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Durell, a small(er) community on the southern island of Twillingate boasts a local gem, Melvin Horwood. The locals all know him, so do countless others who have made the trek to visit Twillingate, Newfoundland and have stumbled on or received direction to his museum. After retiring from fishing in the '90's, Melvin continued to maintain his dock, stage and store and now shares with those who drop in ...
Melvin's Museum
Lynn and I had a chance encounter with Melvin when we stopped along Main St. during a morning drive. I had just parked the car to photograph another of the quaint houses perched along the shore when he just appeared ... I said "hello, you certainly have some lovely scenery here". Melvin said, "thank-you. Where are you from?" ... and it just went on from there. For the next 90 minutes we were entertained by a truly charming man.
Melvin Horwood
Stage Security
You just have to love the security system Melvin uses to "lock" the door of his stage museum, where all the goodies are. I should have known, when I reached for the keys to lock our car before heading down the dock, Melvin said "it's OK, you don't need to lock it" ...
'com on in
Among many other things, Melvin will show you how to throw the net to catch Capelin, the bait-fish used to catch Cod.
throwin' the net
repeat performance (new audience)If you are
ever in Twillingate, make the time do go visit Melvin, Durell's just around the corner, literally. It will be time well spent.
DJE
.... just a few pics from our stay at Captain's Legacy B&B in Twillingate, NL.
This place came highly recommended by a friend who stayed there last year (he hails from "the Rock" so I figured we could trust him).
Captain's Legacy
Lynn and I had booked 2 nights here in anticipation of filling 2 days with sightseeing, iceberg watching, hiking, and experiencing what one of the out post fishing towns turned tourist location had to offer. Arriving on a bright, sunny afternoon we were warmly greeted by our hosts, Rita and Ron. The house was lovely, and the room we had booked, the Elizabethan, was perfect with it's ocean view. Everything about the accommodations was splendid and out hosts made us feel very relaxed for our first B&B experience.
Elizabethan Window
We started our morning out with breakfast in the tea room and some conversation with Ron who told us of the souvenir Rita presented him with upon her return from one of her visits to Twillignate. You'll just have to ask yourself if you decide to visit, I wouldn't want to ruin the experience.
I'm sure it was Rita's meticulous preparation of our breakfast of bacon and eggs, enhanced by the atmosphere, because scrambled eggs never tasted so good... to say nothing of delicious coconut lime scones that, as Ron put it were "new".
Tea Room Table
Captain's Legacy, Historic B&B, highly recommended for anyone looking to stay a few nights in Twillingate. Say hi to Ron & Rita for me.
DJE
past it's glory
On the 5th day of our recent vacation to Newfoundland we rolled into Bonavista after a few hours of driving in cold rainy weather and stopped for a quick coffee before setting out to drive around the town. The weather worsened, the wind was buffeting the car and carrying the rain nearly sideways. I had not yet become accustomed to how the streets just seem to go off in every direction but decided to wander and see what we could.
It was only a couple of minutes before I spotted this old weathered fishing shack and boat near the shore. Envisioning a gritty B&W image, I parked and got out of the car discovering that it was going to be a challenge to make decent images given the weather. I had difficulty standing still in the blustery wind and the rain managed to find my front lens element no matter which way it was pointed or how I tried to protect it. Undaunted, I made a few images at this location, wiping the lens down before each exposure.
I'm very happy that I stuck with it ... this just may be my favourite image of the entire trip.
DJE
path to the light - B&W
One of my goals for our trip to Newfoundland was to capture sunrise at Cape Spear, the eastern most point on land in North America. Unfortunately I did not come home with that image. The 1-1/2 hr time difference and sunrise at 5:00 am made it 3:30 am Guelph time (which I was still on, the only day with a clear morning while we were in St. John's) made me pass with hopes to catch it later in the week. Weather did not cooperate Friday or Saturday so the image, for me, remains to be made.
We visited Cape Spear shortly after landing in St. John's. There was a blustery wind making it difficult to make images without moving. I'm sure it was a calm day for Newfoundland, but rough weather by my standards.
My son Matt saw the colour version of this on my monitor an commented that it would look great in gritty B&W ... I think he's right, but here's the colour version for those who'd like to decide for themselves.
path to the light
DJE
Planning for "The Rock"
A week of vacation and travel to Newfoundland for my first ever visit to "The Rock" has me jacked up and ready to go. The plan is to spend the first couple of days in St. John's to experience and capture the culture and scenery. Signal Hill, Cape Spear, the Battery and Downtown St. John's are all on the must visit list before we depart for the next two nights in Twillingate. I'm sure the drive (6hrs.) will be made much longer and very enjoyable by numerous stops to soak in the scenery, ocularly and digitally.
We have heard that there are no icebergs to be seen in Twillingate which is extremely unfortunate but I'm sure the scenery will not disappoint. The return trip to St. Johns will likely take us along the NE coast to Bonavista, Trinity and Dildo ('cause I just have to stop here and make a snapshot of the town sign).
Back in St. John's for a couple of nights with a day trip to places yet unknown and I hope to be decompressed with a library of images that will take weeks or months to fully appreciate.
Later ...
DJE
flowing fields
Shot in infrared under cloudless skies with strong sunlight of mid-day ... perfect conditions for IR.
I mentioned on a recent post that my new addiction was infrared photography. With the job requiring a considerable amount of driving around Southern Ontario over the past few weeks, I have had a few opportunities to capture some mid-day scenes in IR. Other than early in the morning (when I'm generally pressed to get somewhere), the conditions have not been favourable for "regular" photography. When it hasn't been raining, the bright mid-day sun and fresh green spring foliage have provided an abundance of subject matter for my little G6IR.
:-)
I'm sure some will tire of my IR images before I do, so I'll try to share only the best images.
The one above, "flowing fields" was getting a lot of attention on flickr over the weekend so it was a natural candidate for my photo of the week.
DJE
You just have to love the security system Melvin uses to "lock" the door of his stage museum, where all the goodies are. I should have known, when I reached for the keys to lock our car before heading down the dock, Melvin said "it's OK, you don't need to lock it" ...
throwin' the net 
