Beautiful Ontario (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780228103097)

A superb portfolio of pictures by one of Canada's great photographers.

About Canada: Images of the Land by J.A. Kraulis: "Crack the pages of this collection of two hundred photographs from maybe the best living landscape photographer in the world, J. A. Kraulis, and experience the thrilling majesty of Canada's mountains, plains, waters, and wonders. If nature photography is your thing, you can't do better than this." --Foreword Reviews

Ontario is Canada's most populous province, but with competitors like British Columbia, the Yukon and the Maritime provinces, it is not always considered the most beautiful. That is a mistake.

In this gorgeous portfolio, J.A. Kraulis focuses on the Ontario landscape to spotlight a land that has been the beloved home to Algonquian- and Iroquoian-speaking Aboriginal Peoples for more than 12,000 years. The province's Iroquois name, kanadario, is thought to mean beautiful water, beautiful lake or big body of water. That is certainly not surprising: Ontario's 250,000 lakes hold a full one-fifth of the world's fresh water.

Kraulis turns his eye to what some like to call Canada's economic engine, but these pages prove that Ontario is so much more. The magnificent collection of over 200 photographs and identifying captions present the diversity of the province's landscape. There are rural and urban Ontario in brilliant color: the province's symbolic flower, the trillium; ice-coated trees at the edge of Niagara Falls' Horseshoe Falls; Precambrian rock formations left by Ice Age glaciers; the cherry trees of Toronto's High Park in full bloom; kayakers in Pukaskwa National Park; downtown Toronto's world-class architecture and Ottawa's imposing Parliament buildings, recently restored; small town streets lined in southern Ontario's telltale yellow brick; autumn colours on Beausoleil Island; Orangeville's hot-air balloon festivities; and so much more.

Perusing the pages of Beautiful Ontario, readers will be surprised to see just how diverse the province is in both its natural and built environments. The beautifully presented book is an excellent keepsake choice for visitors, an impressive addition to the coffee table, or a gesture of welcome to newcomers.