Wallpaper May 2005

Fellow 1000 Islanders,

The response to these emails is nothing if not interesting. Some scenes like the Canadian Empress moored in the Admiralty Islands receive overwhelming response, yet others that should be more easily identified, get far less. After checking last month’s photo against all the charts, one person concluded that the scene wasn’t in the 1000 Islands at all. It was. I think the aerial perspective is so different, without the next shoreline hiding the view beyond, that the scene is more ‘complicated’ for lack of a better word.

Bud Andress is extremely good at identifying these however. Moreover, his depth of knowledge provides an interesting read. Here’s Bud’s story:

“Your April image is a wonderful far-reaching image of the islands that for me, in the foreground, highlights one of the most beautiful areas of the 1000 Islands near Ivy Lea. Of particular note is the Canadian Middle Channel as it divides Wallace and Ash (or Lyndoch) Islands. Several years ago our local international St. Lawrence Bald Eagle Working Group set a goal of finding out more about the overnight roosting habitat that was being utilized by our overwintering population of bald eagles here in the 1000 Islands. I was able to set up our first sunset roost check from the Skydeck Tower in March several years ago. Knowing that bald eagles may roost communally, we found we were not disappointed. In the tall pines of the southeastern shoreline of Ash Island, we observed many eagles go to roost at sunset. Each year since (but one) we have repeated the check and have counted as few as 7 and as many as 19 go to roost. We expect that during each check we may have missed several, as some birds were found to already be in place as much as an hour before sunset. This was discovered through VHF radio telemetry (didn't see the birds, but knew they were there). Juvenile bald eagles do not have full white head and tail feathers until 4 - 5 years old, making them difficult to see at dusk if not flying. The radio telemetry by our U.S. colleagues also showed that individual bald eagles or smaller groups do roost in several locations throughout the 1000 Islands, perhaps due to staying close to a food source on the ice. Ash Island however, has remained the single largest known bald eagle roost in the 1000 Islands Ecosystem. From late November to late March, bald eagle numbers throughout our area may range between 60 - 100”.

To find out more, Bud has co-authored two papers. Contact him at bud.andress@pc.gc.ca and he will steer you towards copies. A set of Islands prints is headed to Bud as will be another set for the person who can identify and share the best story for this month’s shot which also serves as the cover image from my new Thousand Islands book:

My apologies that this final email of the season was so slow in coming. The book, titled “Water, Wind and Sky” is the very real excuse. It’s being printed at Henderson Printing in Brockville, partly to support the local community but also because Lyne Henderson has taken a terrific interest in the project and has been fabulously supportive, helping steer it through complications to make it the best it can be.

I am gambling on an extremely large print run (12,000 copies) in order to get the quality I want but keep the price down to $50. I began to get a clearer understanding of just what this quantity means as pallets of pages started coming off the press. It amounts to over 1.7 million pages in all!

I had never anticipated that the first book would do what it has done. The third printing is almost exhausted now, over 32,000 copies in all. It shows that a large number of people really care about this place. I will eventually reprint it, but for this year, the effort and the funds are going into the new book.

While the first book catered to tourists by having a strong focus on the tourist attractions, this book is for those of us who really love this place as the focus is on the beauty rather than the attractions. Think of it more as an art book via photography than a souvenir of the area. As Paul Malo states in his foreword; “The intent is less to inform visitors about this place; the priority here is artistic, to convey how beautiful it is.”

This will be my last book of photography. I find the process just a little too intense to want to go through it all again. As a result, I’m trying to make this one very special. Something I can be proud of into the future. I hope it will give you an even greater appreciation for this amazing place that we all treasure.

Initially, quantities are going to be limited to what an overworked bindery house can supply quickly as they can’t handle the whole job at once. It won’t be very long before it is more widely available but we’ll offer the first copies to those on our newsletter list. Please either email me (ian@1000islandsphotoart.com) or Scott (scott@marina.ca) if you’d like an early copy. In the meantime, spring has arrived. It’s time to get back to the river. Enjoy your summer. We’ll pick up these emails and images again in the fall.

Enjoy!

Ian Coristine

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