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Just got back tonight from a 2day/1night video production shoot in Northern Ontario, where we are located.  Whew!  Dog-tired.  But what a great time we had shooting during the past two days.  The photos will let you see the beautiful country we were driving through.

We never did see this tree cutter in action, unfortunately.

We are working on a video production for the combined interests of the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Canadian Forestry Service.

We took off from Heyden, about 30 km from Sault Ste. Marie.  Our first stop was along the Domtar road, not far from the Thessalon Highway.  We were looking for logging operations to shoot, but it was a Sunday in September – no go.

These newly cut trunks are waiting to be loaded onto truck when they head to the mill.

The day was sunny and warm, even though it’s the middle of September in Northern Ontario.  Darren was overdressed.  So was Dan.  Should’ve listened and layered better…

These trees were left behind to help wildlife habitat and as seed for the next forest which will grow here.

Darren learned a lot on this trip.  All about forest management and reforestation and sustainable forestry practices from experts.

Two of the experts in forest management on our trip.

There were five of us in all on the trip.  Darren and Dan from Molly Media Studios, and three experts in forest management and sustainable forest practices.

Piles of logs like these lend themselves to making beautiful images in both photography and video production.

There was lots of opportunity to shoot great video sequences.  We stopped numerous times along the roads that we travelled in order to get the right shots.  All the way to Chapleau and back again.

We stopped at these falls (a bit of a hike off the dirt road) to shoot some more video of the Boreal Forest, but to eat as well. Our production manager had packed us up a feast for the two days!

Lunch was had enroute to the highway, in from the road about 1/2 mile.  We ate well, but didn’t rest much.  Too much to be done!  But we got some great footage of the falls pictured above.

Dan, a fly-fisherman, spent part of his lunch performing for our new Nikon D7000 dslr, since we were looking for water leisure shots in addition to the other footage.

Beautiful scenes were seen all day.

The trees in this shot have died because the water table has risen, cutting off oxygen to their roots.

The lighting was perfect for shooting great video, and we got some excellent shots this trip.

This shot illustrates how new growth comes after fires have razed the previous forest.

An argument for leaving some trees standing after cutting is done: this tree evidences holes used for both food and new habitats in this dead tree.

We stayed our first night in a provincial park near Chapleau.  We hiked about 2 kilometres to get the video shots we needed, like image above, and then hiked out again and headed back to our cabin.

We ate lasagne for dinner (can you believe it took 1-1/2 hours to cook even though it was thawed?  Some hungry men wanted to eat!), then headed out to visit the fire pit out back.  We had already built a fire in the pit, so we sat around trying to get shots of the moon overhead.

Moon poking through the clouds and trees. Was a beautiful night, not too cool and no bugs to speak of. Great weather, great day behind us, and another to look forward to...

Beautiful September night.

"Morning's here! Morning's here! Morning's here!" -wonderfully strange lady walking down the street in Ottawa one morning long ago

We were shooting before the sun came up.

Our little campground that we used as a set for our video shots.

Firewood stacked along the way. The early morning's sun cast an orange glow on the woodcut ends.

Dan out fishing while the sun was just rising.

Doesn't every Canadian love to sit beside a campfire? Seriously, tell me if you don't -- I'd be shocked.

We had a gloomy start to our day, and thought the rain would come. It didn't.

These Indian Burial Grounds looked out upon a serene, quiet lake.

We saw bear, wolf and moose tracks all heading down the same road. Doesn't that give a funny image...

Blueberries, even this late in the season!

The mill in Chapleau. We got a lot of good video production work done here.

Piles of wood chips being loaded onto trucks to be sent off for processing into fuel.

The mill. Still. At will.

At the gas station in the big town of Chapleau.

Flame Lake in view. And yes, of course, we got video!

We really do have beautiful country in Northern Ontario, don’t we?  We’d love to hear comments about your own trips through Northern Ontario.  Where did you go?  Who did you meet?  Why did you go?  Do you have pics to share?  Video to share?  We’d love to see…

And click on our logo below to see our website and video portfolio:

Click on the logo to see our website and video portfolio!

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