Digging Through The Archives

I found myself digging through my photo archives for something that could be worth posting today.

I chanced upon this one, something I remembered taking last Christmas:

Have a nice day!

Early Summer Blooms

Yup, I have to admit, this space has turned into an almost full-blown photography blog!

I can’t help it. I like taking photos, especially when I am in a good mood. It helps me with my creativity, which I find I am lacking lately.

Had some fun taking photos during a brief walk around the neighborhood with my wife. I admitted in some earlier posts that I prefer the Winters here in Calgary, but after that very long one we just had, I am starting to realize the folly of my preference. The burst of colors that are starting to appear this Spring and early Summer has me thinking, “what the hell was I thinking”!

So allow me to share with you some that I tried to capture. Here’s one from Elliston Park, just a short walk from our place:

Some blooms from a Crabapple tree from my sister-in-law’s backyard:

Another one, this time with four buds shooting out from one bloom:

And something I chanced upon at their backyard:

Have a nice day!

Welcoming Summer!

Summer is slowly showing its colors. What a sight, especially after that very long Winter we just had this past Season!

How Hard Can It Be To Do Macro Photography?

I have been quite fascinated with macro photography lately and have been trying my hand at it. What I mean by “macro” is the ability to take a picture of a subject at very close ranges, you know, like shots of insects and flowers and water droplets. Having no dedicated macro lens of my own, the most I can do is shoot subjects at the closest that my lens would allow and do some cropping later in Photoshop. Even then I find it not that easy and the experience made me respect the skills of macro photographers even more.

Here is a recent attempt I did. This was taken out front where weeds are growing in earnest. There was no breeze this morning so it was easy to take pictures:

This one was taken a month ago at a restaurant here in Calgary. They are obviously fake, but I still like how they came out:

Victoria Day Long Weekend Vacation

We had a long weekend from May 16 to May 18 and decided to go and spend it at Fairmont, B.C., roughly a five hour drive from Calgary. It was a great trip as I had a chance to finally take a long overdue break and vacation with my wife.

There was so much scenery on our way to Fairmont. Our first stop at Lake Louise in Banff always offered some fantastic view, no matter what the season is. Here is Lake Louise in the middle of May:

There was so much to see just looking out the window of our moving vehicle:

We stayed at a villa in Fairmont, B.C. Right beside it was the Fairmont Hot Springs Resort which has a trail that afforded me a capture of this bridge:

There was a hot spring mineral water fall in the resort:

No matter what the weather was, the view was always spectacular to my eyes:

The highlight of our trip was the chance to see some wildlife! We found this beastie grazing at the side of the highway. We had to pull over to the shoulder so I can take a photo:

Out of the several shots that I took, this was the only decent one that came out as my hands were shaking in excitement! Now I understand why photos of UFOs or Bigfoot were so blurry.

Another wildlife that we were able to chance upon. There was a wild Elk in the same spot where I took this photo. We were driving so fast that we almost missed it but when we turned around to take another look, the Elk was gone. Luckily, this little cutie stayed behind:

What a great trip it was! My wife and I were well rested and really enjoyed our short get away. I am not one who likes to travel around, but this experience sure changed my mind about it!

Finding Beauty Within The Undesirable.

Spring has definitely taken hold of Calgary. The trees are slowly getting some leaves back. Most of the lawns around the neighborhood are turning back to green. We don’t have landscaping yet, so the only green that I can see anytime I look out our front door are the green color of weeds. They may be undesirable, but I think there are some beauty that can be found there.

Here is an example of some of the things that grow out front:

It was raining a bit the couple of days, but when the sun came out this morning, I found these:

It was a good overcast day so I decided to take my pet Dinosaur out so it too can enjoy the Springtime:

Nature surely is amazing!

Smoking Cool Guitar

Spring is upon us and great weather is being enjoyed by all. Except this morning, of course, where Calgary experienced some April snow.

It was quite good sometime last week, though. The sky was great and I had me some fun by taking my guitar outside for an impromptu shoot.

I call this “Smoking Cool Guitar”:

The idea was to make the clouds appear to be smoke coming from the cool guitar. Oh well .

Three Flowers

Found these three flowers in a restaurant yesterday:

They may be artificial, but I still like them!

Over the Easter Weekend.

What a long weekend we are having this Easter! It was a holiday for most last Friday and Monday is still my wife’s day off. As I am in between projects, I am enjoying the rest and relaxation that these free days bring!

I was not able to take a lot of photos, though, and only these two merit my approval for posting.

Keeping the sun out early Saturday morning:

The snow has clearly melted and Winter is clearly gone, so these are raring to go out and explore:

Oh, and something new I discovered on Flickr. You get to be “Explored”. These were dropped from it already but I am still pleased that they were even included:

Have a nice day!

Knowledge Gives You Wings

The last book I read was “Twilight”, a teen romance novel featuring a vampire. The last book I’ve read prior to that were the Harry Potter books and that was a long time ago.

I must admit that in this age of the internet, I rarely get to open and read a book.

Still, I cannot defy the fact that with books, you can take flight:

Have a nice day!