Only in Canada, eh?

There are many things I find amusing about this photo:
1. This picture was taken May 30, and the sky was blue and the temperature was warm.
2. This sign is on a fence that surrounds a swimming pool. Thin ice + swimming pool = funny in my brain.
3. This fence surrounds a swimming pool. It looks like it might surround terrorists in some Guantanamo-like prison in an arctic setting. Who need three rounds of barbed wire to keep people away from an empty swimming pool?
4. I just wrote the word "poop" instead of pool, and laughed out loud in an empty room (okay, that has little to do with the photo and everything to do with where my brain is right now).

Pentax K200D
Tokina 28-70mm lens (@70mm)
f3.9
ISO 100
1/25 sec.

Stormtroopers

"You ever get that feelin' like somethin's watchin' you?"

"Yeah. Every time Vader's around. The heavy breathing. That guy freaks me out."
"No. I mean right now...looking over our..."

"Aaaaaaaaaahhh..."

"I'll go get help!"

"Aargh..."

"Hey! There was this thing, and it attacked...wait a second...you're not part of our continuity..."

It's Saturday, and I had a phenomenal day, and Ben and I were in the backyard with his Lego men. I shot a few pictures, and then starting writing this little story in my head. I know - fanboy doesn't begin to cover it.

Pentax K200D
Tokina 28-70mm lens (with and without extension tube)

100!

This little turn on the rails is down from Hannah's school, and when I put my hand on it to steady myself I could smell skin burning. It was a hot one today, and, uh, lesson learned?

This picture reminds me of "The Littlest Hobo", that horribly low-budget Canadian tv show from the '80's about a German Shepherd who moved from town to town, often via the railway, helping people with their problems and solving crimes. It's like a Canadian version of "Kung Fu" but they couldn't pay for a human star (like the immortal David Carradine - so loved "Kill Bill), so they figured, "A dog. That's the ticket."

Silly Canadian tv producers in the '80's.

Pentax K200D
Tokina 28 - 70mm lens (@50mm)
f3.9
ISO 100
1/125

p.s. The 100 is a reference to the fact that this is my 100th post. Yay me!

Dizzy revisited

I looked at yesterday's post and thought, "I wonder what that would look like in b&w?" So I redid it in b&w while watching students write a practice provincial exam. I think it turned out looking like a Hitchcock set, like "the moment before he jumped..."

See yesterday's notes on how it was taken. B&W in PS CS4.

Dizzying heights

I attended a nice little "reunion" of sorts last night, wherein we shared our photos of the trip to Europe that I had the privilege of attending back in March, and I realize now how few photos I've really done anything with.

This shot is from one of the many windows that look out over Barcelona from the Sagrada Familia church. I still feel so lucky for having gone up the Gaudi side of the church.

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm (@18mm)
f8
ISO 800
1/125 sec.

Corner Post

I saw this post tonight as I drove home from a little after hours get together for everyone who was on the Europe trip. I drove by and the sky was so blue and grass so green I felt I had to stop and shoot this.

After the first shot, I realized there was a fence in the grass and shot it with a little more intent.

Funny how I miss what's right in front of me sometimes.

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm lens (@48mm)
f11
ISO 800
1/8 sec.
Crop and curves in CS4

Backyard beauty

Shot in the backyard, back when I had time to shoot photographs. Aargh...

Pentax K200D
Sigma 70 - 210mm lens (with extension tube)
f4
ISO 100
1/125 sec.

When I was sixteen I gave my Mom a book for Christmas. The book was a collection of photographs and letters by Ansel Adams. I had no idea who Ansel Adams was, but a girl I knew (and probably had a crush on - who knows? It's been almost 20 years) told me she was buying one for her Mom, so I figured I might as well too.

Now that I spend a lot of time with "Tank" taking shots all over the Fraser Valley, I can't help hoping that maybe Mom still has the book and I can steal it from her.

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm lens (@33mm)
f8
ISO 100
1/125 sec.
Polarizer (on camera, of course) + curves in CS4

Softball (redux)

A cheesy stereotype I know, but I can't help it. Being on the ball diamond again brings back so many emotions and memories. The memory of being yelled at, something about a "belly itcher", and needing to win.

At least we're playing for fun.

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm (@55mm)
f5.6
ISO 200
1/30 sec.

Softball

I coach my daughter's team, so I rarely get to just watch. Tonight, as sick as I am, I forced myself to take a few pictures. I nearly went blind looking at the sun, but it was to my advantage; this way I'm not violating any rights to privacy, seeing how all you get to see is shadows.

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm lens (@18mm)
f8
ISO 200
1/800 sec.

Me

I'm not one for being in front of the camera, but I was playing with my reflection in my laptop screen, and this picture didn't look bad. It's weird to see the mustache, seeing as I rarely let it grow. The one thing this picture doesn't show is the wild and woolly beard I've been growing. I'm shaving my head on June 10th for the oncology department at Children's Hospital, so I'm grooming for a Shel Silverstein look - beard and bald.

Hilary is going to hate it.

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm lens (@55mm)
f5.6
ISO 200
1/20 sec.
B&W and curves in PS CS4.

Feel the power flowin'...

Hi. I don't feel well. I'm hoping a bit of sleep will help me feel better.

