April 25, 2013 by Rob Huntley

Snow geese migration – Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly, Quebec

It’s my father’s birthday – April 25th. My father passed away almost 3 years ago and I was inspired to mention all this on account of running into a few geese today.

Thousands of snow geese momentarily took to the air and then settled down again quickly to continue feeding. Migration stopover at Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly, Quebec on the St. Lawrence River.

I’ve been touring Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec and I have many images to sift through; most are kite aerial photographs. But I’m jumping ahead to these shots that I took today because of the link between geese and my father. Dad was repeatedly amazed by the semiannual migration of Canada geese, thousands of which flew over Ottawa each fall and spring. We were frequently the beneficiaries of updates in the numbers he’d seen on a given day. Dad liked to talk …. and geese were one of his favourite topics.

Well today, on the anniversary of his birth, it was my last day on the road after a 2 week road trip. I had ample time and as is my habit, I chose to avoid the express trans-canada highway and I drove along #132 which goes along the Saint Lawrence River. There was a horrendous wind so I tuned myself out from the habitual search for Kite Aerial Photography prospects and leisurely decided to take the day as it comes. As I passed by the smallest of the smallest of city parks in the village of Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly, a major flash of white took my attention out towards the river. I stopped immediately when I realized it was the largest flock of geese I had seen in my life. They were snow geese and although not the Canada geese which preoccupied much of my Dad’s attention, they were nevertheless migrating geese. It seemed appropriate that on April 25th I should spend time photographing them.

Snow geese migration stopover at Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly, Quebec on the St. Lawrence River

There was a smaller group of geese downstream (maybe 1000) and they were coming in groups of a few to 25 at a time to join the larger flock. There was a major headwind which slowed them down enough to improve the odds of getting a good shot of geese in flight.

Flying into a headwind, snow geese migration stopover at Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly, Quebec on the St. Lawrence River

Click on the image if you would like to view a larger version on my website.

More images can be found in the Chaudière-Appalaches Region of Quebec gallery on my website.

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December 26, 2011 by Rob Huntley

Aerial Photographs of Brockville, Ontario. The marina at Blockhouse Island.

Three images from my recent kite aerial photography session at Blockhouse Island in Brockville, Ontario are new to my Getty Images portfolio:

Aerial Views of the marina at Blockhouse Island in Brockville, Ontario.

These aerial pictures were taken from a camera rig suspended below a kite (Kite Aerial Photography – KAP).

Aerial photograph - Marina at Blockhouse Island, Brockville, Ontario - Kite Aerial Photography

Click on any of the image to go to the same image in my Getty Images portfolio.

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November 8, 2011 by Rob Huntley

KAP 2011-17 – Blockhouse Island, Brockville, Ontario – October 31, 2011

Aerial photograph - Marina at Blockhouse Island, Brockville, Ontario.

During this session my Levi Light tasted the St. Lawrence River.

I was in Brockville, Ontario for a few hours of KAP at Blockhouse Island. There was virtually zero wind when I arrived, so after deciding on my best launch location should the wind pick up, I went for a walk to check out nearby Hardy Park. When I came back the wind seemed sufficient for autokap so I launched my Levi Light. I stood for about 5 minutes with the kite at about 200′ to see if the wind was going to be stable and continual. It seemed strong enough to hang the rig but I was concerned the kite was angling to the left pointing to about 11:00 o’clock. It seemed stable otherwise but I thought it best to bring it down to check it. As I was bringing it down with still about 100′ of line out it suddenly arched from angling left to a right hand turn and straight down into a vertical dive. Normally there would be ample time to recover by letting line out but no luck with that. Straight down it went into the river and I would guess it continued to fly to about 30′ depth under water. People arriving then would have thought I was fishing for sturgeon considering the amount of pull on the line from a large kite flying underwater in one of the largest rivers in the world. Fortunately no camera was involved in the swimming exercise.

I eventually retrieved the kite and checked it out and it seemed fine. So it is a mystery to me and all I can think is obnoxious wind. However, I immediately put my FLED on and it flew fine with autokap and after a 1/2 hour I switched to my remote rig. In the end I obtained a few decent shots.

These images were taken with a remote controlled camera suspended below a kite line. (Kite Aerial Photography – KAP)

Aerial photograph - Saint Lawrence River at Blockhouse Island, Brockville, Ontario.

Aerial photograph - Marina at Blockhouse Island, Brockville, Ontario.

Aerial photograph straight down abstract view of the Blockhouse Island Parkway, Brockville, Ontario.

Aerial photograph - The Boardwalk condominium block , the being built Tall Ships Landing waterfront condominiums and the site of the future Maritime Discovery Centre. The Marina at Blockhouse Island, Brockville, Ontario.