Photographing in Nova Scotia

[ajbirdboy]

Hi all,
Planning a trip to Nova Scotia Sept. 1st to the 13th. We're driving so I can bring the big cameras. Any suggestions/warnings/tips are welcome. Thanks.
Al

[Robert Ley]

How are you traveling? I know by car, but give me a route.

I have been there a couple of times and each time I took the ferry from Bar Harbor to Yarmouth and then did the light house trail to Cape Breton Island. I love Atlantic Canada. Very friendly people and great sights to see and photograph. You will be in Nova Scotia at a great time...not too hot or cold, just right ;)

The ferry will eliminate a long drive through Canada and it is a fun drive and sail. It is a very fast ferry and can get you there in less than three hours (I believe but am not sure) and save you a lot in high Canadian gas prices.

There are many things to photograph and Cape Breton Island is a jewel.

Enjoy your trip

I included a shot from Blue Rocks which is near Halifax on the coast.59652

[George Richards]

Good place to visit, I came when I was a few months old and stayed!

A couple of important dates, Sept 1st is my birthday and I never work on that day. The first Monday is labour day and a holiday for most.

The ferry from Bar Harbour stopped running a while back, so you'll have to drive thru at least part of New Brunswick. There is a ferry from Saint John to Digby if you want to spent more time in NS.

Bring all your LF film, 35 and 120 can still be found in the bigger places but I suspect LF will be hard to come by.

As to things to see and photograph, there are lots of coasts, parks, farms, forts, lighthouses and more. If you can stay off the main highways (Trans Canada) most of them are rather boring. Cape Breton is always worth a visit. The Bay of Fundy is a great place to get some shots in as well either from the New Brunswick side or the Nova Scotia side.

Anything special you're interested in?

[Bill_1856]

Visually gorgeous, but very difficult to get anything photographically out of the ordinary.

[Steve M Hostetter]

Lots of muted colors in the misty mornings .. Wish I'd spent more time in Cape Bretton
on the east end

so my advice would be to go very slow and enjoy the moments ! Do not let yourself be rushed
After all, you will be in heaven :)

[Nathan Potter]

I've spent many years photographing in Nova Scotia. A bigger question is what do you want to photograph? 13 days is not much time to really get into it. I would take the Ferry from St. John New Brunswick to Digby. That gets you going quickly along the coastal route. Get the Nova Scotia Atlas; sort of back roads NS. Try Formac Publishing Co Ltd., 5502 Atlantic Street, Halifax Nova Scotia, B3H 1G4 (www. formac.ca).

From Digby check out Digby neck south down the penninsular as far as you can drive without taking the ferry further down.

From Digby I'd drive north thru Annapolis, Middleton to Wolfville. Use Wolfville as a temporary base and check out Halls Harbor (fishing village) on the coast and Scots Bay (cobble beach) on the Blomidon Neck. Also the "Overlook" (expansive view of Minas Basin and farmland, a bit like Ireland scenery) is on the way to Blomidon Neck, quite spectacular.

From the Wolfville area I'd be inclined to cross over to Halifax on the outer coast. Check out the city then drive south a ways and examine Prospect (fishing village), Peggys Cove (fishing village), Chester (resort village with a great pastry shop) on the Aspotogon penninsula, and certainly Lunenburg (older schooner town somewhat touristy) a bit further south. Drive out to Blue Rocks from Lunenburg where there is a famous scene of fishing shacks that begs for LF wide angle imaging. (See nice image above with two classic Nova Scotia dories.

OK your two weeks are up and you've missed the bulk of what there is to see.

