Urban Wilderness!

[EVCco]

Western Shore - through new eyes

A couple of posts back I mused that, after nearly 2 years of messing around with what is essentially a toy camera, it may be time take my chances with some proper equipment again. Sure, it had been a fun experiment pushing the limits of $20 technology. From time to time my Vivitar ViviCams (models X024 and 5022 respectively) even managed to produce some pleasing results. And of course, for that amount of money, breaking or losing a camera never weighed too heavily on my mind as I waded through rivers and scaled the odd craggy cliffside. Naturally, however, this cheap cost came with a price - little to no shooting options, sensors and LCD screens averse to all but the most favourable light conditions, and an utter inability to render straight lines correctly all proved vexing drawbacks. Perhaps my biggest issue with the ViviCams, though, was their complete lack of any functional zooming capability - an issue which slowly manifested an urge to overcompensate. My next field camera, I long ago resolved, would have to be a veritable telescope!

The problem with that resolution, mind you, are my inherent snapshot sensibilities. Despite taking this hobby of mine to semi-professional levels over the past few decades, I've never held any pretensions of being a capital-P "Photographer". I've never owned any special lenses or filters. I've never had any use for a hot shoe. I use tripods only grudgingly, and can't be bothered with strapping some hulking SLR around my neck (though I probably would have lost fewer cameras that way). Put simply, if it doesn't fit in my shirt pocket I can't deal with it. And therein lies the rub. Until recently, the only way to achieve real (i.e. optical) telescopic, super-zoom photos was with some big-ass camera and/or lens. Over the past little while, though, I've been noticing the optical capabilities of compact cameras steadily growing - 15x, 20x, 25x zooms...getting closer! Then, about a year ago, Sony came out with the first 30x optical zoom compact, the HX50V. That was just about the range I'd been looking for, and I nearly jumped on it then. However, not being that familiar with Sony's still-camera products, I thought I'd wait just a little while longer to see what the competition could muster...

My patience seemed to pay off, and just a few months ago Canon unleashed its SX700, Panasonic its ZS40, and Sony its updated HX60V (essentially identical to the old HX50V, save for a new processor) - all 30x compacts. After scouring the online reviews I narrowed my choice down to the Sony and the Canon. The Sony came packed with more options (including a hot shoe, incidentally), more megapixels (20.4), and I rather preferred the overall design. But the Canon was a trusted brand (my very first digital camera was a Canon) which seemed to produce slightly better images; and at nearly $100 less than the Sony it looked like the clear winner. So off I went last week, fully intending to pick up a brand new SX700. After shopping around a little bit, though, I came across an original HX50V at Futureshop, on sale for $100 less than the Canon (...making it $200 less than the new HX60V; nearly $300 less than my original 2 megapixel, 3x zoom Canon A40; and probably $1,000 less than the first digital camera I ever tried, back in college, which used a floppy disk and took pictures worse than my $20 ViviCams)! I couldn't let a deal like that pass, so I snapped it up. But enough of all this talk. A hundred pictures, or so, must be worth a few thousand words. So let's take this baby for a test drive while I continue my excursion along the lakeshore, beginning at the iconic Humber Bay Bike Bridge. It seemed fitting for this trip to walk as far as I can zoom, so let's set the stage at the HX50V's generous 24mm baseline:

And now we'll zoom in 30x, at 720mm, to the tip of the scenic lookout on Humber Bay Park East:

Ah, but that's not all! The digital zoom amplifies the optical to an astounding 120x! Now at this magnification the image failings, typical of any digital zoom, become apparent. But, I must say, it still remains reasonably clear pic for a hand held shot:

With my destination now in view I set off along the Waterfront Trail, through Palace Pier Park and Humber Bay Shores:

Turning south, now, into Humber Bay Park East:

I reach the lookout at the eastern end of the peninsula and duly zoom back from whence I came:

At this point I'm surprised to discover that, while in VGA mode, I'm able to increase the digital zoom by a factor of nearly 500x! Naturally, at this level of magnification the focus becomes completely unwieldy and I doubt that even a tripod would secure a stable shot. Nevertheless, its nice to know that if I ever need a blurry, pixilated 640x480 image of something a mile away, I can (with much difficulty) get most of it:

I now turn the zoom around to my next destination, the tiny light beacon at the furthest-most tip of Humber Bay Park West - barely visible to the naked eye:

