HYPER COLOUR SUNSET ON NORTHWEST ARM

It won't require much of your time to discover the bountiful beautiful sunsets on the Northwest Arm, the waterway which separates Spryfield, Armdale, and Halifax. Beginning at or near Point Pleasant Park, the Northwest Arm is, to a degree, a part of Halifax Harbour. Only, rather than continuing in towards the Bedford Basin, the Northwest Arm stops at the Armdale Rotary Roundabout. Obviously direction helps with any sunset - shooting east just ain't a good method - but the Arm is ideally set up for sunset photography: long stretches of smooth water, stunning homes, slight geography changes along the shore, and plenty of places from which to photograph. Locals would know right off the bat that this picture wasn't taken recently; our skies just don't form these clouds or these colours in October. Late August is the timing answer.

GREENWICH NATIONAL PARK BEACH

Arriving at Greenwich, Prince Edward Island just after a very filling supper at Rick's in St. Peter's doesn't bode well for swimming in an area often labelled as PEI's most dangerous shore. Thankfully, all had been calm for days and the weather was piping; right out of the oven. A quick inspection of the "real" beach in the Greenwich part of the PEI National Park revealed spectacular dune-scape but not exactly what we were looking for. Plus, we were supremely full. Before leaving, this picture of the beach looking northeast was a must grab.

GREENWICH TALL GRASS

Next year, you really ought to walk the Greenwich Dunes Trail in August. On a semi-clear day. About an hour before sunset. Stop on the floating boardwalk and turn towards your right. Here's your view. By this time you're only five minutes from coming to the end of the boardwalk and mounting the dune that'll offer quite a 360-degree view of its own, but pause for a moment and take in what feels like kilometre-after-kilometre of tall marsh grass. Wildlife much? Beavers, birds of many feathers, and foxes galore gallivant through this area. If you're as lucky as we were, incredibly warm water awaits on a completely private beach. But first, take a picture of the grass. All this is found in the middle of a national park just minutes from St. Peter's, Prince Edward Island.

POINT PLEASANT PARK STAIRCASE

Deep in Point Pleasant Park, tucked away on a hillside between trees and narrow paths, is a large grassy area where Shakespeare By The Sea performs all summer. This area, the old Cambridge Battery, is surrounded on one side by trees and the other by what's left of... well, Cambridge Battery. What's left is crumbling; but beautiful. Shaded heavily, the Battery's brick walls and cement staircases hold within their grasp blackberries and apple trees and lots of space to run and play for dogs and kids. And adults. But be careful on the staircase. We're not sure how much longer it'll hold up.

SANDSTONE ST. MARY'S IN SOURIS

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Souris, Prince Edward Island is a wonderful example of sandstone architecture. PEI is certainly not the only location on the globe in which sandstone is used as a major construction element, but the unique colour tones set this church - and other PEI buildings - apart from the others. Red dirt is more PEIish than Anne of Green Gables or potatoes. Of course, this picture doesn't show the church so much as its brickwork and the cemetery in the background. Perched on a hill near the outskirts of Souris in the east end of PEI - "down east", as they say - St. Mary's is beautiful inside and out, Catholic or not.

KIDS ON ROOF IN SOURIS, PEI

At the height of the summer of 2009, the best weather arrived for a Prince Edward Island vacation for SC and TC. In SC's hometown of Souris, PEI, the heat of the noonday sun made the only fitting outdoor activity swimming at local beaches like Bothwell, Red Point, and Basinhead. However, after the supper hour, the children of Souris found an entrancing activity looking out over the area where the Îles-de-la-Madeleine ferry docks in Souris. In fact, these little "tourist bureaus" are all over PEI after Pat Binns' budget cuts meant some tourist outreach work was to be done by the communities in picnic huts. But I digress. These boys (and girl) were practicing their gymnastics in a sight that was all too obvious for a beautiful silhouette by SC. And power lines? There's something good about power lines in this photo: a genuine quality that makes the photo definitively Alfresco; something with urbanic rurality.

DINGLE SUNSET

The Northwest Arm is a jut of water which separates Armdale and Halifax proper from the Purcell's Cove Road area. Situated perfectly for sunset photography from either Point Pleasant Park or waterfront homes near Dalhousie University or the Waegwoltic Club or from the Dingle, the Northwest Arm is definitely a section of the Halifax Regional Municipality worth checking out. But wait a second, this sunset picture is from the bottom of South Street looking toward the Dingle. That would be.... south. Well, some sunsets are overpowering - and this night was indeed just that. Editing, however, never hurts the cause.

DREAM STATE CIRCUS FIRE SHOW

Growing up in Halifax, Nova Scotia made buskers an automatic part of TC's life. Every August, an increasingly smaller part of downtown was overpopulated with men in tights, acrobats, jugglers, and hot dog vendors. And tourists. Two times, SC and TC have had the privilege of ending up on the Halifax waterfront just in time for a fire show by Dream State Circus. The trust required by the audience wife toward her husband and the husband toward his wife is measured in gigantic proportions. Click the picture for an enlarged view where you'll see that Jacob McGrath isn't practicing the art of multiple fire-filled hula hoop twisting but rather the exposure from TCs Fuji is just long enough for you to see the fire in various directions. Watch a bit of Dream State Circus on YouTube for a better hint at the excitement.

