a nature lover and photographer’s paradise. My first few trips photographing Georgian Bay were in the Bruce Peninsula area. As you travel north access becomes more limited to canoeing and kayaking save for a few points accessible by car. One of these points is Killbear Provincial Park, located roughly an hour from Parry Sound.
On The Edge – Killbear Provincial Park
Killbear Provincial Park is quite small and is extremely popular among summer campers. For these reasons, it’s certainly not the most remote area, but if you’re looking to experience the beauty of the Georgian Bay coast and are running on a tight schedule, this is basically the most convenient access point. Last summer, during a trip through Northern Ontario I stopped by Killbear for two days to photograph the area.
One of the most striking qualities of the north/east sections of Georgian Bay is the exposed Canadian Shield that makes up the bay’s shorelines. The mix of granite bedrock, and in specific regions quartzite, were revealed and shaped by the retreating glaciers during the last ice age. White and jack pine trees dot the coast, braving the elements and the harsh environment, showing signs of this through their crooked stances and windswept branches. When arriving at Killbear the pink granite shores immediately grab you and pull you in, and you know right away why this area has attracted artists for hundreds of years.
When I visited Killbear, I already knew about the “famous” (and often photographed) windswept white pine that sits alone atop a slab of exposed granite. Even though the park can be busy throughout the year, I find no matter where I travel that a large majority of people don’t take advantage of watching the sunrise, so in this case I had the area completely to myself. Even though this particular tree has been photographed a number of times I knew that I wanted to capture it with my own unique style. When composing this image, I knew that the tree would obviously be a strong focal point in the image, but I wanted the surrounding granite to play equal importance. I worked on a few compositions, looking for patterns and lines in the granite that I could use to shape my frame and help balance the image. In the end, I chose a strong leading line to walk the eye through the frame. I also liked how the line in the rock curved and formed a base at the bottom of the composition, almost mimicking the curve of the tree.
The stormy skies overhead provided some nice soft and even light while giving the image a somewhat mysterious mood. A small break in the weather allowed the sun to paint a hint of golden light on the clouds providing just the right amount of colour to contrast with the heavy blues in the scene. During processing, I focused on really bringing out the detail in the bedrock as the RAW file was a bit flat and also used some simple LAB adjustments to bring out the subtle pinks that are present in the granite. I kept the saturation low but made sure I left some of the blue cast in the image to help transfer the feeling of early morning light to the audience.
I created a few other images during my two days in the area, but this is my favourite as I feel it really tells the story of what Northern Georgian Bay is. I’m looking forward to spending more time exploring other areas throughout this amazing region starting with a backcountry snowshoeing adventure this weekend in Killarney. Make sure to check back next week for a full report on that trip!
