Flowers, Frogs, and More

For many years we’ve been taking our summer vacation at my wife’s family cottage west of Ottawa. It’s one of those places that is absolutely magical for me and I feel completely at home there. The cottage is situated alongside a shallow river and the area is home to a massive variety of birds, animals, and insects, and the gardens at the cottage are full of beautiful flowers. It’s a little bit of paradise and I’ve created some of my favorite images while there over the years.

This year was another very productive trip for me. The weather seemed to work out perfectly and I had a great collection of subjects to work with. Here is a gallery of some of my current favorites.

I've created many images of these falls over the years.  I just can't keep away and I get the urge to go back there every time we go to the cottage.  There are so many different ways to make images at the falls that I really don't even have two similar images.  I reall love the soft light that wraps around the area at sunset and this is one of my favorite places to photograph...©2010, Sean Phillips.http://www.RiverwoodPhotography.com (Sean Phillips)

I don't know much about spiders other than to know that this one is a little different.  It creates micro webs in the leaves of plants and does a great job of catching flies and bugs in those webs...©2010, Sean Phillips.http://www.RiverwoodPhotography.com (Sean Phillips)

Cottage Vacation 2010..©2010, Sean Phillips.http://www.RiverwoodPhotography.com (Sean Phillips)

There are always tree frogs to be found near the cottage.  This one normally lives in the umbrella on the deck...©2010, Sean Phillips.http://www.RiverwoodPhotography.com (Sean Phillips)

Cottage Vacation 2010..©2010, Sean Phillips.http://www.RiverwoodPhotography.com (Sean Phillips)

Cottage Vacation 2010..©2010, Sean Phillips.http://www.RiverwoodPhotography.com (Sean Phillips)

Cottage Vacation 2010..©2010, Sean Phillips.http://www.RiverwoodPhotography.com (Sean Phillips)

Long-tailed Weasel at Rawson Lake

We went hiking up to Rawson Lake in Peter Lougheed Provincial Park (in Kananaskis). It's a beautiful hike to an even more beautiful lake!  We came across this cute little furry critter and had an exciting game of hide and seek with it for about 10 minutes.  The Weasel kept running off into the rocks, and then creeping back to investigate me.  It was lots of fun!..©2010, Sean Phillips.http://www.RiverwoodPhotography.com (Sean Phillips)

We went hiking up to Rawson Lake in Kananaskis Provincial Park. It’s a beautiful hike to an even more beautiful lake! The highlight of the trip actually came just as we were about to start back down the trail to return home. I was picking my way across the rocks in the scree slopes hoping for one last chance to photograph some Pica when I realized that I had just scared off a pretty little Long-tailed Weasel. The weasel bounded off and disappeared into the rocks. I slowly followed in the direction that it had gone, and quickly found it. It wasn’t shy at all and for the next 10 minutes or so we played a fun game of hide and seek. The Weasel kept running off into the rocks, and then creeping slowly back to investigate me. It was lots of fun and I made a few great images!


Animals – Weasels – Images by Sean Phillips