Well… I’m already missing summer. All it took was our first snowfall of the season that stayed on the ground. Unlike many of my fellow Canadians I’m really not a winter person. I don’t skate, ski or play hockey. There’s precious little that I enjoy about winter, other than being out with my camera… and spending time with family and friends.
NOTE: Click on images to enlarge. Photographs have been added to serve as visual breaks.

I find this time of year is very reflective for me. I’ve been spending some time culling through the photographs I created over the past 6 months. Memories come flooding back… like finally being able to visit the Niagara Butterfly Conservatory again.

Or doing some experimentation with handheld in-camera focus stacking at the Floral Showhouse in Niagara Falls.

Finding some interesting blossoms and highlights at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Burlington, Ontario.

I can still feel the excitement created by capturing some images of a clearwing hummingbird moth in-flight in my backyard. The first one I’ve seen in about 5 years.

Playing around with the HDR function in my E-M1X was another instructive experience. It will no doubt lead to more experimentation in the future.

Missing summer involves remembering being at the right place at the right time to photograph a cooperative heron.

Observing and capturing some of nature’s more intimate moments.

And finally having some success photographing elusive subjects like kingfishers.

Using Pro Capture H to photograph an aerobatic swallow.

Noticing an intriguing convergence of blossoms that led to a Handheld Hi Res photograph.

Photographing a playful gull was a very special moment. It got me intrigued with using Pro Capture L in combination with Bird Detection AI Subject Tracking.

Beauty is all around us if we take the time to slow down, open our eyes and absorb it.

Mother Nature sometimes allows us to witness the interactions of other living things. Aggression can have a delicate appearance on occasion.

At other times she displays her majesty in singular ways.

Missing summer can sometimes have us yearn to relive past successes… like photographing terns doing mid-air shakes.

But those moments are fleeting and will never be repeated in exactly the same way again.

None of us grow by hanging on to the past. For as much as I am already missing summer… I need to let it go from my memory. That will allow me to make room for new memories that have yet to be lived.
Technical Note:
Photographs were captured handheld using camera gear as noted in the EXIF data. Crops are noted as appropriate. This is the 1,096th article published on this website since its original inception.

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Sigh, you nailed it. But your beautiful work soothes the winter depression a lot. The black/orange bird.. what a beauty.
Take care and stay safe.
Thanks Claudia… I’m glad I could take your mind away from winter a bit. The bird you noted in your comment is a Baltimore Oriole. It had just landed on my DYI bird photo perch after bathing in our backyard pond. Hope you stay safe as well!
Tom