A shot of a mother bush partridge that was walking past our cabin. She had 3 or 4 chicks with her, but I couldn't get a shot of them in the grass
Results tagged “Canon” from PhotonicEye
A shot of a mother bush partridge that was walking past our cabin. She had 3 or 4 chicks with her, but I couldn't get a shot of them in the grass
Okay okay I know... taking a picture of your cat is a huge cliche! I had my studio lights and backdrop set up at home to take some shots of some equipment for work. The cat kept jumping up and getting in the way, so I snapped a couple of shots while she was checking things out. I thought this one was pretty funny.
I had my uncle take some shots of Amanda and I. They turned out quite nice. I'm frustrated though because while I have the RAW files, none of my software packages are up to date enough to process files from the 5D MkII. Digital photography is cheaper than film... HA! You didn't have to buy new software if you changed film stock! So frustrating!
A shot of the spillway at the old Pinawa dam. Built in 1906, it was the first dam in Manitoba and had the longest transmission lines in the world. It sits in the Pinawa channel of the Winnipeg River system. It was decommissioned in 1951 when larger dams like the Seven Sisters dam started supplying Winnipeg.I have a flash gallery that I'll post of shots I took while walking around the site. Since this is my favorite I thought I'd feature it first.
The Badger Creek swimming hole just outside of Cartwright Manitoba.
A shot of the Badger Creek as seen from on top of the concrete dam that is in place to hold back water for a swimming hole.
A bit of a long story here, but we have a new cat. Amanda came home one day and a man was walking down the street with a kitten asking people if it was theirs. When he asked Amanda he said he didn't want to keep it cause his dog didn't get along with it. He asked Amanda if she'd take it. She said she would, and would try and track down it's owners. Well kitty has no tattoos and is quite young, around 4-5 months by my guess. So we weren't too hopeful on finding an owner. We've kept an eye out for missing cat posters, and even dropped off fliers and put some posters up saying we found a kitten. It's been just over two weeks that we've had it, and it looks like we're now the owners of a new kitten. She's pretty good for the most part, though can be a handful when she gets a bit hyper.
We'll have to get her to the vet soon to make sure she's healthy and gets her shots. I've been a bit weary about having a new cat since our experience with the previous one, but it's looking like this kitten is quite friendly and sociable. Hopefully things will go better this time.
A bit of a story behind the name too. We wanted to come up with something along the lines of luck or fate. Thought Lucy was close to luck, and it suited her. I wanted to call her Trixy seeing as how she's black and white, and Tri-X is my favorite film. Alas, Lucy won out.
Seems like there is always some work to be done around the house. After getting the foundation work done, I now have a list of things to do that is way too long. Right now I'm focusing on getting the yard finished up. Foundation to paint, weeds to pull, flower beds to make, fences to fix... the list goes on. Painting is done... this weekend was weed pulling. I managed to pull around 100 pounds of dandelions and various weeds from the lawn. The price of trying to take care of your lawn organically. Hopefully that'll be a majority of the weed pulling for the year.... or not, we'll see.
Projects around the home are eating up all my time and money for photography... wish that wasn't the case, but it is...
Well today was my first photo shoot with the new strobes. It went quite well I think. Setup was fast and easy. Exposure took a guess or two. Only a couple of small issues here and there.
I was supposed to get a white backdrop, but I couldn't find one in town in the time I needed. I got the lightest neutral one I could find. I had to reshoot a few of the shots because of fingerprints, dust and the person I was shooting for wanting slightly different positioning
I also found out as I suspected that my camera is NOT doing a good job of focusing. It's back focusing quite a bit. At this point I'm not sure if it's the lense or the body. I'll have to do some tests in the next week or so to see what's up.
Anyways, above is one of the final shots I took. My favorite one out of the group shots. Tomorrow I will post a shot of my setup.
I the unofficial/official photographer now at the company I work for. Definitely outside of my job description of Software Developer. However I don't mind taking photos for work because it gets me away from my desk for a few hours here and there. One of my bosses decided I needed some equipment for my photos. He asked me what would be a good set of studio strobes, so I mentioned Alien Bees to him. I had heard a lot of good things about them and knew that they were very competitively priced. A few weeks later I had a set of two SB800s, stands and umbrellas at my desk. Here's a shot of me playing with the new setup:
Yeah I know more light is going out the back than toward me. I was trying out the shoot through umbrellas to see how soft the light is, and I thought it made for a cool shot.