But if you are an ambitious driver like me you might head to Cape Bretton Island about 130 mi. from Halifax. Cross the Canso Causeway a miracle of construction where the 1000+ ft. deep strait a mile wide was filled with boulders. I'd go up the west side of the Island thru Port Hood to Mabou. Visit the Red Shoe Pub in Mabou. Drive north to Glenora and visit the Glenora Distillery the only single malt distillery in North America, (beautifully photogenic). Continue north thru Cheticamp (principally french enclave) and into Cape Bretton Island National Park. The Park is highlands cut with fjord like inlets with the high areas of northern bogs and coniferous forests with lots of moose running about, esp. at dusk. I'd stop at Cape North and visit Morrisons restaurant where you can sometimes get the freshest haddock you could ever want. I visited as a kid when it was a general store and mostly Gaelic was spoken and even now you might hear some Gaelic conversations. A side trip to Meat Cove is worth while. Also a side trip to Dingwall and the barrier beach is worth the effort. Continue on to Neals Harbor (very picturesque fishing village). South to Ingonish find the Keltic Lodge out on a penninsular that is photographically attractive.

Bill above, said it wisely, you'll need to dig beneath the visually beautiful scenery to obtain more introspective images and that can be difficult to do with only a surficial introduction to an area.

Well now you've really blown your two weeks.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Graybeard]

I believe that there is an overnight ferry from Portland, Maine to Yarmouth.


Good place to visit, I came when I was a few months old and stayed!

A couple of important dates, Sept 1st is my birthday and I never work on that day. The first Monday is labour day and a holiday for most.

The ferry from Bar Harbour stopped running a while back, so you'll have to drive thru at least part of New Brunswick. There is a ferry from Saint John to Digby if you want to spent more time in NS.

Bring all your LF film, 35 and 120 can still be found in the bigger places but I suspect LF will be hard to come by.

As to things to see and photograph, there are lots of coasts, parks, farms, forts, lighthouses and more. If you can stay off the main highways (Trans Canada) most of them are rather boring. Cape Breton is always worth a visit. The Bay of Fundy is a great place to get some shots in as well either from the New Brunswick side or the Nova Scotia side.

Anything special you're interested in?

[Ken Lee]

Let's see some photos. I'm starting to wanna go there.

[ajbirdboy]

Hi all,
You're right, two weeks isn't enough, but it will have to do. My original plan was to do Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island and Prince Edward Island; someone talked some sense to me a short time ago, hence the revised itinerary.
Found out the Cat (ferry) is no more, so driving to New Brunswick.If we get to St.Johns early enough to catch the ferry, will do that. Was planning to do the drive around the province (is that the lighthouse tour?) with a definite stop in Halifax to see the Titanic's gravesites. There will be another couple driving with us, so we'll be doing a lot of other touristy stuff I hope. Want to see the tides change in the Bay of Fundy, fishing boats, schooners. I've been listening to Gordon Bok and I'm really getting psyched to go! Thanks for the suggestions; I'll be writing them down and sharing with my wife and the other couple. Keep 'em coming!
Al

[Steve M Hostetter]

Takes 22 hours to drive around N.S. with few stops just as an idea the size

[Nathan Potter]

OK , I'll try to post a few images that I've previously scanned. First is Peggys Cove on a foggy morning. Technikardan 45 or 45S with a 210 Nikon, Velvia 50, Praus development.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6080/6027044332_a43f872c75_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/argiolus/6027044332/)
MA03-3-31web (http://www.flickr.com/photos/argiolus/6027044332/) by hypolimnas (http://www.flickr.com/people/argiolus/), on Flickr

Well, poor resolution in conversion to jpg, sorry. I'm hurrying too much.

[Nathan Potter]

Another one of a section of cobble beach where it meets the marsh grass. Scots Bay on the Blomidon penninsula, Nova Scotia. Technikardan 45, 75 Nikon, Velvia 50. About 2005.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6195/6027434434_47d37a6819_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/argiolus/6027434434/)
MA03-4-10web (http://www.flickr.com/photos/argiolus/6027434434/) by hypolimnas (http://www.flickr.com/people/argiolus/), on Flickr

[Ken Lee]

Now I'm really wanting to go there :)

[John Jarosz]

That photo of Blue Rocks reminds me of where I found many fine images - Eastern Passage, which is on the mainland across from Lawlor Island. I hope it is as I left it in 1976.

