A few things on the Olympics — I love the Olympics, and I love the city of Vancouver. The Olympic values – friendship, respect, and excellence – the engendering of pride in your country, fueled by healthy competition – even the bloody Visa ads every four years (right now – we are all tied) — I love. I’m able to overlook the controversy, the commercialism, because of the way watching my country compete makes me feel. And after my visit to Vancouver in 2008, I feel hard pressed to find city that is friendlier, more vibrant, and filled with more natural beauty.

I watched the Olympic flame in my community, met former Olympian Barbara Ann Scott, and partied with a friend of mine, who was one of the torchbearers! Decked out in Canadian swhag last night, I watched the Opening Ceremonies with friends, eagerly anticipating how anyone could possibly follow the amazing spectacle of China’s 2008 Summer Olympic opening ceremonies.

There were many things about last night’s ceremony that I enjoyed — watching the parade of nations coming into the stadium, punctuated by the sheer joy on the face of mega-Olympian Clara Hughes; the amazing fiddlers performing with Ashley MacIsaac; k.d. lang’s performance, stunning as always, of “Hallelujah”; was pleased with the choices of those carrying the Olympic Flag (Donald Sutherland, Terry Fox’s Mom Betty Fox, Barbara Ann Scott, Jacques Villeneuve, Romeo Dallaire, Anne Murray, Julie Payette and Bobby Orr), taking the Olympic Athlete’s Oath (Hayley Wickenheiser), the final torch bearers (Rick Hansen, Catriona Le May Doan, Steve Nash, Nancy Greene, Wayne Gretzky); and of course, the fantastic set and effects – the centrepiece transforming from the Northern Lights to the Rocky Mountains, with skiers and boarders floating through the air, the whales, the fields of gold beneath a floating boy.

There was also much to be desired, I am afraid. To me, the whole thing smacked of an event totally organized and coordinated by a government committee (which it was). For all of the desire we have to be seen as more than traditional Canadian stereotypes, nothing was done to show anything but. For all the talk of unity in the face of such amazing diversity, there was virtually nothing to show for it. Much as I enjoyed the performances, a “safer,” if you will, selection could not have been made. The very typical – west-coast natural beauty and aboriginal culture – east coast celtic-fiddling culture – and prairie provinces with LITERALLY a quote from W.O. Mitchell – to say nothing of Quebec, really, that I saw and their profound artistic cultural influence, to say nothing of the current Montreal music scene, and nothing representative of Ontario, really, either – where most of us actually live! I’m not even going to touch Wayne Gretzky on the back of a truck to the outdoor torch — that was probably the worst Olympic ceremony moment ever — Ridiculous.

Elements of the “slam poet” from the north were great, but totally deflated for me by the blatant rip-off of the Molson Canadian “Joe Canada” advertisement — it was uncalled for, and not necessary to focus on these “zed not zee” type of “what we are not!” identifiers. With so much that I enjoyed in it, every time those moments came out I just groaned in a big way.

Canada has so much to offer, Canada encompasses so much, to stick with the tried and true, right down to the lumberjack scarves on the athletes, made what were some great performances by talented performers ultimately disappointing. No disrespect to Anne Murray, but before she came out I literally thought “the only thing this thing is missing is some Anne Murray and Gordon Lightfoot.”

All of this said, I’m still in the Olympic spirit, still excited to see the competition begin – to watch the speed skaters, to watch the skiers, to watch hockey and curling.

On a final note, what an absolute tragedy in the death yesterday of the young luger – Nodar Kumaritashvili of Georgia.

First up, AT LAST! the Irish Hiking Scarf is complete. Knit in Paton’s Classic Wool, I totally love it – took forever but it’s great, so warm.

I also knit up a 2×2 rib scarf in Paton’s Bohemian for my grandmother as a birthday gift. The colour is “Cranberry Cafe” and it’s a super bulky yarn, which, knit on giant needles (11mm) was quick and easy. Have a second similar scarf in another colour on the go, now.

I also made a little iPod cozy … ’cause I’m a dork.

So on the go currently – another 2×2 rib, a pair of mittens to match my Irish Hiking Scarf, and still Mom’s Sophisticated Scarf.

Obviously need to be back to the knitting because THIS is coming soon..