Yeah I know more light is going out the back than toward me. I was trying out the shoot through umbrellas to see how soft the light is, and I thought it made for a cool shot.
Continue reading Alien Bees and Hosting Rant.
A shot of the oldest and youngest male members of my mom's side of the family. Of course one is my Grandpa. The other is the newest addition to my extended family, my cousin's kid. This shot was recovered from disaster as I accidentally formatted the card before downloading the pictures. Good think I realized my mistake immediately and recovered the shots. Not sure if I got them all. But I'm glad I recovered this one.
Sorry about the low posting rate. Since my company moved out of town and I have to commute, it's been hard to find time to go out and take photos. By the time I get home it is dark. I'm really missing it at the moment. So I'm looking forward to the longer days coming up soon.
I think my fridge is telling to try me something. Tonight it froze a bottle of Perrier water and caused it to explode all over the inside of the fridge. I was going to get around cleaning it before. But trust me it's much cleaner now....
The sheer number of bikes in Delft Holland was outright unbelievable.
This is who I get to watch my camera gear when I'm out on a shoot. If you're not careful he'll go kung-fu on your ass!I keed I keed. This is my buddy Oli who's been featured here many times. I was asked to do a shoot of his wife's family a couple of weekends ago. I thought it was going to be just a few, but had a bit of an feeling it might be more. I borrowed my uncle's lens EF 16-35mm f/2.8 L USM for the day, and good thing I did, because it was about 40 people.
The good news is that the shoot went well. The bad news is that I love that lens.... and yet I can't afford it.... I know the lens doesn't make the photographer, but nice equipment is so hard to ignore.
This photo doesn't do the scale of this building justice. I wished I had a wider lens while I was there. So I could have gotten more in the shot.
A shot of the Thames as seen from the walking path in front of the London Tower.
Been intching to post some photos of my trip to Europe. A shot of a train leaving the station in Versailles France. I usually do some processing to my images before posting them, but I can't wait until I get home to share some of these.
Well it's a sad day for South Winnipegers that love nostalgia and old gems. A few weeks ago a fence went up around the Palomino Plains Motor Inn. This hotel has been around since my parents moved to Winnipeg in the early 70's. In fact I would venture to say it was around since the 50's, though I don't know that for sure. Looks like it's going to become a piece of our distant history. I had always thought about renting a room there to get some shots of the inside, but it looks like I've missed my opportunity.
Lets have a moment of silence for the Palomino Plains Motor Inn......
Another shot from the visit to the zoo.
Went on my annual trip to the zoo today. Amanda goes quite a few times a year because of working in daycare. I still like to go every once in a while, and surprisingly today she suggested it. Always take my camera along even though it's like shooting fish in a barrel. Here's a shot of Richard Parker. Bonus points to anyone who figures out where that name comes from without looking it up on google.
It was Elliot's first birthday today. Happy Birthday! =)
I actually got followed by the guy in that car for several blocks after I took this picture. Garda security car if you can make it out. Here is the story I wrote up for a fellow photographer later that evening:So I just got tailed by a toy cop while I was out for a walk. It was strange. I was taking some photos of the Pembina underpass at Jubilee, and he was sitting in a lot near by. I crossed Pembina and walked back under the underpass and was taking some photos under there cause the light was interesting and a few in his direction too. You can see his car in one of my shots, but cannot really make anything out beyond that. I stayed under the underpass for a bit playing with the light. Anyways I come out from under the underpass (I was on the pedestrian corridor the whole time so not just sneaking around where I should not be) and then he is sitting at Fountain Tire at Pembina and Jubilee. I walk past him, kept my distance a bit cause I did not want to have to talk to him. At this point I was not sure if he was actually following me, or if it was a different guy or what. So I keep trucking down Pembina, and about 4 blocks up he pops out of a street and turns driving my way. Sees me, and then pulls a u-turn to head further down Pembina. I see him pull into a lot behind some parked cars. After I got past him close to home, I decided I would keep going cause I did not need him following me to my front door. I got to Pembina and McGillvary and he passes me again. He kept going and went around the bend there and I could not see him. I walked a few more blocks out of curiosity to see if he was going to pop out. Went about 5 more and did not see him, so I cut back into residential and weaved my way home. Strange experience though. One thing is for sure, he is not very good about following someone unnoticed. =P
My first run in with security. More annoying than anything. Apparently he did not have the balls to confront me, but was just fine following me for about half an hour.
