July 1, 2010

Happy Canada Day!

There's no better way to celebrate Canada Day than to get out and enjoy what we have here. Another day in the mountains, hiking and climbing. I'm privileged to live an hour away from such an amazing place! It's just to bad it was so cloudy today. No pretty blue sky to really make it the perfect day. But damn close!

Canon Powershot SD1200 IS
f2.8
1/320 sec.
80 ISO

And here's one my g/f took of me, lead climbing near the end of the day. This is definitely the hard part. Once the rope is clipped in at the top, and run back down, it's definitely easier to just climb your way up, without having to worry about clipping in.

Canon Powershot SD1200 IS
f2.8
1/400 sec.
80 ISO

Still Here and Clicking

Just a quick note for anyone keeping up with this blog.

I know I haven't posted in roughly a month, but I have been taking photos, and I will get caught up soon I hope. Unfortunately, I cleared off all my memory cards that the photos were on, and organized them all on my home computer, not thinking about how difficult it would be to remember which photos were for which days. Luckily, I've got them written down, but the list is at work...away from my home computer. I've finally gotten around to emailing the list to myself at home, so now I'll hopefully start posting from home and get caught up on here. There are a few days missing from the lists, so there may be a few days between some postings as I work my way through them to find the ones for the correct days. Once I'm caught up, I hopefully won't have this happen again.

Keep checking back every couple of days and eventually you'll be seeing photos from the last month.

June 30, 2010

It's new hiking/climbing gear day!! At lunch I went out and bought a new hiking pack (32 litres) and a climbing helmet (it can be dangerous working so close to MEC some days). Most of the climbs we do don't really require head protection, but it's one of those things I'd rather have and not need, than need and not have.

Later in the day, my g/f and I went and picked up some new hiking shoes for her, and we both got new hiking pants. Previously, all I had were shorts, or a pair of heavy canvas pants. Now I've got a lighter pair of pants, with zip off legs to convert into shorts. Much nicer than only having the option of heavy pants, or light shorts.

Canon Powershot SD1200 IS
f2.8
1/60 sec.
250 ISO

June 29, 2010

Today, my g/f and I met up for lunch. Considering how close we work to each other, we don't do this nearly often enough. We found a nice place in a near by park to sit and eat, and people watch. Across from us, a group had gathered to play a game of soccer/football (depending on where you are in the world). I caught this just as the last goal was scored and they were all heading back to work.

Can't think of a better way to spend my lunch hour.

Canon Powershot SD1200 IS
f8
1/160 sec.
80 ISO

June 28, 2010

New cleaning equipment for my camera. No more having to shop out little specs of dust that the air alone can't remove. A sensor loupe, magnifies and lights up the sensor of the camera, and has a space on the side to access the insides. The sensor cleaner is a small, gel tip that the dust/dirt sticks to, and is then pressed onto the sticky paper to get the offending debris off. Works quite well actually.

Nikon D80
Nikkor 18 - 55mm
f4
1/25 sec.
500 ISO

June 27, 2010

So somehow I completely forgot to post the final version of my Smoke contribution for Tulip Tree Studios.

Although this isn't exactly a photo of the day, I've decided that it will be todays contribution to my project365. After all, it is a sunday, and sundays are pretty quiet and the photo's aren't always that interesting, so I'm hoping this this will be more of an interesting visual.

June 26, 2010

A beautiful (albeit a bit cloudy) saturday afternoon, so we decided to go for a hike. We went to the remains of an old mining town called Bankhead and checked out a bit of Alberta's history. This is only the lower area. We haven't done the upper yet.

Nikon D80
Nikkor 18 - 55mm
f8
1/320 sec
200 ISO

Nikon D80

Nikkor 18 - 55mm

f11

1/40 sec

200 ISO

Nikon D80

Nikkor 18 - 55mm

f7.1

1/320 sec

200 ISO

Nikon D80

Nikkor 18 - 55mm

f8

1/40 sec

200 ISO

Nikon D80

Nikkor 18 - 55mm

f8

1/20 sec

200 ISO

After our time in Bankhead, we continued on to Lake Minnewanka for lunch. A popular and somewhat busy tourist spot, but we managed to scramble down some rocks into an area where we were mostly left alone and able to enjoy a quiet meal.

