What I did on my Summer Vacation
Editor’s Note: Remember when you are asked what you did on your summer vacation? Well professional videographer, John Street, from San Diego California, will have no trouble this year as he has lots to report – and luckily for TI Life readers he has shared his marvelous discoveries.
And just to impress this editor - these were all taken his August, 2018!
Explosive Storm
Explosive storm on the River last night! I thought I was going to be capturing it way off in the distance, but suddenly the tail-end whipped around, and a pitch-black cloud wall appeared overhead, with downbursts of wind and driving rain ... the skies suddenly blacked out as the entire area lost power ... I ducked in the house, fearing my camera was being blown right off the dock ... luckily the camera made it -- most of the great lightning bolts were obscured by all the rain on the lens but I got a few fun ones ... join me:
Storm cloud swoops in from left to right ... about midnight … looking ENE towards Gananoque
Although it is almost midnight, the sky is lit by the flash of lightning; you can see the rain pelting off the boat port roof. and the double-image of the floating boat port and dock show just how much they were rocking between lightning bolts!!
A good night to be safe indoors, while bolts appear to hit Rockport, TI Park, Alex Bay, etc. This is a single 20-second photo, not a composite of multiple photos ... the storm was going off!!
The bolt was so bright it overwhelmed the sensor and bleached-out the colors. I'm sure it was many miles away, but it looks like it's hitting right behind Manitouana Island!
Gazing at the August Moon
During a break in the clouds, the moon high above 40 acres blasts a spotlight onto the River, turning night into day ... (if you have a long enough shutter speed of course) ...
Admiralty Islands Loons
This loon is already starting to change plumage from the characteristic iridescent black head, to the fashionable gray-look for winter. @ Gananoque, Ontario
Vultures
A face only a mother could love. This was definitely the smelliest portrait I’ve ever taken! I clambered up a bouldered hillside and discovered a pair of young vultures perched at the top ... their stench was nearly as fearsome as their visage ... yikes! @ Gananoque, Ontario
Frog!
Frog-eye self-portrait. This is now my favorite selfie — in the frog’s eye you can see the reflection of me in my white t-shirt kneeling on the bank to take the photo ...
Ya gotta kiss a lotta frogs, right? — in Gananoque, Ontario.
Morning with Wildlife
Good morning dear. I think the sunrise wildlife is mocking me ... from the doe sticking her tongue-out then laughing at me, to the osprey -- well -- flipping me the bird if you know what I mean!
Animal ID Please
By John Street
John Street is a video Producer/Director at his company InPoint Productions, Inc. San Diego, CA. The list of productions is long and impressive, such as over 50 event-highlight videos filmed and edited for Fortune 500 companies, or - Travel, film and supervise production crews in 40 U.S. cities, plus France, UK, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Tunisia, Germany, Czech Republic, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Canada, Mexico and 5 of the Hawaiian Islands. Yes, John Street is well known in his industry. Luckily for us,he spends his vacation in the Thousand Islands.
In January 2011, TI Life profiled John Street’s Holiday Photographs. At that time he wrote, “I’ve been fortunate enough to live in several parts of the country, from the woods to the city. My job has helped me to travel exciting places around the world as well … but when I have the chance to vacation with my family, the one place we all want to spend time is in the 1000 Islands. It’s where we have roots; I’ve spent every summer of my life here, as did my father and his father and his father, ever since my great-grandfather and his brothers discovered this little corner of paradise in the 1800s and built a frame cottage that started housing our family memories. I’ve built on the tradition by sharing this experience with my wife and daughters, creating another generation with River water in their blood.”