Tonight I'm working on editing down the shots from the wedding I shot a few weeks back. I've let them sit for a week and a bit without looking at them. When I first saw them, I was super happy, then second and third time through much more critical and was feeling down about them in general. Now that I'm editing them down, I think I can say I'm satisfied, considering it was the first time shooting an event like that. I'm sure the couple will be quite happy with them. Of course I'm always quite critical of my own work, and I'm usually the hardest one to please.There is a bit of a story to the people in the background of the shot. They had the house that was right beside the park the wedding was held in. The watched the wedding from that balcony, and after we shot the family portraits, let us go into their backyard to shoot some photos close to the river. I'm glad they offered, it was a great location to shoot!
On another note as I was logging into MSN the normal popup window appeared, and it looks like Microsoft reformatted the text in the window. Not that I normally pay much attention to what's in it, but it appears that the Micro'd the text. It is barely readable. I have my monitor set to 1280x1024 as a compromise for reading websites, and for image processing. I prefer 1600x1200 for photoshopping, but it makes web usage almost unbearable. I can't be the only one in the world using that resolution on my monitor, so why MSN would choose to use such a small font is beyond me. Oh well no loss there, as I mentioned I just close that window and move on to other things normally. As usual click the image for a full size view of the screenshot.
Well the wedding was a success. I got the light I wanted, the rain held up around the wedding, and things went fairly smooth. Considering it was my first time shooting an even like this, and I was the primary photographer I think there were some great moments captured. A few missed as well, but I'm sure the couple will be very happy with what they got.
This was my personal favorite of the day. The flowergirl trying to cope with the wind that stirred up right as the ceremony was starting.
This was my personal favorite of the day. The flowergirl trying to cope with the wind that stirred up right as the ceremony was starting.
On a bit of a happier note, this is the flower girl of the wedding I'm shooting this weekend.
Times like this I don't have a lot of words to say. Today I found out that Erin passed away, though I've only known her for the past couple of years, and only really hung out for a summer in '06, she was always a cheerful and happy girl. She had been fighting cancer since before I had met her. Sadly on Thursday night she lost her battle......
Erin, you will be missed by a lot of people....
This is a shot of what's left of "Downtown" Neelin Manitoba. My dad lived here for the first 5 or 6 years of his life, and later moved to another town named Cartwright. My Grandfather ran the Post Office and hardware store at one time, though it is not standing anymore. It was located across the street from this building. I believe this is Neate's store and barber shop, but I'm not 100% sure.At one time the railway ran through town and there were grain elevators. At some point the elevators shut down and the the rail line was closed, and that was the end of poor Neelin. Recently some more buildings started to disappear so I decided to document some of the remaining buildings while they're still around. Last summer the town hall was torn down. It stood across the street from this building.
This street light once lit the sidewalks of Neelin. In 1957 my dad can remember when the whole town met up, shut of all the lights and waited to catch a glimpse of Sputnik. I don't know if they ever saw it, but it's really hard to fathom that 51 years ago the first artificial satellite was flung into orbit, and a town stood out on the prairie hoping to catch a glimpse of it in the sky. My dad said it was a scary thing for a five year old, and something that he didn't really understand at the time, especially the changes it would bring about in the next few decades.
Anyone that follows my blog, and it's really not that many people, may have noticed a drop off of posting rate a while back. I'm not loosing interest in photography, or talking about photograpy. It's more that life is getting in the way of life, if you know what I mean. Tonight I had an adventure in plumbing. This winter a fitting on my galvanized line started leaking, so I ripped it out and capped it as a quick fix since it was my garden hose line. Tonight I re-plumbed the stretch with copper so I can have a garden hose. The awesome part of it is, since I'm getting foundation work done and my house lifted, it's going to have to be cut and re-plumbed in a few months time anyways. Part of the fun of owning an old house I guess.
I've been aching to use my camera, so here's some shots of the completed work.