Before getting that far, however, there is still the little matter of traversing the rest of Humber Bay Park East:

Across the Mimico Creek, now, and into Humber Bay Park West - still heading towards the light:

From my newest vantage I can now zoom clear across to the Clarkson oil refinery at the western end of Mississauga...:

...I don't think I'll be walking quite that far today, however. So I simply finish off the rest of Humber Bay Park, ending my trip around the Etobicoke Yacht Club:

So ends this latest travelogue-cum-camera review...and so begins the latest deathwatch for my newest camera. I'm putting the over/under at 6 months before I somehow drop this one in the lake, or send it tumbling down a ravine. Hopefully I've become a little more careful over the past few years, though. After all, my last ViviCam is still alive and kicking. And I've just recently employed a new tactic - I've actually attached the wriststrap to my new camera (and I even occasionally use it), so I'm betting the over...

 

[EVCco]

Western Shore - I covered the waterfront

Another photographic endeavour comes to an end as my quest to document the length of Toronto's lakeshore winds up at the edge of Etobicoke. It certainly proved a much easier task than my previous one of documenting all of the city's major rivers, creeks, and streams, as I managed to finish this chore in a matter of months (with all my cameras still intact and nary a mosquito bite to show for it). As always, I begin where I last left off, around the entrance to Humber Bay Park West, and continue west along the Waterfront Trail down Humber Bay Promenade:

Now through Superior Park, Amos Waites Park, and Norris Park in quick succession:

Between Norris Crescent and 2nd Street one is offered only intermittent glimpses of the lake between various apartment buildings and a series of street-end parkettes:

The New Toronto segment of lakeshore between Prince of Wales Park and Colonel Samuel Smith Park was already covered in this post, so I skip over this stretch and continue west along the trail, from 23rd Street through Long Branch and Len Ford parks:

The final, somewhat oddly-shaped piece of the waterfront puzzle rests in the form of Marie Curtis Park, which straddles both sides of the Etobicoke Creek; extending Toronto's western border a few hundred yards into what many might assume to be Mississauga:

Indeed, it's not the Etobicoke, but rather a tiny portion of the Applewood Creek which actually serves as the city's westernmost frontier. A creek, I should state, that I completely overlooked in my prior travels. And so, at the end of this creek, at the end of the city, I manage to finish (and finish again) two endeavours in one, as I look ahead to my next Urban Wilderness undertaking...

 

[EVCco]

So I was walking around Bloor & Sherbourne earlier this morning when something, perched atop a building, caught my eye:

At first I figured it was just a pigeon. But it seemed just a little too big. Perhaps it was a falcon, I thought, or maybe even a hawk.
But something about its face didn't quite seem to fit that description. "It almost looks like a turkey!" I said to my self.
So I took out my camera, zoomed right in, and... Well, I was almost right:

It was a Turkey Vulture/Buzzard! Just about at the northern-most limit of its summer range. Just goes to show there's always a little wilderness to be found, even in the most urban locations...

 

[mattelderca]

We regularly see these soaring around cottage country, as far as Bancroft in my personal experience. The lake we are on is in North Kawartha, there are 6 or more soaring around at times. During last weeks storm we actually had one fly over our backyard in Whitby. Very low, at rooftop level. They are very cool birds!

 

[EVCco]

Were you/they up there for Canada Day by any chance?



York Beltline / Hydro Corridor - station to station

This week I present a trek composed of three somewhat impromptu and disconnected parts. It began on a whim at the beginning of the month. I had already covered the first two sections of the Beltline Trail during my walks along the Mud and Yellow creeks, here and here, so I decided to finish off the last section of trail west of Allen Road. Starting from just north of Eglinton West subway station, not much of the original Belt Line Railway remains at this initial stage - only a few hints here and there. The way forward begins to clear up, however, as one enters Walter Saunders Memorial Park:

The planners of the York Beltline Trail were nice enough to mark the site of all the former Belt Line stations. From Salinas Court Station, then, I continue west over Dufferin Street:

Departing from Fairbank Station, next stop Ronald Avenue:

Moving on past Caledonia Station to the York Beltline terminal at Bowie Avenue:

