As winter is nearing its end I am looking forward to spring wholeheartedly! I thought I’d bring you just a little taste of late spring from last year. These images were all made in and around The Royal Botanical Gardens near Hamilton, Ontario. Honestly I could spend hours a day in each of the many garden areas they have! These images are just a few to give you a jump start on your spring. I hope they give you a feeling of happiness!
“Rock Garden Peace and Beauty”“Follow the Reflections” “Finding Our Way”“Orange Poppy Twirl” “Light Pink Peonies in Sunlight”“Pink Peony Cluster”
I wish you all a very happy end of winter as we head into warmer and more colorful times!
Here we are again as 2019 draws to a close. As has been customary for many years now I would like to share with you some of my favorite photographs of the year.
I don’t usually have them in any particular order, but this year I arranged them by season. Beginning with a stunning but very cold sunrise from Lake Ontario during winter, and ending with some wonderful fall color in Michigan this autumn!
For many years now I’ve participated in Jim Goldstein’s annual “Best of” Project. I appreciate Jim hosting this on his blog each year, giving photographers the chance to share their “best of” or favorite images of the year.
These are just a few of my favorite images of this year, I hope you enjoy this short trip through the seasons of 2019 with me!
“Lake Ontario Morning Reflections” A gorgeous winter sunrise along the shores of Lake Ontario!“Foggy Spring Forest” During a spring visit to Shenandoah National Park I enjoyed some amazing mountain views, but I especially enjoyed some lovely and mysterious fog on a walk into the forest!“Magnificent Sunrise Silhouette 2” Absolutely stunning sunrise and this beautiful tree in silhouette on the shores of Lake Ontario in late spring! A tree that I returned to many times as winter’s bare branches turned into full spring foliage.“Tew Falls View Two” This view of Tew Falls in Ontario, Canada was especially beautiful to me because of all the lush green foliage at the time. “Fifty Point Marina Reflections” I spent many days at Fifty Point Conservation Area near Hamilton, Ontario during late spring and early summer. The reflections on this day at Fifty Point Marina were lovely!“Rock Garden Spring” Another place that I spent countless hours at during spring and summer this year was The Rock Garden at The Royal Botanical Gardens. So lovely and peaceful. I explored every nook and cranny, and could do it again and again and never be tired of the beauty! Here you’ll see wonderful reflections of spring foliage and color. “Marquette Harbor Lighthouse 2” I love to walk on the beaches of Marquette, Michigan. The light was really beautiful on this particular morning and shed a warm glow on the sand, trees, and lighthouse!“Canyon Falls Summer” Photographing waterfalls in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is a favorite activity of mine, and this year I thoroughly enjoyed photographing Canyon Falls on a drizzly warm summer’s day!“A Presque Isle Morning” The rock formations combined with the changing colors of Lake Superior at Presque Isle Park in Marquette, Michigan are always amazing to me. This was an early summer morning, and the warm glow of sun hitting the rocks, the bright green evergreen trees in the distance set against the beautiful blue skies made this a keeper for me!“Maybury Sanatorium” I had the opportunity to enjoy peak fall foliage in Maybury State Park in an area that used to be part of the grounds of Maybury Sanatorium.
I thank you all for stopping by and checking out my favorite images of 2019! I hope you all have a wonderful, happy, healthy, prosperous, and adventurous 2020!
Well, it sure feels like forever and a day since I’ve posted. Sorry about that guys! Its been a busy past several months! Plenty of it was spent traveling.
I thought I’d share just a few images from this past spring till now. I won’t go into great detail in this post, but each photo has a little info about where and when it was made. Enjoy!
A beautiful combination of sunlight, fog, and clouds in The Blue Ridge Mountains during early May!
Gorgeous Irises later in May. A stunning array of them at The Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ontario!
One of my favorite sunrise images of this year so far. This one was along the shores of Lake Ontario!
During early summer, enjoying a rainy day at Tew Falls near Hamilton, Ontario!
A wonderful late summer morning in Marquette, Michigan along the shores of Lake Superior!
I never tire of the beauty to be seen at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in Munising, Michigan!
A stunning late summer view through the flowers as you come up to the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan!
As we head rapidly into the autumn season I hope you’ll have some time to get outdoors and enjoy the cooler days and changing of the leaves!
I had the pleasure of being able to photograph Lake Ontario at different times of the day on a recent visit to South Eastern Ontario. These images are just a few of the moments that I enjoyed! Have a look!
“Lake Ontario Morning Reflections”
This photograph was made on a very cold and windy morning on the shores of Lake Ontario near Hamilton, Ontario. The sunrise was spectacular though, with golden reflections all along the water near the shore!“Waves Keep on Rolling” The waves were rolling in fast and furious on Lake Ontario this cold but sunny morning near Burlington Ontario!“Then the Wind Came” Another wonderfully windy but gorgeous view of Lake Ontario from the grassy area above the beach!