The Tools:
You'll notice my new workmate and vice that I purchased tonight, my dad's drill (I really really gotta get one soon, it spends more time at my house than his), my dad's propane torch. The girlfriends acetone (in the pinkish bottle) for taking labels off the pipe, tin foil, pipe cutter, teflon tape, solder, flux, oh step stool.... the list goes on.
This plumbing job ended up costing me about $200 for this part of it. $100 for pipe, fittings, shut-offs and valves, plus $100 in tools that I need. Every job I do I buy a few more tools.... but I still end up driving to "visit" my dad and steal some tools!
The Shut-Off and Run to Galvanized:
That's the run back to the galvanized pipe in my house, the 90 degree fitting the copper pipe runs into is where is started leaking. I've helped my dad plumb before, but this is the first time I've done it myself. When the water went on all of my fittings held and didn't leak.... but the ball valve shut-off was dripping out the handle.... It had me a little worried at first, I really didn't want to have to rip the ball valve out. Then I figured that if I tightened the packing nut below the handle it would stop, sure enough it did.
The Run Outside:
That's the run out of the house. Because my house is getting lifted off the foundation and leveled (around 9 inches on that side.... yes it's that "un-level") and the pipe is attached to the joists and out the foundation wall. I'm going to have to cut this line again. For now I just ran copper out the foundation wall to a crappy normal garden hose fitting. When I do the real job I will install a frost tap so I can still have water after it freezes outside.
So yeah... that's the story of my night, and why I don't get out to take photos nearly as often since I got this house. To many things to do.
The Tools:
You'll notice my new workmate and vice that I purchased tonight, my dad's drill (I really really gotta get one soon, it spends more time at my house than his), my dad's propane torch. The girlfriends acetone (in the pinkish bottle) for taking labels off the pipe, tin foil, pipe cutter, teflon tape, solder, flux, oh step stool.... the list goes on.This plumbing job ended up costing me about $200 for this part of it. $100 for pipe, fittings, shut-offs and valves, plus $100 in tools that I need. Every job I do I buy a few more tools.... but I still end up driving to "visit" my dad and steal some tools!
The Shut-Off and Run to Galvanized:
That's the run back to the galvanized pipe in my house, the 90 degree fitting the copper pipe runs into is where is started leaking. I've helped my dad plumb before, but this is the first time I've done it myself. When the water went on all of my fittings held and didn't leak.... but the ball valve shut-off was dripping out the handle.... It had me a little worried at first, I really didn't want to have to rip the ball valve out. Then I figured that if I tightened the packing nut below the handle it would stop, sure enough it did. The Run Outside:
That's the run out of the house. Because my house is getting lifted off the foundation and leveled (around 9 inches on that side.... yes it's that "un-level") and the pipe is attached to the joists and out the foundation wall. I'm going to have to cut this line again. For now I just ran copper out the foundation wall to a crappy normal garden hose fitting. When I do the real job I will install a frost tap so I can still have water after it freezes outside.
So yeah... that's the story of my night, and why I don't get out to take photos nearly as often since I got this house. To many things to do.
Another shot of my house One of the main reasons I bought a house in this neighborhood is apparent in this shot. Trees! Lots and lots of old trees! I have 4 old Oak and 1 old Elm in my yard. Something you don't find in new developments. My neighbor's husband planted some of these trees in the early 50's, though I have a feeling the Oaks are older than that.
I've been trying to get out and shoot a lot more outdoor shots recently as I have a wedding to shoot in late June. Actually on the longest day of the year. I'll be shooting between 4:00 until about 5:45. Should be an interesting time! =P I have a battery grip, new battery and 4GB of compact flash cards on the way for the event.
I've been trying to get out and shoot a lot more outdoor shots recently as I have a wedding to shoot in late June. Actually on the longest day of the year. I'll be shooting between 4:00 until about 5:45. Should be an interesting time! =P I have a battery grip, new battery and 4GB of compact flash cards on the way for the event.
A barn shaped house in my neighborhood shot at dusk. Shutter speed was really low on this, hence the softness of the shot. In this case I think it adds that soft focused spookiness of horror films in the past.
The schools that are in the areas of the city I've lived were primarily built in the 60's and 70's. I've always thought they looked like Cold War relics or bunkers. This shot of an unnamed school looks particularly utilitarian.
