Iain Leitch Photography

This is part 3 of the Hunting Camp series that I am doing. Part 3 is about mist. That morning I woke up early because in the past there had always been mist on the lake when I woke up and this time was no different. There was a lot of mist, a lot more than I had seen in the past probably due to the fact I got up earlier than what I normally would have.  The first two photos are taken from the shore overlooking the main lake we use. The mist is so thick that it is hard to see more than 20 meters out into the lake. However, in these photos, you are still able to see the reflection of the pine trees in the water. The third photo is taken from the dock looking out at the diving platform we have out on the lake. You are also able to see the reflection of the pine trees in this photo as well. The remaining two mist pictures are taken from the channel that connects the two lakes together. The first photo is looking down towards the main lake that the camp is based on. I like this pho...

This is part 2/4 in the series called Hunting Camp. This part of the series focuses on the stars and the night sky. The Hunting Camp is just south of Algonquin park which means that the night sky is amazing. Without any city lights to interfere it is possible to see almost everything.  The first photo is just a normal star picture that I took overlooking the main lake that we use. The bright star down near the bottom right is Jupiter, you are also able to see Saturn and Mars in this picture too but they are over on the bottom left and not as bright. It is also possible to see the milky way on the left side of the picture too. The bright glow is what I think is city lights coming from possibly Bancroft or maybe even as far away as Ottawa or Toronto but I'm not too sure. The second picture is a star trails one. This one photo is over 200 photos stacked on top of each other using StarStaX. I had to crop this photo on the left due to the sheer amount of planes. This...

This is part one out of a three-part series I'm doing. Every year my moms side of the family goes up to what we call the Hunting Camp. No one actually hunts up there but in the past people did. The history of this camp goes back to my Granda who was one of four original owners of the Hunting Camp. The Hunting Camp is now owned by my uncle and each of the other three oldest sons of the original members. The reason we go up to the camp every year is to honour and remember my Granda and Grandma.  The reason this is a three-part series is just that even though I was there for about 24 hours I took so many pictures I can't fit them all into one blog post.  The first picture is taken from the dock overlooking the main lake that the camp is based on. This lake is the last of three lakes just Southeast of Algonquin Provincial Park. The second picture is showing the passage that connects the main lake to the one above it, which is just a bit of marshy area. The third picture is of...

This past weekend I was in Stratford to visit my parents. In Stratford, there's a really nice garden called Shakespeare Gardens. It has a lot of bee-friendly flowers down there so I knew it would be a good place to go for some pictures. The first picture is of a bee at a sunflower. The bee is just about to land on the flower. I had seen the bee around the other flowers so I was following him and guessed right as to which flower he would go to next. That resulted in getting this photo. The second picture I took was right outside my house in Stratford. I had just gotten back from the garden when I saw a monarch butterfly outside on the milkweed we have in our front yard. I tracked it with my camera for a while until it got bored of the milkweed and headed for the flowers which is how I got this photo. The last picture in this post is one I took on my phone. I have a Google Pixel so it takes decent photos but this one turned out really well. I was heading to ...

Last week I was on vacation at Red Pine Camp. This is a family camp located on Golden Lake in Ontario. I didn't manage to get as many photos as I would have liked due to the weather and the moon being full which ruled out any star pictures. However, I did manage to get some pictures hence this post. The first two pictures are my favourite ones I took during the week. Near my cabin was a dock that was used to refuel the boat the camp staff uses. I set up my camera on my tripod with my ND filter on and set out to get some still water pictures which I think I succeeded in getting. In the first picture, I had the shutter open for 2.5 seconds while in the second picture the shutter was only open for half a second. That is why the first one is darker and moodier than the second which is brighter and happier. The third picture is of a group of Red Pines looking up at their canopies. The camp itself is named after these trees. The fourth picture in this post is of...

On Canada Day which is July 1st, I was up in Ottawa with my girlfriend visiting her parents. We went down to Parliament Hill to see the fireworks that were going to happen that night. This was my first time being in Ottawa during Canada Day which was special for me. The fireworks there were the best ones I had ever seen. The first picture is of Center Block which is on the left and of West Block which is on the right of the picture. The following two pictures are of the fireworks we saw that night. The settings I used were f/11 shutter for 4 seconds and ISO 100. These were the two best pictures I was able to get.

Two weekends ago I went up to Silent Lake Provincial Park which is just south of Bancroft. On the way there I stopped by Eels Creek which is picnic pull off from the road. Eels Creek has a river flowing through it that had a waterfall just before it goes under the bridge. The first picture is a long exposure of that waterfall. I had a neutral density filter on my camera and my shutter was open for 4-5 seconds. The second picture of this post is from inside the park. The trail that I was on had quite a few very large trees and this picture is looking up from the base of one of them looking up at the forest canopy. The third picture is from the same trail, the trail passes by a beaver pond which is where I found this frog. The last picture is back at Eels Creek but it from the picnic spot on the other side of the road. This is looking downstream away from the waterfall.

This past weekend I went home to visit my family. I was only there for two days so there wasn't much chance to get out and take pictures. My mothers garden was out in full bloom so I was able to take some pictures of flowers though. The first picture is of a white rose that we have in our backyard. These roses have a very nice smell and often have a large number of bees around them but they didn't this year. The second picture is of a purple flower that we have in our front yard. I love taking pictures of this flower as last year I managed to get one that is now in my portfolio. This photo I took didn't quite make it to my portfolio but it is still good enough to post here.

This past weekend I had the chance to go to Petroglyphs Provincial Park. The park has the largest collection of First Nation petroglyphs in Ontario. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take pictures of the actual Petroglyphs which is why there isn't any in this post. I can promise you that they are breathtaking. After I went and saw the petroglyphs I went on a hike. The trail was just a loop that went around a lake and was a nice walk but there was a lot of bugs. The first picture is of the trail itself. The next two pictures are of the lake, each photo is from opposite sides of the lake. The remaining two photos are of a red squirrel that I was able to get a nice photo of.

It's the holiday long weekend here, which meant I didn't have to work Monday and instead was able to go on an adventure. We decided to go to Campbellford for the day. Campbellford is known for its suspension bridge and being part of the Trent Severn waterway. The first picture in this post is not actually from Campbellford but from right down my street. There is an osprey nest being built on one of the poles that are set up for them which is exciting. I pass by this pole every day on my way to work so ill be able to check the progress of the nest and soon the babies. The following two pictures are from the Trent Severn Waterway. The first of the two pictures is looking down the waterway towards Trenton and the second picture is of lock 11 of the waterway which is very high. The next picture is taken from the Ranney River Suspension bridge that crosses the river. Its also looking down towards Trenton. The last picture is of a giant toonie in the middle of a park in C...