“Cotton Candy Over Ontario” Last light of the day and the sky turned into cotton candy for just a few short minutes!
I truly cannot believe that it’s almost September, and it still feels like summer! The weather hasn’t changed, our temps are as hot as they’ve been off and on for the last couple of months. In Michigan, usually August ushers in a slight change, you’ll have cooler nights, and mornings. You’ll feel autumn coming. Well not this year, Â in fact it seems that all of 2016 so far has felt quite a bit different than normal. Who knows what we have in store for us this fall and winter!
I know I’ve been pretty neglectful of my blog for a while. Life has been extremely busy, and honestly doesn’t look like its going to slow down for a few months. I did have the opportunity earlier this summer though to visit Lake Superior Provincial Park, in Ontario, Canada. It was wonderful!
I thought I’d just go ahead and share a few images that I’ve made this summer, from that location. Two of the photographs are processed in black and white and one in color.
“Agawa Bay Rocky Shore” Beautiful and scenic Agawa Bay in Lake Superior Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada!
“Chippewa Falls and River” A summertime view of Chippewa Falls in Ontario, Canada!
“Chippewa Falls” Mono A Beautiful long exposure of a section of Chippewa Falls, processed in black and white!
These images were all made this summer during my trip to Lake Superior Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada. Even though the weather there was pretty hot at the time, it wasn’t nearly as bad as the heatwave we were having in SE. Michigan at the time!
Not only was this location an extremely beautiful place to see , but also a quite welcome reprieve from the oppressive heat! I can only imagine how amazing this area would be during autumn with all it’s color! Hopefully I’ll get the chance to find out some day! 🙂
I hope you’ve enjoyed the images. As always, these photographs and many many more are all on my websites, and available for purchase as  prints, canvas prints, and more! Check them out here. http://rcnaturephotos.pixels.com/ and www.rachelcohenphotography.com
Believe it or not. For some reason, until this year. I had never taken the time to visit Niagara Falls. I was pleasantly surprised at how nice it was. For sure you can see that the Canadian side is much more built up, and has a myriad of opportunities for activity, nightlife, dining, hotels etc.
What surprised me though was the raw natural beauty and the hidden gem of what used to be, but has somehow become forgotten on the american side. Although I did see some renovations going on, and some areas that looked newly renovated!
There were people there from all over the country, and the world in general. There were also a lot of Canadians coming across to get a look at the U.S. side, and to see their side from our point of view.
The image here is of the Rainbow Bridge to Canada. It was viewed from a tall platform above the Niagara River. You can get a sense of the beauty of the river, the bridge, and the activities on the Canadian side.
What you don’t see here is the immense beauty of the actual falls, and the other nature surrounding them on the U.S. side.
I’ll be giving you a taste of that sometime in the future.
This year has be an interesting one for me. I had the chance to do more travelling than usual, which gave me many more photographic opportunities. Sometimes though it’s the images you take that are close to home that you end up liking the best. Here are ten images mostly from the late summer through autumn that I like the best. I have many more that I could say the same for, but for the sake of brevity I will limit it to Ten. The images are in no particular order. Enjoy!
A stormy day on Lake Michigan at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore.
Upper Tahquamenon Falls in early autumn. In Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
A stormy windy day on Lake Michigan in the Upper Peninsula.
Loving the beauty of early autumn on a scenic rural road in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Beautiful reflections along an inland lake.
Beautiful Arch Rock on Mackinac Island. Girls down below are writing messages with rocks.
Shimmering sunrise on Lake Huron with Mackinac Island in silhouette.
Gorgeous fall foliage on a beautiful winding rural road.
Loving the rails on a stormy autumn day.
Gazing across one lake, through fall foliage, over Lake Superior, and onto Canada.
After going through so many images, it was really difficult to decide, and had to leave out many that I would have liked to include. You can find links on this blog to my sites and where to view more images.
Best wishes to everyone, both now and in the coming year!!!
While up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan earlier this fall. I spent a lot of time driving around wherever the roads took me. I don’t even know the name of the first lake in this image because I decided to turn onto a dirt road that obviously only went in one direction (not made for two-way traffic), that took me winding and weaving to the top of a huge hill(small mountain).
The overlook was amazing. The time of day for the direction I was facing wasn’t the best, but you could see for miles and miles!! The woods that surrounded the first lake were just beginning to show some gorgeous fall color. As you look past that you can see a section of Lake Superior, then further on you can see part of Canada. What a view!!
The sky didn’t have much drama in it at the time, but I can just imagine this scene with a storm approaching from the northwest! Ooooh, that’s an idea!! Next time I’m up that way, I’ll make it a point to head over there in bad weather! 😉
