Where is Summer

Well, my friend.  What's happening in your world this week? 

(That's the crazy thing about this blogging business - it feels so one sided.)

If you meet me, I'm not at all this self absorbed! I love a good story - listening though, NOT telling (ha ha hah).  But here I feel like I'm always blah blah blahing about me. 

So tell me, how was your week - can you claim a big success? Suffering some frustration? Feeling restless?  Got plans for the long weekend - off the the cottage at the beach perhaps? Taking your camera of course? No! Leave the golf clubs and lawnmower alone  - forget the flowers and the garden - take your dog and your camera out for a drive!

Grab your tripod.  When the  sun hits the horizon, you hit the beach for some incredible sunset shots.  Or try an ulta-long exposure with either a neutral density filter or a polarizer (or both), shutter at about 60 seconds (you'll have to experiment a bit), aperture at whatever it needs to be. Find a long dock or a concrete pier. Set up with the horizon on your top 1/3, water for the rest.  Have the dock extending out into the scene.  Mount your camera on the tripod, compose, use your remote shutter release, set your shutter for a 3 sec. delay so the mirror slap won't affect your image.

Wait for 63 glorious seconds, enjoy the peace...while you're waitng, the water will turn into a milky smooth fog-like form inside your camera, (figuratively speaking!). those things that don't move will be dark and sharp, but anything moving will be transformed into a remarable ephemeral antitexture.

How does that sound? "Too weird"  you say? Yeah, I guess you're right....I may be a good listener but I am still weird! No argument there. Well, I gotta go now. I will be trying the ultralong exposure this weeked with a Singhray super neutral density filter that give you an amazing 8 extra stops!!! fun stuff.

Ok. Thanks for the chat, and hope we can do it for real one day.

toodles!

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That crazy Grotto again

It's infrared photography time again.  Another Grotto image, but this one was a bit unexpected because the paint on the building actually seems to reflect infrared light, making it pale and ethereal.  Normally, anything that's not alive doesn't reflect IR light too well. I hadn't expected this result. 

Sppooooky!!!

The entire area around Birds Hill Park is ideal for shooting infrared - lots of trees, vegetation and foliage; and lots of rocks and hills in the gravel pits. Remember the gravel pit, and the  beach

The water of the lakes and vegetation in the surrounding forest give a great setting for ultra eerie scenery in infrared.  Give it a try. You won't regret it.

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Just do it

"Would have, could have, should have"   Famous words indeed.

It just brings us back to the old adage - We only regret those things we DIDN'T do.

So this wekend, make a promise to yourself that you will do what is is you've wanted to do.  Whether it's going on that treck to Aftica, cleaning up your yard, or saying something you feel compelled to say...

We have no way of knowing when it's too late, but one day it WILL be.  So as Nike wisely counselled us, Just Do It.

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Mist-erious

The Rockies are just plain spooky. I don't know what it is, the undescribable force that created them, the way the clouds hang around them, menacingly; even in the shining sun, the mountains seem like something only Stephen King could imagine.  My heart races the entire time I'm there - inspired, terrified, thrilled, hypnotized by all they symbolize.

And at dawn, when most of us think of "newness and innocence", sunrise in the mountains is still a mystery for me.

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Green Eyes

I've always loved green eyes, uncommon and mesmerizing.  Here's another boy whose green eyes caught my heart.

 

Infrared with a converted Nikon D70, overcast skies north of Golden, BC.  Post processed using my standard IR action, and a few new techniques from my new IR Postprocessing book.

Hope you have an amazingly grand weekend!

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Grrrrr - new computer - Vista bad

That lightning - great photo, bad shock.  It totally killed my computer.  I spent the better part of Saturday running here and there trying to resolve the broken beast's problems - after 4 hours the upshot was that I needed a new computer. 

Here's what you gotta know about protecting your machine and your data.

Did you know that those surge protectiors - even the expensive ones - are really one-time use devices?  If they do stop the bolt from the blue, they won't stop it a second time around.  After the fact, the manufacturer kindly let me know.

Did you know that even though you back up your data (I have mine on 2 redundant drives and an online back up service - Carbonite), created by Windows XP, if you need a new computer you're forced to use Vista - you can't buy XP anymore.  But Vista won't play nice with XP drives!!!! It's taken me the rest of the weekend to open about 6 client folders, there are hundred of images in each and each time I tried to open one I got "you don't have permission to access this file..." "You aren't the owner of this file...""You need to elevate this action..."  Yikes - evey file I have is now so locked down I can't even move it to a USB stick! REALLY!!!!

I am appalled that they can actually sell this shite.  Bill Gates you are an evil evil man!

I won't even talk about the joy I had trying to reinstall my software...

Well, sorry for the rant. But take heed if you think you can painlessly upgrade to a new computer (for whatever reason) because your old XP HD is still working fine so you can just plop it into the new case, or add it as a USB drive. hahahahaha.  Not gonna happen.

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2 for the price of 1

What a day - the deluge, the wind, the lightning that fried my main computer and image hard drive (Yes, I am crying).  Soooo glad the Elvis Costello concert was yesterday.  Anyway, I was working on the Elvis images, when yet another thunderstorm rolled in, while the clear sky behind it let the setting sun stream through the gap.  Quite a sight - and the light was so vibrantly orange, I almost felt like a bug trapped in amber.

I thought I'd take a few shots of the amazing light as the thunder clouds shoved their way accross the sky.  As I stepped out onto my deck I was greeted by a stellar double rainbow!  OK, now I was fired up for another all night photo shoot!!!  Well, try to picture my reaction when I looked in the LCD screen to check my shot when I saw this!

READ MORE...

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Michael is dead, Elvis is dead, Long Live Elvis!

It was a pure, perfect night.  The air was warm, the breeze, refreshing. A little short of sultry, but just barely.  The moon was almost full.  It didn't rain.

Yes, the perfect night for an outdoor concert.  Elvis Costello under the stars, a music hero of mine form the first day in 1981 that I danced (pogo'ed actually) to his first album at a Winnipeg social.  But I will stop gushing like a 12 year old girl at a Jonas Brothers gig, and just show you.

Still got that magic at 50+ years old!  (I got home at 1:00 am and of course had to look at them all up close, got to bed at 2:15 and had to get up far too early so I will put more up shortly. )

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Alas...

Well, my amazing trip is almost over.  I wish you were here with me.  Seriously. 

There are so many untapped photography opportunities, as well as tremendous hiking, wine sampling, and even golf!  Think of the fun!  Think of the good times!  Think of those photos just waiting to be snapped!

Anyway, as I head back home, the long drive gives me time to think of the past few weeks, and recall what are now merely fragments of time locked in my memory.  I'll be home soon.

 

I have a plan to offer an Okanagan Wilds photo and fun workshop next spring.  If you want to be a part of this (and you should) just let me know.

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