Colin Doncaster

Autumn is upon us and the trees are starting to catch on fire – the world around us seems to be changing in radical ways that I haven’t experienced for some time now.  Our short drives seem to change every day with more and more trees shifting hues from the green greens of late summer to the warmer red, orange and yellow tones.

It’s a very Buddhist moment, representing many lives ending but able to celebrate it with a visual feast knowing that come spring they’ll re-appear as strong as ever.  It’s these seasons that I’ve missed and the atmosphere they create, one of the great joys of being back in Ontario.

We’re not the only ones who are reacting to the seasonal changes either – the salmon have begun their own pilgrimage up the rivers to spawn.  Sauble Falls is only 15 minutes away and apparently a great point to witness the fish forcing their way up the river – unlike those in Alaska though the fish are few and far between so we haven’t had the luck of catching one in action.

Halloween and Thanksgiving are approaching fast so plenty of festivities to be had and we’re keeping busy with work.  It’s sad to think we’ll have to shut the cottage in under a month – we’ve grown attached to the little place but we knew it was coming…

While in Norway I was supervising two sequences for the Troll Hunter film ( Trolljegeren in Norwegian ) - the production company has just released a little clip from one of our sequences.

A good chunk of the work is in night vision, and this shot in particular required us to build up the plate more than usual to give it a sense of suspense as it was originally staged in the open.

The last week has seen gale force winds striking the cottage hard, large waves draw water and fish onto the shore and much of the day has been spent in-doors watching the large turkey vultures scooping up the debris on the rocks.

Jamie and Louisa paid a visit a few weeks ago, large steaks were consumed – hung for 3 weeks – and accompanied by peaches and cream corn on the cob. We made a terrible go of smors, chocolate and marshmallow on a graham cracker for the un-initiated, over a freshly laid fire pit in the dead calm of the night. It was a spectacular evening which included a great Ontario wine, a baco noir from Henry Pelham in St. Catherines.

A few nights with the folks up here before we bounced back down to Oakville via London to visit Jamie and Lousia and Jamie’s parents place and learnt a lot about chemistry and the night sky from Dave.

Today was spent at the Bruce Peninsula National Park, beautiful turquoise water and Canadian Shield rocks to rest on were just what the doctor ordered.  The Groto ( below ) was bursting with colour.

Work is picking up and the leaves are changing colour – hopefully we’ll do some fall scenery photo expeditions in October, though it looks like it’s all happening sooner than expected.

We’ve officially surpassed the 1 week mark living up at the cottage and have been enjoying the country life, range of weather, sunsets and relaxation.

We’ve been exploring the region and our first farmers market was in Keady – it was fantastic – large with an excellent selection of locally grown produce with some colorful characters for our enjoyment. Paisley’s markets were much smaller and only a handful of stalls to pick over, though our trip there wasn’t a waste – the ride home found us at a truly independent ( mennonite ) grocery where we managed to score some un-pasteurized butter which has already contributed to some tasty pancakes and French toast.

Speaking of tasty, Kirsten put the produce to good use and finished her first back of home made Mango Chutney – it’s jarred and waiting to be spread, dipped and consumed.

The wildflowers in the region are incredible, it’s easy to be distracted by them – parts of the country feel as if they could be from the South West of England or the South of France.  The cameras are sure getting a work out – landscapes, birds, chipmunks and people.

The website touting our wares, http://www.peregrinevfx.com, has been created and all of the copy ( where I speak endlessly about where we’re able to help ) has been written. The process is rather enjoyable and I would be pleased if I could spend more time writing articles, whether technical or not.

Lastly, the iPad.  I’m a self confessed Mac geek and this is no exception – besides developing games and applications, it’s turned out to be a mighty eBook reader.  Both iBooks and Amazon’s Kindle app are regularly open with a selection of story’s, tutorials, scripts ( iBooks pdf reader means no more sore eyes reading scripts or technical memos! ) and Evernotes.  :)