A Week in the North

 How to explain Northern Ontario in the summer is kind of easy and can be done in a few words, stunning, gorgeous, awesome. All three pictures are from a trip I took up north with my dad. The lake we were on was a maze of islands and rocks, it did not take much to get turned around and lost.There is a huge amount of wildlife there, it feels like every time you turn around there is something new flying, floating, or walking near by. When the weather is nice the sky is a crisp blue, the water is smooth as glass, and the sun is warm. When the weather turns, the rain comes down like you wouldn't believe, the wind can blow trees over and is cold and harsh as winter. Northern Ontario is a place everyone in this province needs to visit. The fist picture was taken around the campfire at The Old Post and Village fishing camp, the second was an experiment that turned out kind of interesting, its a picture of a knot in a tree with very little light, and the third is an eagle we saw perched on an island on our way back to the camp.
'Till next time,
Cheers

Babbling brooks, and Rushing Water

I have found my favorite thing to shoot, water. Its such an easy thing to work with, never complains, and always gives you an interesting and unique picture. As long as the light is good, and the background is nice, you cant get a bad shot of water. The first and the last were both taken in my hometown of Goderich, and the middle was taken in my aunts back yard.
'Till next time
Cheers

The last of Goderich

So its been alittle while since I have posted anything here, so I figured with my new computer I might as well get going on this. These are some pictures of my hometown for the past 19 years, Goderich. Its treated me well so far, but its time to move to bigger and better things, Oakville! My girlfriend Son and I have just moved into our new appartment and are starting school. Now that I have left I appreciate the beauty of this town so much more, so I thought it would be time to share some of the highlights with you guys.
'Till next time
Cheers

Long walks along the beach

I realised about a week ago how much I actually like this town. Although there is not a lot to do, and it is pretty small, there is so much hidden, and not so hidden beauty. Victoria and I went for a walk at the beach today and it was amazing what came out of it. The colours, the scenery, the surroundings, its so much fun when you can just totally immerse yourself into a state of calm and serenity from a walk along the boardwalk with a camera. I have been playing with the depth of focus lately. It brings out some pretty interesting looks like the one here, you can see the sharp image of the flower, and the background in soft focus. The nice thing with this one is that you can still make out whats behind. We also took our son Noah with us, and we had him in the swing and on the slide, which made him happy as could be. I love the colours in his picture, although there are two different reds, they play off each other very well and give a very interesting tone, and when you throw in the pink skin, its a great contrast to his deep blue eyes. This picture also made me think, this is the first picture I have of him on here, and with that I will leave you with this very cute picture!
'Till next time!
Cheers

To Gallery, Or Not to Gallery?

I've been thinking over the past couple of days if I want to send some of my photos to the local art gallery. I have been weighing the ups and downs and I can't really come to a conclusion, so I thought I would ask your opinion. Should I, or should I not take some photos up to the gallery?

Green Grass, Blue Skies, and Long Exposure Time

A couple of weeks ago Victoria asked me if I would help her with her English project. She needed some pictures taken of her little cousin and of a couple other things around town. So after school we picked up Amie, snapped a couple dozen shots of her as she played in the back yard, then went on a walk around town. The sun was out, the grass was green, the sky was blue, it was nice and warm, right up until we went for our walk. The sun started to set, the sky went from blue to grey to black, and it got colder. As our walk went on we made our way to the always gorgeous beach. Victoria wanted some picutes of the water, the break wall, her in front of the water. All the really cheesey pictures, but being the snap happy guy I am was more than willing to do it. There was only one problem in the wonderful plan, the sun was going down which ment exposure times were going up. Now for thoes of you who dont know the exposure is the amount of light allowed to reach the film of image sensor. Put frankly the longer this time, the better the chance for a blury picture. Although the picture is a little fuzzy, I still think the effect is great.
'Till next time!
Cheers

