Blue Flag tip of the day: take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints

For dramatic landscape photography, Ville de Magog in Quebec’s eastern townships has two beautiful beaches to choose from: Plage de l’Est et Plage de l’Ouest and Plage des Cantons. Both beaches have beautiful forested mountains as the background. In Toronto, Bluffer’s Park Beach backs onto the majestic Scarborough bluffs, a 5,000 year-old escarpment formed by the erosion of packed clay. The bluffs are home to thousands of Bank Swallows that make their homes in the side of the cliffs, and can be seen flying in and out of their nest cavities during the summer. For information about photography in the Greater Toronto Area, check out the Greater Toronto Coalition of Camera Clubs.

 

Take an evening to enjoy world famous sunsets at Wasaga Beach. This 14km strip of freshwater beach is also a great spot to photograph the endangered Piping Plover, which started nesting there in recent years. Make sure to bring a long lens and talk to MNR biologists and volunteers to learn about their ecology and make sure that you don’t invade their space. For information on photography excursions and contests around Wasaga Beach, check out The Bay Photo Club.

 

Enter your favourite Blue Flag beach photo in the “Proudly Canadian” photography contest, part of the Discover Southern Ontario photography competition. Show your love of being Canadian on a Blue Flag beach, and have your photography posted on their website. Get snapping!

 

So next time you are heading to the beach, bring your camera - with a Blue Flag beach as your backdrop, you can’t go wrong!