Onto the photos…

Goose @ Andrew Hayden Park
One of the last outdoor photo adventure days I had was to Andrew Hayden Park along the Ottawa River. It was a gorgeous day, we pretty much wandered around the park taking pictures of the boats on the river and the people enjoying the park. I remember there were lots of people with kites that day, it was nice. I tried my hand at HDR a few times but that was not so successful. Stay tuned for a post on HDR at some point, but for now that’s not going so well for me.

What did work out well was the following goose photo – teeth! Little teeth!

Hockey @ Scotiabank Place
The first game I attended this season was a pre-season match between Toronto and Ottawa. I had to leave about halfway through the second period and when I left we were up 1-0 thanks to Mike Fisher, but I guess I was the only one cheering hard enough ’cause we wound up losing the game. Damn. Even though the Sens have been pretty touch-and-go this season, I’m so glad hockey is back!

Fall Colours
Thanksgiving was gorgeous and I enjoyed a nice walk around the pond with my brother. There were loads of people out, it was very nice. Got very lucky with the look and feel of the day for the photos, it’s hard to get out and get the fall colours sometimes ’cause it’s such a hectic time of year so you’ve gotta get the right time – not too early still so full of green but once the leaves have changed youv’e got a very small window before they fall.

Municipal Election, 2006
Lots of stuff going on, lots of resources for those interested in the Ottawa election – check out the coverage on CBC for mayoral coverage and ward-specific coverage. The following photo is from one of the mayoral debates, this one at Kanata’s Holiday Inn Select. If you view the photo on the Flickr page you will see notes that indicate who was where ’cause it’s totally not clear from the blurry picture I snapped.

Welcome to Canada
After work one afternoon I decided to wander over to Parliament Hill to snap a few photos despite the overcast weather. Just as I was crossing the street I saw this guy – completely made me smile.

On that same day I decided to visit The Famous Five on the hill, as we were drawing close to the anniversary of women being declared Persons under the law. You’ve all seen the Heritage Moment. So, here’s Nellie McClung made Black & White.

Congratulations, All Around!
A few of my friends had great news in October, two couples got engaged. The first, Vik & Karen, in a proposal shared with family and friends that was very lovely. The second, Mya & Jason, in a private proposal later shared with family & friends and as Mya’s bridesmaid my first duty was to take engagement photos for the happy couple. We took off to Mackenzie King Estate (specifically the ruins) in Gatineau Park and later to the Museum of Civilization for some photo fun. It was cold but compared to the weather surrounding the day, not too bad. While I’m very happy with how some of the photos turned out, I do have some serious work to do as a portrait photographer… still, I think they’re happy with some of their photos. The following is a photo of their rings and a photo of the Mackenzie King Estate house.

Bailey
From yet another walk, I just like how this little series turned out – caught! with a camera by my brother & his girlfriend’s puppy, Bailey.

So that’s some of the photo goings-on and nearly catches us up to November. Good stuff.

First, the big news is I have now passed the 10,000 views mark over on Flickr. Woohoo!

Ottawa Riverfest @ Pinhey’s Point
In August I volunteered for the City of Ottawa as a photographer for an event held out at Pinhey’s Point Historic Site. This was a totally new experience for me and involved quite a bit of work. Normally I don’t take a lot of portraits so that was kind of new; also, I had to ensure that everyone whose photo I took was okay with me a) taking their photo so that b) the City could later use their image, either on the websites or in some promotional material or what have you. I did quite a bit of editing to the photos, especially since the day of the festival was not so nice, and eventually delivered the photos to the City.

Overall it was an interesting experience, here are a couple of samples:

For more photos visit the photoset – click here.
After that I began experimenting in HDR but have so far been met with, well, limited success at best. I will address that at a later date. There have been other photo-outings, the usual kind of nature stuff, some photos of the Ottawa Senators, and other miscellaneous pictures. Haven’t done too much – most recently, when dropping the photos off to the city I snapped a few quickies of the Billings Estate Museum.

It’s all about the weather.

Also I have returned to my knitting as the weather is getting *so* damn cold. I’m about 4′ into the Irish Hiking Scarf now and should have it finished before too long. I had left a couple of projects unfinished but hope to whip through them so that I can devote more time to a larger project.

There’s so much more to say!  But I’m tired, so for now that’s it..

So, yet another relatively recent development – golf. A couple of years ago I had my first job that was, well, y’know – like a grown-up. I had a desk, a phone, an e-mail address, good gracious, what a grown-up! With this came – golf. Before this job I had golfed once previously in my life with my family, as my mother is an avid golfer. That experience, probably near a decade earlier, did not go so well to put it mildly.

