Author: Robb Towns

The weather turned on us and rain was expected for most of the day. So our drive from Perce to Riviere du Loup while spectacular was not really conducive for stopping and taking photo’s. I did get a few photo’s of Perce Rock from the hotel before we left and from the other side of the bay before the rain started in earnest. I think the route we took through the Appalachian’s would be amazing in the Fall with all the leaves.

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In all, we traveled 3,800+ kilometers on our trip. We had a great time in the Maritime’s and Gaspe Bay. Lots of memories were made and it was so nice to see our friends.

Here is a map of our route – note the starting address is just a random start in Orleans, it’s not where we actually live

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The 2nd part of our holiday was a drive through the Gaspe region of Quebec. Specifically to see Perce Rock. The drive from Charlottetown, PEI to Campbellton, New Brunswick was a bit long and uninteresting. However from then on the drive offered up great views of the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the east and the Appalachian mountains to the west. We arrived in Perce just as the sun was setting and I got a few photos of it before we lost the light. Our hotel had a wonderful view of the Rock from our room.

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There was a little playful 3 month old puppy called Nelson at the house we were staying at in PEI. He was so cute I couldn’t help but try to do a photo session with him. He was so curious about the camera. I think Nelson thinks he is a cat, as the cat walks along the back of the couch and Nelson gets right up there and follows along. I used my 50mm Lens and a very high ISO (hence all the grain) as it was indoors and during the evening. I just used the ambient lighting. Still the puppy is cute and I learned a bit about my 50mm lens.

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We have traveled to the wonderful little province of Prince Edward Island to visit with some friends. Their Children were looked after by my wife in her daycare business. The kids are all grown up into teenagers now. It has been so great to go out and do things with them around the Island. We went and watched Andrew play in his Semi-Final Soccer game and move on to the Finals. We traveled east from Charlottetown and went Kayaking on the Fortune River. After Kayaking we went to Basin Head Beach. We traveled up to the North Shore for a drive and ended up in New Glasgow where we visited the gardens of the Prince Edward Island Preserve Company. Very picturesque along the river and great gardens full of bees. We topped our visit off with Andrews Gold medal game which they won!

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A few years ago we started a tradition of going to the Sound and Light Fireworks competition put on buy the Casino Lac Leamy. Tonight we went to watch them from Nepean Point. The country that was competing tonight was Italy. It was the first time trying to capture fireworks with my D5300. I used my Wide Angle Lens and my Kit lens along with my tripod. The settings I used were F16, 6-8 seconds and ISO 200. I did a little post editing with Lightroom. As this is all a learning process, I am happy with some and not with others. But still way better than what I though I would ever take before my A Year With My Camera Course.

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My daughter, who is visiting from England, asked if we could visit two local waterfalls in the area that I have photographed while she has been away. We visited the Princess Louise Falls in Orleans and ended up in the middle of an engagement photo shoot. These falls are a hidden gem in plain sight in Orleans. We then drove over to Gatineau Park and stopped at Meech Lake. There is a 2 km hike into the Wilson Carbide Mill ruins. The water fall here is spectacular year round. It is quite popular.

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My youngest daughter is home and the family got together for a lunch so we could all be together for a bit of time. This sounds easier to organize than one would think. After Lunch, we found a lovely tree to stand under to take some family photos. As you can tell, I don’t take many people photos. Hope you enjoy these as I think they came out quite well. I used F3 to blur the background, ISO 100 and it was bright enough that I was still using a fairly fast shutter speed.

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As is our family tradition, we attended the 72nd Glengarry Highland Games in Maxville, Ontario. My grandfather was one of several businessmen that donated money to start up the Maxville Highland Games. I wonder if he knows it has turned out to be “The” Highland Games in North America.

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We took some friends from Calgary Alberta to the Sound and Light Show on Parliament Hill in downtown Ottawa. This is truly a must do when visiting Ottawa. Where else in the world can you sit on the front lawn of your Government with up to 10,000 people and watch a great story of your nations history. Our friends were so very impressed.

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Today we took a little road trip south of Ottawa to the town of Brockville. Brockville is about an hour away. The town has a rail tunnel that was opened in 1860 and used until the 1970’s and then they turned it into a tourist attraction in 2017. The lighting and the textures inside were great to try and photograph. Afterwards we had a picnic in Iroquois Ontario. There is a great little Ice Cream Shop at the Iroquois locks on the St. Lawrence Seaway where we had some yummy dessert. I used my Kit Lens and my Fish Eye lenses for these shots. All were shot at 100 ISO, various F-stops, and shutter speeds.

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