On my walk home tonight I was tinkering with my 28mm f/2.8 Nikor lens on the 20D. I shot a picture of the Cangene building which is right beside my office (you can see it behind the flags). A lot of the buildings have corrugated metal siding. Corrugated metal + Digital camera = FAIL!
At 100% crop the bright and dark lines each are about a pixel wide or so. When the image is down sampled for web viewing you get an interesting Newton's Ring type artifact called the Moiré Pattern. (Thanks to Derek for the proper name)
100% Crop
I'm curious how this image will print. I also think I might try a shot with a film camera to see how it resolves things. That said, in my opinion this is a FAIL for digital photography. Don't get me wrong. I love digital for many reasons. This however is not one of them.
At 100% crop the bright and dark lines each are about a pixel wide or so. When the image is down sampled for web viewing you get an interesting Newton's Ring type artifact called the Moiré Pattern. (Thanks to Derek for the proper name)
100% Crop
I'm curious how this image will print. I also think I might try a shot with a film camera to see how it resolves things. That said, in my opinion this is a FAIL for digital photography. Don't get me wrong. I love digital for many reasons. This however is not one of them.
I had a photo shoot on Tuesday night. Nothing big, just some shots of a friend's band. Did some posed shots before hand, and took some shots of them playing. That was the third time shooting for them. This time did not go well at all. I had been fooling around with my camera and changed it to shoot small JPGs so I could fire off a lot of burst frames a few nights before. Needless to say I forgot to change the camera back to RAW before starting the shoot. Well I have pics that are good enough for a website, but nothing good enough for posters or print. I was obviously pretty pissed at myself over the whole incident, and will be meeting up with them again next Tuesday to re-shoot.
I have a wedding coming up in June, that I'm suddenly a lot more nervous about shooting.
I have a wedding coming up in June, that I'm suddenly a lot more nervous about shooting.
It's been rolling around the street for a couple of weeks. A couple of days ago it landed in my yard. For some reason I found this happy ball quite amusing!
A pano of the Melsask Motel in Melville Sask. Took a bit of work to get this one to stitch. I'm trying to work out how to do panos properly. Step one would be to actually use my tripod! =P
After I get things a little more worked out and rationalize, I think I'll write up some tutorials and advice.
After I get things a little more worked out and rationalize, I think I'll write up some tutorials and advice.
Today was Earth Day, and I hope you had a good one. I saw a couple of articles today that really hit home for me. The Earth doesn't need just a day to be thought about, talked about, and considered. It needs our whole life time to be thought about, talked about, and considered. It's been said a million times, the Earth is our one and only home. If we don't treat it well, it won't treat us well either. Environmental concerns have gotten so political recently. Is global warming happening or is it not happening. If it is happening how fast is it happening. People have divided into camps with their own opinions and have completely forgotten some basic facts.
The fact of the matter is we really don't know what is going to happen with the environment if we continue down the path we're going down right now. What we do know is that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, and that it is currently in it's highest concentration in the atmosphere we have ever observed (by large magnitudes). That also includes going back through history by analyzing gases in ice in glaciers and on the poles of the earth. Basically we're forcing the Earth and in turn ourselves down a path that we don't know without a map, directions, or a clue where we are headed. Considering the potential consequences of destroying our home, this is not a good thing. A modern day house is built out of materials that are flame retardant, but most of us would never set fire to our home to see if we could get out alive before the whole thing went up in smoke. So why are we doing this with the Earth?
The simple fact is that we're not living sustainable lifestyle. If we want the Earth to be around for future generations we have to change our lifestyles now. I know that I don't live a sustainable lifestyle either. But I'm trying to change my ways and reducing the impact I have on the environment by making different choices in my lifestyle. The bonus in this is that it's actually saving me money in the long run as well. I think a lot more people would do more if they realized how much they could save. A simple change in my lifestyle was taking the bus to work. Last year in March I spent $218.69 in fuel for my car. This March I spent $50.01. I filled my car up once that month. Even after paying for my $71.25 bus pass (actually after the tax credits more like $61.25) I have saved money.
If I look at the year to date, last year by this time I had spent $663.69 in fuel. This year I've spent $259.65. I'm spending less than half than what I was a year ago. Sadly this will end soon, as my company is moving out of town, and I will no long be able to commute by bus. I will however try my best to car pool with someone.