This time around I found things to be quite different, and golf seems to be a big part of becoming a Grown Up if you want to get into the corporate world (and I do! and I’m still looking if anybody who comes across this has a job for me!). We had a day of learning with Links for Women Golf Schools at RattleSnake, which involved lessons from various club pros at the driving range, the putting green, on golf etiquette and a round of nine with a club pro in the afternoon. Luckily for me, many of the women golfing with me from my office were very new golfers themselves.

It wasn’t much later that I found myself at The Rock, where my foursome managed to golf a single hole before being completely rained out. Just that was very intimidating and that essentially ended my golf for the summer.

Last year I decided I’d like to give it another try – I had come to appreciate the skill involved and understood that golf does take strength and flexibility. It was a challenge, I was terrible at it, so I wanted to learn more (I will always find ways to be a student). I managed to get out to the driving range a few times and had some good laughs with my girl friends “working on the short game” at local miniputt places. I also golfed my first round of 18 holes at Manderley on the Green and tried another nine with friends at Irish Hills Golf & Country Club. It wasn’t much, but it was enough of a taste to get me interested.

So far this year I’ve done the driving range thing a few times, gone to Irish Hills, Pakenham Highlands Golf & Country Club and most recently Amberwood Golf & Country Club.

I guess that’s a little intro to my golf experience so far – I’m a completely horrid golfer but am starting to understand a little more about how I hit, so far I’ve been told that I have a good looking swing, so I guess it’s just practice.

Pakenham Highlands
2006.08.13

Stay tuned for .. I dunno, thoughts on courses from a beginner and workin’ through these clubs.  Hybrids yay, driver so-so, irons not-so-much, that’s a quickie run down so far.

I had tried to take shots of the moon before and because it’s night I started with the above in mind. However, what one easily forgets when shooting the moon, is how much light the moon gives off. It’s incredibly bright so you don’t need the super long exposures or the wide aperture.

After some experimentation I came at the following result – and while things looked fairly focused on my camera, the final result is far too blury for my liking. I think that’s part of the problem with my lens but it could also be poor focusing on my part. Anyhow, here is the result.

Need to keep trying, but I think I’m heading in the right direction..

This might be a little jumpy, but what can ya do. First of all, I seem to have a small consistent readership so to those of you who check in regularly, thanks! It’s cool to see how I come up in people’s searches but it’s also pretty cool to notice that (I think, anyway!) a few of you are coming back. Cheers for that.

Before I get to what prompted me to post I just thought I’d share another PhotoStitch image and point out the new set I’ve created on Flickr: PhotoStitch Images. Figured I would keep all of ‘em in an easy-to-find spot. I like the tags and I could do a lot of my organization through tags in lieu of sets (say just remember to click my “Ottawa” tag instead of having an “Ottawa” set) but – well, I like sets. I heard a rumour that someone heard a rumour that Flickr is working on super-sets/sets-within-sets, so I’m looking forward to that if it’s true!

Anyway. I may have mentioned previously that I first “stitched” an image in high school by creating a large panorama with a series of 8×10 prints in black & white (an image I’ve yet to really try to recreate, eugh!). I remember being very careful, using a tripod, wanting a smooth transition. With PhotoStitch software and how easy it is I’ve learned that I don’t have to do that – really, could’ve been more creative with the prints and didn’t have to do it then, either, but hey. So here’s an example where it works and click here for a sample of when PhotoStitch isn’t always perfect. I may be able to correct that by learning more about the software, I pretty much still just let it do its thing.

Both of the above were recent pictures from Pinhey’s Point in Ottawa, ON. Onto the night time.. a friend and I recently decided that we wanted to take photos at night. Try the moon, some stars, long exposure fun. Unfortunately we had this moment of genius when the weather sucked – the temperature was lovely, it was a nice night to be out, but it was overcast so that meant the sky was out. Fear not, however, traffic would be a good thing to try, too.

The set is here: Long Exposure with Kasia. Things worked just as expected – tried different apertures and different shutter speeds. Mostly shot in aperture priority, never used a flash. I have two shots that stand out as favorites for me and the first is actually a bit of a disappointment. The problem with the shot is I didn’t take the time to think about composition. I was preoccupied with timing and threw my usual thoughts of composition out the window – basically the angle of the shot bothers me, it’s just boring. Still, the whole light thing as the cars turn the corner is pretty cool.