Nikon D80

Nikkor 18 - 55mm

f11

1/200 sec

200 ISO

June 25, 2010

Ok, so I had to break the rules a little bit to get this, but it was just to cool not to. Body Worlds is in town, and they have a "no photography" policy. But I took this one anyways (there was an employee maybe 50 feet to my left, and didn't do anything to stop me). It's the circulatory system of a human head. Nothing more. How they managed to plastify it, and remove everything else is a mystery, but still amazing. I have my thoughts, after reading the process of plastification, but I won't get in to that here. I recommend everyone (who's not easily disturbed) check out Body Worlds if they get a chances. It's a very cool exhibit!

Canon Powershot SD1200 IS
f2.87
1/40 sec
200 ISO

June 24, 2010

Looks like we're going to have another storm roll through at some point tonight. It's nice when it happens in the evenings, as it's been pretty hot during the days, so it cools it down just in time for bed. It's terrible trying to sleep when it's to hot.

Canon Powershot SD1200 IS
f2.8
1/400 sec.
80 ISO

June 23, 2010

Great storm just tore through the city, leaving a clean feeling in it's wake. The smell of fresh rain, the cool dampness of the air, and a beautiful sight to end the late afternoon, and welcome the evening.

Nikon D80
Nikkor 18 - 55mm
f4.8
1/320 sec.
200 ISO

It's not often we get them this vibrant, or this big, so I'm glad I could get home, and get my camera fast enough to capture it before it faded away.

Nikon D80

Nikkor 18 - 55mm

f5.6

1/320 sec.

200 ISO

June 22, 2010

Lei-ing tracks

Nikon D80
Nikkor 18 - 55 mm
f5.3
1/800 sec.
200 ISO

June 21, 2010

People are pigs.

Nikon D80
Nikkor 18 - 55mm
f10
1/100 sec.
200 ISO

June 20, 2010

Last week I bought a new iPod, to replace my old 4G nano, which I fill without making a dent in my iTunes collection. Now that I've got 160gb to fill, I've started ripping all my cd's onto my computer...this is box 1 of 4. Such a long process, but eventually I'll have my whole cd collection with me everywhere I go. Currently, I'm at about 20gb.

Canon Powershot SD1200 IS
f2.8
1/8 sec.
200 ISO

June 19, 2010

Along with her flowers, my g/f is growing her own herbs. Today we were finally able to find something the would allow us to hang our window box off our balcony. We've already taken advantage of the fresh herbs by adding our own basil and chives to last nights dinner. Brilliant!

Canon Powershot SD1200 IS
f2.8
1/60 sec.
125 ISO

June 18, 2010

Another day at the hospital. Thankfully, this was a scheduled visit, not an emergency one, and it was just to have some more tests run, and it only took about 2 hours or so. I took the day off to take care of my g/f, as the meds she was put on for these tests are pretty heavy duty. But at least this visit wasn't nearly as bad as our previous ones.

Canon Powershot SD1200 IS
f2.8
1/40 sec.
200 ISO

June 17, 2010

We've had so much rain the past couple of weeks, that the ground is still soaked and no longer absorbing the water. A few sunny breaks haven't been enough to dry anything out.

Canon Powershot SD1200 IS
f2.8
1/200 sec.
80 ISO

June 16, 2010

The city is being over run with dandelions, and nothing is being done about it. It looks trashy. Good to see my tax dollars going to keeping the city looking good.

Nikon D80
Nikkor 18 - 55mm
f5.3
1/200 sec.
200 ISO

June 15, 2010

Some time last winter, a tarp appeared on my route to work. I wasn't sure what it was covering, and the city wasn't revealing it any time soon.  Recently, they finally removed the tarp and developed the grassy area around it into a small rock garden. This is what they were hiding....I have NO idea what it is, or what it's supposed to be. There's no signs explaining anything, not even who the creator of it is.

Nikon D80
Nikkor 18 - 55mm
f5
1/400 sec
200 ISO

June 14, 2010

We bought (and by we, I mean my g/f) flowers on the weekend. This is her first attempt at potting her own and caring for them. A friend of hers gave us 2 pots and a window box we could use, as she no longer needs them, and today the flowers got a new home. She's pretty excited by this, and I can't help but laugh at how giddy she is.

Canon Powershot SD1200 IS
f2.8
1/30 sec.
400 ISO

June 13, 2010

My g/f's parents are on holiday in Maui right now, we we agreed to stop by the house today to do a little work for them. I've been given the task of cutting the grass. I haven't cut grass in about 5 years (the advantage of living in an apartment building). I don't mind the chore, but my allergies hate it, and I forgot to take an antihistamine before heading over here. Ugh!

Canon Powershot SD1200 IS
f2.8
1/250 sec.
80 ISO