A Week in Killarney Provincial Park—2.4 billion years in the making

1114 words; 14 photographs; 6 minutes

For the past week, I’ve had the pleasure and honour of being the Friends of Killarney Park Artist in Residence.

Killarney Provincial Park is truly a gem in the crown of Ontario Parks. From a landscape photographer’s perspective, the unique juxtaposition of the pink granite of the Killarney batholith and the white quartzite La Cloche Range mean more than simply colourful rocks. The two rock types are crucial in determining the biology going on at the surface as well.

This week, I was overwhelmed by the variety of colourful fungus/mushroom species on display along all of the trails. Rain from the previous week must have triggered them as many were new emergents. My 60mm Macro lens teamed up with in-camera focus-stacking were essential for capturing the depth necessary for clear, crisp photographs.

Aside from determining the names of the different mushroom, the difficulty with mushrooms is that they are at ground level. Despite having a ground sheet, my knees and elbows took a beating. Then, keeping still for 10 consecutive exposures while crouched on all fours isn’t easy! For some, I improvised, resting my hands and the camera on my waist pack camera bag, using it like a bean bag on the ground for support. I’m sure people passing by had a good laugh at this old man with his butt in the air looking at mushrooms!

Using a tripod was certainly an option, but, in the summer heat, I was feeling lazy and didn’t feel like lugging it around with me. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised, shocked even, at how well the internal stabilization of the OM-1 worked. I realize now that I could have (should have) bumped the ISO up for focus stacking to at least 400 if not 800.

Landscapes lagged behind somewhat. In the early part of the week, we were plagued with high temperatures and humidity, turning the blue skies milky, rather than filling them with fair-weather cumulus. Smoke from western wildfires also contributed to the haziness.

From a workshop perspective, things were slow at the beginning of the week. However, after my slide presentation Wednesday evening—Ontario’s Natural Gems: Nature photography in our own backyards— attendance picked up for the Thursday and Friday programmes. We had a great range of abilities—from beginners to seasoned photographers—and cameras—phones, point and shoots, DSLRS and mirrorless—and ages—from under 10 to over 70. The best part was everyone was patient, inquisitive and wanting to put into practice new techniques and new ways of seeing.

I presented each ‘Walk, Talk & Shoot” as an outing dedicated to sketching. Our goal was not to make masterpieces, but rather to discover and make photographic sketches of how light creates shape, texture and colour, and how perspective changes from standing to crouching to putting the camera right down on the ground for a worm’s eye view; how vertical can be made horizontal or even square, and how to zoom using your feet to get closer and closer and closer. I related how I came to this idea of sketching after viewing a sketch book of renowned artist Robert Bateman, during a presentation of his many years ago; it has stuck with me since.

We worked on techniques for phone cameras, as well; for example, rotating the phone upside down to place the camera right at ground level; switching on the Rule of Thirds grid; and using Live Photos set to Long Exposure to capture moving water.

The added value of the Artist in Residence programme is that it also gives each artist plenty of time on their own to explore the park and their art. I pre-hiked each of the trails my programmes were using, plus I got out to a new trail to me, Lake of the Woods, off the Bell Lake Road.

I also returned to a couple of favourite places: a late evening dash down the Chikanishing River Trail to catch the sun over the water, as well as an evening spent paying homage to A.Y. Jackson at his namesake lake and nearby Lake Sheguiandah, whose cliffs come alive in the late day sun.

Many thanks to Ontario Parks staff and the Friends of Killarney staff for a great week in Killarney Provincial Park and for your helpful insights and guidance. I’d name each of you, but I’m afraid of leaving out one or two, so suffice it to say, each of you made meaningful contributions, for which I am grateful.

Thanks for reading! Be sure to add to the discussion with a question or COMMENT about equipment, techniques or locations.