The other stand-out shot that I really like from that night isn’t of the traffic and the lights at all. The following shot is just some trees along the side of the road but I’m really pleased with it. It’s one of those things where you just kind of get lucky – with the trees, the clouds behind them, and the glow from nearby street lights. I’ve tried this shot in colour and in black & white. I like the B&W version but I think my preference is the colour.

This is definitely something I want to get out and do a lot more of, this night time thing. Hopefully these clouds will clear out soon and give us a chance to shoot some stars.

On and off I’ve been cycling, and I’m in a major on phase.  Getting to 10km was a big milestone and then a push to 15km, 20km and I think I’ve maxed out just under 30km.  Maxed out as in, that’s the most I’ve done – not that’s the most I’ll do.  As I’ve been better – after a couple of spotty weeks – I’m trying to get five solid days a week of cycling in.  I came across seajlorraine.wordpress.com and thought I’d point anyone who comes across this in her direction, worth a look.  In one post she discusses fitness goals vs number goals and I couldn’t agree more with the idea of setting fitness goals rather than number goals.

I’ve never been all that preoccupied with the number, my weight.  My weight has been a concern but more as it made me feel, made me look in my clothes (or stopped me from fitting into certain clothing) and I’ve always thought that as long as I could focus on feeling good then looking good will fall back into place again.  Seems to be working : )

Last week I biked 99.96km in total.  I also measured myself and weighed myself, something I hadn’t done in a while – my weight has dropped, which makes sense ’cause I can fit into my favorite old jeans again.  The measurements I took were to check out my body fat percentage – used this calculator here to do it.  It requires that you measure your waist, hips, neck, and height.  I tried several calculators and always came out about the same – 21% which is right on.  I wish I had taken those measurements before I started cycling to see how things changed, but what can ya do.

A great website that I don’t think I’ve linked to previously is Gmaps Pedometer for planning your routes (as long as you stick to roads).   I’ve used this site to plan several routes that are different but add up to the same distance so that I don’t get bored.  It works well ’cause when I compare the plan to the cycling computer I get essentailly the same thing.  Sweet.

Fitness Goal
My plan is to get a month solid of a schedule I’ve worked out – last week was week one, this is week two.  Last week my rides throughout the week were kind of inconsistent – so this week my goal is 20km rides four days a week and one longer ride, length yet to be determined.

Every other day I am additionally incorporating strength training into my routine.  For now it isn’t much, but you’ve got to start somewhere.

If I can do this well, eventually I’ll get there and can add more strength training into my workout plan and cycle and do yoga instead of just picking one.  Yoga has taken a major back seat and I’d like to re-incorporate it.

Music to make you move
I really need to figure out a way to make myself some new mixes for my work-outs, it’s a great way to listen to your new favs or some classics and music really helps me.  If I’m thinking about the great tunes I’m listening to I don’t think about the work-out so much.  It is fun finding old mixes and seeing what I’d used to motivate myself previously but I need some new stuff.  I’m craving some of my bluesfest favs like Metric, Controller.Controller and Hilotrons while I’m out there.  As iTunes Free Single of the Week I just got a MSTRKRFT track that is fantastic (“The Looks”) and some new tunes would be great.  Maybe a new mix-tape type list will be posted soon, some workout recommendations.

So that’s the goal:
20km rides 4x per week
Longer ride 1x per week
Strength training consistent for remainder of month
Re-introduce Yoga at one month (as regular routine and not occasional enjoyment)

Also, of course, keep eating well.  It’s making a huge difference in how I feel and I feel that I can be conscious about it without obsessing and calorie counting (I don’t think I’ll ever be a calorie counter, thank God).  There it is!