Plan when you make your crossover to Cape Breton as there is only one bridge - traffic can slow you down. The vistas in Cape Breton Highlands NP are fantastic.

I have always meant to return, especially Cape Breton. PEI did not ring my bell, but that could be a personal thing.

I want to go now too.

john

[lawrencebrussel]

Its amazing place to be there.Njoy your journey & don't forget to post some photos of the beautiful place after coming back.

[Steve M Hostetter]

Careful shooting in the early morning regarding mist.. It won't take long before your lens will condensate to be safe I'd carry a cheapish lens you don't care much for and it will work fine

[Steve M Hostetter]

If your into fall color I would photograph all along the area of Amherst.. Very cool and unigue colors up there!!

[Simon Benton]

Cape Breton is a lovely place to visit - Nathan described a great route around the island. Definitely visit Meat Cove and have a beer and appetizer in the Red Shoe which is owned and run by the singing Rankin family. Peggy's Cove is well worth a visit and thumbnail is shown below - best light is late afternoon and early evening in my opinion. I have already been twice this year to Cape Breton and am going back in October for the fantastic fall colours.

[gevalia]

Went up a few years ago in April in my usual vacation mode which is to never make plans. Big mistake. Off season in NS it is almost impossible to find a room. Only the major cities actually had open hotels/motels. But it is on my list to revisit. I really enjoyed the trek and wished I spent more time photographing in the small villages.

I didn't find much of interest inland.

yeah, take a lot more $$ for gas.

[Joseph Dickerson]

Hi,

Ann and I were there for a month last fall. The Bar Harbor ferry is indeed caput. I think the only one still operating is the one from Digby to St. Johns.

We drove into NS from New Brunswick, after waiting out Hurricane Earl in NB. Lots to see on the east side of Cape Breton Island. Lots to hear (music), especially don't miss the Celtic Music Center in Judique. The town of Pictou is challenging but fun photographically, as are many of the small towns up the coast. If your car will handle it, try some of the dirt roads, our van is 4wd so we took advantage of the backroads and found lots of fun places.

We did not get to Peggy's Cove, just too much rain, but if you do check out Sherman Hines photography museum, it's listed on the internet.

Instead we went from Halifax, another hurricane was on it's way up the coast, to Digby and took the ferry back to St. Johns NB. Do not miss the Digby scallops. The ones we had on the ferry were marvelous. They were not fried in diesel fuel like most ferry food.

We then drove to Maine and into New Hampshire for fall color. We both would go back to NS and Cape Breton in a minute if we didn't live 4,000 miles in the wrong direction. But sure glad we did it once. Next time we'll fly to Halifax and rent a car I think.

Have a great trip. We have visited Canada many times, usually BC and Alberta, and somewhere in Canada I'm sure there is an SOB, but we have yet to find him. Really gracious and welcoming people.

JD

[chassis]

Good sightseeing and hiking on Cape Breton Island. Agree with the comment about visually nice but photographically a little plain. We drove the Cabot Trail around the north/east tip of the island and enjoyed it. Did a nice hike out to a vista looking towards the ocean with a nice view of the very green headlands. Cityscapes and boat/harbor shots might be more plentiful than stunning landscapes. Also nature shots on hiking trails would be good subject material. Do some research on the locally unique vegetation species and think about finding these items for subjects.

On our hike we came across a large bull moose about 15 yards from the hiking trail. He minded his own business and so did we! I have some digital P&S images that turned out fairly nicely.

[gevalia]

I will say that the lichin on craggy rock is spectacular for macro work.

[ajbirdboy]

Hi all,
Thanks for the tips/suggestions/photos. We've been here since last Friday evening, and I love it! South shore so far, Halifax tomorrow, Digby end of the week....Too much to see and not nearly enough time. Will definitely have to come back. Looking forward to developing some film when we get home, and I'll post here if any come out well enough to share.
Al