I know I'm confusing issues a bit here. Saving the environment isn't about saving money. However I think that most people have an idea that making changes to their lifestyle is inconvenient, and troublesome. If people knew some of the benefits that came a long with it, they may start doing more. Lets face it, generally speaking we are a selfish breed. A lot of people need more than just a feeling of doing good, they need to feel as though they themselves are benefiting from their actions. Living in a highly consumer based society where a lot people have debts they can't afford is not beneficial to us, or to our environment. We're told day in and day out through advertising that we have to consume. Well we don't need to! We don't need everything we're told that we need. We don't need to be neck deep in debt. It's time to be happy with what we have, and to wake up and realize what we're doing to the world around us.
I prefaced this entry with a shot I took a few years ago of a windmill farm southwest of Winnipeg. Manitobans are lucky to have a fairly clean energy supply. Hydro electric and wind power is not without its problems, but it's better than a lot of alternatives. However we still have a long way to go to help live a sustainable lifestyle for all future generations.
The fact of the matter is we really don't know what is going to happen with the environment if we continue down the path we're going down right now. What we do know is that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas, and that it is currently in it's highest concentration in the atmosphere we have ever observed (by large magnitudes). That also includes going back through history by analyzing gases in ice in glaciers and on the poles of the earth. Basically we're forcing the Earth and in turn ourselves down a path that we don't know without a map, directions, or a clue where we are headed. Considering the potential consequences of destroying our home, this is not a good thing. A modern day house is built out of materials that are flame retardant, but most of us would never set fire to our home to see if we could get out alive before the whole thing went up in smoke. So why are we doing this with the Earth?
The simple fact is that we're not living sustainable lifestyle. If we want the Earth to be around for future generations we have to change our lifestyles now. I know that I don't live a sustainable lifestyle either. But I'm trying to change my ways and reducing the impact I have on the environment by making different choices in my lifestyle. The bonus in this is that it's actually saving me money in the long run as well. I think a lot more people would do more if they realized how much they could save. A simple change in my lifestyle was taking the bus to work. Last year in March I spent $218.69 in fuel for my car. This March I spent $50.01. I filled my car up once that month. Even after paying for my $71.25 bus pass (actually after the tax credits more like $61.25) I have saved money.
If I look at the year to date, last year by this time I had spent $663.69 in fuel. This year I've spent $259.65. I'm spending less than half than what I was a year ago. Sadly this will end soon, as my company is moving out of town, and I will no long be able to commute by bus. I will however try my best to car pool with someone.
I know I'm confusing issues a bit here. Saving the environment isn't about saving money. However I think that most people have an idea that making changes to their lifestyle is inconvenient, and troublesome. If people knew some of the benefits that came a long with it, they may start doing more. Lets face it, generally speaking we are a selfish breed. A lot of people need more than just a feeling of doing good, they need to feel as though they themselves are benefiting from their actions. Living in a highly consumer based society where a lot people have debts they can't afford is not beneficial to us, or to our environment. We're told day in and day out through advertising that we have to consume. Well we don't need to! We don't need everything we're told that we need. We don't need to be neck deep in debt. It's time to be happy with what we have, and to wake up and realize what we're doing to the world around us.
I prefaced this entry with a shot I took a few years ago of a windmill farm southwest of Winnipeg. Manitobans are lucky to have a fairly clean energy supply. Hydro electric and wind power is not without its problems, but it's better than a lot of alternatives. However we still have a long way to go to help live a sustainable lifestyle for all future generations.
Amanda and I had a lazy start to the day on Sunday. Eventually we got outside in the afternoon to get some yard work done. It's still nice to sit back and relax a bit on the weekend though.
I've been shooting for a friend's band every once in a while. I was pretty impressed by their performance, more impressed than I was by my own photography that night.
Anyways if you want to check them out they're known as The Shouting Ground.
Anyways if you want to check them out they're known as The Shouting Ground.
4/4ths of Team Balls in the Fridge (and a few more) at the Annual Last Chance Bonspiel in Portage La Prairie.Note to those interested: When I shot this it really reminded me of Martin Parr's style, admittedly with the focus reversed. Though I did use fill flash to get the foreground subjects bright and popping in this photo.
Some examples of Parr's work:
3/4's of Team Awesome Face at the Annual Last Chance Bonspiel in Portage La Prairie.