I was totally stoked this year to be able to get a full pass for the festival, it was definitely worth it. I saw a lot of great people and while I don’t have much commentary on photo-takin’-stuff I felt like sharing a bunch of pictures from the week. So, here’s who I saw:

Corb Lund (just a couple songs)
Seu Jorge
Great Big Sea
Ani DiFranco
Michael Franti & Spearhead
Blue Rodeo
Mobile
Nelly Furtado
Live
Etta James
Jim Bryson
Danny Michel
Metric
Sharon Riley & Faith Chorale
Meligrove Band
Hilotrons
Controller.Controller
Chicago Blues Reunion
KC & the Sunshine Band
Tavares
Sister Sledge
Gloria Gaynor
The New Pornographers

Some highlights:

• Seu Jorge – very cool.
• Michael Franti was outstanding and I’ve just ordered my copy of Yell Fire!. Check him out if you get the chance, you’ll have a good time and you’ll feel better.
• Blue Rodeo was stellar, second time I’ve seen ‘em and I’ll see ‘em again if I can, too. You can’t help but want to make out with Jim Cuddy, seriously.
• Much as I enjoyed Mobile, Live was the highlight of that night. Was surprised at how many of their songs I knew and how ridiculously happy those guys seem on stage. It’s very cool to watch a band really look like they’re enjoying themselves. Played a lot of old hits which I appreciated ’cause I knew ‘em. Awesome stuff.
• Etta. Freakin’. James. ETTA JAMES! What can I say; it’s Etta, baby, and she was fabulous. What fun!
• Metric puts on a good, fun, high-energy show. Would definitely go see them again, would go see just about any of these people again but hopefully in a cooler setting – God it was hot out during the festival.
• Ottawa’s Hilotrons were a real treat, my first time seeing them but not my first attempt to. They make you wanna get up and move, and many people did despite the heat. They’re another must-see-again band. Check them out, you won’t be disappointed.
• Boogie Blast? Best crowd of the whole thing. We had a great time shmoozin’ with people who could’ve easily been our parents (hehehe) and I think Sister Sledge’s “He’s the Greatest Dancer” should’ve been dedicated to the dude near us in the crowd. Red Shirt Guy, you were awesome.

And now for a few photos… :

Location, Location, Location: Ottawa City Hall

Bein’ in the Crowd: Blue Rodeo

Live @ Main Stage, BluesFest 2006

Metric @ MBNA Stage, BluesFest 2006

Hilotrons @ Blacksheep Stage, Bluesfest 2006

Sea o’ People

Ottawa @ Night

It was a great week, a lot of fun, anyone who enjoys live music should get to Ottawa and go. Best part of the summers, here, in my opinion.

As usual, Wikipedia has a good article on RAW to fill you in on the details of what the RAW image format is. Basically, RAW stores all kinds of unprocessed data and necessitates some work on your computer before you can share your photos. It gives you a great deal of control and flexibility in your digital darkroom, so you need software that can view and edit RAW images in order to make use of this feature of your camera. The file sizes are quite a bit bigger, so you won’t get nearly as many pictures on your camera.

I first tried using RAW when I was working with some Macro photography. I took photos of a bunch of cufflinks that had belonged to my dad and my grandfather. First I took some time to set things up and then spent some time working with the RAW data on my computer. The programme that my camera came with was Canon Digital Photo Professional. It has some options for working with RAW image data and RGB data. There are some good tutorials and explanations, from the looks of things, on that site.

I managed to do a good job of things working in RAW but I wasn’t quite convinced that RAW was leaps and bounds ahead of working with JPEG, simply, and I managed to create very similar and sometimes even better effects working in JPEG. It may be a comfort-level thing with the programmes I use or it may just be I wasn’t really in the right application of RAW.

After my issues with the lighting in concert photography I decided that the next time I went to watch my friend I would take more shots, this time using RAW so that I could work with things later. I still think the light is so incredibly harsh that I’ll never rid my images of it completely and re-create natural looking images, but in the mean time the colour effect has gone over well with the musician. I think RAW may work best when you know you will have little control over the conditions in which you shoot.

The first shot is the original shot, how things really looked – way way red.  What you can see in the black & white version at the right is that the light is actually good, it’s nice and bright, my camera settings for the light are fine.  The red is just so harsh so something has to be done about that.  Since I was shooting in RAW, this time I tried adjusting the white balance to see what kind of colours I could get.  Now I haven’t learned enough to be able to really customize this but it’s not too bad – the result is a kind of interesting tone and I’m quite pleased with the difference.  Trying to adjust the colour levels in JPEG left things far worse, so in comparison I much prefer this.

Still, I mostly like the blakc & white which is something I am able to achieve equally in JPEG.

That’s what I’ve learned so far with RAW – in some instances it is great/ideal even because you may have little control over your surroundings so RAW leaves you with the most flexibility later.

More photo stuff to come soon.. !