Lazy Summer Afternoon

Sometimes, when I take a moment to forget about how attached I am to my luxuries, I look at some of the creatures that live out in the wild and am a little jealous at how content they seem to be.  While on a forced march, I mean a nature walk, with My Lovely Assistant, I had noticed this Crane perched on an old piece of wood.  He was just looking at his surroundings, seemingly perfectly happy to just be there at that moment.  No need for cable TV, the internet, computers, cell phones or even cameras.  Just spending his days flying around, enjoying the views and eating some fish.  It seems like a wonderful existence, until I get back home and am reminded that I don't like fish, I enjoy cable TV, the internet and especially cameras.  The photograph was taken at f/8, 1/1250sec, ISO 400 at 200mm  For that one moment, I do wonder what it would be like to be a bird just sitting on a piece of wood.  Seems like a good place to be on a lazy summer afternoon.

Maximum Air Conditioning

That's it, I have had enough.  I know that there are some of you out there who like this kind of weather, but I hate it and I have had enough.  It is off to my happy place that I go, a place where the weather bites at your face and everything is covered in a nice white blanket of snow.  Ahh, I can feel it getting cooler already.  It's been almost two weeks of high 30's Celcius weather with the humidity and it even broke 40 a few times.  So, I am bringing out the big guns. A nice snow storm should take care of things.  For those of you who enjoy this heat, things will get more seasonal once I've had the chance to chill out a bit.  This wonderfully cool photograph was taken at f/10, 1/200sec, ISO 100 at 35mm.  I can already see myself sitting comfortably on that snow covered bench watching my breath in the ice cold winter comfort.  It's can't get here fast enough.

Daisy Day 2021

It's been a difficult year once again for everybody, but the camera, and days, keep clicking away.  August 22nd is Daisy Day here on The Old Blog, a moment to remember my Grandmother, Grammie.  Speaking of things clicking away, this marks the 10th year since she left, and I can't believe that it has actually been that long.  She would have been tickled pink to meet The Heir Apparent, and I like to think she would have continued enjoying all of my photography.  In the meantime, we continue to celebrate her memory here with the flower that I most associate with her, a Daisy.  The yard Daisies didn't cooperate again this year, but luckily they can be found just about anywhere.  I found this one with a nice collection of pollen and added a little extra flash for to help make the colours pop.  The photograph was taken at f/16, 1/125sec, ISO 400 at 60mm.  Still miss you Grammie, hope you're enjoying watching all of this from upstairs.

Photograph Everything

Despite all of the time spent on the computer, I am not always up to date on all things.  For instance, I only just found out that today is World Photography Day.  Every day seems to be 'Something Day', but since The Old Blog is all about photography, I guess I should post something on a day that is dedicated to it.  You're used to seeing all kinds of wonderful things here.  I have shot fireworks, concerts, weddings, sunrises, sunsets, insects ans about anything else I can think of.  But, some of my favourite photography moments are often taking something that people don't usually bother to look at, and making it look nice.  I haven't said it lately, but an early mantra that was often repeated here was 'photograph everything'.  So, that is what I try to do.  While I am out looking at the fireworks and sunsets, sometimes something will catch my eye.  Such as this dead, dried out weed.  I got up close to it, positioned myself in front of the sunset, used a large aperture to blur out the background and shot away.  The photograph was taken at f/2.8, 1/100sec ISO 1600 at 200mm.  What better words for World Photography Day than 'photograph everything'.  Even if it's just some weeds, you never know what might develop.

Summer Harvest

Despite having two sets of grandparents who were farmers, I don't have very much of a green thumb.  I've always loved the idea of a garden, but I don't have the patience or the willing to get my hands dirty that is necessary to properly keep one.  Luckily, among her many talents, My Lovely Assistant has the necessary green thumbs to make the garden grow.  I contribute with nightly waterings and serve as offical taste tester, though I'm very close to losing that position to The Heir Apparent.  I managed to put a few of our tomatoes together before she got to them.  They were a nice red and I kept the stem on one of them to add a contrasting colour and because it was nice crisp star. The photograph was taken at f/4, 1/100sec ISO 100 at 70mm with a little bit of angled flash to bring out the colour and give the tomatoes a little shine.  They look good and taste even better.