Also, I don't know what that has to do with this picture. I'm just feeling whiny.

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm lens (@55mm)
f11
ISO 100
1/125 sec.
Cropping and curves in PS CS4

Fire

Hilary and I were sitting on the deck talking about nothing in particular, and the only light source, besides our neighbour's crazy yard light (like one of those lights on a farm - why does he need one in a city?), was a red candle. Never one to pass up an opportunity to take a photo, I set up my tripod, snapped a few shots, and probably ruined what otherwise could have been a very romantic moment. Haha! I'm so smart.

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm lens (@28mm)
f29
ISO 200
2 sec.

Tunnelling to nowhere...

I love geometry. I'm pretty sure that no math teacher I ever had would have though I'd ever utter those words, much less write them, without heavy sarcasm.

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm (@55mm)
f8
ISO 1000
1/15

Ah, nuts...

I stood right under the power lines and could hear the hum as the electricity fell on me. I'm pretty sure tonight I'm turning into the Hulk or something else radioactive.

Hit your F11 button if you want to see the whole thing.

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm lens (@55mm)
f11
ISO 100
1/125 sec.

The perks of coaching

Coaching my daughter's softball team wasn't exactly the way I had planned spending Thursday nights, but it's awesome fun. Tonight I got to watch six of my players look in six different directions for the ball. None of the directions they chose was the right one. The only child, my Hannah, who knew where the ball was was too far away to do anything.

The field in which we played was a bit of a mud-bowl, and my Asics took the brunt of my running around. I guess this is just one of the many unmentioned perks of coaching softball.

Pentax K200D
Chinon 50mm lens
f1.4
ISO 400
1/20 sec.
No Flash

She's baaack...

The rain's putting a crimp in my ability to get out. Every time I do get a chance to go outside I'm coaching or something. Wah wah wah. Woe is me...

Man, the rain is turning me into a whiner.

I shot "watcher girl", above, when Hannah and I went out under the highway to take photos. In fact, Hannah's photos from this shoot are what spawned her own blog, and she hasn't posted a picture of graffiti yet. I'll have to remind her.

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm lens (@18mm)
f3.5
ISO 400
1/50 sec.

Hey Bud(dy)

We bought a Catalpa tree last year, and it had a bit of a rough go, but by the looks of this, it's off and running this year. Although, technically, trees can't run, but, you know what I mean, right? Anthropomorphically speaking...

Pentax K200D
Sigma 70-210 lens + extension tube
f4
ISO 100
1/320 sec.

Through the looking glass...

This is:
Pop Shoppe bottle +
LED flashlight +
Wireless shutter release +
Tripod +
Zoom lens +
Extension tube +
Save-On Foods enviro bag (for the expensive looking background).


Pentax K200D
Sigma 70 - 210mm lens (@?)
F4
ISO 200
1.3 sec.
No Flash

Purple (to my eyes - Hannah tells me it's indigo)

I definitely need to spend more time with the extension tubes. The results are other-worldly.

Pentax K200D
Sigma 70-210 mm lens (@?)
f4
ISO 100
1/80 sec.

Yellow

Extension tube + 70-210mm lens = macro shot. Whee...

Pentax K200D
Sigma 70-210mm lens (@80mm? - I don't know the math that makes this make sense with extension tubes)
f4 (on the lens, but with the extension...?)
ISO 400 (ha! that one I do know)
1/60 sec. (that one too...sheesh, I'm really happy about miniscule victories)

You spin me right round, baby, right round...

Sometimes I think my son is so spinny...

Pentax K200D
DA 18-55mm lens (@55mm)
f40
ISO 100
1/8 sec.

Harrison at dusk

There once were two geese who had nothing better to do than cool their feet in Harrison Lake in the cool of the eve.

The end.

Pentax K200D
Chinon 50mm lens
f1.4
ISO 400
1/100 sec.

Dandelion logic...

Seems like the logical followup to the photo from yesterday. And logic's what I'm known for. Not random blathering about issues only I, apparently, have some handle on.

It's so hard being a genius...

Whoa...where'd that come from?

Pentax K200D
Chinon 50mm lens
f1.4
ISO 100
1/160 sec.

BTW, I had to resize the photo for the blog, but the details kind of got lost. Click on the photo for more "dandy" detail.

Momma had a baby...

Hi.

Saturday I went out in the early morning to take some shots of a soccer field covered in dandelions. Turns out they mowed it between Thursday afternoon and Saturday morning. I found these down the street.

Although I was listening to Kings Of Leon (I think it was Use Somebody) while driving, that stupid momma had a baby and her head popped off song from elementary school was swimming through my head. Annoying...

Pentax K200D
Chinon 50mm lens
f11
ISO 200
1/1000 sec.

BTW, the colour manipulation was all in the White Balance (I had it set to fluorescent light, instead of outdoor).

You can call me flower if you want to...

I don't know where the "Bambi" reference came from...some far off, locked away place in my head I guess.

It's strange, considering that while I was shooting these photos I was thinking of Georgia O'Keefe, and not a really old Disney movie.

Oh well...try explaining my brain, because I sure can't.

Pentax K200D
Chinon 50mm lens
f1.4
ISO 100
1/1000 sec.