And so ends the Beltline Trail. As for the actual Belt Line Railway itself, it continued south along the current lines of the Newmarket subdivision - as do those power lines you may have noticed following the course of the trail. As it turns out, those lines are part of a 115 kilovolt transmission corridor that runs out of the Fairbank hydro station. As it also turns out, a week or so later (while on completely unrelated business) I found myself back in the general area where that same hydro line splits west along a new corridor out of the Wiltshire hydro station. With some time on my hands to kill, I pick things up south of Terry Drive, heading west towards the Runnymede hydro station, having already covered much of the same ground to the east during my exploration of the Lavender Creek:

Across Jane Street now, and into the Jane/Woolner Garden Plots in Marie Baldwin Park where I end the second portion of my triptych trip at Scarlett Road:

A few weeks later still, and I take up the final leg of this disjointed journey heading west from Scarlett Road into Lambton Park:

Getting over the Humber from here involves traversing the towering SL&H rail bridge - a crossing to be attempted by only the most daring hikers...and chipmunks:

Of course, the much lower pedestrian bridge just south of the rail bridge would also suffice in getting you across the river... Nevertheless, I'm now on the other side to continue my trek through Etobicoke:

Not far into Etobicoke we come to the delightfully intricate intersection of Royal York Road and Dundas Street West:

Alright, enough of that. Back to the hydro line; heading southwest between Westrose Ave and Allanbrooke Drive:

One last push through Thomas Riley Park before the course of the hydro corridor relinquishes any claim to "wilderness" and trails off through a series of parking lots before terminating at the Manby hydro station near Kipling subway station:

 

[mattelderca]

Were you/they up there for Canada Day by any chance?

Yes, we were. It was a nice long weekend.

 

[the lemur]

The planners of the York Beltline Trail were nice enough to mark the site of all the former Belt Line stations. From Salinas Court Station, then, I continue west over Dufferin Street:

I've been wondering about that. Salinas Court and much of the development adjoining the Belt Line trail seems a lot more recent than the Belt Line itself. Is it possible these 'stations' are just intended as a way of marking access points to the trail or are some of them on the site of actual former stations?

It's unfortunate that there is so little documentation about the Belt Line railway and what it was like.

 

[EVCco]

Is it possible these 'stations' are just intended as a way of marking access points to the trail or are some of them on the site of actual former stations?

That would probably make more sense, considering how close together they all are (seems longer when you're walking)...although Fairbank, at least, was an actual station, and apparently in roughly the same spot as the marker:

https://www.googledrive.com/host/0B...1892BeltLineMap-AlexanderCablesmaybe1910.jpeg

 

[sonny]

Western Shore - I covered the waterfront

Another photographic endeavour comes to an end as my quest to document the length of Toronto's lakeshore winds up at the edge of Etobicoke. It certainly proved a much easier task than my previous one of documenting all of the city's major rivers, creeks, and streams, as I managed to finish this chore in a matter of months (with all my cameras still intact and nary a mosquito bite to show for it). As always, I begin where I last left off, around the entrance to Humber Bay Park West, and continue west along the Waterfront Trail down Humber Bay Promenade:

Now through Superior Park, Amos Waites Park, and Norris Park in quick succession:

Between Norris Crescent and 2nd Street one is offered only intermittent glimpses of the lake between various apartment buildings and a series of street-end parkettes:

The New Toronto segment of lakeshore between Prince of Wales Park and Colonel Samuel Smith Park was already covered in this post, so I skip over this stretch and continue west along the trail, from 23rd Street through Long Branch and Len Ford parks:

The final, somewhat oddly-shaped piece of the waterfront puzzle rests in the form of Marie Curtis Park, which straddles both sides of the Etobicoke Creek; extending Toronto's western border a few hundred yards into what many might assume to be Mississauga:

Indeed, it's not the Etobicoke, but rather a tiny portion of the Applewood Creek which actually serves as the city's westernmost frontier. A creek, I should state, that I completely overlooked in my prior travels. And so, at the end of this creek, at the end of the city, I manage to finish (and finish again) two endeavours in one, as I look ahead to my next Urban Wilderness undertaking...

Great pics thanks a lot , i don't think people realize the little gems that can be found in their own backyard, just got to get out there and look around and at the same time spend an enjoyable day exploring , all you need is a backpack,Camera water, packed lunch, and of course a sense of adventure and you are ready to explore.

 

[EVCco]

Thanks for checking out the thread from Tasmania, sonny! Coincidently, did you know it was actually a chance to move to Tasmania that fell through after college which led to me winding up in Toronto and getting me out here, looking around and exploring...?

 

[EVCco]

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