On The Boardwalk

The middle of August seems like a good time to reflect on how Summer vacation went.  In this case, Summer vacation 2015.  Yes, the archives are full of Summer vacation shots that have never been used.  I end up taking so many shots while away that the photo folder is so large when I get back that the task of going through them would require another vacation immediately afterwards.  This photograph, taken at f/16, 20sec, ISO 100 at 24mm, came from a road trip My Lovely Assistant and I took to Percé.  I waited for the other tourists to clear off the boardwalk and then took long exposure shot of the boardwalk and the famous Rocher Percé.  The boardwalk has since been destroyed by some winter storms, so I guess this makes the view kind of unique.  We'll probably head back there one day with The Heir Apparent to see how things have changed. With that done, only 6 more years of vacation photographs to go through.

Bee On A Break

These last few days have been hot, miserably hot.  It's not just us humans who are feeling the heat, but our insect friends as well.  I was admiring the flower bed the other day, keeping an eye open for my winged friends who are usually buzzing by.  I noticed this one little bumblebee who seemed to be just relaxing on the petal of one of my Brown Eyed Susan flowers.  I had the time to grab my camera and take a photograph of my relaxing friend before quickly returning to the cool air conditioned comfort of the head office.  The photograph was taken at f/6.3, 1/200sec, ISO 100 at 70mm.  I then sent the photograph off to Lori Graham, Weather Specialist at CTV Montreal, and she was kind enough to air it during the evening newscast.  Thanks once again for the 15 seconds of fame.  As for my humble bumble buddy, I hope he enjoyed his little rest and he has an open invitation to return whenever he'd like.

From The Other Side

When it came to photographing the annual Montreal Fireworks Competition, I generally preferred shooting from the South Shore.  I would sometimes venture across the river and shoot from Montreal, on this night I was shooting from the Parc de la Cité-du-Havre.  If you'd like to see those fireworks photographs, you can do so by following this link.  As usual, I stick around a little bit after the fireworks for some night photograph and I happened to look across the river and spotted one of my favourite spots, the Montreal Biosphere.  It was nicely lit up and you could see the cars leaving from the parking lot, another of my favoured spots, but more for the winter fireworks displays.  The photograph was taken at f/18, 30sec, ISO 100 at 70mm.  The fireworks are the main reason for my being there, but there are always some nice things to see after the explosions have ended.

Hungry Dragonfly

I find most winged insects to be quite fascinating.  Except for wasps, they're just plain jerks.  Growing up, we had a cottage on a lake and there were always lots of dragonflies.  I enjoyed watching them because they were so large, but also quite graceful.  They would visit the flowerbed in front of our cottage and to rest and dine amongst the flowers.  When visiting the cottage of My Lovely Assistant's father, I was happy to discover that there were lots of dragonflies there too, and that they didn't mind my taking photographs of them as they munched away.  But, they would always test my patience first.  Before giving me a good pose, they would always seem to fly around the yard, teasing me with their presence, or take off from their designated spot as soon as I would find a good angle to shoot them.  They would have their fun, watching me follow them around the yard, and then I would have mine photographing them.  The first photograph, which was taken at f/8, 1/1250sec, ISO 1600 at 200mm, was particularly fun.  I'm not sure if it will show properly considering the small file size I use to post these photographs, but it was almost as if he took a break from his meal to turn his head and smile at the camera.  Or, that's what I would like to think it is doing.  The second photograph just below was taken at f/8, a/1600sec, ISO 1600 at 200mm.  It's always enjoyable to watch, and photograph, these little guys.