THREE LLAMAS

Over a week spent on Prince Edward Island involved just one drive on the road through Kinkora, Newton, and Shamrock. On a steep downward left-hand sweeper, SC's father decided to make a quick u-turn for pictures of a field full of llamas. Included were a handful of timid llama babies (cria) and a large pack of adults who weren't at all afraid of the photographer. Llamas were reintroduced to North America later in the 20th century and there are now over 100,000 on this continent. Llama and alpaca farms are common on Prince Edward Island. The three llamas seen in this picture stand near the crown of a hill about 10 kilometres from the Northumberland Strait.

PUBLIC GARDENS BUTTERCUPS

There are plenty of more exotic flowers in the Public Gardens of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Yet these little buttercups drew our attention because of their height. From the grass, one look up reveals little else but the early evening sky. Focused on the flowers with a big flash, the sky dims while the flowers brighten. Loverly.

FENWICK STREET ART

Without knowing who lives at 5624 Fenwick Street we can't be sure if this home holds a currently famous artist or if it's just somebody who really wants to be like Vincent Van Gogh. Regardless, it's not very often you walk by a massive construction site and see, just metres away, a large black and red canvas sitting on someone's doorstep.

TALL SHIPS MASTS

For a larger view of the Halifax Tall Ships Festival of '09, click here. As for this shot taken from a staircase near Pier 21, dozens of ships remain hidden but the masts of two schooners reveal themselves behind this flowerbed. Look to the left and the scenery is distressing as Nova Scotia Power renovates an ugly old building to become its new HQ. Thankfully, the Fuji's lens's angle isn't that wide.

PLANTERS BOXES ON BIRMINGHAM STREET

Tainted by a few dead flowers and a Nova Scotia Power meter, the character of this picture pulls in urban dwellers and probably turns off rural folk. Look to the distance in order to spot Clyde Street and, if your eyes are really good, Spring Garden Road. On-street parking is limited, so most of these houses have back gardens that have been turned into gravel parking lots. Thankfully, some homeowners let the nature have its way out front.

GRASS & AN ACADIAN CROSS

Look closely. Beneath the lamp post. Spot the cross? That cross springs out of a monument to Acadians who were imprisoned on Georges Island in previous centuries. In the Great Expulsion which began in 1755, the French-speaking Acadians were expelled from what's now Nova Scotia. Of course, that describes the background. Closer to the lens was this lovely beach grass that grows between a large parking lot and the boardwalk of the Halifax waterfront.

ISLAND OF PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND

Walk a few minutes around the eroding bend from this previously pictured beach in Lower Darnley, Prince Edward Island and you'll find this spot. The rate at which PEI disappears casts doubt upon the life expectancy of this sandstone edifice; only adding to its allure. Grassy corners full of small birds who likely spend much of their summer hardly seeing a single human mark this island as one of the Island's most charming spots.

LOWER DARNLEY BEACH OUTGOING TIDE

Not far from a favoured beach of TC and SC, Thunder Cove, sits this unnamed swath of sand near Lower Darnley. Nearly empty but for for a few cottagers, this beach may not be as spectacularly sandy as Thunder Cove but its setting is perhaps more idyllic. One long dirt road, one very narrow path, one stream that must be crossed, and hardly any people? That's a real Prince Edward Island beach.

HALIFAX TALL SHIPS FESTIVAL 2009

2000, 2004, 2007, and now 2009 have presented tourists with an unbelievable awesome option in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Tall Ships Festival steps directly from centuries-gone-by into the much narrower Halifax Harbour. Ships of varying sizes crowd the Halifax side of the waterfront before a parade-of-sail takes place on the final day as the ships circle past Dartmouth and out to the mouth of the harbour. This picture was taken from the old helipad near Bishop's Landing looking toward the Nova Scotia Power building and Pier 21.

HALIFAX INTERNATIONAL TATTOO PARADE WATCHERS

Only a few acts remained when an opening for TC to jump into the middle of the action appeared. Though over-exposed at the top of the photograph, it is the shiny super-exposed pavement more than the feet of the parade watchers that really sells this picture. The Halifax International Tattoo takes place for about a week every July. It's rather expensive to catch the whole show at the Metro Centre. But on Canada Day, a small sampling of each act can be seen in the Tattoo Parade. This picture was taken on the corner of Spring Garden Road and Brunswick Street right in front of the Fireside restaurant.

QUEEN'S COLOUR SAILORS

At the presenting of the Queen's Colour on the Garrison Grounds at the base of Citadel Hill, the perfect lines of the Canadian Navy's sailors appear incredibly skewed when viewed without.... their bodies. Security for Governor General Michaelle Jean was surprisingly active. Peter MacKay also made an appearance along with plenty of provincial dignitaries and a massive contingent of Halifax-based Navy personnel.

SPIDERWEBS AND SAILBOATS

You may have heard of the security guard who asked TC and SC to depart the sea level docks on the harbourfront boardwalk. If requests like that were adhered to, photos like this wouldn't happen. This wonderfully formed spiderweb was strung along between the bars of a walkway that led downward to a floating dock, just like the one holding the sailboat in the background. Read between the lines to spot the tugboat in the distance.