The Great White North

My girlfriend and I went on a road trip up north to see some of her family for a week. I have always seen these gorgeous pictures of streams, waterfalls, trees and absolutely breathtaking backdrops from anywhere above Owen Sound. I always thought you needed a lot of money to get these pictures, a certain eye for these things but in all reality all you need is a pair of eyes and a camera. If you like what you see take a bunch of pictures of it, and if you take enough eventually you will get the one you want. The first two shots were taken on this little (10 hours one way!) road trip. As we drove I could see the possible pictures jump out at me from the side of the road, so I could not resist the temptation to pull over and snap some pictures here and there. The third picture was inspired by a gift that was given from my son to his grandma. We were taking some pictures of him and his hands and feet. First of all, he is a great subject to shoot because he hardly ever complains, and second he is just to cute, which makes it so hard to mess up any pictures of him! With a little cleaning up they all turned out wonderful, and have given us a lasting memory of when he was small enough to hold in one hand.
'Till next time
Cheers!

The wonders of High Hills and Green Grass

There is something about a mountain top and the contrast of bright blue against deep green that can make me fall in love with a snap shot. I took these two while on a trip to Greece and Italy, the top is from the peak of Mt. Vesuvius and the second is a monastery in Italy. I took these with my little Sony cyber-shot and I have to say I am rather impressed with how they turned out, clean, sharp pictures with great colours. I figures the sepia added a nice touch to the first picture and on the second, well I just didn't want to lose the amazing colours. Many more pictures to come and many more memories to be shared!
Till next time!
Cheers

A little something something

So I have taken up this fascination with photography, I don't know if it's the fact that I am creating art (which I have always been terrible at) or if it is the ability to capture a moment that no one else can. It's amazing the abilities of cameras now, when I was younger I used to play with my moms old film camera, you know the ones you have to wind up every time, but then she got a new digital camera. Oh the possibilities that come with digital, it can do the work for you or you can do the work for it. I love the feeling of going for a walk a snapping all kinds of pictures and then getting home and getting to see them on a computer screen and feel like your looking at some professional pictures, but really, they are there because of your own two hands! it is an amazing feeling, so I thought I would share some of my work with you, try to get my name out there. These two were both shot in my own home town of Goderich, the first is of one of the most amazing sunsets you will ever see, and it isn't even summer yet! The second is from a shoot I did with my son and his mother for a gift, and I thought I would share some of the pictures as a gift to you.
Cheers!

Comm-Tech Song Review

More Than a Feeling by Boston

The classic rock genre is one I think will be around for much longer than it already has. With the great riffs, the awesome guitar solos, and the great lyrics it has lasted years and will last for years to come. One song in particular is Bostons "More Than a Feeling". This song brings together the slow acoustic begining, and the more up beat catchy riff we all know. Throughout the song there is the introduction for eleven different guitars, they each carry a similar riff, and they all work together to grab the interest of the listener. The different and constant changing of texture and style of guitar helps to keep the listener engaged and interested. The lead vocals and lyrics also help pull the listener in. Right off the top of the song we are hit with a mellow high pitched rough mans voice, then a guitar that follows which grabs the listener right away, then breaks into the main riff with multiple guitars playing different parts and stabs but all coming back to the same riff. The song its self is actually a sad song despite the upbeat tempo and guitar. The lyrics talk about how someones lover of some kind has left them and thats all they can think about. They hide from the pain in their music and attempt to forget about it, but in the end it all comes back, and consumes their lives. Having seen some pretty nasty breakups I can see the artist's point and can relate to them fairly well. Some breakups can turn into an emotional downward spiral and can be very tough to recover from no matter what we do. My only major problem with this song lies in the chorus. The way the vocals are layed out it makes it very difficult to understand the last part of each sentence. Although this may work for some people I find it distracting. Though otherwise I find the quality excellent, the song felt whole and complete, there was no noticeable missing element. Boston has created a very deep and rich guitar, and drum line that could attract a range of listeners and keep them looking for more.

Now something for your listening pleasures. The band is Great Big Sea out of Newfoundland, I personally enjoy almost all of their music and I think that most of it is worth giving a listen. So I hope you enjoy.