The Alberta Legislature

The Alberta Legislature, originally uploaded by dangeresque2.

Here was the focus of the festivities of Alberta's 100th. I snapped this shot in July (between the Queen's visit, and the September 1st celebrations.) It was a nice warm night, and there were kids and people out enjoying it here. I liked the feeling of the "common ground", it made me feel like a peasant.

This was an 8-second exposure at f/9, ISO 100, using my 17-85 lens at wide-angle. I had my tripod perched on the stone step that surrounds the pool. I also used my remote timer/switch to trigger the exposure so as not to jar the camera during the pic.

Sam Herding

Sam Herding, originally uploaded by dangeresque2.

This is my currently-favorite puppy trying to play ball. He's a Border Collie mix, and he has that stare that you see when he wants to move something around or is waiting to pounce. Here, he's waiting for me to throw his ball up so he can chase it.

This shot was with my 20D and my too-sharp 50mm lens. I had the camera set to 1/320s @ f/3.2 using ISO 800. It allowed me to show his eyes in focus, perveying the feeling of intensity that he has when he's in this "mode". He just stands there almost motionless with his gaze fixed. It really mystifying that such an energetic dog can just stop and stare - he'll hold a pose like this for 10 seconds or more if you have him captivated.

A day off

Well this is unusual for me, I have had a day off today. It's actually quite awesome. I basically woke up drunk from the night before... Kandis' little get-together. After some lounging and a shower, I was up and at 'em. I basically cleaned up all the gross stuff that was hanging around in my kitchen and such and just tackled all the piles of paper that have been around for the last few months. It's a great feeling to be rid of all the clutter and to have things a little more sparkly and nice-smelling.

Then, I went over to Evan and Jessica's (and Sam's) and had some home-made sushi. (Remindnig me of my favorite sushi waitress from Kyoto... Man I have got to do something about that girl, she is driving me nuts... I have to ask her out or something!!!) Wow, I am not a great sushi chef that's for sure. We ate for awhile, had some beer, played with Sam, enjoyed one of the last nice evenings of the year and plunked down for a movie. Just a nice, relaxing time. Exactly what I was after!

Online Guide

Well, it's finally here. The Online Guide. It's the culmination of about two month's worth of solid work (all crammed into about 5 or 6 weeks). There was even time spent before that, but it's hard to quantify. Anyway, it's out! Version 1! Released! This effort is one of my most crowning achievements. It's a feat of software architecture, development, testing, teamwork, collaboration, documentation, processes, planning, and re-planning. Have a look and browse around!

Last Light

Last Light, originally uploaded by dangeresque2.

You know what, the photo talks, I'm goin to sleep. :)

Classmates and Class Reunions

"Well, what the heck." ... To quote a famous Winnipeg saying. All too appropriate right now. Just blasts from the past all over the place these last couple of weeks. First, my high school reunion, like 10 years baby, was last weekend. I mean wow, 10 years. I didn't go, are you surprised? Will you go? Did you go to yours? What happened! Comment and let me know! Anyway, a couple of my pals did go, and I heard the details for the most part. Excellent work, boys! Basically, it amounted to Marriages, Births and Deaths. And fatter people. That's the 411 that I got. I admit that it would have been cool to reconnect with a couple of those people.

I actually thought that it was just going to be a show-off-fest, but from the sounds of it, it really wasn't much of that at all. I don't know why I thought that, but maybe it is because of all of the TV that I have seen on the subject in the past where everyone is trying to put on a brave face and showing their successes. It might have something to do with my school though, for those who weren't there, it was pretty country, bringing people as far as about 45 minutes out from Winnipeg, so maybe we were all just a bit more "real".

That's not all... Today, I got a message from Sharon, who was my high school sweetheart. I'm not sure if it was a coincidence with the whole reunion or not, but she sent a message through the classmates.com web site, that I signed up on just to see who was out there. Very interesting... I haven't seen her for about ... I have no idea... I think the last time was about 3 or 4 years ago, and I remember thinking that I might never see or hear from her again. Oh no, it wasn't anything that I did, we just didn't seem to be interested in trying out a friendship. I know that she moved away, and that's the last that I heard of her until now. I'm a little excited to hear what she has been up to over the past while.

Photography's Place

After taking pictures of some of my friends, I realized something about how people look at photos and how they see themselves in those photos. They want to be pictured how they want themselves to be remembered. I think that If I can capture that in a person's photograph, then I will be able to really find the pictures that I am after.